Roth knows keys to business success

Resources, goals among the factors

By MICHELLE MOWAD

Contributor

The keys to success are simple and similar across nearly all business sectors, according to Ted Roth, managing director of business development at Roth Capital Partners. Roth said the keys to a business’ success are the ability to identify and define a viable goal, the resources to get you there, and the commitment and passion to overcome the inevitable obstacles along the way.

“In a regulated industry, such as the securities industry, one also needs to be flexible to conform to ever-changing government regulations,” added Roth, who has been with the full-service investment banking firm locally for six years.

Roth Capital Partners has focused on advising public and private emerging growth companies since forming in 1984 and has raised more than $10.6 billion for public companies and completed more than 150 mergers, acquisitions and advisory assignments. The local investment firm is headquartered in Newport Beach and has a significant presence in Carmel Valley.

Many roles

Roth joined Roth Capital Partners in 2003 after 15 years with Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp., a San Diego-based pharmaceutical development company, and 10 years with a privately held manufacturing company. He serves on several boards, including the board of directors of Rancho Bernardo-based real estate investment trust BioMed Realty Trust, Carlsbad-based action sports product designer and developer Orange 21, Rady Children’s Hospital and Health Center, the San Diego Padres, CONNECT and BIOCOM.

Roth attributes a great deal of the firm’s success to the entrepreneurial culture of the firm. He said all employees are challenged to find ways of performing their roles more efficiently and identifying trends that can give Roth Capital Partners a lead on competition in the constantly changing environment. He also cited the firm’s success to its stable management team.

Consistency a key

“The firm’s principals are its owners and have worked together for many years, providing consistency in leadership and direction,” he said.

Roth said a good leader is someone who listens to people at all levels of an organization and has the confidence to embrace decisions made by others.

“A good leader is also able to recognize his or her own personal attributes and allow others to lead when it is more appropriate,” he said.

Finding a good leader can be challenging, however. Roth said recruiting financial professionals to Southern California has pros and cons.

“While the lifestyle is attractive, the distance from the money centers of New York and San Francisco requires more travel and earlier starts to the work day,” Roth said.

“Geography aside, the best employees are those that believe in a company’s mission and are given adequate resources and latitude to perform in a manner that suits them best.”

Looking to China

He said the best business decision the firm has made was its early recognition of the potential for institutional money to flow into publicly owned Chinese companies and establishing a representative office in Shanghai to better serve the interests of U.S. institutional investors and the Chinese companies. Since 2004, Roth Capital Partners has completed more than 40 transactions totaling more than $2 billion for U.S.-listed Chinese companies.

While the struggling economy has affected numerous financial institutions, it has also affected Roth Capital Partners. Fourth-quarter 2008 and first-quarter 2009 were difficult, according to Roth. He said investors were more concerned with their own liquidity than in making investments in companies at reduced valuations and many of the companies were reluctant to raise capital at their lower market values. As a result, very little capital was raised during these six months.

However, in May and June, Roth underwrote common stock offerings for several companies including San Diego-based Maxwell Technologies, the motion picture technologies company IMAX, media service provider DG FastChannel and HQ Sustainable Maritime Industries, an aquaculture business based in Seattle.

Roth, who recently moved from Rancho Santa Fe to Carlsbad, is a graduate of Iowa Wesleyan College with a law degree from Washburn University and a post-graduate law degree from the University of Missouri in Kansas City. He has four children ranging in age from 23 to 30 years old. All four are graduates of Torrey Pines High School.

In the CEO’s chair

• NAME: Ted Roth
• TITLE: Managing director of business development
• HOMETOWN: Carlsbad
• COMPANY NAME: Roth Capital Partners
• COMPANY LOCATION: 12275 El Camino Real, Suite 120, San Diego, CA 92130
• NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 150
• MAIN LINE OF BUSINESS: A full-service investment banking firm focused on advising public and private emerging growth companies.