Our Firm

Baird Strategas seeks to provide clear and concise research that allows its clients to reach actionable investment conclusions in a timely manner. In addition to the Research team's daily written content, clients are encouraged to utilize the Firm's analysts for meetings, conference calls, or guest speaker presentations, as well as our Bespoke Research desk for special requests and customized projects.

UTILITY.

There are three ways in which macro research can be useful:
  • Being accurate.
  • Identifying important themes.
  • Providing enough raw and provocative material to allow our clients to make up their own minds or to be used in their own marketing material.

HUMILITY.

Sadly, the first of these basic elements of utility - correctly divining the movements of the markets and the madness of crowds - is often the most elusive. The Firm recognizes that, despite its best efforts, it won't always be correct. The Research team will always be aware of and respect other points of view and will remain intellectually flexible and humble enough to change its forecasts when the facts change.

SIMPLICITY & CLARITY.

Our clients have too much to read. Baird Strategas strives to provide clear and concise research that allows our clients to remain informed and to come to actionable investment conclusions.

QUALITY & THOROUGHNESS OF OUTPUT.

The Firm recognizes that its credibility is on the line every time it publishes a report or an investment forecast. Baird Strategas is committed to making sure that the inputs used to create its research products are comprehensive and accurate.

Recognizing that institutional investors have no shortage of options when it comes to investment research, Baird Strategas works hard to distill, thoughtfully and concisely, complex investment concepts into easily understandable and actionable ideas and themes for investors of all styles and time horizons every day. Through frequent client visits and customized research solutions, the Firm actively seeks to go beyond its written research reports.

QUALITY.

Firms are generally only as strong as their weakest links. Baird Strategas is committed to establishing processes to maintain the highest level of quality in all areas – its people, its research, and its client service.

TRANSPARENCY.

Baird Strategas believes that its successes, failures, and sacrifices should be shared at all levels of the firm. The Firm is committed to transparency between the Partnership and the Firm's Associates with respect to the Firm's mission and developments which affect the future of the business.

PERSPECTIVE.

Baird Strategas will be committed to excellence but never at the expense of its guiding principles and values in the way it treats its customers, its associates, and its vendors. The Firm seeks success, but not at the expense of its respect for the individual.

Jason De Sena Trennert, Nicholas Bohnsack, and Donald Rissmiller founded Strategas to create an investment firm dedicated to providing portfolio strategy, asset allocation, and economic research to the institutional investment community in September 2006. In short order, it added Daniel Clifton to lead its effort in providing insights on how public policy might impact the financial markets, as well Christopher Verrone to provide technical analysis on markets far and wide. This same investment team remains in place today, providing an integrated and comprehensive voice on macroeconomic issues affecting both institutional equity and fixed income investors alike in 45 states and 25 foreign countries. It seeks to provide "white shoe service with a blue-collar work ethic."

The firm started with only five full-time associates in New York and has now grown to over 60 people in our offices in New York, Washington, D.C., and London. It has extended its services to include institutional sales, trading, derivatives, and asset management. Strategas ranks among the top research firms on all of Wall Street, and for the 10th consecutive year stands alone as the top-ranked macro-only firm*

Strategas became a wholly owned subsidiary of the R.W. Baird company in 2018 but remains an independently operated and managed broker dealer and registered investment advisor. The firm adopted its name to Baird Strategas in 2026 to reflect the strength of the partnership of two of Wall Street's premier brands.

For more information, please contact Eileen Gabay, the firm's Chief Operating Officer and also a veteran of 20 years, at 212-906-0130 or 202-223-7646 in Washington, D.C.

*Extel rankings issued October 2026 based on data through June 2026. Baird Strategas LLC ("Strategas") was the #1 ranked Macro-Only Sell-Side firm in Extel’s All-America Research survey. Rankings, ratings or awards may not be representative of any specific client's experience. Extel official rankings and methodology: here.

Of all the frequently asked questions we get on the road, the one we've received the most since we started the Firm has to do with the derivation of our company name and logo. Most people are kind in their questioning, but more than a few have been less than shy in their bewilderment. A master of nuance, Joe Kernen of CNBC said on the air, "Jason, you've been dreaming of starting your own company your whole life and this is what you came up with?" Similarly, a friend and paying client in Texas asked bluntly, "What the $%*& is a strategas?"

And so we'd like to explain once and for all how we came up with our rather unique name. Few know that the word 'strategy' is derived from the Greek word 'strategos' which means 'general'. In Athenian Democracy, the strategoi stood between the elected officials and its military leaders to provide counsel in balancing the needs of protecting individual liberties while, at the same time, providing for the overall security of the state. Satisfied that we had found a name that had real meaning and the requisite pretension of antiquity, we had decided, perhaps naively that 'Strategos' was as good as we were going to get. In the 11th hour, however, our lawyers informed us that to name the firm 'Strategos' could invite trademark litigation. Having invested some time in the decision and becoming attached to the logo of the warrior we now affectionately call 'Gus', we asked our lawyers to find a vowel that would complete the word 'strateg_s' without inviting legal action. They came up with 'strategas' which, at that point was close enough for us and was aesthetically pleasing when using Greek lettering. There is a certain irony and sadness in the fact that, in the post-industrial and litigious society in which we live, we essentially had to choose a name that was so devoid of meaning to actually steer clear of a lawsuit. In any event, the name has been a source of amusement among our clients and friends. And, as the saying goes, "We don't care what you call us, as long as you call us."

by Jason De Sena Trennert

During my many trips to London and Canada, I noticed the ubiquity of red poppies to celebrate fallen servicemen. Ignorant of the custom and curious, I learned upon further investigation that the provenance of the custom is the searingly beautiful poem "In Flanders Fields" by Canadian physician and Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae during the Great War. Moina Michael popularized the tradition of selling these poppies as a means of raising funds to assist disabled veterans in the U.S. Ironically, wearing red poppies in remembrance of the fallen was as popular in the U.S. as it was in Canada and in the U.K. until Memorial Day officially became national holiday in 1966. At Strategas, we resolved to bring the custom back in our corner of the world and send clients poppies every year to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie, In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.