BAIRD EXPANDS EQUITY TRADING PLATFORM

Firm Adds Experienced Traders, New Desks in Boston, San Francisco and Stamford, Conn.

MILWAUKEE, August 20, 2007

Baird, an employee-owned international financial services firm and one of the FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For®, announced today it has expanded its equity trading platform to include a number of veteran traders and new trading desks in Boston, San Francisco, and Stamford, Conn. The new traders and desks will be closely coordinated and in constant communication with Baird’s Milwaukee headquarters, where the firm’s principal trading will continue to be housed.

“We are expanding our equity trading platform to best serve our current and future clients, while continuing to attract the best talent to Baird and opening up additional recruiting opportunities,” said Paul Purcell, Baird Chairman, President & CEO. “We are very well-positioned to continue building on the tremendous growth in our equity research, investment banking and institutional trading businesses.”

“These new desks bring us closer to some of our biggest clients and have already enabled us to bring some really talented professionals to the firm,” said Bill Mahler, Baird’s Director of Institutional Services. “Our new traders possess meaningful skill sets developed through their vast experience, and are strong fits culturally for Baird.”

Baird’s Boston desk is located in the firm’s existing office space at One Post Office Square, Suite 3620. The desk is manned by Ed Quinn, a Massachusetts native, who joined Baird after 16 years as a member of the Boston sales and trading desk at Jefferies & Company.

Jack Byrne and Brady Muir staff Baird’s San Francisco trading desk. Byrne is a past board member of the San Francisco Security Traders Association and helped build Morgan Stanley’s West Coast business in San Francisco after working in that firm’s New York office for nine years. Muir also joined Baird from Morgan Stanley, where he spent three years in New York working various trading desks, options, programs and equities before relocating to San Francisco in 1999 as a sales trader.

Rick Dunn and Adam White bring more than three decades of combined institutional sales and trading experience to Baird’s Stamford desk. Over the past 24 years, Dunn has covered buy-side trading desks and developed institutional client relationships with a number of firms including CIBC World Markets, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and Natwest Markets in New York and Drexel Burnham Lambert in New York and London. White was previously a trader at Prudential, Thomas Weisel and Morgan Stanley, and comes to Baird with 10 years of experience.

The addition of new traders and trading desks is just the latest development in the continued expansion of Baird’s Equity Capital Markets group, which includes institutional sales & trading, investment banking and equity research. The group has experienced tremendous growth and record activity in recent years. Highlights include:

In May, John Baumgartner joined Baird as Director of the Equity Capital Markets Desk. Baumgartner is based in Baird’s Milwaukee office and manages the structuring, marketing, pricing, and distribution of the firm’s equity underwritings.
Baird’s Research Analysts cover more than 500 companies, an increase of 52% over the past five years.
Investment Banking reported record revenues for the third straight year in 2006, and Baird was named “Middle Market Bank of the Year” by Investment Dealers’ Digest for activities during 2006.
Institutional Sales & Trading revenue has increased for 12 straight years.
Baird’s Equity Capital Markets group revenues in 2006, the fourth consecutive year of record revenues, were up 69% over the previous five years.

About Baird’s Institutional Equity Services group
Approximately 95 equity sales and trading professionals serve institutional investors in North America and Europe. Baird’s equity trading services focus on best execution, including price improvement, execution speed, anonymity and liquidity. Baird also offers algorithmic trading and CSA - executing brokerage services.

About Baird
Baird is an employee-owned international investment banking, private equity, wealth and asset management firm with offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. Established in 1919, Baird has nearly 2,200 associates serving the needs of individual, corporate, institutional and municipal clients. Baird oversees and manages client assets of nearly $73 billion. Committed to being a great place to work, Baird was recognized as one of the FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For® in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. Baird’s principal operating subsidiaries are Robert W. Baird & Co. in the United States and Robert W. Baird Group Ltd. in Europe. Baird also has an operating subsidiary in Asia supporting Baird’s private equity operations. For more information, please visit Baird’s Web site at www.rwbaird.com.

For additional information contact:

Angela Pittman Taylor
Public Relations Coordinator
414-298-1902
apittmantaylor@rwbaird.com

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