But the ink on CRA’s $14 million agreement to buy RogersCasey from financial software company Barra was barely dry when 16 senior Rogers-Casey employees, including star consultants Robin Pellish and Joseph Nankof, bolted to form a new firm, Rocaton Investment Advisors, also in Darien. Capital Resource Holdings, the parent of CRA RogersCasey, sued the defectors for violating noncompete clauses, which the ex-employees claim were invalidated by the changed ownership structure. An October court date has been set to sort out the mess. Kevin Greene, chairman and CEO of Capital Resource Holdings, tells Institutional Investor that the merged firm has retained 80 percent of RogersCasey’s 100 or so employees. He expects to hold on to an even higher percentage of clients. “What we bought was a premier franchise, and that franchise remains intact,” Greene asserts. But walkout leader David Katz, who was head of client service at RogersCasey, expects several former clients to sign on with Rocaton. “We’ve received tremendous support from the industry,” he says.
