Finalist
Financial Services
Coming from a family of nine in El Paso, Texas, Enrique Javier Loya has always had an entrepreneurial spirit. The first generation Mexican-American was inspired by the success of his siblings and the work ethic of his parents: Loya graduated from Columbia University with a degree in political science. Yet, instead of attending graduate school, Loya became a natural gas options broker.
In 1994, Loya moved back to his home state of Texas to co-found Choice Energy, which is one of the industry’s first institutional natural gas brokerage houses. In true entrepreneurial spirit, Loya bought out his partners of the Houston- and New York City-based company and launched the business on the Web.
Loya, in 2007, took another entrepreneurial risk and created OTC Global Holdings, where he serves as chairman and CEO. With the company’s creation, Loya envisioned the benefits of pooling resources while maintaining the strengths of individual brokers by uniting Choice Energy with five other leading independent brokerages. All of the companies acquired retain their independent brokers, identity, brand and status — an unprecedented business model. Yet, all six companies share technological, operational and financial resources.
This means that, with Loya’s business strategy, OTC is able to better acquire top talent and offer more services to clients. In 2009, OTC entered the electronic-brokering field with the launch of EOXLive, a Web-based platform that merges an interactive electronic trading environment with traditional voice brokering. Access to EOXLive allows for boutique brokers to rapidly structure transactions while reducing brokering costs and working with the same favorable spreads as larger firms.
How to reach: OTC Global Holdings, (713) 358-5450 or www.otcgh.com
