How Brian Hamburger won speaking commitments from Mark Cuban, Sallie Krawcheck and Eliot Spitzer without throwing money at the challenge

He fought the Securities and Exchange Commission and the agency lost — in other words, Mark Cuban is just Brian Hamburger’s kind of guy.

More to the point, Cuban, the 55-year-old owner of the Dallas Mavericks is a dream choice to speak at the securities attorney’s annual conference, the MarketCounsel Summit, an agglomeration of RIAs that answer to the SEC for their every move on behalf of clients. See: In a major 'get’ MarketCounsel books Dodd and Frank to play Vegas.

One problem: Hamburger’s Las Vegas-based event does not have the budget to go big-game hunting in the speaker world. In any case, what budget — five figures, six figures, whatever — was likely to impress Mark Cuban who press reports mark down as having $2.3 billion of net worth?

The good guys

It looked like a long shot (even though the Mavs made an early playoff exit this year). But for Hamburger, 40, who’s served as midwife at the delivery of more wirehouse teams entering the RIA world than perhaps any other attorney making David and Goliath conflicts his stock in trade, it just called for the right conversation.

“I wrote a very personal e-mail about the tremendous [RIA] business and how we work with the good guys — the guys who are fighting Wall Street and work with folks on Main Street to really point out conflicts of interest that are traditional in this space,” Hamburger says. See: Brian Hamburger fires back at Rep. Spencer Bachus’ Wall Street Journal op-ed.

'One hell of an e-mail’

Hamburger, who had never met Cuban, felt a personal plea that bypassed intermediaries offered the best shot at convincing Cuban to come. Hamburger hunted down a handful of e-mail addresses that might be Cuban’s hoping one would be the right one.

Mark Cuban: Thanks for including me.

He recalls pressing “send” on the e-mail as he was sitting at home with his children one evening.

“My kids said, 'Dad, he’s never going to respond to you.’ Within 45 minutes, he responded and said, 'I’m in. Thanks for including me.’”

Hamburger was stunned. “I was just shocked. Here, I am staring at my iPhone. There are no strings attached. No speaker fee. He just wants to come in and engage in this conversation. It was a glorious moment in the days of MarketCounsel. He’s a tireless champion for the entrepreneur. We knew he was part of our dream lineup.”

The next morning, Hamburger spoke to Cuban’s assistant, who remarked, “That must have been one hell of an e-mail because he didn’t even forward it to me.” See: What I learned from a duo of Jersey guys who visited RIABiz in Sausalito.

Investigator and investigated

It’s unclear if former SEC chairman
Christopher Cox will share a stage
with Cuban.

In addition to snagging Cuban, Hamburger also got a commitment from one of Cuban’s public nemeses — former SEC Chairman Christopher Cox. He was at the helm of the SEC when Cuban was the target of an SEC insider trading investigation. Cuban reportedly fired off e-mails and copied Cox as well. See: Fidelity loses some RIA assets over its new DFA/Vanguard fees but other RIAs crunch the numbers and soldier on.

Cuban reportedly spent $12 million in the face of a $2 million settlement offer by the SEC, and managed to defeat the SEC initially and on appeal. Since that time, he’s been an outspoken advocate for reform of the agency’s top regulator.

It’s unclear if Cuban and Cox will share a stage together. If so, that would certainly be a lively debate.

Sallie, Spitzer and more

You might mark down this serendipitous signing as the fortuitous coming together of an off-season NBA owner and an insatiable hankering to vent to a room of casino-based sympathizers.

But Hamburger did not stop there. He also booked Sallie Krawcheck, former president of Bank of America’s wealth management’s arm, Merrill Lynch, and Eliot Spitzer, former New York state governor and, before that, the state’s attorney general known for upstaging the SEC in bringing Wall Street to heel.

The MarketCounsel Summit will be held in Las Vegas Dec. 8 to Dec. 11 at the Four Seasons Hotel. Cover bands also include former SEC chairman Harvey Pitt and Ron Insana, a CNBC host, who will share his views of recent news and the evolving economy. See: Word from Sallie Krawchek on where our financial system stands five years after the Lehman crash.

Philosophical affinities

A persuasive e-mail from Hamburger elicited
an 'accept with pleasure’ from Sallie
Krawcheck.

To book Krawcheck, Hamburger decided to continue with his winning e-mail approach.

“I didn’t know her, but we shared a lot of connections in common. I was able to send her an e-mail in her Gmail account and engage in a conversation. She asked what she could add to the event. We all know that so much of the growth of the RIA space comes from the strengths and weaknesses of the wirehouse space. She’s headed the biggest financial institutions. The age-old question is: Why have the wirehouses allowed this to happen and what if anything will they do about it? How will wirehouses realign themselves? And, she was interested,” Hamburger says. See: The 10 things Morgan, Merrill, UBS and Wells Fargo could do if they really, really wanted to stem the RIA tide.

Krawcheck has been making the conference circuit since she left Merrill Lynch and has spoken at a number of RIA conferences such as Envestnet’s 2013 conference. See: At Envestnet event, Sallie Krawcheck alludes to Crager alliance, blasts women-as-niche marketers and edges perhaps closer to endorsing the RIA model.

Women problems

One topic Krawcheck has mostly steered clear of publicly discussing the obvious friction between wirehouse advisors and RIAs as they vie for the high-net-worth wealth management market. If anything, she seems to lean in the direction of giving her former employers the benefit of the doubt in terms of producing a value proposition. See: Sallie Krawcheck, A Recruiter’s Nightmare.

“It does appear to be outside what she’s gone with in the past. She didn’t indicate she was uncomfortable speaking about these topics. Maybe no one has asked her to speak about this before,” Hamburger says.

Still, Krawcheck will also cover her subject matter wheelhouse — how to expand the ranks of female advisors. See: Sallie Krawcheck talks tough — and with disarming openness — online about the glass ceiling and lip gloss.

“We have such an under-representation of women in ranks and we need to know why so few women are here and what we can do to increase those numbers. Until the demographics change, we’re constantly going to find it’ll be difficult to have much credibility in the RIA space,” Hamburger says. See: Top RIA business executive recruiter chides 180 women gathered in a New York ballroom for second-guessing themselves.

As New York State’s attorney general,
Eliot Spitzer got his office to
go against major brokerages and go
after market-timing.

Circuit star

Hamburger is also pretty excited that his conference will be packed with former star regulators, all of whom faced very public battles.

Spitzer, he says, is in an excellent position to discuss regulation issues, particularly those involving the states. As attorney general of the state of New York, Spitzer prosecuted many securities fraud cases. He also fought American International Group over fraud and headed up investigations into the 2003 mutual fund scandal. See: The New York Times exposes JPMorgan’s brokers, yet again.

Spitzer is so relevant because he was an trailblazer, says Hamburger, who took the more conventional path to sign Spitzer, reaching out to his office first rather than the direct e-mail approach. Spitzer wowed the TD Ameritrade conference in 2005, a performance captured by RIABiz’ Brooke Southall at the time See: Why a swing-and-miss on fiduciary standards will haunt us for decades.

“He was the first one to say the SEC should be on top of these issues,” Hamburger says. “He got his office to go against major brokerages and his office went after market-timing. He had a lot of sharp words that he offered the SEC,” Hamburger says. See: Why target date funds fail in the one area they’re supposed to succeed — downside protection.

Ringside seats

Harvey Pitt fielded fallout from 9/11
and the Enron scandal on his
watch as SEC chief.

The conference lineup also boasts two former SEC chairman — in addition to Cox, Harvey Pitt, who recently made some RIA noise, will also appear.

Pitt held the post from 2001 to 2003 and the 9/11 attacks and Enron scandal broke on his watch. Hamburger is confident that Pitt will have insights to share about the handling of that crises.

“I wanted someone with that real fresh perspective,” Hamburger says. “We’d love for him to share how he handled the financial markets during 9/11 and the Enron scandal. He really rounds out our roster of keynote speakers.” See: RIAs are managing client fears surrounding the debt ceiling crisis.

Cox began the post on Aug. 3, 2005. On his watch, the SEC enacted new compensation rules for companies requiring them to spell out retirement benefits and stock options. Cox was a staunch defender of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act and he resisted efforts to weaken it. See: Why keeping FINRA from ruling RIAs is critical to these firms, the investor — and even the U.S. economy.

Cox also battled companies during the credit crisis. He stepped down as chairman of the SEC at the end of the George W. Bush administration at the beginning of 2009.

Spitballing the line-up

It’s possible Hamburger could pull a few more prominent speakers out of his hat because he keeps a few slots open just in case big news hits in September or October.

Coming up with a speaker list is a rigorous process, he says.

“In the past, we used to go out and look very hard for speakers. Now, we send out an RFP and get folks from all corners of the industry who are interested. We sit in a board room for hours and hours and come up with ideas.” See: 'Ocean’s Eleven’-grade RIA sharpies set to play Vegas at MarketCounsel’s 2012 Summit.

Passion play

Hamburger didn’t offer specifics about which speakers will receive compensation. He said it’s typical that his firm negotiates for transportation and the like. Hamburger did note that Cuban declined any type of remuneration and didn’t even want transportation help.

“This is our first round of announcements and we think it’s phenomenal and we’re excited to announce them,” Hamburger says. “This energy really charges us up. It’s the only reason we continue to do this each and every year. If we didn’t have an impact on the space we wouldn’t do it. This is a passion for us.” See: The two dramatic moments everyone was buzzing about at the MarketCounsel conference.

Hamburger expects 525 to 550 attendees, enough to sell out the entire Four Seasons Hotel in Vegas.