Tuesday, October 14, 2008

RiskMetrics Group exec Leggett heads BIA

By Mass High Tech Staff

Business Intelligence Advisors Inc. has named as its CEO former RiskMetrics Group Inc. executive Richard Leggett.

Leggett previously operated the New York-based RiskMetrics’ governance business unit. Before that, he was CEO of the Center for Financial Research and Analysis, a Maryland firm acquired by RiskMetrics (NYSE: RMG) in 2007, company officials said.

Prior to CFRA, Leggett was managing director at Goldman Sachs, where he was based in New York and London in both the equity research and investment banking divisions. He’s also chairman of Investorside Research Association, a New York-based non-profit trade association representing the independent research industry, officials said.

Boston-based BIA, which was founded in 2001, has developed for the financial services community technology-enabled deception detection techniques initiated by the Central Intelligence Agency. Last month, the company attracted a $12 million Series A round of financing from four investors, including Boston-based venture capital firm .406 Ventures LLC. Boston’s Arcadia Partners LP and Charlotte, N.C.-based Frontier Capital are also listed as investors on a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

BIA “is a business services firm that adapts techniques developed in the context of national security for use in high-stakes commercial settings,” according to the .406 Ventures website.

In March, .406 Ventures closed its first fund with $167 million in committed capital nearly a year after seeking to raise a fund. The firm was founded by Arcadia founder Liam Donahue; Maria Cirino, the former CEO of Guardant Inc., a Waltham managed security firm bought by VeriSign Inc. in 2003 for $140 million; and Larry Begley, who was previously CFO of Cambridge-based ThingMagic Inc.