Hosts

Tom “The Chief” Haugh

Tom 'The Chief' Haugh Tom (‘The Chief’) Haugh earned his BA from Notre Dame University and his MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago. He was an independent Market Maker on the CBOE from 1981 – 2000 and spent 17 of those years in the S&P 100 pit. Tom served on the Board of Directors at CBOE from 1993 – 1998. He was also a member of many CBOE committees. Tom worked as a Senior Financial Analyst for Pullman Standard Railcar Company before serving as President of the Professional Traders Institute from 1990–96. This organization was established to provide educational seminars in option trading for fund managers, investment advisors and retail investors. Tom is currently Chief Investment Officer and Principal Money Manager of the Protected Index Program® at PTI Securities & Futures LP. He holds the following Series Registrations: 3, 4, 7, 24, 53, 63, and 65. Tom was a co-host of the “Stocks and Jocks: Taking Care of Business” radio show for six years with Jon Najarian on 670AM The Score before moving the show online. Tom has made guest appearances on CNBC as a financial expert and has a weekly financial blog called “DOLLAR$ and SEN$E”.


Co-Hosts

Jeff Joseph

Editorial Director & Publisher, Luckbox Magazine

Jeff Joseph co-hosts the 2nd hour of Stocks & Jocks every Tuesday morning while serving as the Editorial Director & Publisher at Luckbox Magazine – the control freak’s essential guide to life, money & probability. Luckbox is a monthly publication available on newsstands for $7.99 per issue. Stocks & Jocks listeners receive a FREE digital subscription at luckboxmagazine.com/jocksSign up today!


John Flannigan

John Flannigan co-hosts Stocks & Jocks every Monday and Thursday mornings. He is a graduate from Notre Dame University and a retired English Professor from Prairie State College out of Chicago Heights, IL.


Jon “Dr. J” Najarian

Co-founder, Market Rebellion

Jon “DRJ” Najarian is a professional investor, noted media analyst and speaker, and cofounder of Market Rebellion, a leading site for options and equity traders. Following a brief stint as a Chicago Bears linebacker, Jon launched his financial career at the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) in 1981, trading in the pits for some 25 years. In 1989 he founded Mercury Trading, running the company for 15 years until 2004, when he sold his floor-trading operations to Citadel. Jon has developed and patented trading applications used to identify unusual activity in stock, options, and futures markets, notably the Heat Seeker® program, which scans up to 10 million quotes per second. Jon’s research and analysis is widely cited by leading financial media as he appears daily on CNBC as well as articles published in Barrons, the Wall Street Journal and other leading financial periodicals. OptionMONSTER has been described by Securities Industry News as “content king of the options business,” and enjoys syndication agreements with CNBC, TheStreet.com, the Chicago Board Options Exchange, and NASDAQ. Jon & his brother Pete also run a private equity fund and are consultants for Najarian Family Office, a wealth management firm based in Chicago & Minneapolis.


Karl Denninger

Founder, Market Ticker

Karl Denninger co-hosts Stocks & Jocks during the 2nd hour every Friday morning. He is an American technology businessman, finance blogger, and political activist, sometimes referred to as a founding member of the Tea Party movement.

Denninger was the founder and CEO of MCSNet in Chicago. Opened as Macro Computer Solutions, Incorporated in 1987, it expanded its service offerings in 1993 to become one of the area’s first commercial internet service providers. Among its customers was the Chicago Public Library, which relied on MCSNet for both internet access and web hosting. In 1997 he led a coalition of ISPs in setting up the Enhanced Domain Name System, a short-lived alternative DNS root which allowed registrants to add their own generic top-level domains. Denninger continued to run MCSNet until August 1998, when he sold it to Winstar Communications for an undisclosed amount. For his efforts, the Chicago Sun-Times dubbed him one of “the movers and shakers who brought Chicago into the Internet Age”. After the sale of MCSNet, he moved to the Southeast, where he began to devote more time to stock trading and political activism.


Kevin O’Neill

Kevin O’Neill is our Wednesday and Friday morning sports guy. His segment emphasizes what happens off the field as much as what happens on the field. All businesses have their intrigue, but the inner workings of sports organizations find their way into the public domain frequently. Unless a rant from the Chief spills into Kevin’s segment (not an unusual occurrence), he will highlight some of those sports related business issues; but be advised that those highlights usually come with an opinion.


Lou Michels

Lou Michels is an employment and sports law attorney with a national law firm, who is also an NFL player agent. He joins the Stocks & Jocks show every Thursday morning from Denver, Colorado. Lou represents companies and individuals in dealing with workplace problems ranging from labor union and discrimination cases to employment contracts and trade secret disputes. He played football at Air Force, and graduated from Duke Law School, where he developed an appreciation for college basketball. He is a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel. Lou grew up in Winnipeg, Canada, and Minneapolis, where his father was a professional football coach for the Minnesota Vikings for almost 30 years.


Russell Rhoads

Associate Clinical Professor of Financial Management, Kelley Business School

Russell Rhoads is the associate clinical professor of financial management at the Kelley Business School at IUPUI and the co-host of Stocks & Jocks during the 2nd hour Wednesday mornings. His areas of expertise include behavioral finance, derivatives, market volatility, financial markets and bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Rhoads most recently was a clinical professor of finance and director of the Master of Science in Finance Program at Loyola University in Chicago, where he taught corporate finance, investments, derivatives, investment banking and financial ethics, among other topics. He also has worked as the head of research and consulting at EQDerivatives; Head of Derivative Research at TABB Group; Director of Education at CBOE Global Markets and as a portfolio manager, equity option trader and equity analyst at a number of companies.

Rhoads is pursuing his PhD in strategic management through Oklahoma State University, where his dissertation topic is: The Impact of Firm Reputation and Visibility on Portfolio Manager Decision Making. He has a Master of Science in finance from the University of Memphis. He also has published several books on investments and option trading, and he published articles in the International Journal of Economics, Business and Management Research and the Journal of Global Business Management. For the Kelley School, Rhoads will teach intermediate investments, financial management and fixed income and equity evaluation.


Executive Producer/Update Anchor

Matt Weber

Matt Weber is currently the Executive Producer, Update Anchor and starting Center Fielder for Stocks & Jocks. He is a die-hard sports fan (Cubs, Bears and Bulls especially) and has worked for WSCR-AM 670 The Score, 120 Sports Network and Chicago Sports Webio while also appearing on Comcast Sportsnet Chicago. Matt has covered the Chicago Bulls, Chicago Cubs and the Chicago Marathon as a field reporter and has interviewed some of the biggest names in sports and entertainment. Matt lives in the Bucktown neighborhood on the Northside of the city with his wife and dog, Venkman.


Regular Contributors

Audrey Johnson

Owner, HomeSource Realty

Audrey Johnson has been Stocks & Jocks’ Real Estate guru since 2010. She is the owner of Home Source Realty, specializing in the Southwestern Suburbs of Chicago and making clients happy and satisfied with their real estate transactions. Her 30+ years of experience as a Realtor in all kinds of markets and all types of housing will make your home buying or selling process more satisfying and profitable for you with less stress. Downsizing? Upsizing? Need a pet-friendly condo? Horse property? A new start in life? Not sure where to start? Contact Audrey and get started today! She enjoys making her clients’ lives better and their dreams come true- let Audrey help you with yours!


Brendan Cournane

Brendan Cournane is a public finance attorney who joins Stocks & Jocks every Tuesday morning. He has practiced law for more than 35 years acting primarily as counsel to issuers of municipal debt (bond counsel, underwriters’ counsel, bank counsel and special counsel). He has served in both the private and the public sectors, having been a partner in major U.S. law firms and as in-house counsel to such entities as the City of Chicago and Chicago Public Schools, as well as General Counsel to the Illinois Finance Authority, one of the nation’s largest issuers of conduit municipal bonds.


Dan Johnedis

President & Chief Investment Officer, Cratus Capital

Daniel Johnedis is the President & Chief Investment Officer at Cratus Capital, LLC out of Savannah, GA, and a contributor to Stocks & Jocks every Thursday. Dan oversees the business and investment process, leads the Cratus team and manages the client relationships. Mr. Johnedis has over 30 years of experience in institutional and individual portfolio management, investment research and client service, and has been featured on CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC and more.


Greg Papas

Futures Trader, Self-Employed

Greg Papas is agricultural futures trader and Monday morning contributor to Stocks & Jocks. Also, as ‘Traditional Greeks’, his family has always been in the restaurant business. Greg is no exception, working at Chicago institution, Ceres Cafe, since 2014. Greg made his bones in the Grain Room as a clerk for Coach Doug Redmann and Adam Rich where he learned about grain swaps, automation and market making. Outside of trading and food, Greg’s interests lie in western philosophy and game theory. He is a resident of the Chicagoland area.


Joel Elconin

Morning Show Co-Host/Freelance Writer, Benzinga

Joel Elconin is a regular contributor every Tuesday on Stocks & Jocks. Joel’s introduction to trading was in the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index futures pit at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Also, during his time at the CME, he was involved in Index Arbitrage as well as trading foreign currency futures and options. From 1994-1999 he was a proprietary trader for Olde Discount Corporation. Following his tenure at Olde Discount, he founded the Detroit office of Bright Trading, LLC.   Since 2003, Joel has been an independent trader researching and developing proprietary indicators and trading systems for the equities and futures markets. In 2011, he co-founded Premarketinfo.com (market research firm) and joined forces with Benzinga in 2013.  At Benzinga, Joel co-hosts Benzinga’s PreMarket Prep Show and is frequent contributor to Benzinga.com and BenzingaPro.  Joel obtained his Bachelor of Art in Political Science from the University of Michigan in 1985. Also, he is a graduate of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Continuing Education Program. He also holds his Series 7 and 63 licenses and is a licensed real estate broker.


Kenny Polcari

Chief Market Strategist, SlateStone Wealth

Kenny Polcari joins Stocks & Jocks every Tuesday morning as the Chief Market Strategist at Slatestone Wealth. With over thirty years of executive management experience and over twenty years of leadership in industry advocacy, he is a well-known personality in the financial services business.

Kenny is also a regular contributor and Market Analyst on Fox Business and you can find him featured across their programming schedule.

Early in his career, he built the U.S. equities business at the largest interdealer broker, ICAP, and was among the first traders to go direct to institutional money managers, executing on the opportunities market evolution created, and bringing greater transparency and accessibility to the customer. Before that, Kenny ran the Salomon Brothers New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) division during the nineties bull market and was a part of the team that launched the first electronic order delivery system in the industry.Kenny began his career on the floor of the NYSE in 1985. He served as a member of the exchange for nearly forty years and as a NYSE Governor for more than a decade, representing the interests of institutional asset managers in the global equities markets. Kenny is a passionate speaker with an infectious interest in the markets. He educates investors, market professionals, and business students about the evolution of the modern markets. As a voice on the markets, he first started working with the news media after 9/11, at the request of the NYSE, and became a regular contributor during the financial crisis, developing a reputation for being an advocate for Main Street and the investing public.

Kenny serves on the Board of Directors of the National Organization of Investment Professionals (NOIP), and the Headstrong Project, a nonprofit providing free, world-class treatment to veterans coping with the psychological wounds of war. He has a BSBA in Finance from the Boston University School of Management. Kenny met his wife, Evelyn, on the trading floor in 1983, when she was the first female Latina to become a member of the NYSE, they reside in Palm Beach, FL and have two daughters.


Mike Hart

Tastytrade

Mike Hart is a member of the tastytrade research team and a contributor to Stocks & Jocks every Monday morning. Mike also co-hosts Research Specials Live, where tastytrade’s researchers offer up their own interpretations of recent research studies. You can also catch him pitching trade ideas to Tom and Tony on shows such as Trades From the Research Team LIVEYou Know You Quant This, and Closing the Gap: Futures Edition.

Mike Hart’s been trading in his own account for almost 30 years, but has been trading professionally for 22 years. He has an MBA in Finance with a minor in Spanish, English, and Accounting. He also specializes in journalism, writing, and foreign languages.

During the pandemic of 2020, Mike began a hobby-turned-business of buying and selling rare stamps. He’s also been scuba diving most of his life and has reached a milestone of 50 wreck dives. He ashamedly admits that he has yet to find sunken treasure.