SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(MARKET WIRE)--Jun 5, 2008 -- Thomas Weisel Partners Group, Inc. (NasdaqGM:TWPG - News) (Toronto:TWP.TO - News), a growth sector focused investment bank, announced the hiring of Jon Fredericks as a Managing Director on the Canadian trading desk, Chris Richards as a Managing Director on the New York trading desk and Raj Denhoy as a Director in the Research department who will lead coverage in the Medical Devices sector.

Mr. Fredericks has over nine years of experience in the securities industry and most recently was focused on the Canadian Energy sector at Merrill Lynch. Based in Toronto, Mr. Fredericks will be responsible for building out TWP's trading franchise in the energy sector. He will help expand and integrate the company's growing trading capabilities to offer a more diversified product offering to TWP's institutional investor client base in the U.S. and Canada. Mr. Fredericks is joined by Managing Director, Chris Richards, who has over ten years of experience as a senior block trader. Formerly with Banc of America Securities, Mr. Richards will trade U.S. financial and industrial stocks.

"Our clients will experience a significantly enhanced trading product that further leverages the best execution and cross border opportunities that result from our recent acquisition of Westwind Partners," said Tony Stais, Head of TWP's Trading Department.

With the addition of Raj Denhoy, Thomas Weisel Partners' research coverage of the Healthcare sector has now grown to seven professionals covering over 90 companies. Mr. Denhoy will be based in New York and has over eight years of industry experience. Mr. Denhoy is widely recognized by the investment community for his expertise in medical technology including orthopedics, cardiology, diagnostics and ophthalmology. Before joining Thomas Weisel Partners, Mr. Denhoy held senior research positions at Bear Stearns, Piper Jaffray and JP Morgan.

"Given the strong growth opportunities in the medical device sector, it was important to add an analyst of Raj Denhoy's caliber to the team to provide our clients with independent research analysis of the industry," said Keith Gay, Head of TWP's Research group.

About Thomas Weisel Partners Group, Inc.

Thomas Weisel Partners Group, Inc. is an investment bank, founded in 1998, focused principally on the growth sectors of the economy. Thomas Weisel Partners Group, Inc. generates revenues from three principal sources: investment banking, brokerage and asset management. The investment banking group is comprised of two disciplines: corporate finance and strategic advisory. The brokerage group provides equity and convertible debt securities sales and trading services to institutional investors, and offers brokerage, advisory and cash management services to high-net-worth individuals and corporate clients. The asset management group consists of: private equity, public equity and distribution management. Thomas Weisel Partners is headquartered in San Francisco with additional offices in Baltimore, Boston, Calgary, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, New York, Portland, Silicon Valley, Toronto, London, Mumbai and Zurich. For more information, please visit www.tweisel.com.