He was studying business in NYC at Baruch College night school where he majored in marketing
management while interning at Madison Ave. advertising firms for two years. His education and
work experience came in useful when he entered Wall Street in 1984. His start was at a small
boutique penny stock underwriter where he dialed for dollars from 8AM to 8PM daily. He soon
realized there was a better way; he created a marketing plan, a budget and developed an
advertising plan to reach investors. He created the national “Penny Stocks for Penny Savers”
campaign which was a full page insert nearly every penny saver in the US. His page listed 10
penny stocks, their symbols, bid/ask, instructions to fill out a tear out coupon to open a new
account, name, contact information, payment instructions (check to enclose with order) stocks
wishing to purchase and social security number. In the first year alone, Shelly opened more than
3500 new accounts which placed him in a category all by himself. Penny Stocks for Penny Savers
meant Shelly would never have to cold call again!
Even before Wall Street, Shelly started in his family’s Industrial sewing machine business and
later became vice president of sales of a large international machine enterprise with
responsibility for trade shows and designing the marketing materials.
