Celeste Cordoni
Celeste’s financial world experience began in 1990, with the noted short selling firm, Stockbridge Partners in Palo Alto California. From this Bear side start, she made a 180 degree turn, as a registered commodity trading assistant for Merrill Lynch in 1997. The expertise exhibited in handling across-the-board Futures trading resulted in her being asked to assume the role of lead trader, on the firm’s West Coast Cotton Desk. An avid upland game hunter and equestrian, Celeste happily made a seamless transition from the Silicon Valley to the Wine country, joining Ron Lawson in Napa, California in 1999.
Upon Merrill’s exit of the brokered commodity business in early 2000, Celeste moved along with Ron to the Cotton Trading Desk of Prudential Financial. By the spring of 2004, upon Prudential’s merger with Wachovia, the trading desk’s futures and derivatives business was larger than Wachovia professed it could handle. This prompted the establishment of both LOGIC Advisors and Steadfast Futures & Options, where Celeste remains as an integral component.