TWPG Thomas Weisel Prtns Grp (MM)

Thomas Weisel Partners Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: TWPG), a global growth-focused investment bank, today announced that it has made a total of six senior hires with four additions in Investment Banking and two in International Sales. Joseph ("Joe") Carey, Les Franks, Zach Maurus and Geoff Cohen joined the Investment Banking team and Keith Mulcahy and Damian Lyons Lowe joined the Institutional Sales team.

"We are very excited to have added these four senior professionals to our Investment Banking team. These hires underscore our strategy of capitalizing on the dislocation in the market by adding senior bankers with deep industry experience. This will allow us to drive our revenue growth and gain market share," stated Brad Raymond, Co-Head of Investment Banking at Thomas Weisel Partners.

Tom Carbeau, Head of Institutional Sales at Thomas Weisel Partners, added, "As we continue to expand our account coverage and grow our international presence, these two key hires will help accelerate the growth of our Canadian and European Brokerage businesses, which continue to be important drivers to our overall Brokerage strategy."

On the Investment Banking platform, the firm has added the following senior professionals:

Joe Carey joined as a Managing Director and Head of North America Energy. Joe has over 20 years of investment banking experience and was most recently Head of the Natural Resource Group at Banc of America. Joe's primary role will be to expand the North American Energy practice building upon existing Canadian and international businesses. Joe is based in the New York office.

Les Franks joined as a Managing Director focused on Healthcare Services. Les also joins from Banc of America where he spent over eight years most recently as a Managing Director in the Healthcare group. With over 15 years of experience, Les' extensive industry and transactional expertise in the Pharma-Services and HCIT sectors will complement the firm's existing Healthcare team. Les is based in the New York office.

Zach Maurus joined as a Managing Director and Head of Internet and New Media. Zach was most recently with Credit Suisse where he was Head of Global Internet and New Media. Zach brings over 15 years of experience in one of the firm's core sectors and will expand the firm's presence in both equity and advisory products. Zach is based in the San Francisco office.

Geoff Cohen joined as a Director focused on Mergers and Acquisitions in the Natural Resource space. Geoff brings over eight years of experience, most recently as a Director in the Investment Banking Group at Credit Suisse with a focus on M&A. Geoff's technical expertise coupled with industry knowledge is a key addition to helping the firm continue to grow its advisory business for its Natural Resource clients. Geoff is based in the Toronto office.

On the Institutional Sales platform, the firm has added the following senior professionals:

Keith Mulcahy joined the Canadian Institutional Sales team. Keith was most recently with CIBC and brings over 14 years of experience to the Toronto sales desk. Keith has a deep understanding of the Canadian and global equity markets and will be integral to growing the firm's Canadian business. Keith is based in the Toronto office.

Damian Lyons Lowe joined the London Institutional Sales team as a Senior Vice President. Damian brings 11 years of experience and was most recently at Jefferies in London. Damian has extensive growth stock experience and will be a key component of building out the firm's UK business. Damian is based in the London office.

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 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, Denver, New York, Portland, Silicon Valley, Toronto, London and Zurich. For more information, please visit www.tweisel.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions about us. In some cases, you can identify these statements by forward-looking words such as "may", "might", "will", "should", "expect", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "predict", "optimistic", "potential", "future" or "continue", the negative of these terms and other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions based on our current expectations about future events. There are important factors that could cause actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements or other events or circumstances to differ materially from the results, level of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, the state of the financial markets and the economy, particularly as they relate to the growth sectors that the firm is focused on, Thomas Weisel Partners' ability to implement its strategic initiatives and achieve the expected benefits of the acquisition of Westwind Partners, retain its professionals, as well as other competitive, economic, political, and market conditions and fluctuations, government and industry regulation, risks relating to the acquisition of Westwind Partners, including the effect of the completion of the transaction on the companies' business relationships, operating results and business generally and other factors. Some of the other factors are those that are discussed in Item 1A - "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 and in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC thereafter. We do not assume responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any forward-looking statement and you should not rely on forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. We are under no duty to update any of these forward-looking statements to conform them to actual results or revised expectations.