TWPG Thomas Weisel Prtns Grp (MM)

Thomas Weisel Partners Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: TWPG), a global growth-focused investment bank, announced the addition of three professionals in its Research and Private Client Services groups. Charles Chon has joined as a senior healthcare analyst covering Medical Devices, Jordan Rohan has joined as a senior analyst covering Internet Services and Michael Smith has joined as a Managing Director in Private Client Services focused on Canada.

"The additions of these three professionals demonstrate our commitment to building out our brokerage platform. We are confident that their relationships and experience will make an immediate contribution to the Firm and our clients will benefit significantly," said Thomas W. Weisel, Chairman and CEO of Thomas Weisel Partners Group. "Charles and Jordan are highly ranked analysts with proven track records in their respective sectors. Michael's proven management skills coupled with his commitment to client service and excellent experience as an investment professional made him an outstanding candidate to lead our Private Client Services offices in Canada."

Mr. Chon has 10 years of experience in the healthcare industry and was most recently a Medical Devices analyst at Goldman Sachs, where he focused on cardiology and orthopedics, as well as emerging market and small/mid-cap growth. Mr. Chon received his undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Amherst College and his MBA from Boston University. He is based in the firm's New York office.

Mr. Rohan brings 13 years of sell-side experience to the firm and recently worked as a senior Internet, Media & Broadcasting analyst at RBC Capital Markets, where he was ranked as a Best Stock Picker by the Wall Street Journal (#1). Mr. Rohan earned his undergraduate degree in Economics from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and his MBA from Stanford University. He is based in the firm's New York office.

Central to Thomas Weisel Partners' brokerage operation is its commitment to providing a high-quality research product that generates timely, insightful views on growth companies as well as original thought pieces on new areas of growth. With the recent additions in Research, the firm's total number of research analysts increases to 37 with 499 stocks under coverage.

Mr. Smith has over 10 years of experience serving the financial needs of clients and will be instrumental in building the firm's Canadian client base. Prior to joining Thomas Weisel Partners, he was a co-founder of Vida Wealth Management. Before his career in the financial services industry, Mr. Smith had a distinguished career as an Olympic athlete. Mr. Smith attended the University of Toronto and is based in the firm's Calgary office.

The Private Client Services business at Thomas Weisel Partners manages client assets of over $6 billion. Thomas Weisel Partners maintains an open architecture model, which allows the firm's financial advisors to provide clients with best-in-class products and advisory services that meet their unique needs.

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, Dallas, Denver, New York, Portland, 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 the firm's 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 the firm's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 and in the firm's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC thereafter. The firm does 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. The firm is under no duty to update any of these forward-looking statements to conform them to actual results or revised expectations.