Piper Jaffray Companies announced the appointment of John Geelan as the firm's next general counsel, secretary and leadership team member. Effective January 18, Geelan will replace James Chosy who has accepted the position of executive vice president and general counsel at U.S. Bancorp. Geelan is currently assistant general counsel at Piper Jaffray, responsible for managing the corporate secretary function, working with the board of directors and senior management across a number of areas, including governance, public company securities and reporting, M&A, treasury and financing, and general corporate.

Geelan joined Piper Jaffray in 2005 from Faegre & Benson, where he spent five years practicing corporate and securities law and representing public companies in the areas of corporate governance, corporate finance and M&A.