TWPG Thomas Weisel Prtns Grp (MM)

Thomas Weisel Partners Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: TWPG), a global growth-focused investment bank, today announced the addition of five professionals in Brokerage and Investment Banking: George Topping has joined as a senior mining analyst covering Base Metals, Sapna Srivastava will join as a senior healthcare analyst covering Biotechnology, John Ragozzino has joined as an energy analyst covering U.S. Exploration & Production, Marty Flynn has joined as a Director in Institutional Sales based in Dallas and Steven Foland has joined as a Managing Director in Investment Banking focused on the financial sponsor and venture capital-backed companies in Asia, with a particular focus on those companies in China.

"We are committed to selectively adding talented professionals to help us grow our business. These five respected professionals exemplify that commitment. Each one is distinguished in their respective area and brings deep institutional knowledge and a broad client base," said Lionel F. Conacher, President and COO of Thomas Weisel Partners Group. "Our clients will benefit from our expanded coverage of growth companies in the mining and energy sectors with George and John's extensive knowledge of the space. Sapna is a highly ranked analyst with a proven track record covering biotech companies. Marty's addition expands our geographical sales coverage focusing on accounts based in Texas. And, given the strong growth opportunities in Asia, Steven will spearhead our China initiative focusing on financial sponsor and venture capital-backed companies."

Mr. Topping has 10 years of experience in the mining industry and 14 years as a sell-side analyst, most recently with Blackmont Capital. Mr. Topping received his undergraduate degree in Mining Engineering from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. He is based in the firm's Toronto office.

Ms. Srivastava brings 10 years of industry experience to the firm and was most recently a senior biotech analyst at Morgan Stanley, where she was ranked as a Best Stock Picker by the Wall Street Journal (#2) and Forbes. Ms. Srivastava received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from New York University School of Medicine. She will start in January 2010 and will be based in the firm's New York office.

Mr. Ragozzino had been covering the Exploration & Production sector at Wells Fargo Securities (formerly known as Wachovia Securities) for the past three years and prior to that he was with Stifel Nicolaus, where he began his sell-side career in 2003. Mr. Ragozzino received his undergraduate degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder and holds a CFA designation. He is based in the firm's Denver office.

With the recent additions in Research, the firm's total number of research analysts increases to 35 with 494 stocks under coverage. The resource sector, which includes energy and mining, comprises 27% of the firm's total research coverage.

Mr. Flynn brings 13 years of industry experience to the firm, most recently with Jefferies. He has covered accounts in Texas for the past eight years. Mr. Flynn received his MBA from the University of Texas at Austin and is based in the firm's Dallas office.

Mr. Foland has over 15 years of experience at both bulge bracket and growth equity investment banks. He has spent approximately 10 years as a resident in Hong Kong while conducting business across non-Japan Asia. Mr. Foland received a J.D. from the University of Notre Dame Law School and is based in the firm's San Francisco 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, 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.