Alan Applebaum has always been a go-getter. When he was just starting out, he wasn't content with knowing only what he did - he wanted to know everything about the industry he worked in. So, he spent nearly a decade working in the bond market, learning all there was to know. In 1982, he founded A.F. Best Securities Inc., and eventually sold the company to Gruntal & Co. LLC. The company kept the original name and added a Gruntal Division, in which Applebaum acted as the president. He worked with the company until 1999.