San Francisco-based Global Crown Capital has added John Roy as senior executive director for nanotechnology research.

Roy, who has a Ph.D. in computer science, joins Global Crown from WR Hambrecht + Co., where he was senior research analyst covering alternative energy and nanotechnology. He also spent five years at Merrill Lynch as a directed in equity research, heading up that firm’s nanotech efforts.

“John is well-connected with industry executives, a well-known speaker at industry conferences and has been writing about nanotechnology for six years,” Global Crown managing partner Rani Jarkas said. “Hiring John is another reflection of our commitment to nanotechnology companies and institutional investors’ growing interest in them.”

Global Crown specializes in institutional services including proprietary equity research, hedge fund services, institutional sales and trading and Wealth Management.