BondLink, a Boston-based technology provider, has hired three senior executives with strong ties to the municipal bond market.
They are Tom Paolicelli, senior manager of business development; John Murphy, senior manager of investor relations and outreach; and Brendan McGrail, director of communications.
Paolicelli will work out of California, while Murphy and McGrail will operate at BondLink’s headquarters in Boston’s Seaport District.
The hires come amid an expansion of two-year-old BondLink’s products, from its investor-relations platforms and investor analytics to its new online investor roadshow production and hosting capabilities.
Its client list includes California, Chicago and the University of Texas. It also represents smaller issuers including Windsor, Connecticut. Last week the company added its first housing-sector client, the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency.
“The past two years have shown the market’s readiness for increased transparency and efficiency,” said Colin MacNaught, BondLink co-founder and chief executive, and a former Massachusetts assistant treasurer for debt management. “We’re excited to continue spearheading this evolution with leaders like Tom, John and Brendan.”
MacNaught and chief technology officer Carl Query founded BondLink two years ago. Its top investors include Franklin Templeton Investments, one of the country’s largest municipal bond fund managers.
Paolicelli will focus on issuers as he brings more than two decades of experience in various roles in government. He was most recently the chief deputy treasurer for San Diego County, overseeing the treasury and investment division.
Previously, he was the executive director of the New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority, one of the largest financing entities in the U.S. during its most active period, issuing more than $30 billion in bonds.
He was also a vice president and senior analyst at the Moody’s Investors Service U.S. public infrastructure team.
“I've been on the bond side for quite some time, and I see the BondLink platform as having immense value,” Paolicelli said in an interview. “It really brings together the pieces that are very important.
“Having been a manager in the public sector, I know that resources are thin and you get pulled in different directions. Just about everybody in the public sector struggles with the technology. It's moving fast."
Paolicelli said his background with Moody’s is a plus.
“Working on the public sector side, I knew what questions they would ask,” he said. “BondLink is designed with the investor in mind."
Paolicelli was also active with the Government Finance Officers Association, serving on the treasury and investment management committee as well as its new online financial transparency task force.
Murphy will concentrate on developing tools for bond investors of all sizes, after having spent nearly three decades on the buy-side. He joined BondLink from Fidelity Investments, where he was a senior bond trader and later senior research analyst in a career spanning nearly 20 years.
He previously was vice president in trading and structured products for JPMorgan Securities after working as an associate with Banker’s Trust.
McGrail spent most of the last decade in corporate communications with JPMorgan and previously wrote the daily municipal bond market column for Bloomberg News.
He was most recently a director of communications for a private ski resort in Vermont and also worked as a writer for Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney after beginning his writing career with the Worcester Telegram.
