Columbia Capital Management LLC's hiring of veteran municipal advisor and banker Jim Stricklin puts boots on the ground for the firm in Arizona with a new office in Phoenix.
Stricklin recently joined the independent financial advisory firm as a managing director after 14 years working as an advisor and public finance banker with Wedbush Securities. Stricklin's tenure there began after the investment bank acquired Peacock, Hislop, Staley & Given Inc., which Stricklin co-founded in 1989.
During his tenure at Wedbush and Peacock, Hislop, Stricklin developed and implemented financing programs for numerous municipal issuers with an emphasis on utility project financing and water asset acquisition.
Among his accomplishments, he assisted the Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System with the adoption of Senate Bill 1354 in 2020 which established the Arizona Employers Pension Prefunding Program.
"His deep roots working with Arizona communities, coupled with his expertise in areas like water and wastewater infrastructure and asset acquisition financing, will make Columbia Capital a better firm," said Jeff White, Columbia's managing member.
Stricklin can hit the ground running locally as the firm is already in Phoenix's qualified advisory pool. The firm had "been looking to grow our presence in that market, but our connection with Jim was a fortuitous coincidence," White said.
"I'm pleased to join a group of talented professionals looking to expand their horizons by bringing their analytical approach to serving clients in the Arizona municipal market," Stricklin said in a statement.
With the addition of Stricklin, the firm has 14 municipal advisors across four staffed offices in Kansas City, Kansas, which is the firm's largest and administrative headquarters; Chicago; San Diego; and now Phoenix. The firm ranked sixth among advisors in the Midwest last year working on six deals valued at $1.76 billion for a 2.9% market share but did not rank in the top 25 nationally, according to Refinitiv data.
"We continue to look for strategic opportunities to grow and have added staff in recent years in the Midwest and California. We already work in most regions of the country," White said. "Our growth strategy is less focused on absolute size or specific geographic regions and more focused on finding the right individuals along the way to complement our existing team."
