Through a nearly four-decade career, market participants say Dave Andersen changed the municipal industry's underwriting landscape, particularly the competitive market, for the better.
Andersen, managing director and head of underwriting at BofA Securities and member of the first class of The Bond Buyer's Hall of Fame, is on pace to complete his 30th straight year of being the top competitive underwriter in the industry. He has also led the firm's underwriting desk into position as top negotiated underwriter for the past 10 years.
Stakeholders across the industry noted Andersen's candor in communication, market expertise and willingness to challenge status quo to move the industry forward as the keys to his — and those he works with — successes.
"I've had the good fortune of working with Dave as a colleague and as a competitor since the late 1980s," said Eric Rockhold, managing director at BofA. "Dave has been instrumental in our desk, setting the industry standard for competitive underwriting. He brings the same level of commitment and intensity to pricing bonds for all of our clients to the office on a daily basis. I'm proud to call him a colleague and teammate."
Colleagues and competitors alike note his underwriting experience is unparalleled in the industry.
Catherine Crews Buell, managing director at RBC Capital Markets, said Andersen "changed the face of our industry. His name is synonymous with the competitive market."
Andersen and his teams have underwritten transactions for all major issuers across the country over his 39-year career that began at Merrill Lynch and continues at BofA.
The commonwealth of Massachusetts has a long history of working with Andersen and BofA, said Sue Perez, Massachusetts' deputy treasurer of debt management.
"Committing capital is a critical factor in a successful deal execution," Perez said, adding most large banks have the capital, but what makes certain underwriters stand out is "the willingness to use it."
Andersen has "consistently demonstrated his leadership in committing capital."
"Obviously in any bond sale, the underwriter and issuer have some competing goals, yet every deal we have done with Dave and his team, we walk away feeling we got a fair pricing," Perez said.
Andersen said this approach has been vital to his success over nearly 40 years in the industry.
In 1994 while at Merrill, Andersen made the move to use the firm's capital to bid solo on competitive deals. This was when upward of 100-plus firms would go for competitive deals in a syndicate, providing for a 5% or less capital liability for each of those firms. This strategy to lead in the competitive space quickly paid off in underwriter rankings.
"You really have to know what something's worth when you're the one putting the money up," he said. "I'm still more than willing to put the money up when it's appropriate to get the best possible rate given the market I'm working with at the time."
"We've demonstrated that time and again, and that's why we also have a very formidable banking team and why our negotiated desk has grown," he added.
After the financial crisis in 2008, Andersen led the first deal to reopen the market by selling it entirely to retail investors at a time when the market was inaccessible for issuers, with institutional investors all sidelined.
During the Build America Bonds era, Andersen recalled that corporate desks began taking the lead in BAB deals and were telling issuers that typical muni deal attributes, such as the 10-year call, would not work in the taxable space. Andersen went against the traditional corporate notion and sold one of the first callable taxable muni deals, opening the door for others to follow.
"Dave has spent his entire career doing what others say can't be done," Buell said. "He absolutely lives for the challenge."
Buell, who worked for Andersen at Merrill and then BofA for nearly 20 years and considers him a mentor, left BofA for RBC in June of this year. She reflected on Andersen's impact on her own career.
"He's been an inspiring mentor, teacher and loyal supporter for an entire generation. In an industry that is still heavily male-dominated, Dave is one of the biggest supporters of women," Buell said. "I'm incredibly proud to have been taught by him and honored to not only call him my mentor but a true friend. We need more people like Dave who aren't afraid to lead the way … even when the road ahead is tough or unpopular."
"More than Dave's obvious success as an underwriter, it is the loyalty and support he has given to his co-workers and partners in the industry that will be his greatest legacy," said George Mulry, managing director at Assured Guaranty, who nominated Andersen.
