Over a storied career, Mark Page has crafted more than his share of public finance innovations.
As deputy director and general counsel of New York City's Office of Management and Budget, he led the first tobacco settlement securitization. As OMB director during former Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration, Page helped form the World Trade Center Captive Insurance Corp, which insured the city against claims related to the 9/11 attacks.
Page also created a groundbreaking subordinate bond resolution for the city's water authority. In 1993, he helped steer the city through a then-rare
NYC Deputy Comptroller for Public Finance Jay Olson, who worked with Page on the WTCCIC, said, "Dealing with that type of liability was unprecedented. It was really building an insurance company from scratch."
Page's work ethic was "unparalleled," Olson noted. "He was always very present and focused," he said.
"He responds to challenges very methodically. He was incredibly well-versed in all the mechanics of how things work. I think that knowledge is what he brought to bear on whatever challenges he faced," Olson said.
"Hudson Yards was one of the crowning accomplishments of the Bloomberg era," said Marjorie Henning, former deputy comptroller for public finance. "Mark was the key person working with [City Hall] in structuring the credit, making sure [it] could be sold in the market at a reasonable cost. … We sold bonds to build the subway, and it was really on the promise of future development that those bonds were being paid off. … He helped craft the covenants and everything that made it work."
A graduate of Harvard College who earned his J.D. from New York University, Page started working for OMB as deputy counsel in January 1978. He rose to deputy director and general counsel there and held executive director roles with the New York City Transitional Finance Authority and the New York City Municipal Water Authority. He left OMB after the Bloomberg administration to serve as Nassau County's deputy county executive for finance.
Former co-workers described a public servant with a detailed grasp of his work — financial principles as well as legal, accounting and political matters. A generous and unpretentious colleague who took the subway everywhere, he earned the respect of powerful New Yorkers and would speak his mind regardless of what was politically popular.
Constantly scrutinizing whether banks' ideas were in the city's best interests, Page wouldn't meet with underwriters alone, so there was confirmation of what had been said. He was known to reject fruit baskets or candy sent to his office, demanding they be returned to the sender.
He took pride in making board meetings last no more than 10 minutes.
"I didn't vote for Mike Bloomberg the first time, but then he made Mark the budget director and I knew he could do no wrong," said Norton Rose Fulbright's Homer Schaaf, longtime bond and underwriters' counsel.
Page credited Bloomberg with ending "that strange quasi-military aura" pervading the city under former Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Mayors often select top officials from their associates, but Bloomberg hadn't met Page, and chose him "because I had a reputation for knowing what I was doing, I guess," Page said.
Looking back, Page considers the water revenue bond structure and the Hudson Yards tax increment credit structure, which was new in its scope, his most significant achievements. His message to younger generations working in government management: what they do is valuable.
"I think that government is extremely important to people, and whether it's done well or badly matters," Page said. "Efficient and economical market access for financing is actually an important element of successful government."
