MarketAxess, operator of an electronic trading platform, hired Nicolle Brescia as its municipal bond sales specialist.
Brescia, a 10-year veteran of the muni bond industry, will start on April 17, the firm announced Monday. She will report to John Gallagher, head of municipal bonds at MarketAxess. She will be helping promote and develop the firm's municipal bond trading platform.
"I'll be focused but not limited to building relationships with buy-side firms," she said. "It's a hard market to break into with its close tight-knit relationships and completely different language vs. other fixed income products. With my experiences thus far and the relationships I've built in the municipal industry I really believe I'll be able to help lead the charge in breaking into and growing this market."
Brescia has experience in product management, equity sales trading, product origination in both equity syndicate and structured products, and fixed-income trading.
She began her career at Morgan Stanley in fixed-income operations and project management. She quickly moved onto the municipal bond trading floor, becoming the youngest – and only woman – trader on its New York desk at that time. Most recently she was a vice president and municipal bond trader at Morgan Stanley.
Brescia was the youngest President of the Municipal Bond Club of New York and one of only four women who have held the top spot in the club's 85-year history. She served from 2015-2016. She helped move the club to the next level by advancing its educational programs, which include Bond School and Advanced Bond School and encompass public finance, trading, insurance and portfolio management.
She has been active in charitable work, working most recently with Autism Awareness. She has also done consulting work helping newer companies with their budgeting and preparing them for tax season audits.
"I wanted to go to a place where I could build relationships, link markets and negotiate," she said. "This job will allow me to do all of these things."
She said that MarketAxess is working hard to expand its municipal business.
"I believe willingness plays a huge role in success, and everyone up the chain of command to Richard Mcvey is 200% behind the municipal product and open to ideas outside the box to help them grow the platform and really be on top," she said. "There's only one way to go from here and that is up. This is something I want to be a part of and excited to be a part of from the start."
Trade volume for MarketAxess has been growing steadily in the past year, Brescia said.
Total trade volume on all the firm's platforms rose to $117.8 billion from the $97.9 billion a year earlier.
