The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has added a familiar face as a public board representative to fill a seat created by a recent resignation.
Robert Clarke Brown has joined the Board of Directors for the remainder of the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2021, the MSRB announced Wednesday. Brown fills the vacancy created by the May 20 resignation of William Fitzgerald.
“Bob previously served a four-year term on the board and has a deep understanding of the governance process, having led the board’s FY 2020 Governance Review Special Committee,” said Caroline Cruise, chair of the Board’s Nominating Committee. “We are grateful to Bob for providing his expertise during the remaining four months of this public member term.”
Brown is a retired former treasurer at Case Western Reserve University and capital markets advisor at the U.S. Department of Transportation. Prior to that, he managed the public finance department for Key Capital Markets, the investment banking subsidiary of KeyCorp, and he practiced law with the firm of Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue in Cleveland. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, a master’s degree from Georgetown University Law Center and a law degree from Harvard Law School.
Brown will be leaving along with six other board members at the end of this fiscal year, as the board completes its transition to a slimmed-down 15-member body in accordance with governance changes adopted last year. The board grew to 21 members after passage of the Dodd-Frank Act more than a decade ago required a majority of membership be individuals not representing regulated firms.
The board of directors holds considerable responsibility over muni rulemaking, as it is the board members who must ultimately make decisions on new rules or amendments, pending Securities and Exchange Committee approval.
The MSRB announced in November 2020 it was seeking new board members for the 2022 fiscal year, placing emphasis on public representatives representing state and local bond issuers. The MSRB usually announces new board members in August.
