Jessica Giroux, who since 2017 has been a well-regarded lobbyist representing the National Association of Bond Lawyers, will join the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board as its director of government and public affairs.
Giroux confirmed her new job in a phone call with The Bond Buyer Tuesday afternoon after having informed NABL. She is slated to start June 28. She brings substantial muni market knowledge, experience, and an extensive network of personal contacts to her new role, which will see her responsible for cultivating and maintaining MSRB’s relationships with policymakers and industry stakeholders.
“I am pleased and honored to be joining the MSRB as director of government and public affairs,” Giroux said. “I am excited to work with the MSRB leadership team to enhance and grow relationships with external stakeholders, including federal officials, policymakers and industry stakeholders. I look forward to gaining a more fulsome understanding of the different industry participants’ perspectives through MSRB events and other stakeholder engagement activities.”
Giroux steps into a role that has been vacant since the April 2020 departure of Susan Collet, who was MSRB’s head of legislative affairs and then director of government relations until stepping into a similar role at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority last year. Giroux and Collet briefly worked together at Bond Dealers of America, where Collet was senior vice president of government relations from 2012-2014, and Giroux was general counsel and managing director of federal regulatory policy from 2011-2017.
“We are very pleased to welcome Jessica to the MSRB to join our external relations team and lead our government relations activities,” said Leah Szarek, MSRB’s chief external relations officer. “We look forward to working with her to continue cultivating open dialogue and productive relationships with policymakers and market stakeholders.”
Giroux’s NABL colleagues praised her, crediting her with a key role in the group’s intensified lobbying efforts after the 2016 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminated tax-exempt advance refunding. She
“Jessica joined NABL just in time for the enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” said Dee Wisor, an attorney at Butler Snow in Denver who was NABL president from 2018-2019.
“After the passage of the TCJA, NABL has made a concerted effort to increase its governmental affairs activities and Jessica has been a key part of that effort. During her tenure and thanks to her leadership, we have communicated about matters of interest to NABL members on a regular basis with members of Congress and their staffs, regulators, and other public finance interest groups. She also led the implementation of the board's creation of NABL's Governmental Affairs Committee. Jessica has left her mark on NABL and we are better off for it. I wish Jessica the best at the MSRB. Her experience at NABL and BDA will benefit the MSRB.”
Another former NABL President, Rich Moore of Orrick, said Giroux was an innovator.
"Jessica has been a key contributor during her 4 years at NABL and her impact will be felt long after her departure," Moore said. "She has worked tirelessly to increase the quantity of NABL contacts with Congress, congressional staff, and our regulators. She has largely done this via continuous innovation as to our methods of contact with key folks in DC. She wanted more than just NABL's traditional face-to-face meetings (replaced with zoom meetings during the pandemic of course) with key personnel and created an assortment of different methods of contact. She is a tireless worker. In the chaos of the initial weeks of the pandemic, she was working weekends, nights, and any other time necessary to stay on top of the evolving political reaction to the pandemic. Most importantly, she is a wonderful person who earned the trust of all those with which she interacted. She was a wonderful ambassador for NABL."
Giroux previously worked as a lawyer and chief of staff in the New York State Senate. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from The State University of New York at Albany, and a law degree from Albany Law School.
