Morgan Stanley’s public finance department, the fourth largest underwriter of municipal bonds in the country, is getting new leadership.
The firm announced Thursday that Stratford Shields is stepping down as head of the department as of September 1. On that date two long-time Morgan Stanley professionals, Charlie Visconsi and Brian Wynne, will replace Shields and serve as co-heads of the department.
The department provides banking and underwriting services for state and local governments, hospitals, universities, public power utilities, toll road authorities, airports, housing authorities, and student loan entities in the United States.
Morgan Stanley is headquartered in New York City. Shields has been commuting between New York and Chicago and will soon be based solely in Chicago. There he will remain a senior banker for Morgan Stanley working with municipal issuers.
Visconsi has been co-head of the Infrastructure East group since 2007 and is a 14 year veteran with the department. Visconsi has worked with state, city, toll road, airport, higher education, water, sewer and public power issuers in his tenure at Morgan Stanley.
Wynne has been with the department for 23 years. He has served as head of municipal syndicate and deputy head of public finance since 2008.
Visconsi and Wynne have complementary skills, said Michael Heaney, global head of credit sales and trading, municipals and emerging markets credits.
Shields joined Morgan Stanley in 1996. Prior to becoming Head of Public Finance in 2007, he served as the head of the Midwest region. “Stratford has helped guide the business to its consistent top four ranking in the primary league tables for the last several years as well as a strong 9 to 10% negotiated new issue market share,” Heaney said.
Morgan Stanley was the fourth biggest senior manager by par value in the first six months of the year, according to Thomson Reuters.
