2024 was a dynamic year for talent in the public finance industry, as the earlier departure of Citi and UBS from the municipal finance industry helped Raymond James, Morgan Stanley and HilltopSecurities strengthen their ranks. As 2025 kicks off with a few retirements announced, industry experts wonder if the pace of career moves will slow or speed up.
Following Citi's exit from
Raymond James hired
"When you look at cities like Boston, New York [and] Chicago, they're very old cities that are going to have to have their infrastructure upgraded and improved," Wheatley told The Bond Buyer. "There's going to be an enormous need for public finance, for municipal bonds … and I think I've joined a platform that is ready to embrace that and to grow."
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Other noteworthy pickups include TD Securities' hiring of
The two banks weren't the only ones pivoting their positions in the muni industry, however, as
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Learn more about the top career moves in December below.
Sycamore Advisors adds two quantitative experts to team
The Indianapolis-based consultancy Sycamore Advisors added Peter Orr and Ching Yin to strengthen its focus on analytical tools and improve the firm's quantitative modeling capabilities.
Orr fills the role of senior managing director, bringing with him more than 10 years of experience working in the municipal finance space in Chicago, investment banking expertise from his time at J.P. Morgan and Bear Stearns and his founding the firm Public Alternative Advisors in 2015.
Yin, who stepped into a senior vice president role, worked with the New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority for roughly 10 years and was with the Novato, California-based firm Lamont Financial Services for more than 25 years, according to her
"The regulatory environment I think has continued to push MA firms in this direction," Sycamore President Diana Hamilton told The Bond Buyer. "We're extensively involved in document preparation, along with counsel."
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Robert McDermott joins PFM as director for workforce consultancy arm
Robert McDermott joined PFM last year as a director for its workforce consulting team, departing after a 10-month tenure as the Philadelphia budget director and the latest member of the city's finance department to join the firm.
"My work will ... focus on the state and local governments' largest expenditure and their largest asset: their workforce," McDermott told The Bond Buyer. "We offer a multitude of services, compensation, studies, interest arbitration [and] support. … That will be the primary focus of my work, and my background experience from City Council and the administration, I believe, offers a lot of value."
He follows in the footsteps of
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Detroit muni expert joins Public Sector Consultants
Lansing, Michigan-based Public Sector Consultants has enlisted Kevin Bain as a senior strategist for climate and project finance.
Bain, whose years of experience with Detroit as an associate debt manager, debt manager and then director of strategy for Detroit's Treasury and Office of the CFO, told The Bond Buyer that the combination of his background in climate finance and PSC's track record in green banking made the role an attractive offer.
"When they reached out to me, I was very excited to lean into this growing industry," Bain said. "There's so much to do! Our country is behind other countries, particularly other Western nations, on green financing. And we now have this big injection of capital into the industry … but we're still starting from a pretty new market."
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North Carolina's Brad Briner to steer clear of long-term bonds
Brad Briner, the newly elected treasurer of North Carolina, told The Bond Buyer in December his agenda includes steering state government away from issuing long-term bonds, and toward addressing liabilities from unfunded pensions and health plans.
While final say for debt issued by the state is up to the governor and General Assembly, Briner said he would pursue issuing short-term debt to kickstart rebuilding efforts in the wake of
In his role, Briner also chairs the Local Government Commission, which is responsible for
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Private equity, holding companies and bonds, oh my
To utilize municipal financing while also minimizing risk through public-private partnership arrangements and critical sources of revenue, investors can dive into the billion-dollar deals underpinning the construction of sports facilities.
The more complex the project, the more likely private-equity investors are to become involved in the form of holding companies — known as "hold-cos," "stadium-cos," and "arena-cos."
David Abrams, an investment banker with Inner Circle Sports, told The Bond Buyer's
"The need for capital from a variety of sources is much greater and the revenue streams are more diverse," Abrams said. "Ticket prices are no longer just general admission and some premium product."
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