JPMorgan Shuffles Staff

200805203jepc6x5-1-garvey-jane-newscom.jpg

In the last few days, JPMorgan's tax-exempt capital markets group has made two large personnel announcements designed to advance the bank's competitiveness in the U.S. public finance sphere.

Yesterday, JPMorgan announced the leadership team for the tax-exempt capital markets division that will combine the municipal businesses of both JPMorgan and Bear, Stearns & Co., and on Monday the bank said it had hired Jane Garvey to head its transportation public-private partnerships business.

The combined municipal business of Bear Stearns and JPMorgan will be run by a handful of bankers. Mark Melio, will head the TECM investment banking and origination unit, which will include the capital markets function, while Jeff Bosland and Hugh Nickola will co-head the sales, trading, and syndicate desks, including municipal derivatives and credit analysis. Bryan Weadock will manage North America fixed income sales.

The announcement came yesterday in an internal memo sent to JPMorgan and Bear Stearns investment bank employees by Matt Zames, head of tax-exempt capital markets/municipals, global rates, and currencies. The managers, who all come from JPMorgan, will report to Zames.

"The integration of JPMorgan's and Bear Stearns' tax-exempt capital markets/municipals businesses creates a winning combination that will enable us to capitalize on revenue and market share opportunities," Zames wrote in the memo.

In addition, Lou Schioppo will be the chief financial officer for the group, according to the memo.

Melio was named the sole head of JPMorgan's municipal banking group in February of this year. Prior to that he had been co-head alongside Gene Saffold, managing the health care, housing, and cultural group. He joined JPMorgan in 1997 after a decade at Goldman, Sachs & Co.

The fate of the combined municipal business has been in question since JPMorgan first announced its intention to buy Bear Stearns on March 16. In the intervening weeks, executives at JPMorgan's investment bank have announced various roles and titles for their leadership teams.

The overall management of the municipals business was folded into the global rates and currencies division with the announcement in early April that Zames would head all three businesses. He took over municipals from William Johnson, who left the group to become head of the unit that combines JPMorgan's global proprietary positioning unit and Bear Stearns' principal strategies business.

In yesterday's memo, Zames said further organizational announcements will be made in recent weeks. It is not known how large the new tax-exempt group will be once the JPMorgan and Bear employees are integrated.

Combining the business of each bank into one entity would make it the second most active manager in the municipal market. Trailing only Citi, the combined investment bank would have written 141 issues for $15.3 billion on total par this year for about 9.6% of the market. When their activity in 2007 is combined, a JPMorgan/Bear entity would have also ranked second in the market, having written 482 deals for a total of $50.3 billion in total par volume, for about 11.8% share.

Meantime, Garvey will join the infrastructure advisory group as the head of public-private partnerships in transportation. Garvey will report directly to Paul Ryan, who heads the group.

Well known in transportation circles, Garvey is credited with being the innovator behind grant anticipation revenue vehicles, known as Garvee bonds. These bonds are used by tax-exempt borrowers to issue debt for transportation projects, pledging future federal highway grants to pay back the costs of borrowing.

Ryan said Garvey will bring a perspective obtained through working for public infrastructure and transportation programs. She understands how ports and airports and roads actually work, from the issuers standpoint, Ryan said.

"Jane brings a great perspective for us," Ryan said. "We think she is an absolutely rare talent."

Prior to joining JPMorgan, Garvey was the executive vice president and chairman of the transportation practice at APCO Worldwide, and before that she was the 14th administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, during a period that included the Sept. 11 attacks.

Garvey has also worked as an administrator for the Federal Highway Administration, been the director of Boston's Logan International Airport, and served as the commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Works.

 

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
MORE FROM BOND BUYER