Terry Atkinson is retired no more. After stepping down on June 1, 2007, from a 19-year stint as head of the municipals group at UBS Securities LLC, the veteran banker is returning to the market to join Morgan Stanley.
Beginning on Jan. 4, 2010, the 62-year old Atkinson will head up the West Coast infrastructure group in Tiburon, Calif., near San Francisco, and serve as a managing director at the firm.
When Atkinson left the muni business in 2007, he was described by colleagues as collegial but competitive. “Terry is someone you can compete with — he’s a fierce competitor — and after it’s all over you can sit and have a drink with him,” one colleague said at the time.
Others couldn’t quite imagine him retiring. “I’ll believe it when I see it,” said a prescient Peter Hill, who now heads the public finance division at Wells Fargo & Co.
Two and a half years later, Atkinson’s attitude hasn’t changed a bit.
“I enjoyed the two years off, but, you know, you are what you do, and I had run a muni group for a long time,” he said Friday “One of the things I’ve missed over these years is the competition with the other firms, so hopefully on Jan. 4 it will be 'Game On.’ ”
It’s not clear the game was ever off. Since leaving UBS in mid-2007, he has continued to be an adviser for the firm on broader issues. He worked with several other muni firms on improving their practices, and helped raise funds for Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign.
As for competition, Atkinson has been part of the day-to-day operations for the race team Luczo Dragon Racing, that made its debut in the Indianapolis 500 in 2007.
With his move to Morgan Stanley, the race continues.
“You basically have six bulge-bracket firms remaining and I think of all the firms — and they are all good firms — Morgan Stanley has the most momentum going,” Atkinson said. “The market-share growth over the past few years has been most impressive.”
Morgan Stanley increased its market share from 4.3% in 2006 to 10.4% this year, according to Thomson Reuters. The firm is currently ranked third among senior managers in the municipal market, and year to date it has taken the lead on 6,509 issues totaling $31.456 billion.
Atkinson’s career in public finance began in 1975 when he joined Shearson Hayden Stone as a trader in Los Angeles. In 1977, he accepted “a job offer you couldn’t refuse” at Salomon Brothers in New York.
It would seem he did an adequate job. After two years he was promoted to the top spot in the firm’s California muni practice. When Salomon quit the muni business in 1987 Atkinson received several offers before joining PaineWebber in San Francisco.
A year later he moved to New York to run their municipal group, a post he held for nearly two decades, even after PaineWebber was purchased by UBS in 2000.
He also served as chairman of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board in 1997-98, and was honored in 2005 for his career accomplishments by the Municipal Forum of New York.
Looking ahead, the plan for Morgan Stanley is to advance operations along the West Coast, specifically in California. The firm would not elaborate on specific directions they plan to take or what strategies would be implemented.
“I picked a winning team with the goal to make it even stronger,” Atkinson said. “I’m very excited about Morgan Stanley, I’m excited about getting back in the business, and I look forward to competing.”
