Martinez Signs on as JPMorgan Executive

Former Republican senator and Bush administration official Mel Martinez will join JPMorgan Chase & Co. on Aug. 1 as its chairman of the Florida, Mexico, Central America and Caribbean regions, the bank announced Monday.

Martinez was the first Cuban-American elected to the Senate, representing Florida from January 2005 to September 2009. JPMorgan was his second-biggest campaign contributor from 2005 to 2010, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. He was secretary of housing and urban development from January 2001 to December 2003, and general chairman of the Republican National Committee for 10 months in 2007.

Martinez will serve on JPMorgan’s executive committee as its most senior executive in Florida and the region, and will represent the firm “at the most senior levels to clients — from businesses to large corporations to nonprofits and governments,” according to a press release.

Martinez will not “in any meaningful way” be working in the municipal market, nor will he supervise any municipal securities employees of the bank, said Tom Kelly, a JPMorgan spokesman.

“He’s a senior guy across all of our businesses, but he’s not in that line of business — in the municipal line of business,” Kelly said. “We have muni bankers who will be working on that. He won’t be doing that.”

The limitations of Martinez’s job are key to determining whether he would be covered by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s Rule G-37.

Under that rule, if Martinez solicits muni securities business for JPMorgan from an issuer after having made political contributions during the past two years to an official of that issuer who could influence the award of muni business, he could trigger a two-year ban on the firm’s engaging in negotiated muni securities business with that issuer.

If Martinez solicits muni business from an issuer or supervises employees who solicit such business and he also makes significant political contributions to an issuer official, then he could trigger the two-year ban on business with those issuers for the firm.

Kelly said Martinez will work with wealth management clients, commercial clients, and civic groups, but bankers will not report to him.

“It’s a role that we have used in other markets to really signify our commitment to the market,” Kelly said. He noted that former investment banker Peter Barker was named chairman for California in September last year, while civic leader Phyllis Campbell was named chairman of the Pacific Northwest in March 2009.

The bank had nearly 60 members on the executive board nationwide, according to a 2009 annual report.

JPMorgan Chase has been expanding its consumer and commercial presence in Florida since acquiring Washington Mutual’s banking operations in late 2008.

Martinez will join JPMorgan after having been a partner with a practice in government affairs at DLA Piper law firm since September 2009.

Jamie Dimon, chairman and chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase, said Martinez has been a role model in the region for decades. “Now he will help JPMorgan Chase continue our expansion to serve the consumers, businesses and communities of Florida and the region,” Dimon said in the press release.

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