F. John White said Friday that the choice of John H. Bonow to succeed him as chief executive of PFM Group “sends a good signal to the industry.”
White, 64, will become chairman at the end of the year while Bonow, 42, who manages the Pacific Northwest office, will relocate to the public finance-oriented advisory firm’s Philadelphia headquarters.
PFM’s Public Financial Management Inc. is the top municipal finance advisor, according to Thomson Reuters. In the first half of 2011, it advised on 346 issues worth a combined $15.4 billion.
According to White, a selection committee narrowed 19 candidates — seven internal and 12 outside the company — to a short list of four, two internal. “At the end of the day, we unanimously thought John was the best person,” White said in an interview.
“We’re in difficult markets and facing a regulatory environment we haven’t had in the past. The markets are much different than they were 20 years ago and they’ll be a lot more different 20 years from now. John is equipped, and more, to face these challenges. I’m really excited,” said White, who joined PFM in 1980.
Since then, the firm has expanded a single office with five employees to more than 400 employees in 34 offices nationwide. White was largely responsible for the acquisition of Financial Management Services in 1986 and PFM’s subsequent entry into the money management business.
PFM advises clients in higher education, public power, transportation, health care, pension management, and strategic consulting.
Bonow joined PFM in 1991 out of Yale University. After training at the home office for six months, he moved to San Francisco and expanded the firm’s West Coast office. In 2002, after pitching the idea to White, Bonow opened an office in Seattle that has 10 employees.
“They do a significant amount of business there. We have good geographic penetration,” White said.
