For years, John Bonow learned under John White while rising through the ranks at PFM Group.
Now Bonow, 42, plans to succeed White as chief executive officer of the financial advisory firm. He will become CEO at the end of the year while White will become chairman.
PFM’s Public Financial Management Inc. is the top municipal finance advisor, according to Thomson Reuters. The FA advised on 346 issues worth a combined $15.4 billion for the first six months of this year.
“John’s been a very big supporter of me as a mentor and a colleague,” Bonow said in an interview en route to PFM’s Philadelphia headquarters from Seattle, where he had managed the Pacific Northwest office since 2002.
White, 64, said Bonow “has tremendous energy and tremendous capability about everything in the world and in life, and he will bring that to the CEO’s position for many years.”
After graduating from Yale University in 1991, Bonow joined PFM and moved to San Francisco after six months of training at the home office.
While living and working in the Bay Area, Bonow looked northward and saw growth.
“He had a couple of clients there while he was in San Francisco,” said White, who joined PFM in 1980 and masterminded the firm’s expansion from a five-person office in Philadelphia.
“He came to me and said he’d like to move to Seattle and start an office there. He said, 'I think we can do a lot of business there.’ ”
PFM now has 10 employees in Seattle. Nationwide, it has 400 employees in 34 offices. While in Seattle, Bonow also oversaw Western environmental utilities practices.
“I felt there was a very good opportunity for an independent firm,” Bonow said. “There’s been a great deal of change in the Northwest. People are migrating to the area.”
Bonow’s areas of expertise have included funding plan development, credit analysis, capital planning, debt transaction management, and asset-liability analysis.
PFM advises clients in higher education, public power, transportation, health care, pension management, and strategic consulting.
“We have a very good appreciation for all our sectors. Each one has challenges that are sector-specific,” Bonow said. “Being on the West Coast, and working for a company with headquarters on the East Coast, has given me perspective on how we allocate our resources.”
