DALLAS -- George K. Baum & Co. sees room for growth in Texas with a new Dallas office headed by former RBC Capital Markets managing director Gary Machak and former Raymond James banker Barton Withrow.
“Texas is the third largest public finance market in the country, and we’ve had a presence there for some time,” said GKB chairman and chief executive Jonathan E. Baum. “As we saw increased demand for our services we started looking for the best possible talent.”
Machak, who carries the title of executive vice president, has served as a financial advisor for more than $120 billion in short-term and long-term financings.
Withrow, senior vice president in the Dallas office, has worked on more than 700 transactions totaling more than $47 billion. Withrow and Machak worked together for 10 years at RBC before Withrow went to Raymond James as senior banker.
“Gary and Barton are exceptionally talented bankers and a dynamic team,” Baum said. “The depth of their combined industry experience, together with the expertise of the team they have assembled, brings superior knowledge and counsel to our customers in Texas.”
Other members of the public finance team in the new Dallas office include first vice president Jeanie Yarbrough and assistant vice president Bradley Angst.
Machak has also served as a board member and chairman of the Municipal Advisory Council of Texas.
Withrow has specialized in the design and execution of complex financial structures. Before joining RBC, he was managing director at Banc of America Securities, and led the verification practices at two accounting firms.
Yarbrough began her public finance career working with Machak in Dallas in 1993 at Rauscher Pierce Refsnes Inc. While at Rauscher she took on roles as both financial advisor and underwriter for general obligation and housing issuers. In 1997, Yarbrough moved to Standard & Poor’s, where she was ultimately promoted to director. She later joined CSG Advisors Incorporated, where she focused on providing financial advisory services to state and local housing finance agencies.
Angst has worked at GKB since 2008, providing transaction execution and quantitative structuring of debt financings for more than 165 issuances totaling more than $12 billion in par value.
Based in Kansas City, Mo., George K. Baum & Company is one of the nation’s oldest privately held investment banks. GKB served as financial advisor for Texas’ $9.8 billion Tax and Revenue Anticipation Notes issue for 2012. GKB’s current customers in Texas include the office of the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, the Texas Veterans’ Land Board, Harris County Housing Finance Corporation, the Southeast Texas Housing Finance Corporation, the City of Mesquite and El Paso County.
