Dan O’Brien, a former vice president at Janney Montgomery Scott, has joined Robert W. Baird & Co.’s public finance team.
Baird, ranked first in the nation for total number of municipal bond underwritings in 2012, said in a press release Wednesday that O’Brien will expand the company’s existing K-12, municipal, county and state clients, as well as the firm’s charter school financing business.
“Dan has broad experience and a successful track record in helping issuers meet their financing goals,” Les Bear, head of Baird’s Pennsylvania public finance team, said in the statement. “He’s worked on public finance deals from every angle — as the issuer, as the advisor, as the legal counsel — and his clients-first driven mindset fits well with the Baird culture.”
At Janney, O’Brien was head of the public finance group’s charter school finance practice. He served as bond and underwriter’s counsel at Stevens & Lee and was the assistant finance director for debt with the city of Philadelphia for three years. Before that, O’Brien held positions at PNC Capital Markets and Commerce Capital Markets.
“We are very pleased that Dan has decided to continue his career at Baird,” Keith Kolb, director of Baird’s public finance group, said in the statement. “His deep knowledge of Pennsylvania issuers, charter school experience and legal background will be a tremendous asset to the business and enhance our ability to better serve our clients’ needs.”
Pennsylvania’s charter school sector may be the subject of scrutiny as the state’s General Assembly reconvenes this month to examine issues from funding to transparency. Public schools complain that charter school costs are bleeding funds from mainstream schools. Crises in cities such as Philadelphia, which needed $50 million in emergency borrowing for opening the school year, are cited for support of that claim.
Baird ranked 12th among senior managers in 2012 with $8.6 billion in par. It served as sole or senior manager on more than 200 Pennsylvania bond issues totaling more than $2.4 billion in principal amount since opening its Philadelphia office in 2008, according to the press release.
