Frasca & Associates Adds Public Finance Veterans Harold Bean and Garfield Eaton

Financial advisory firm Frasca & Associates, L.L.C. announced Tuesday that it has added two senior public finance professionals to its team.

Harold Bean, formerly a managing director at Jefferies & Co., joins the firm as managing director in its New York office.

“Harold is respected in the industry as a great client banker,” said Ken Cushine, a principal of the firm. “Moving to an independent FA firm will enable him to focus exclusively on the day to day needs of our clients where his quantitative skills will be an invaluable resource.”

Bean, who has 25 years of experience in municipal finance, began his career as a quantitative banker specializing in single family housing revenue bonds. At Jefferies, he was lead advisor for the firm’s financial advisory relationship with Denver International Airport. In addition to Jefferies, Bean has worked at Citigroup, Dillon Read & Co., and Dean Witter.

He brings to the firm, which specializes in transportation, years of airport and transportation finance experience, including working for issuers such as the Metropolitan Airports Authority, the Arizona Department of Transportation, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and the Chicago Transit Authority.

Frasca & Associates has a longstanding expertise in the airport sector, specializing in assisting airports in strategic business planning, implementing capital development programs, lease negotiation, and developing public private partnerships.

“In addition to covering airport clients, Harold adds depth and expertise in surface and transit where we are hoping to further expand our efforts,” Cushine said.

The firm has hired another managing director, Garfield Eaton, who has opened an office in Cincinnati for the firm. Right now he is on his own in Cincinnati, but will be doing a lot of traveling, according to Doreen Frasca, a principal and co-founder of the firm. Frasca & Associates has other offices in Atlanta, San Francisco, and Washington D.C.

Eaton was previously a senior vice president at Ricondo & Associates where he spent 16 years as lead officer or project manager on airport bond feasibility studies totaling over $6 billion.

“Garfield is well known in the financial feasibility space,” Cushine said. “While Frasca is not currently planning to expand into traffic forecasting and the production of feasibility reports, he adds value and credibility in tire-kicking traffic and other financial assumptions in these reports and generally helping to shape a more focused product.”

With over 24 years of experience with airport consulting and planning, Eaton has worked with several major airports including Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Midway International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport.

Frasca said the firm will be adding an associate in the near future, which will bring the number of professionals at the firm to 13.

“Most of us have been in the business for 25 years or more. No other advisory practice offers this kind of senior expertise with a singular focus on transportation,” Frasca said. “To attract people like Harold and Garfield confirms that we have the right strategy and approach to client service.”

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