CHICAGO — Siebert Brandford Shank & Co. LLC has hired the Chicago Transit Authority's former chief financial officer Karen Walker to lead its Chicago office, filling a public finance banking void left by Elizabeth Gallagher Coolidge's recent leap to another firm.
Walker joins Siebert as a managing director and head of the Chicago office effective Monday. The move marks a return for Walker to public finance banking. She held banking positions at the former A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. and former Banc of America Securities LLC before jumping to the issuer side to join the Illinois Finance Authority as director of financial services. She took the reins of the CTA as CFO and treasurer in 2009.
The CTA moved Walker over in February to serve as a senior advisor to CTA president Forrest Claypool on public-private partnerships. The CFO and treasurer position was handed to Ronald DeNard. He had worked under Claypool at the Chicago Park District as chief financial officer during Claypool's tenure as general superintendent of the district in the mid-1990s.
As CFO, Walker managed the agency's $1.3 billion annual operating budget and a $3 billion partially bond-financed capital program. She also served as a trustee for the CTA's $1.8 billion retirement fund. In the P3 position, she was working on P3 development for the reconstruction of a major light-rail line and other projects for the cash-strapped agency. During her tenure, she managed $1 billion in financings.
"The hiring of Karen Walker is a significant addition to our firm and reaffirms SBSCO's commitment to the Midwest region," Siebert president Suzanne Shank said in a statement. "Karen's extensive experience, especially as CFO of one of the nation's largest mass transit systems is a wonderful complement to our top ranked transportation group."
Walker is a CPA and holds a MBA from the Anderson School at the University of California in Los Angeles.
Siebert launched a search for a new banker after Coolidge resigned last month to bolster PNC Capital Markets LLC's Midwestern efforts from its Chicago office.
Siebert maintains 21 offices nationwide and is dually headquartered in New York and Oakland. Siebert finished last year ranked 19th as a bookrunner and 13th as a co-manager on Midwestern debt issuance, according to Thomson Reuters. The firm said it served as a senior manager on 36 transactions with a par amount of $5 billion last year and as a co-senior on 32 transactions valued at $11 billion.
Siebert recently tapped JPMorgan banker Gary Hall to serve as head of national public finance banking starting June 1.
