Hilltop Securities Hires Edward Jones Team

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DALLAS – Dallas-based Hilltop Securities has hired four members of the former public finance team from Edward Jones and a fifth investment banker for its expanded operations in the Midwest.

Hilltop, the new name of the recently merged Dallas firms First Southwest Co. and Southwest Securities, will add managing directors Chris Collier, Reagan Holliday, and directors Ben McGuire and Kate DeProsperis, all formerly of Edward Jones.

Director Ed Kurth joined Hilltop in late 2015 from Cabrera Capital Markets.

"Their deep experience in a variety of public institutions, states and municipalities will be an invaluable resource to our clients and advisors in the Midwest, and their expertise will benefit the entirety of our firm on a national level," said Jack Addams, head of public finance at Hilltop.

The four bankers from Edward Jones came to Hilltop after Edward Jones dropped its involvement in negotiated deals.

The firm's withdrawal came soon after the Securities and Exchange Commission ordered the St. Louis-based firm to pay more than $20 million for overcharging retail customers, though the firm claimed there was no linkage.

In merging First Southwest and Southwest Securities into Hilltop Securities, the new firm's chairman Hill Feinberg said the company has ramped up its regulatory staff to guard against fines and other actions that might arise in the course of doing business.

Collier worked for Edward Jones' public finance department for 17 years, most recently as a senior investment banker, where he managed approximately 365 municipal bond transactions with a total par amount of $15.7 billion. Collier's public finance business focused primarily on senior managed underwritings for universities, cities, counties and school districts in Illinois, Missouri and Minnesota.

Holiday has more than 18 years of professional and legal experience. At Edward Jones she primarily focused on senior managing municipal bond transactions in Missouri, Indiana, Kansas and Arkansas for a variety of issuers including universities, cities, counties and school districts.

Holliday previously practiced public finance law with Gilmore and Bell P.C. and was the assistant city attorney for the city of Cape Girardeau, Mo. She sits on the national Board of Directors for Women in Public Finance.

McGuire has worked in public finance for 13 years. At Edward Jones in Lansing, Mich., he originated tax-exempt bond issues while focusing on general municipal and higher education issuers across Michigan and Ohio. He was previously assistant director in the Michigan Department of Treasury where he was responsible for the Michigan Finance Authority's financings for student loans, the unemployment obligation trust fund and various conduit issuers.

DeProsperis has more than 15 years of public finance experience. She worked as a transaction banker at Edward Jones after posts at Banc of America Securities and Citigroup Global Markets.

Kurth, formerly senior vice president at Cabrera, provides banking coverage to major municipal issuers in the Midwest and on the East Coast for Hilltop. He specializes in revenue-generating ideas and budget strategies as well as financial advisory services on P3 transactions, the company said.

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