Investment banker Siebert Brandford Shank & Co. has a team of new partners, including former Housing and Urban Development Secretary and San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros.
Cisneros joins William C. Thompson, chief administrative officer and managing director of Siebert and former New York City comptroller; Sean Duffy, Siebert's managing director of institutional sales; and Victor Miramontes, the former chief executive officer of North American Development Bank, as partners, the firm said in a Nov. 9 press release.
Suzanne Shank – who co-founded of the firm in 1996 along with the late Muriel Siebert, and now-retiring chairman Napolean Brandford III – will become majority owner as well as chairwoman and CEO.
The late Siebert was the first woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. The plan includes the acquisition of Siebert Financial Corp.'s ownership interest in the firm. The realignment is a continuation of the legacy that the trio envisioned at inception, Ms. Shank said in the press release.
"It is significant that as we enter the 20th anniversary year of the firm, our municipal and corporate clients continue to reward us with major transactions for our proven superior structuring, pricing, and distribution capabilities and our deep pool of employee talent," she said.
"With our new, dynamic ownership and realignment, the firm is poised to have an even greater impact."
Brandford said he was able to bring to fruition his two main objectives before retiring: to build a top 10 Wall Street firm, and to achieve a transition for the firm to the next generation that maintains its leading position in the industry..
"This dynamic leadership will propel SBSCO as America's preeminent African-American and Hispanic financial firm," Brandford said in the release.
Its new team has a wide range of experience.
Cisneros became the first Latino mayor of a major city in the 20th Century when he took office in San Antonio in 1981. In addition to serving HUD secretary from 1993 through 1997, he was founder of Cisneros Asset Management Co.
Cisneros said he believes the new union will enable Siebert to strengthen its public finance presence as it aims to meet infrastructure and essential service needs around the country.
Thompson has been chief administrative officer and senior managing director of Siebert since 2014, previously serving as the 42nd comptroller of New York City, where he also served as chief financial officer from 2002 to 2009.
Duffy, managing director and head of institutional sales and trading at Siebert, is a 34-year municipal finance veteran who has previously worked for PaineWebber, Loop Capital Markets, Printon Kane and William E. Simon & Sons.
With a career that began in public finance, Miramontes has over 25 years of experience in investment banking and finance. He served as CEO of the North American Development Bank, as a founding partner of Cisneros Asset Management and finally as a co-founder and vice chairman of CityView, an investment management and development firm.
Since its inception, Siebert has transacted more than $2 trillion for infrastructure financing across the country as well as bond and equity transactions for major corporate clients.
The firm in 2010 was the first minority-owned firm to rank among the top 10 senior managers of municipal bonds, by Thomson Reuters, and since 1998 has been ranked the top minority and women-owned municipal finance firm.
