Veteran Analyst Larkin Joins Stoever Glass & Co.

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Longtime municipal credit analyst Richard Larkin has joined Stoever Glass & Co. as director of municipal credit analysis for the 50-year-old Wall Street firm that specializes in municipal bonds for individuals and families and is expanding its operations South.

Although Larkin began working with the firm on April 11, he is awaiting the completion of the firm's new office in Boca Raton, Fla., where he will continue to be headquartered.

He came to Stoever Glass after the firm approached him about expanding their New York-based firm into Southern Florida, Larkin told The Bond Buyer in an interview on Wednesday from his home office.

He left his position as director of credit analysis at Herbert J. Sims, also located at its Boca Raton office, where he worked for eight years.

In his new role, Larkin said he will specialize in analyzing general, investment-grade credits, as well as distressed credits, like Chicago, Illinois, and the Philadelphia School District, as well as so-called "Fallen Angels."

He said the new Boca Raton office will include up to 10 financial officers.

Prior to working at Sims, Larkin was an analyst focusing on high-yield municipal credit on the municipal trading desk at J.B. Hanauer for nearly five years from 2003 to 2008. He also spent four years as a managing director at Fitch Ratings from 1998 to 2003.

He previously spent over 20 years as a managing director and chief municipal rating officer at Standard & Poor's, where he began his career in 1975 and was responsible for municipal rating policy, practices, governance, and criteria.

Larkin said his new position will take him back to his roots of analyzing distressed credits for the rating agencies.

"It's like riding a bike, you never forget," he said.

It was Larkin's unique experience as a municipal bond analyst and 40-year industry veteran that convinced Roland Stoever, president, that Larkin was a good fit for his family's firm.

"Dick will be a unique resource to Stoever Glass' municipal client," Stoever said in an April 20 press release. "His knowledge in specific issues and areas of the municipal bond industry will aid our representatives and their clients in making educated decisions, in a sector where this type of research is unique," said Roland Stoever of Stoever Glass.

Larkin is a graduate of Fordham University with a master's degree in economics, as well as Iona College, with a bachelor's of arts degree in economics.

He is a member of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts, the Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association, and is a SIFMA representative at the Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Council.

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