WASHINGTON – Utah Treasurer Richard Ellis has been tapped to serve a second three-year term as a public member of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board.
The MSRB announced the reappointment on Thursday, saying Ellis will replace Megan Kilgore, who was elected to the board this summer but is no longer eligible to serve as a public member because of a forthcoming change in jobs. Kilgore, on Oct. 13, will become a principal at the financial advisory firm, Umbaugh, and will be financial advisor to Columbus, Ohio. She is currently the city’s assistant auditor.
The 21-member board, which includes six new members and new officers, was seated on Thursday, the first day of the MSRB’s new fiscal year. Eleven of its members are public and 10 are from regulated securities firms, banks or municipal advisory firms. They serve staggered, three-year terms.
The MSRB’s priorities for the year include the implementation of municipal advisor rules and a qualification exam, improvements in transparency of dealer markups and other information related to the pricing of munis, the board said in a release.
The MSRB also announced the members that sit on its four standing committees – Steering, Nominating and Governance, Finance, and Audit. Board members typically serve on more than one committee.
The steering committee is responsible for helping the board to develop, prepare and carry out its strategic and annual operating plans. It also assists the board with market leadership and outreach initiatives, and with reviewing the executive director’s annual performance and compensation. It coordinates committee and working group activities.
Committee members are: MSRB chair Nat Singer, senior managing director at Swap Financial Group; MSRB vice chair Colleen Woodell, former chief credit officer of global corporate and government ratings at Standard & Poor’s; Arthur Miller, managing director at Goldman Sachs & Co.; Brian Wynne, co-head of public finance and head of the municipal syndicate desk at Morgan Stanley; Robert Cochran, co-managing director and chairman of the board at Build America Mutual Assurance Company; Christopher Ryon, managing director of Thornburg Investment Management (non-voting), Dall Forsythe, a visiting scholar at New York University Wagner School of Public Finance; and Richard Froehlich, chief operating officer and general counsel at the New York City Housing Development Corp.
The nominating and governance committee nominates candidates for the board, develops and recommends a set of corporate governance principles for the board, helps with the board’s structure and advises the board about director compensation. It also oversees the evaluation of the board.
Members of the committee are: Woodell, Edward Tishelman, managing director and head of the municipal finance group at TD Securities; Dale Turnipseed, executive director at J.P. Morgan; Gary Hall, senior managing director and national head of investment banking at Siebert Brandford Shank & Co.; James McKinney, senior advisor at William Blair & Co.; Steve Apfelbacher, president of Ehlers Companies; Ronald Dieckman, former senior vice president at J.J. B. Hillard, W. L. Lyons; Andrew Sanford, senior vice president of Chubb Corp.; Rita Sallis, a principal at The Yucaipa Companies; Ryon; and Froehlich.
The finance committee, among other things, monitors MSRB’s financial performance and budget, as well as non-executive director compensation levels. It reviews investment strategies at least annually and schedules board meetings.
Members of the board include: Wynne; Miller; Lucy Hooper, executive vice president of Davenport & Co.; Apfelbacher; and Mark Kim, chief financial officer of the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority.
The audit committee oversees the MSRB’s financial statements and financial reporting process as well as its internal accounting and financial controls. It also oversees the annual independent audit process as well as the MSRB’s legal and regulatory requirements. The committee establishes procedures for the receipt, retention and treatment of complaints referred to it under the board’s “whistleblower” policies and procedures regarding board activities. It also reviews the board’s Form 990, the annual financial form that nonprofits file with the Internal Revenue Service.
Committee members are: Hall; Renee Boicourt, managing director and partner at Lamont Financial Services Corp.; Lakshmi Kommi, director of debt management for San Diego, Dieckman, Forsythe, and Ellis.
