WASHINGTON — Kym Arnone, managing director at Barclays Capital, will become the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's new chair beginning Oct. 1.
The MSRB announced its new chair along with other new officers and members of its board of directors on Wednesday as it moves forward with crafting a new regulatory structure for municipal advisors and several price transparency initiatives.
Arnone, a board member since 2012, will succeed RBC Capital Markets' Daniel Heimowitz. Before joining Barclays, she was a banker at Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers. Arnone is a trustee for the Citizens Budget Commission and a former board member of the Municipal Forum of New York.
"I am honored to have been elected as next year's chair," Arnone said in a release. "The MSRB is at the forefront of multiple initiatives to protect investors and municipal entities, and this is an exciting time to oversee the organization's strategic activities."
Marcy Edwards, former senior financial policy advisor to the District of Columbia's chief financial officer, will be vice chair.
"The MSRB has never been more relevant to municipal securities investors or state and local governments," said Edwards. "It is an honor and a great opportunity to be part of the organization's leadership this year."
New members of the board of directors elected at the MSRB's meeting in Chicago last week represent both the public and the municipal securities firms the board regulates. The board must be majority public by law, and its members serve three-year terms.
New public representatives include Richard Froehlich, chief operating officer and general counsel for the New York City Housing Development Corporation, and Rita J. Sallis, principal at the investment firm Yucaipa Companies. Current board member Robert Fippinger, senior counsel at the law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, was elected to serve another three-year term as a public member.
The new individuals representing regulated entities, in this case broker-dealer firms, are: Gary Hall, head of investment banking and a senior managing director at Siebert Brandford Shank & Co.; Lucy Hooper, executive vice president and director of fixed income at Davenport & Company; and Arthur Miller, managing director of the public sector and infrastructure group in the investment banking division of Goldman Sachs & Co.
Representing the newly-regulated MA sector will be Steve Apfelbacher, president of Ehlers and Associates. Apfelbacher is the first board member to also serve as a member of the National Association of Independent Finance Advisors, a group very involved with MA rulemaking.
Heimowitz, who said last year he wanted to see a solid chunk of the MA rulemaking done during his tenure, is among those leaving the board. Also leaving are: current vice chair Joseph Geraci, managing director and co-head of capital markets at Citi; Acacia Financial Group's co-president Noreen White; Stifel, Nicolaus & Co.'s Edward De La Rosa; Benjamin Thompson, managing principal and CEO of Samson Capital Advisors; and Dall Forsythe, a senior fellow at Wagner School of Public Service from New York University.
The MSRB published a list of more than 100 individuals who applied for board positions, representing the whole range of market participants. Some notable applicants include the National Federation of Municipal Analysts' industry and media liaison William Oliver, Municipal Market Advisors' managing director Matt Fabian, Andrew Kalotay of Andrew Kalotay Associates, and Malcolm Northam, a former director of fixed income securities at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority who now runs consulting firm Securities Risk Management, Ltd.
Some of the state and local officials who applied include former Government Finance Officers Association former president Timothy Firestine, prolific muni tweeter and executive director of the Kentucky School Facilities Construction Commission Kristi Culpepper, Los Angeles' debt management chief Natalie Brill, and District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority chief financial officer Mark Kim.
