DALLAS - Eight members of RBC Capital Markets' public finance team have jumped to Baird's Houston office.
Former RBC managing director Jan Bartholomew will head the Baird Houston team as managing director.
Stephen Eustis, formerly senior public finance banker at RBC, will hold the title of director at Baird in Houston.
Also making the move are senior vice presidents Ryan R. Nesmith and David Smalling, along with vice president Adam C. Cohen.
Debbie Hardwick is joining Baird as public finance coordinator, with financial analysts Oscar Ortiz and Jimmy Taylor.
Keith Kolb, managing director for public finance at Milwaukee-based Baird, said the team's "client-focused approach and deep expertise in a niche sector, which includes MUDs and special districts, is a great addition to our public finance platform."
Bartholomew makes the move after 25 years at RBC, where she specialized in serving Texas special districts, including municipal utility districts. Before joining RBC, Bartholomew worked at Underwood, Neuhaus & Co. She has worked on more than 2,000 transactions involving more than 200 special districts in Houston, Austin and Dallas.
"Baird's robust platform of services and support for our specialized financial advisory business, along with the firm being employee owned and conservatively managed, made it the best fit for our clients and our team," Bartholomew said in a statement.
Eustis has worked as a financial analyst and support banker, assisting in the completion of more than 500 special district transactions during his career. Eustis focuses on Texas special districts including municipal utility districts, levee improvement districts, municipal management districts and improvement districts. He holds a bachelor's degree in finance from Trinity University.
Baird employs nearly 100 associates in Texas. The firm has four offices in Texas including two in Houston, Dallas and Fort Worth, and has wealth management, equity research and fixed income institutional sales operations in the region.
The Jan. 30 announcement comes three months after Baird lost five members of its Dallas team to Chicago-based William Blair & Co. The Dallas team, which specialized in school finance, was led by Ajay Thomas.
"Ajay Thomas and his group did leave Baird to pursue other opportunities, but I would not say this team is replacing them," said Baird spokeswoman Amy Nutter. "Their focus area is very different."
Baird ranked in the top 10 among senior managers in 2014 on Texas issues.
Earlier this month, 10 former Southwest Securities public finance employees jumped to Samco Capital Partners after their firm's parent company was acquired by the parent corporation of First Southwest Co.
