Beth Wolchock in 1989 became, to her knowledge, the first woman to lead a national municipal underwriting desk. But her eventual ascendance to the post was contentious.
When Dean Witter Reynolds fired Wolchock's boss, the plan was to replace him with a retail trader from its Boston office. To Wolchock, that was an obvious slight based on her gender, and the firm's heads of investment banking agreed.
"They literally stood up for me, and said, 'If you don't make her head, we're leaving.'" Wolchock said. Dean Witter gave her the deserved promotion.
"That was the vote of confidence that really helped me," Wolchock said. "It was just smooth sailing ahead, because they believed in me."
Wolchock, Oppenheimer managing director, retired in June. Her 49 years in municipal finance were defined by her ambition, market knowledge and mentorship.
Wolchock entered the municipal finance world in 1977, fresh out of college, with a degree in psychology. She wanted to work in human resources but couldn't find a job. She took a summer position at George B. Gibbons & Co as a gal Friday — "someone who did a little of everything" — and planned to take classes for a master's degree at night. But she realized she loved munis.
"I spent the first year reading preliminary official statements to learn all about the credits, and then files back to 1914," Wolchock said. "It fascinated me."
Wolchock was mentored by Daniel O'Day, the former senior vice president of Northern Trust Bank and "an old-fashioned underwriter." He took her under his wing, she said, and she shadowed him in syndicate meetings.
She loved the competitive nature of underwriting — she had a thirst to price deals and she wanted to win.
When she began, Wolchock was aware of just one female underwriter in municipal bonds. "I wanted to be her," Wolchock said, "and nothing was going to stop me."
Wolchock joined Dean Witter Reynolds in 1981, where she met Deborah Trachtenberg, a trader who became a lifelong friend. Trachtenberg recalled how intimidating the underwriting environment was then.
Each syndicate would gather in conference rooms off of the trading floor or in the basement of Chase Manhattan Plaza and discuss bids until they formed a consensus. Wolchock was younger than many of the other underwriters.
"In this room with all these men, all these men, she would have to say yay or nay," Trachtenberg said. "She needed to have the courage, if her firm did not think that it was a good investment, to speak up, and I think that that was one of the most difficult things to do."
Rick Kolman, who met Wolchock while he was working at Goldman Sachs, said she was "never afraid to speak her mind, let people know what she thought, was never intimidated, and that's why she was so successful."
Wolchock jokes that she's probably worked with half of Wall Street's investment bankers, thanks to people shuffling from firm to firm, but the opportunity to work with so many bankers made her a smarter, better underwriter, she said.
Highlights of her career include introducing credits and pricing the first state revolving fund bonds. She led innovative financings and helped the city of Philadelphia access credit when it was in dire fiscal straits.
Wolchock founded or expanded the underwriting desk at several firms she worked for, including Jackson Securities, Castle Oak and Oppenheimer.
"Beth was instrumental in helping me continue to build Oppenheimer's public finance business after I joined the firm," Oppenheimer head of public finance Beth Coolidge said. "I am deeply grateful for her partnership and support."
In 2016, Wolchock was elected to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, where she served on the technology committee as it was developing EMMA.
"I was able to give back and offer all the advice that I learned throughout the years," Wolchock said.
The election to the MSRB is a "good data point of the respect that the industry had for her," Kolman said.
Wolchock worked hard to win respect in the industry through her knowledge and ability to form relationships.
Underwriters need to foster relationships with both bankers and municipalities, Trachtenberg said, keeping everyone happy and feeling like they received a fair deal. This was one of Wolchock's greatest strengths, Trachtenberg said.
Jacqueline Knights, who worked alongside Wolchock as a trader at Jackson Securities, said Wolchock won people over with knowledge and honesty.
The two would go on market calls together, "and I think between the two of us, no client could deny us," Knights said. "She comes across as knowledgeable, not forceful, but giving good information, and clients like that."
Wolchock also formed deep relationships with bankers and her fellow underwriters, said Bond Buyer Market Intelligence Analyst Jeff Lipton, who worked with her at Dean Witter and Oppenheimer. She would share her perspective on market dynamics with anyone, whether they were within or outside of her firm.
"She is always willing to provide education," Lipton said. "She has a very good sense of timing and a very good sense of institutional reception to specific underwritings."
Wolchock said she didn't like to think of herself as a woman — she preferred to focus on her convictions and getting the job done. Still, the industry's exclusion of women posed barriers.
Women weren't allowed to join the Municipal Bond Club of New York when Wolchock began her career, so she and a group of women formed their own club.
At George B. Gibbons, Wolchock watched larger firms recruit two coworkers. The process usually started with an underwriter inviting them for drinks after work. One day, an underwriter made such an invitation to Wolchock, and she thought, "this is it."
She wore a navy suit and a bow tie and sat down "all prim and proper." When they finished their drinks, the man asked: "'Do you want to go home and change, we'll have dinner?"
"He asked me on a date," Wolchock said, "and I thought I was getting a job."
By the early 1990s, she said, succeeding as a woman in finance became easier.
"State and local governments wanted to give out contracts to women and minorities," Wolchock said. "The underwriting departments were all scrambling to hire women because they needed that to get the business."
In 1995, Wolchock joined Artemis Capital, a firm founded by six women who had left Goldman Sachs and Citi. Teams of women push each other harder, Wolchock said.
"Artemis pushed really hard, like we could be as great as the guys," Wolchock said.
Wolchock mentored many members of the public finance industry, both women and men. Wolchock said her proudest moments were when "an intern went through the program and ended up being an underwriter on the desk and had a hugely successful career."
Knights said observing how Wolchock managed her portfolio and client relationships provided valuable lessons for her.
"I found that experience to be instrumental in my success at Williams Capital, in building their municipal franchise," Knights said.
Wolchock is well aware of her professional impact. The women she mentored, she said, tell her that she "paved the way" for their careers.
Wolchock worked just as hard outside of underwriting, said Municipal Bond Women's Forum founder Rachel Pearlman.
Wolchock attracted attendees to the forum, "served as a model" for underwriters and joined hours-long talks about life experiences and industry issues, Pearlman said.
"At every single forum event, Beth was already thinking ahead to the next year," Pearlman said. "She'd always come up to me and say, 'I have an idea.'"
In retirement, Wolchock said, she hopes to stay in touch with the municipal finance world, through mentoring and groups like the women's forum. She has joined her local zoning board and hopes to become involved with her local development corporation.
"I think I speak for many in the industry," Kolman said, "that we're all gonna miss her."
Although Wolchock has plans for how she'll spend her retirement — exercising, spending time with her grandchildren, reading more — it was hard to step away from work.
"I call it my tennis game, because every time I was up at bat to price, all eyes are on you," she said. "I always wanted to be the best I could be and I just really enjoyed the competitive nature of it."
"To this day, I don't play tennis," Wolchock said. "Because that's my tennis game."
