The Chapman Co. recently announced it acquired Charles A. Bell Securities Corp., a securities firm active in California public finance since 1986.
Founder Charles Bell, an African-American investment banking pioneer, said he is proud that his San Francisco-based firm has been acquired by another African-American owned firm.
"The capital that the Chapman Co. has raised as a result of their public offering provides for a new level of opportunities. The consolidation creates a continuation on the ladder of success others and I have struggled for in the overall financial service area (and) greater resources to compete," Bell said in a statement.
Vincent McCarley, who joined Chapman in June 1998 as director of public finance and opened the firm's San Francisco office, negotiated the acquisition with Bell.
"Charles Bell has always held himself and his firm to the highest standard of professionalism, client service, and integrity," McCarley said.
In 1998, Chapman became the first African-American owned securities firm to become a publicly traded company.
- Kenneth Heaton
NASP's Hall of Fame
Honors Wall Streeters
Two public finance professionals were among the four Street veterans recently inducted into the New York chapter of the National Association of Securities Professionals' new Wall Street Hall of Fame.
NASP-NY, which represents more than 1,000 minority and female professionals on Wall Street, honored the first inductees at the third annual People of Color on Wall Street symposium at the Roosevelt Hotel on Thursday, Feb. 18.
The two honorees from public finance were William H. Hayden, a senior managing director at Bear, Stearns & Co. and one of the first African- Americans to lead manage major municipal finance transactions, and Connecticut Treasurer Denise L. Nappier, the first black woman to be elected Treasurer in the state. They were praised along with the other honorees by the organization for their "commitment to excellence and to diversity throughout their careers in the financial industry."
"Induction into the Wall Street Hall of Fame is our highest honor, reserved for persons who have achieved a lifetime of excellence or a breakthrough accomplishment in America's financial industry," said Samuel Austin, president of NASP-NY, in a prepared statement.
Hayden spent the first 10 years of his public finance career with First Boston and has been with Bear Stearns for the past 15 years.
Among the recent large deals Hayden has been involved with as a senior manager was a $250 million new-money general obligation offering for Philadelphia that came to market late last year.
Nappier, 47, manages Connecticut pension fund assets totalling approximately $17 billion, while keeping an eye on the state's outstanding GO debt, which currently totals $6.6 billion, and $115 billion of annual cash flow.
She recently came into statewide office after first being elected Hartford city treasurer in 1989.
Proceeds from the induction ceremony will go to the organization's Wall Street Finance and Scholastic Training Track program - "FAST Track," - a school-to-work training program teaching inner-city high school students the skills required for professional careers in finance.
- Lynn Sherman
Group Awards Dain
Rauscher's Wiessmann
Robin L. Wiessmann, a managing director of public finance at Dain Rauscher Inc., recently received the Breaking the Glass Ceiling Award, presented by the Washington, D.C.-based Women Executives in State Government.
The organization annually honors one person from each of four categories: the private sector, the public sector, women in state government, and governors. Wiessmann was honored in the private-sector category. The selection panel cited Wiessmann for helping to create the first women-owned national investment banking firms, Artemis Capital Group Inc. The panel also recognized her for actively supporting efforts to promote leadership roles for women in public life and providing opportunities for women entrepreneurs.
Wiessmann joined Dain Rauscher as manager of its public finance offices on the east coast in December 1998, when the firm acquired Artemis' national public finance practice. She had been a principal at Artemis, which she co-founded in 1990. Earlier, she was an investment banker at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York City for six years.
She is active in several professional organizations, and serves as a board member of The Bond Market Association.
