Title: Senior Vice President
Firm: Ramirez & Co., Inc.
Age: 33
As a young girl riding New York City's transportation system, Cordelia Mendez was fascinated by how millions of people could live in such a compact environment.
Today, she helps finance that infrastructure.
As an underwriter at Ramirez & Co., Cordelia works with issuers including the Battery Park City Authority, the city of New York, and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. While she enjoys supporting projects close to home, she also values the opportunity to work with issuers across the country, gaining insight into the unique challenges and priorities of communities nationwide.
Cordelia began her career with a summer internship at Morgan Stanley before joining the firm's infrastructure platform full-time after graduation. Over eight years, she built experience across public finance, investment-grade debt capital markets, and the municipal syndicate desk.
She enjoys fast-paced, market-driven transaction execution, so when the opportunity arose to join Ramirez in 2024, she embraced it.
Her experience on both the banking and fixed-income sides of the business has shaped her approach as an underwriter. Understanding the pressures bankers face allows her to anticipate challenges and help structure successful transactions. Since joining the firm, she's been proud to contribute to Ramirez's growing underwriting platform.
Cordelia loves the constant interplay between the broader economy and the municipal market. "I love finding the middle ground between investors and issuers in an occasionally fractured and always changing market," she says. "Negotiation isn't always easy or straightforward but bringing a deal across the finish line is incredibly rewarding."
She also enjoys helping issuers understand how shifts in economic conditions affect financing strategies, translating complex market dynamics into guidance regardless of a client's level of experience.
For Cordelia, continuous learning is important. "I find it rewarding to work through difficult market conditions," she says. "Every challenge is an opportunity to learn something."
