CHICAGO — The directors of two of Indiana’s largest borrowers have left for new jobs.
Indianapolis Local Public Improvement Bond Bank director Kevin Taylor left the post to take a position managing Indianapolis-based City Securities Corp.’s public finance team. He replaces Randy Ruhl, who will continue to work at the firm as a banker.
Former deputy director and general counsel Deron Kintner will take over as bond bank director.
On the state level, Dan Huge, long-time director of the Indiana Bond Bank, is now chief financial officer at the Indianapolis-Marion County Capital Improvement Board. The CIB runs the city’s sports venues and convention center.
Indiana Bond Bank chairman, state Treasurer Richard Murdock, has not yet named a replacement for Huge. As the CFO of the CIB, Huge will take the financial helm of a cash-strapped organization that is going through a transition.
Last year, Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard requested for proposals for private companies interested in taking over the management of the board. The proposal came a year after the CIB, which runs the Lucas Oil Stadium, the Indiana Convention Center, and the Conesco Fieldhouse, struggled with a $47 million operating shortfall. The state and the city stepped in to shore up the board’s finances — the state with a series of loans and the city by raising its innkeeper tax rate.
Four months ago Ballard appointed a new president and five new members to the board. CIB treasurer Ann Lathrop took over as board president, naming financial stability and building new revenues as her top goals.
The convention center is in the midst of a 200,000-square foot expansion.
“It’s a time of change,” said Huge, 47.
The CIB has started work on the 2011 budget and is crafting three- and five-year budget outlooks as well, Huge added. Privatization remains under review by the Ballard Administration. Huge helped the city oversee finances at the Indianapolis Airport Authority when a private British company took over operations in 1995. “Even when there’s privatization, if there are public dollars, you need a strong finance person,” he said.
The CIB has no borrowings planned, Huge said.
Huge worked at the Indiana Bond Bank for close to nine years, and called it “one of the most fulfilling professional experiences I’ve ever been involved in.” Before that, he worked at the Indianapolis Local Public Improvement Bond Bank as director, and before that in finance positions in the private sector.
Meanwhile, former local bond bank director Taylor returns to the private sector after working for the city for just over two years. Taylor will manage City Securities’ 14-member public finance group from its Indianapolis office. The firm also has a Fort Wayne office with four employees. There are 10 in Indianapolis, said Ruhl, the outgoing public finance manager.
Ruhl, who’s been with City Securities for almost 23 years, said he initiated hiring Taylor so he could devote himself full-time to banking after managing the public finance group for three years.
“I’m a banker at heart,” he said. “The company is looking to grow, and I needed to make a decision about what I wanted to do.”
Ruhl and Taylor said the firm is eyeing expansion over the next year or so in Indiana and in adjacent markets. Taylor, 46, and new director Kintner joined the city staff under Ballard, who took office in January 2008.
Taylor spent eight years as an analyst at Standard & Poor’s, where he covered Indianapolis, his hometown, and the state of Indiana. Prior to coming to the bond bank, he spent six years at AIG Global Investment Group, and three years on the trading desk at Prudential Securities.
“We saw the bond bank through a very turbulent credit market, and we reduced its variable-rate exposure by 92%, ” he said.
City Securities ranked second among senior managers in Indiana last year, working on $853.9 million of volume, according to Thomson Reuters.
