Hooks Leaving JeffCo for Carty & Co. in Memphis

BRADENTON, Fla. — David Hooks, the director of capital structure and investments for Jefferson County, Ala., is returning to the private sector.

Hooks, who left his financial advisory business in 2010 to work for the county, said he has accepted a position with Memphis-based, fixed-income broker-dealer Carty & Co. As vice president of investment banking and institutional sales for Carty, he said he will focus on expanding the firm’s institutional sales network.

Hooks joined Jefferson County as chief of staff to the commissioner overseeing the county’s finances. Last year, he took the position as director of capital structure and investments managing the county’s debt.

“I’ve enjoyed doing this,” he said, referring to his work with the county. “In terms of a learning experience, it has every aspect of municipal finance that you could imagine.”

Hooks said he had planned on helping Jefferson County overcome its financial problems by staying for two years, but due to the lack of fiscal relief from the state and the county’s bankruptcy filing in November resolution of those problems will take longer than that.

After serving the past six years on the Homewood City Council, Hooks said he will not seek reelection this year due to his new job. While on the Homewood council, he was chairman of the finance and adminstration committee for the National League of Cities last year.

Hooks said he plans to start his new job with Carty on July 16, and initially will focus on establishing a footprint in institutional sales in Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas. He plans to expand the firm’s reach throughout the Southeast, and will also hire public finance and sales professionals as well as traders.

“I see this as a great opportunity for me,” he said. “I think this company has great potential to grow in size, and give customers service they don’t get from the big houses.”

Hooks said the firm will help customers avoid the financial difficulties plaguing some municipalities today.

“I think city and county governments are looking for that around the country,” he said. “Based on what I’ve been through here in Jefferson County, I know all the pitfalls and how to avoid them like borrowing way too much money. I think that will be a niche that we’ll go after.”

Previously, Hooks was managing director of public finance at Sterne, Agee & Leach Inc. Before that he was senior manager of industrial recruitment for the Tennessee Valley Authority and director of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs.

Hooks received a BA at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and is a graduate of the Public Finance Instituteat the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

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