Janney hires three professionals for new higher ed, not-for-profit advisory group

Janney Montgomery Scott has hired three municipal finance professionals to head its new higher education and not-for-profit advisory group, the firm announced on Tuesday.

Mary Jane Darby, Rob Kanzer and James Still have over 50 years of combined experience in the industry and most recently all worked at Prager & Co. They will be working at the firm’s New York office starting later this month.

“As the firm continues to move towards a more advisory business, this group will greatly support Janney’s strategic initiatives,” said Tom Bajus, Janney’s head of fixed-income.

“Mary, Rob and James are a successful team that we are excited to welcome to Janney,” said Vivian Altman, Janney’s head of public finance. “They will enhance our business by broadening our reach from traditional underwriting to advising prominent and highly sophisticated higher education institutions across the country.”

Vivian Altman

Darby will become a managing director and head of Janney's higher education and not-for-profit advisory group. Her focus will be on overseeing client relationships and assisting institutions in developing and executing capital strategies.

She has over 30 years of public finance experience. Most recently, she worked at Prager as head of the national higher education financial advisory practice. Darby has also worked at the New Jersey Educational Facilities Authority, where she completed over 100 higher-education financings totaling over $7.1 billion.

Darby is a graduate of Lafayette College with a B.A. in economics and business. She is a FINRA registered representative and municipal advisor.

Kanzer will become a managing director in the group. He will oversee client relationships in order to create an alignment between financial and strategic plans. His work has included capital planning, rating strategy, and financing strategy execution and he has extensive experience with central bank frameworks including policy development, modeling, and implementation.

Most recently, he worked at Prager providing financial advisory services to higher education and not-for-profit clients throughout the country. He began his career in public finance in 2001 with Bear, Stearns where he worked on New York City bond issues and on tobacco securitizations throughout the country. He also worked at Citi on municipal derivatives with a focus on healthcare.

Kanzer is a graduate of Boston University with a B.S. in business administration and a concentration in finance. He is a FINRA registered representative and municipal advisor.

Still will become a director in the group and will help create an analytical framework to aid clients in strategic decision making. He has experience in financial modeling to assess the impact of institutional strategies related to capital financing, endowment spending, institutional cash flow, and liquidity.

Prior to his new job, he worked at Prager, where he provided financial advisory services to higher education and not-for-profit clients around the United States.

Still is a graduate of Indiana University with a Master of Public Affairs concentrated in public financial administration. He is a FINRA registered representative and municipal advisor.

Janney is a full-service wealth management, financial services and investment banking firm headquartered in Philadelphia. It is an independently operated subsidiary of The Penn Mutual Life Insurance Co.

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