JPMorgan Makes Melio Sole Manager of Tax-Exempt Group

CHICAGO — JPMorgan internally announced late last week a shift in the leadership of its public finance group, handing sole responsibility for managing the firm’s tax-exempt banking group to Mark T. Melio, public finance sources said Friday.

The shift, announced to staff internally late Thursday and characterized as a move aimed at streamlining investment banking originations, stripped Gene R. Saffold of his co-head status alongside Melio. Saffold, a well-respected banking veteran based in Chicago, had run the firm’s public sector group. Melio, also based in Chicago, managed the health care, housing, and cultural group. Both reported to William Johnson, head of the municipal finance group.

Saffold will pursue other opportunities at the firm outside of the tax-exempt capital markets group, although no specific post was identified in the note circulated to staff. Several JPMorgan sources said the firm hopes Saffold stays and that a senior position in the capital markets group had been offered to him.

It is unclear if Saffold will remain with JPMorgan. The firm declined to comment on any of the information provided by sources Friday and calls for comment to Saffold and Melio, both managing directors, were not returned Friday.

As the head of JPMorgan’s tax-exempt capital markets investment banking business, Melio will manage a group of roughly 200 public finance bankers that cover various sectors in more than 20 offices across the country. Sources said he would continue to manage the group from Chicago. The firm ranked fifth last year among senior managers, on $25.6 billion of debt issued in 338 deals, according to Thomson Financial.

Melio started at JPMorgan in 1997 after working for 10 years at Goldman, Sachs & Co. as a health care and higher education banker. He previously was a health care consultant and auditor with Touche Ross & Co. Prior to JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s acquisition of the former Bank One Corp. in 2004, Melio served as head of the firm’s national health care group.

Melio’s elevation to a co-head of the group came in a leadership shift after Johnson started with the firm in August 2006. Saffold and Peter Hill had shared the co-head title since the JPMorgan/Bank One marriage. Hill had managed the JPMorgan group prior to the union and Saffold the Banc One Capital Markets Inc. group.

While many believed Hill would receive the nod for the top spot, market participants attributed the decision to give Saffold the co-head title to his strong local ties and prominence in the community. Hill left when Johnson started and currently is head of public finance at insurer ACA Capital Holdings Inc.

Saffold was also a familiar face to James Dimon, the chief executive officer of Bank One Corp. and then JPMorgan Chase, with their relationship dating back to their respective tenures at Citi. Saffold is close to Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and served for a decade on the Chicago Board of Education. Daley’s brother, William Daley, is Midwest chairman of JPMorgan.

Saffold, then 47, took over the struggling Banc One group in 2002. He left Citi where he had worked since 1985 to take the position. His time at Citi was interrupted between 1991-1994 when he launched the advisory firm LS Financial Group.

 

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