Raymond James Adds Education Banker to San Francisco Office

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SAN FRANCISCO — As part of its plan to expand its presence on the West Coast, Raymond James has made another hire to its public finance group in San Francisco.

The firm announced Monday that Anastasia Beckett has joined the office as a vice president. The firm said she will advance the West Coast team's work with school and community college districts.

"I have known Anastasia for nearly a decade and long admired her knowledge of the fundamentals of our business, her work ethic, integrity and commitment to doing right by her clients," said Rob Larkins, managing director and western region manager. "We are incredibly excited to have her on the Raymond James team as we grow our presence throughout California and specifically in the education space."

Beckett joins the firm with more than 10 years of experience assisting public sector clients with bond and solar financings as a financial advisor and solar project developer.

Prior to joining Raymond James, she served as a project development manager for SolarCity and as a financial advisor with KNN Public Finance. At KNN, Beckett worked on numerous financings, including tax revenue anticipation notes, certificates of participation, and general obligation, revenue, and pension obligation bonds.

Beckett received a bachelor's degree in business administration from San Francisco State University.

"Anastasia is a strong, key addition to our San Francisco-based public finance team, because of her diverse experience, broad range of financing knowledge and relationships with California school and community college districts," said Rob Baird, executive vice president and head of public finance and debt investment banking. "The unique perspective she brings to education will be a valuable resource as we continue our push to be one of the go-to underwriting firms in California and throughout the West."

Beckett is the third strategic hire to the firm's public finance group in San Francisco in the last year. In December, Parker Colvin joined the office from Stifel Nicolaus as managing director and head of underwriting for the Western region.

Prior to that, the firm hired Tom Innis, also from Stifel Nicolaus, as managing director in the same office.

With these recent hires and the addition of Beckett, the San Francisco office now has six public finance professionals. Nationwide, the firm's public finance practice includes more than 180 professionals in 27 locations.

Raymond James ranked tenth nationally among senior managers on municipal bond deals for 2013, working on 496 issues totaling $10.3 billion, according to Thomson Reuters data.