Rick Kolman's career shows how new muni businesses earn credibility

Rick Kolman has twice built municipal businesses from the ground up. At U.S. Bank, he created a full-service operation that grew to a 50-person team handling banking, trading and sales within five years. At Academy Securities, he launched a municipal business that paired experienced bankers with the military- and veteran-owned firm's geopolitical insight and veteran-development mission.

The two builds offer a consistent lesson about how new public finance businesses establish credibility: put experienced people in place, earn issuer trust quickly and give clients a clear reason to choose the new franchise. That record of institution building anchors a career that will be recognized with Kolman's induction into The Bond Buyer's Hall of Fame of municipal finance.

At Academy, Kolman started with the team. Peter Clarke, who retired as vice chairman of public finance at JPMorgan in 2017 and serves in an unpaid role on Academy's advisory board, said Kolman hired well as he built the municipal operation.

Kolman also brought something a new business could not manufacture overnight: decades of experience and relationships. Clarke said Kolman's extensive resumé gave Academy's municipal business instant credibility with issuers.

"Rick has been mission-driven around providing clients the benefits of having access to top military brass that are always willing to share their geopolitical insights and situational awareness of global events as they happen in a way that no one else can," said Adam Barsky, chief financial officer at the New York Power Authority. "Rick has leveraged his incredible network and access to market participants that provide unique ideas and market intelligence that always put the needs of his clients first."

That credibility was built over decades in the municipal market.

Kolman started his career at Goldman Sachs in 1978, serving for many years as head of the underwriting desk and ultimately rising to co-head of the public finance department.

"I've had the privilege of knowing Rick since my early days at Goldman Sachs, where I had the opportunity to work for him, learn from him, be mentored by him, and get to know him," Bervan Yeh, head of public sector and infrastructure at Goldman Sachs, said on LinkedIn. "When I look back on those early years, Rick stands out as someone who had a meaningful influence on me — both professionally and personally."

"I'll always be grateful for the time I spent working with him and for the lessons, guidance, friendship and laughs we shared along the way," Yeh said.

After leaving Goldman in 2008, Kolman worked with Macquarie to develop the Municipal and Infrastructure Assurance Company, where he served as executive vice chairman.

His first opportunity to build a full municipal business from scratch came at U.S. Bank.

Kolman joined U.S. Bank in 2010 as head of the municipal securities department and built a full-service operation spanning banking, trading and sales. Within five years, the business had grown to a 50-person team under his leadership.

Seven years later, Kolman took on a second build, this time at a firm with a very different identity and source of differentiation.

In 2017, Kolman joined Academy Securities, a military- and veteran-owned investment bank, as a member of the operating committee and head of its newly formed municipal group. Along with building the business, he advanced Academy's mission of mentoring, hiring and developing military veterans — while helping turn the firm's military network into a source of market intelligence for public-sector clients.

Academy named Kolman vice chairman of public sector and infrastructure financing this June, when Frank Oh joined the firm as managing director and head of municipal banking.

Kolman has served on industry boards including the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association municipal executive committee, including some as vice chair or chair.

In recognition of his contributions, SIFMA gave him its Lifetime Achievement Award.

"SIFMA commends the entire 2026 class of The Bond Buyer's Hall of Fame and particularly applauds the inclusion of Kym Arnone, Frank Chin, Gary Hall, and Rick Kolman," said Leslie Norwood, managing director, associate general counsel and head of municipal securities at SIFMA. "All four have been steadfast leaders of the municipal securities industry and have shared their knowledge gained through many decades in the industry as selfless volunteers to industry organizations, including the MSRB."

For Kolman, building public finance businesses has ultimately been a means to that end. What he likes most about the industry, he said, is "seeing projects have a big impact on tax-paying citizens."