SJ Advisors LLC has added Mark Perry and Joanne Thorndike, who will be joining the firm as managing directors. Both Perry and Thorndike previously held the same position at BLX Group, were they advised borrowers on access to the municipal bond market.
"We are delighted and fortunate to have Mark Perry and Joanne Thorndike join SJ Advisors," said Steve Johnson, founder and president of SJ Advisors. "Their wealth of knowledge and diversity of experience in the municipal and 501(c)(3) space will benefit all of our clients and will complement the firm's current capabilities representing borrowers."
Perry has over 30 years of experience in the municipal finance business. He has held a variety of management and hands-on positions in public finance, including trading, underwriting, sales, client service, and debt advisory. His career began at Fidelity Investments in the institutional sales group. He was a senior vice president and regional manager at Fleet Securities (now part of Bank of America), responsible for tax-exempt bond underwriting, trading and sales throughout New England. He was a founding partner of Burke, Perry & Thorndike, a boutique municipal advisory firm. Perry is also a past president of the Municipal Bond Club of Boston.
"Joining SJ Advisors will provide a wonderful platform to assist my clients in accessing the bond market," said Perry.
Thorndike brings more than 20 years of experience providing financial advisory services to clients focusing on credit analysis, debt capacity evaluation, and development of financing structures and strategies. She has also provided financial advisory services to higher education, health care and to other non-profit entities in New England and nationally.
Her career began at the First National Bank of Boston as a municipal credit analyst for the trading and underwriting department. She then moved to Shawmut Bank where she provided financial advisory services to a wide range of New England cities, towns and states. She, too, was a founding partner of Burke, Perry & Thorndike.
Perry and Thorndike, along with Linda Port, will be based in the Boston office of SJ Advisors. The firm also has a Minneapolis office.
"I am thrilled to join forces with Steve Johnson and Linda Port in providing top notch, independent advice to non-profit and governmental borrowers," Thorndike said.
