MSRB Announces Selection of Officers and New Board Members

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) today announced the names of its new officers and Board of Director members who will begin their terms on October 1, 2011. Alan D. Polsky, Senior Vice President at Dougherty & Co. LLC, will serve as Chair of the MSRB. Robert A. Lamb, President of Lamont Financial Services Corp., will serve as Vice Chair. Officer terms are for one year.

"The MSRB is excited to welcome its new officers and Board members for the new fiscal year," said MSRB Executive Director Lynnette Kelly Hotchkiss. "Both Alan and Bob have extensive experience in the municipal securities industry and the MSRB will benefit from their leadership. The MSRB also is gaining tremendous expertise from the five new Board members who will make important contributions to the MSRB's mission over the next three years."

The MSRB's new Board members represent the municipal securities dealer community and the public. New public representatives are Dall Forsythe, Vice President of Finance and Operations at Atlantic Philanthropies, and Peter J. Taylor, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the University of California system. Joining the Board as bank representatives are Joseph J. Geraci, Managing Director and Co-Head of Capital Markets for the Municipal Securities Division at Citi, and Daniel Heimowitz, Managing Director at RBC Capital Markets' U.S. Municipal Finance Group. The Board's new securities firm representative is Edward J. De La Rosa, President of De La Rosa & Co. Each new Board member will serve a three-year term.

Selected from a candidate pool of more than 120 people, the new MSRB members were nominated by the MSRB's Nominating and Governance Committee, with the unanimous ratification of all nominees by the public members of the Committee. The MSRB has made publicly available a list of MSRB Board candidates considered by the Committee. Below is biographical information about the new officers and Board members.

Alan Polsky, who has served on the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board since 2009, is Senior Vice President of Dougherty & Co., LLC, a Minneapolis, Minnesota-based investment firm. Mr. Polsky is responsible for the company's negotiated municipal underwriting and fixed income institutional sales and research. During his 26 years with the firm, Mr. Polsky has also served as director of research, responsible for the tax-exempt sector, and as a tax-exempt trader. Prior to Dougherty & Co., Mr. Polsky was controller for the University of Minnesota Foundation and an audit manager for Peat, Marwick & Mitchell. He has served as chairman of the board of governors for the National Federation of Municipal Analysts. Mr. Polsky received a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Robert Lamb, who has served on the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board since 2010, is President of Lamont Financial Services Corp., a financial advisory firm he founded with practices in the areas of state revolving funds, housing, water and sewer, transportation, education and general government. Prior to founding Lamont Financial Services, Mr. Lamb was a principal of the firm of L.F. Rothschild & Co. where he served as a senior banker, headed the infrastructure group and was a senior managing underwriter on numerous transactions. He is registered as an investment advisor (Series 65). Mr. Lamb received a bachelor's and a master's degree from the University of Albany.

Joining the Board as members are:

Edward J. De La Rosa is the President and founder of De La Rosa & Co., a leading underwriter and market maker for California municipal bonds and taxable fixed-income securities. Before founding De La Rosa & Co., Mr. De La Rosa was a vice president in capital markets at First Interstate Bank. Mr. De La Rosa is a member of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association's Municipal Executive Steering Committee. He is also a former board member and chairman of the board of directors of the California Public Securities Association. Mr. De La Rosa is a member of the Dean's Advisory Board of the Yale School of Management and is a recipient of Yale's "Dean's Alumni Achievement Award." Mr. De La Rosa received a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of California, San Diego and a master's degree in management from Yale School of Management.

Dall Forsythe is Vice President of Finance and Operations at Atlantic Philanthropies. Prior to joining Atlantic Philanthropies, Mr. Forsythe was a professor of practice teaching financial management at New York University's Wagner School of Public Service. He also taught at Baruch College, the Kennedy School at Harvard, and Columbia University. In addition to his work as an educator, Mr. Forsythe was the chief administrative officer for the Episcopal Diocese of New York and budget director of the State of New York. Mr. Forsythe chairs the board of the Fund for the City of New York and has served on the Audit Committee of the City of New York and the board of the Municipal Assistance Corporation. Mr. Forsythe is a 1988 Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and received his bachelor's and doctorate degrees in political science from Columbia University.

Joseph J. Geraci is Managing Director at Citi and Co-head of Capital Markets for the company's municipal securities division. Prior to his current position, Mr. Geraci was co-head of Citi's municipal financial products. Mr. Geraci has been a leader in Citi's efforts to expand the reach of its municipal securities division by seeking opportunities to leverage developing technologies and improve the efficiency of the municipal market. He also serves on the advisory board of the A. Alfred Taubman Center for State and Local Government at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and on the advisory board of the Institute for Affordable Housing at New York University's Furman School. Mr. Geraci received a bachelor's degree in economics from Harvard University.

Daniel Heimowitz is a Managing Director in RBC Capital Markets' U.S. Municipal Finance group. He currently leads the transportation finance effort and is a key driver of RBC's large issuer practice. Prior to his position with RBC Capital Markets, Mr. Heimowitz was a managing director in Lehman Brother's public finance group. He joined Lehman Brothers after a 19-year career with Moody's Investors Services, during which time he served as executive vice president and director of the public finance department. Mr. Heimowitz is a past president of both the Society of Municipal Analysts and the Municipal Forum of New York. He is also a member of the Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Council, the Municipal Analysts Group of New York and the Government Finance Officers Association Advisory Committee. Mr. Heimowitz received bachelor's degrees in economics and geography from Clark University and a master's degree in city planning from Harvard University.

Peter J. Taylor is the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the University of California system. Prior to joining the University of California system, Mr. Taylor was a managing director at Barclays Capital and a managing director at Lehman Brothers. Mr. Taylor is also a board member of the J. Paul Getty Trust and the James Irvine Foundation, where he serves as Board Chair. He previously served as chair of the board of directors of the UCLA Foundation. Mr. Taylor received Southern California Leadership Network's Civic Leader of the Year Award and a leadership award from Neighborhood Youth Association. Mr. Taylor received a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles and a master's degree in public policy analysis from Claremont Graduate University. He also completed a one-year graduate level fellowship with the Coro Foundation.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) protects investors, issuers of municipal securities and entities whose credit stands behind municipal securities, and public pension plans by promoting a fair and efficient municipal market. The MSRB fulfills this mission by regulating securities firms, banks and municipal advisors that engage in municipal securities and advisory activities. To further protect market participants, the MSRB promotes disclosure and market transparency through its Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA) website, provides education and conducts extensive outreach. The MSRB has operated under Congressional mandate with oversight by the Securities and Exchange Commission since 1975.

SOURCE Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB)