PFM Group Names Five New Managing Directors

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- PFM Group, one of the nation's leading providers of independent financial and investment advisory services to state and local governments as well as not-for-profit institutions, announced today that five Senior Managing Consultants have been promoted to Managing Directors of the firm. PFM CEO F. John White announced the promotions of Maria Altomare, Nelson Bush, John Cape, Daniel Kozloff, and Scott Shearer. Ms. Altomare is based at the firm's St. Louis, Missouri office; Mr. Bush in Arlington, Virginia; Mr. Cape is headquartered in Albany; Mr. Kozloff works in the firm's Philadelphia office, and Mr. Shearer is based in Harrisburg, PA.

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"We are extremely pleased to welcome these outstanding individuals as partners in our business as we build for the future," Mr. White said. "Each of them has made major contributions to PFM's growth and development during their years with the firm, and richly deserves this special distinction."

Maria Altomare has worked at PFM for four years as a Senior Managing Consultant in Asset Management after 20 years of banking experience.  Prior to joining PFM, Maria worked at US Bank. At PFM, she has major responsibilities as relationship manager for the Missouri Securities Investment Program ("MOSIP"), a comprehensive cash management program for school districts and municipalities and for other governmental entities.  She delivers client services under the MOSIP program in Missouri as well as managing other PFM investment programs in Nebraska and Wyoming. During Maria's four-year tenure at PFM, the total assets under management in the three-state area have grown from $1.4 billion to approximately $2.5 billion.

Nelson Bush has worked for PFM for 16 years, and currently provides clients with PFM investment services in Virginia. He is the day-to-day contact for participants in the SNAP Program, a bond proceeds management program started by PFM with the Virginia State Treasurer about 20 years ago.  Under Nelson's guidance, Virginia SNAP has seen its assets under management grow from $2 billion five years ago to $3.7 billion at year-end 2009. Nelson has held a number of positions of increasing responsibility during his career at PFM, and has broad experience in operations as well as client service.

John Cape joined PFM in 2007 and is based in the firm's Albany office. As the former Budget Director for New York State, he oversaw one of the largest state budgets in the country and he brings that experience to every financial consulting assignment.  Considered a national expert on state and local finances, Cape also serves as a Senior Fellow at the Rockefeller Institute. John co-leads the State Government services in PFM's Strategic Consulting practice. In particular, he is expanding PFM's ability to help state governments use technology to control costs in human services and in the medical assistance delivery programs – large and complex areas that present great challenges to most state budgets.

Daniel Kozloff joined PFM in 1999 and has spent his entire career with the firm. He initially worked as a financial advisory consultant, and provided support for a variety of strategic consulting and financial advisory clients, before joining PFM's Quantitative Strategies Group (QSG) some five years ago.  For the last several years, he has served as manager of the QSG, with lead responsibilities for business plan support, training programs, and firm wide model/technical infrastructure development and support (R&D). Additionally, Daniel works in multiple  capacities  with  several  large  municipal  issuers  throughout  the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. His special ability to continually provide updates on new industry developments, new market trends and improved technical capabilities has been a key factor in PFM's recent growth.

Scott Shearer joined PFM twelve years ago and has worked in the Harrisburg office in our highly successful Pennsylvania Local Government practice since that time.  His clients include a wide variety of Pennsylvania local governments, including school districts, cities, boroughs, townships, counties, and municipal authorities. In addition, Scott has developed special expertise in distressed swaps, troubled variable rate transactions, and bond pool projects.

Each of these new partners moves into position as PFM is set to embark on another landmark year. In 2009, PFM successfully retained its position as the leading financial advisor in the nation, and it is expected that the new managing directors will enable PFM to continue delivering even better client service in the years to come.

PFM's more than 430 employees serve a broad base of clients from 32 offices located in every region of the country. The firm is well respected for providing clients with independent advisory services free of conflicts in their dealings with the capital markets. At year-end 2009, Public Financial Management was the top ranked financial advisor in all major categories - advising on $51.5 billion of total debt in 832 separate transactions. PFM Asset Management LLC currently manages $37 billion in assets for state and local governments and non-profit institutions, and provides non-discretionary advice for an additional $2.3 billion in fixed income securities.

SOURCE PFM Group