Burger and Burns to co-head Wells Fargo public finance group
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Wells Fargo & Co. has named Julie Burger and Mark Burns as co-heads of their public finance division, the firm announced on Monday.
They will report to Chuck Peck, head of Wells Fargo’s municipal products group, effective Feb. 27.
Peter Cannava, current head of public finance, will become the leader of multifamily capital in Wells Fargo’s commercial real estate division.
“We are pleased to name Julie Burger and Mark Burns as co-heads of public finance,” the firm said in a statement. “They are proven leaders with deep client expertise, a strong track record and a shared commitment to the success of our team. We are confident that Julie and Mark will build on the established momentum of our public finance group and lead our platform to future success.”
Burger, a Bond Buyer Rising Star in 2019, joined Wells Fargo in 2011. She is the head of transportation in public finance and focused on public-private partnership deals.
Burns joined Wells Fargo in 2004. He is co-head of public finance’s eastern region and focuses on general infrastructure in the Mid-Atlantic region.
“Both Julie and Mark have been on the public finance team for some time,so we viewed this move as a natural progression for them and an easy transition for the team as they’re already here and providing some leadership,” Peck said.
Burger, he said, “is a first class transportation banker and leads transactions for some of the nation’s largest, most complex infrastructure clients in both the traditional transportation context as well as in public-private partnerships, both for-profit and municipal clients.”
She brings experience that is “very much into nexus with our municipal clients’ needs, in terms of identifying creative methods to finance infrastructure projects and transfer risk,”Peck said.
Wells Fargo had been investing in the infrastructure space in the context of the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, he noted, and have had a lot of success and momentum in that area.
Burns comes from a more traditional governmental banking background, Peck said. “I think the two of them together are going to be a great team.”
The municipal space has undergone a lot of change in the last several years, Peck said.
“Wells Fargo has been really happy with the service we are providing to municipal issuers, which is reflected in our market share, which has increased every year for the past several years,” he said. “And we believe that Julie and Mark will continue that success.”
Cannava has been at Wells for 14 years. He is an experienced municipal bond investment banker focused on multifamily housing, securitizations, real estate and project finance issues.
In his role as head of public finance, he created a leading affordable housing platform in partnership with Wells other divisions in multifamily capital, community lending & investment and commercial real estate securitizations and capital markets.
Wells has been active in the environmental social and governance sector. It has done some high-profile ESG deals, such underwriting the award-winning issue of $1 billion of social bonds that the Ford Foundation came to market with in 2020.
In 2022, it issued an inclusive communities and climate bond, a $2 billion deal that backed housing affordability, economic opportunity, renewable energy and clean transportation. The company issued its first $1 billion sustainability bond in 2021.
“Wells Fargo has led recent marquee transactions for the Pennsylvania Bridges P3 deal, state of Louisiana’s insurance assessment bonds, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and others,” Peck said.
Last year, Wells Fargo jumped 15% to sixth place on the list on top managing underwriters of municipal bonds, according to Refinitiv. This was up from eighth place in 2021, Peck noted, even as new issue volume overall decreased over 20%. The firm underwrote $20.437 billion of bonds for a market share of 5.7% in 2022.
