Siebert hires Markus, Liff to focus on higher education, infrastructure
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To bolster its infrastructure and higher education divisions, Siebert Williams Shank & Co. has hired Marvin Markus and Mark Liff as managing directors, the firm announced Monday.
Markus and Liff are municipal financial industry veterans with decades of experience between them.
“With the addition of Marvin Markus and Mark Liff, our firm is adding two senior bankers with a long track record of success for some exceptionally well-respected clients and major, large-scale transactions,” said Suzanne Shank, president & CEO.
Markus is a 40-year veteran of infrastructure investment banking and will become a senior advisor as well as a managing director.
The firm said he will help strengthen its infrastructure and real estate practice, using his experience in financing initiatives that intersect with the municipal market, such as real estate and structured finance and securitization.
Markus was the lead banker in the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Through the Liberty Bond program, Towers One, 3, 4 and 7 of the World Trade Center were rebuilt as wells as the headquarters for Goldman Sachs and IAC.
He has also been an advisor to various public sector clients, including the Empire State Development Corp., Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, United Nations Development Corp. and the Veterans Administration as well as the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Education, Transportation and Housing and Urban Development.
Previously, he worked at Goldman Sachs, Paine Webber, Kidder Peabody and Bear Stearns.
In the public sector, he served two terms as chair of New York City Rent Guidelines Board and the NYC Redistricting Commission. He also was the deputy commissioner of the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
“I am thrilled to join a first-class investment banking operation,” Markus said. “Siebert Williams Shank’s reputation for expertly executed funding of top infrastructure projects is second to none. I could not imagine a better fit and be able to continue facilitating the most important transactions of our time.”
Liff has had a decades-long career providing investment banking services to private and public colleges and universities, as well to not-for-profit institutions.
Previously, he worked at UBS Financial Services, JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch, where he helped develop and implement complex financing and directed credit/rating strategies for major higher educational institutions.
His clients included Cornell University, Princeton University, New York University, California Institute of the Arts, University of Massachusetts, University of Connecticut, Lehigh University, Boston University and all of New Jersey’s public colleges and universities.
He has also worked on major transactions, such as the Rhode Island Convention Center Authority’s Amica Mutual Pavilion acquisition. In New Jersey, he served as senior manager on the state’s most recent higher education capital improvement fund credit restructuring and bond issue.
Liff has served in senior capacities for the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, New Jersey Educational Facilities Authority, Maine Health and Higher Educational Facilities Authority. At Rhode Island Health and Educational Building Corp. he helped establish the state’s public schools’ revenue bond program.
On the nonprofit side, he has been a senior banker to institutions such as the American Red Cross, Metropolitan Opera, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Children’s Aid Society, UJA-Federation, Institute for Advanced Study, Institute of International Education, YMCA of Greater New York, New England Aquarium, Low Income Investment Fund, American Museum of Natural History, Salvation Army, and Consumer Union of the United States.
“I am excited to join the Siebert Williams Shank team to help public and private colleges and universities and other not-for-profits achieve their strategic and financing objectives,” Liff said.
Gary Hall, Siebert’s president of infrastructure and public finance, said the firm was continuing to make strategic hires to support its different sector practices and regional teams.
“Marvin and Mark’s depth and breadth of experience will raise the bar for our infrastructure and higher educational practices and allow SWS to continue delivering deeper and impactful opportunities to clients across the nation,” Hall said.
“Siebert Williams Shank is strong because of the remarkable talent and professionals we are attracting to be part of our firm,” Shank said. “Even in times when other firms have paused their hiring initiatives, we have remained focused on strategic growth.”
Dually headquartered in New York City and Oakland, California, Siebert is the country’s leading woman- and minority-owned, non-bank financial firm.
