As mentor and manager, Vivian Altman looks to level the playing field
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When Vivian Altman ascended to managing director and head of public finance at Janney Montgomery Scott
And it stayed that way for the next seven years. Altman, who is
“I will just say that the club was really small until January,” Altman told The Bond Buyer. “But we doubled our numbers in the first quarter of this year.”
Speaking of 2024, this year is going to be a good one, not only for women in public finance but also for bond volume, Altman predicted. The federal stimulus money has largely been spent, and projects that need to be financed will come to market.
“We’ve also seen an increase in RFPs; the forward calendar is higher; supply is picking up,” she said.
Altman sees growth ahead for the more capital-intensive sectors, such as transportation, power, utilities, healthcare and general government projects, particularly those targeting older infrastructure “where renovation or rebuilding will be necessary,” including K-12 schools.
With about 40 years of experience in the muni industry, Altman has financed everything from general government and economic development projects to port facilities, toll roads and transit properties to healthcare institutions to student loan bond issues. And she’s seen women make significant strides in the business over that time.
These days, she said, there are more women in different roles in municipals: more female underwriters, more women in sales and trading. All “great milestones,” she added. Yet some days, pushing for equal treatment feels like a promethean task.
“It’s been really very slow, and while the progress is laudable, I don’t see it at any of the major firms,” she said. “I don’t see it at a higher level, either.”
For example: “I have seen [cases] where as a woman has ascended, then there’s another layer put up. Let’s say someone was going to report directly to the president; now there’s another layer in between.”
To the extent that the municipal finance industry has been slow to elevate women, it lags behind the local government sector it serves. According to
Almost every state has exceeded gender parity for top finance roles in local government. And the share of female top finance officials “significantly” surpasses the share of women top appointed officials, the report found.
In the public finance realm, Altman said there is still progress to be made “at every rung” of the career ladder.
“As with all underrepresented groups, women struggle when achieving higher accomplishments because there’s a perception that you’re taking something away from someone else,” she said. “And no one wants to give anything up.”
Altman does her part to improve the situation, mentoring internally and externally and trying to increase the number of women and other underrepresented groups in municipal finance.
Among other things, she tells her mentees “to take advantage of every opportunity, raise your hand for any opportunity that you see that looks interesting and take yourself outside your comfort zone as well,” she said. “While it’s certainly beneficial to have a mentor, and even better to have a sponsor, don’t rely on anyone else to propel you forward. Take control of your career, and manage it forward.”
The latter was a lesson she learned firsthand, Altman said: “You can’t assume that in a room where people are talking about an opportunity, that your name’s going to come up.”
At the end of the day, though, the change Altman is looking to see is “a fair and level playing field,” she stressed. “I don’t want a woman promoted to a higher level just because that person is a woman. I just want to see more women considered. And I don’t believe that’s happening. It’s a broader problem, both in municipals and in financial services.”
