Oppenheimer’s Beth Coolidge on mentors and milestones for women in public finance
3 min read
During a 35-year career climbing from a trading desk to
Starting out in 1988 at a trading desk, “you had to have a really thick skin,” Coolidge said. “The things said to me back then, people would be fired for now. You just had to roll your eyes and move on.”
Over her course of her career, the Chicago-based banker has led a series of high-profile deals, including the 2023 City of Chicago’s Sales Tax Securitization transaction and social bond issuance that
Oppenheimer
Coolidge has landed at many firms during her three decades in the municipal bond market. She joined Oppenheimer as its public finance chief in January after her former firm UBS, where she lead the Midwest public finance business,
Throughout the career moves, Coolidge said she’s observed a steady improvement in the way women are treated and able to manage a work-life balance.
“There were no women mentors for me at that time,” Coolidge said. “Women in Public Finance has made a very strong push to provide mentors. It’s gotten a lot better now, and there are more mentors and women decisionmakers at leadership levels.”
Coolidge said Oppenheimer is unique in having a trio of women leading its public finance business: Coolidge; Beth Wolchock, who is head of municipal underwriting; and Cynthia Henry Pinto, head of municipal sales.
“The unfortunate thing is that in 2024, this is incredibly unusual. I wish there were more firms that had that dynamic,” she said. “There are clients that value diversity in their banking teams and those clients have noticed and remarked on it.”
The trio are also rare in that they stuck it out in the business, Coolidge said. “There weren’t that many women that stuck out careers that whole time frame,” she said. “They either dropped out because they didn’t see the ability to rise up in an organization or they had a family and [the business] wasn’t conducive to having a family and working.”
“Now I’m thrilled. With each generation there are more women who are able to make a family and this business work for them,” she added.
For young women who are starting out in public finance, Coolidge’s advice is stick together and support each other.
“That’s how my career flourished,” she said, naming peers like Carole Brown and Leticia Davis. “I had women who were interested in helping each other. We would sit in a room bonding and trying to figure out where we could work together.”
At Oppenheimer, where she was joined by Chicago bankers Liberty Ziegahn and Madison Maher, and has brought on several hires since, Coolidge said she’ll be looking to pick up opportunity amid last year’s Wall Street retrenchment and offer clients financing solutions from across the firm.
“We’ve had a really great first quarter, and our pipeline moving forward looks good,” she said. “Clients have new-money projects they’re considering.
“I think the last two years were a shock, almost a perfect storm where people still had [federal stimulus] money they hadn’t spent and were taking a pause to see what was crucial,” she said. “Now folks seem ready to move ahead.”
Oppenheimer underwrote $2.305 billion in 262 issues in 2023 and so far in 2024 has underwritten $472.87 million in 59 issues.
As lead manager, Oppenheimer ranked 42nd overall as lead manager in 2023 and has climbed to 34th so far in 2024.
