Louis English joins Janney as head of municipal sales

Louis English joined Janney Montgomery Scott as managing director and head of municipal sales within the fixed-income division. He will be based out of the firm’s Chicago office.

English comes to Janney from Baird, where he worked as a producing sales manager. He also worked as a municipal salesperson at Mesirow, Loop Capital Markets and William Blair.

Bill Reisner, co-head of fixed-income within Janney’s capital markets group, said Janney and owner Penn Mutual recently came together to develop a five-year plan, and this hire is part of that plan, which aims to grow revenues and head count in capital markets.

Reisner noted the timing of that commitment is “fortuitous,” coming at a time when other firms are exiting the fixed-income space: “It creates an opportunity to recruit some top talent and grow our market share,” he said. “Our growth plan is not table talk, it’s real, and we have significant capital behind it to really execute on our plan.”

The addition of English also comes as Janney is looking to grow its negotiated business. As a 35-year veteran of the market, he can serve as a “conduit” between sales and banking, Reisner said.  

“We have [head of underwriting and trading] Matt Davis, we have Vivian Altman, who heads up public finance banking, two very strong leaders,” he said. “And really the third leg of that stool is to identify a leader who could oversee our municipal sales group. And I’m very excited that we’re able to bring on Louis English to do just that.” 

With Janney already active in the competitive and secondary markets, Reisner said it was important to have someone who could offer key insights and attend issuer meetings with Janney’s bankers as they seek to expand its negotiated business. And those are all strengths that English brings to the table, he said.

Year-to-date, Janney executed about 170,000 secondary market trades of municipal bonds, totaling more than $35 billion of par amount, according to Reisner. 

Year-to-date, Janney ranked 15th among issuers in Northeast, underwriting $522.49 million in 31 issues, according to LSEG data.

The firm has been active in the negotiated market, too, mostly in the Northeast. Janney is now looking to extend that reach; it brought on Paul Creedon from Citi to head up infrastructure efforts and Patricia Rodriguez from Loop to “plant a flag in the ground in Texas,” Reisner said.

Janney is also looking to build out more Midwest coverage, with English’s hire part of that strategy. He will fit well with Janney’s culture of service, accessibility and collaboration, Reisner noted.

“It’s very exciting to be in a place that is in that growth mode and that is truly committed to it, and that has a very strong culture behind it that puts people first,” Reisner said.