Roosevelt & Cross gets new leadership team

Charles Stavitski and Elaine Brennan have been promoted to new leadership positions at Roosevelt & Cross. 

The pair, who were already members of the firm’s board of directors, have taken on more leadership duties in the past year, with new titles now formalizing their roles.

Stavitski, who had been serving as interim CEO for the past year, was given the CEO title. Brennan, who had been acting as treasurer, secretary and informally as president, is now officially the firm’s president. She also will continue performing the treasurer’s duties. 

Both were also promoted to executive directors from executive vice presidents in the firm’s public finance department. 

The positions are “not necessarily a major change,” Brennan said. “These titles more fit with what we have been doing during the past year.”

The president position had been vacant since 2020. The previous CEO, Gregory Finn, is now chairman of the firm’s board of directors. 

Brennan began her career in public finance in 1979, working at Chemical Bank. When she joined Roosevelt & Cross in 1993, it was her first time working at a smaller firm. She said she considers it a “permanent” position and a professional home. 

“We are experts in municipal bonds. That’s all we do. We concentrate in one area,” Brennan said. “All of our capital is committed to the municipal bond market. So I really do like the predictability and the business plan.”

Stavitski has worked in Roosevelt & Cross’s public finance department for his entire career, which began in 2007. He’s served as the firm’s chief legal officer. 

Both Brennan and Stavitski said the firm’s employees are part of the reason they’ve stayed at Roosevelt & Cross for so long. Brennan praised their dedication to their work, while Stavitski said he considers his coworkers family.

The pair’s history with the firm, and its narrow focus, will ensure stability, Stavitski said. 

“The model of Roosevelt & Cross is to do a large volume of smaller deals for state and local government entities in the Northeast, and then we might have two or three larger deals thrown in the mix.” Stavitski said. “That’s been our business model for as long as I know.”

“There are not many places” like Roosevelt & Cross left, Stavitski said. The firm is entirely employee owned and directed, he noted. 

“It’s what you make of it. And you can contribute as much or as little as you want to,” Stavitski said. “And I think Elaine and I are two people who want to contribute a lot.”