MMA founder steps back from day-to-day involvement

Thomas Doe, founder of Municipal Market Analytics, announced in a client email on Friday that he will be reducing his day-to-day involvement in the firm.

“I have transitioned ownership to two exceptional colleagues — Tim Holler and Matt Fabian — who have been instrumental in shaping the firm’s success,” Doe said. “Their integrity, expertise and deep understanding of our mission make them ideal stewards for the next chapter.”

Holler and Fabian were already partners in the firm.

“It’s more of a transfer of responsibilities. Tom is going to be around for an extended period of time, but this gives him more time for the grandkids,” Fabian said.

Doe — and the firm he co-founded and led as president until Aug. 15 — has had an outsized role in the dialogue around shifts in the municipal bond market as well as creating ground-breaking tools to analyze the market. 

Though Doe is backing away from the day-to-day responsibilities, Fabian said, they “will still have access to his knowledge and contacts for a long time.”

“He still has lots of ideas about what is important to the muni market and what the trends are,” Fabian said. “It’s good we don’t lose that creativity.”

He will continue to serve on MMA’s board of directors and retain some involvement with the company.

“It’s been in the works for a while,” Doe said. “My wife, Mimi, has stepped back in her work too.”

“It was the right time for us,” he said. “We will both be 67 this fall. We want to have more time with the grandkids and to travel.”

Doe added they have been positioning so others at the firm have a higher profile in the industry.

“I am thrilled,” he said. “And thrilled, we could do it internally.”

Doe won’t be slowing down. He has a couple of hundred acres in Vermont he has been grooming as a forest as a legacy for his grandchildren. A tennis enthusiast, he acquired commentator Bud Collins notebooks from 50 years in journalism and is working on archiving the collection for an exhibit and possibly a book.

He will also retain his involvement with the University of Chicago Center for Public Finance, where he has been working with Director Justin Marlowe to teach students about the business.

He will be handing off writing the Daily Strategist for MMA and the intraday client report, Fabian said.

“He went decades without missing a day of publishing the Daily Strategist,” Fabian said. “He’s not just the head of the company, but our key content creator.”

Doe has been slowly pulling back on that, Fabian said.

Trip Kaiser, managing director, business development and senior analyst, now writes the Daily Strategist.

Kevin McGuigan, a vice president, has taken over writing the municipal insight intraday piece, Fabian said.

McGuigan, Christina Weinberg, the director of business development, and Kaiser write the The Advisor, a monthly wrap-up, Fabian said.

“This transition ensures continuity, not change,” Doe wrote in his client letter. “Our values, standards, and relationships remain strong and steady under the new leadership.”

“Let’s stay connected — both professionally and as friends — as I embrace this next phase with a mix of reflection, renewal, and fresh perspective,” he wrote.