James Martling
4 min read
Sperry Capital
James Martling’s career as a financial advisor has involved some of California’s most well-known muni moments, but his work on transportation projects and long working relationship with the Orange County Transportation Authority are what he considers his legacy.
Martling’s efforts to
Martling, OCTA’s financial advisor since 1995, helped the authority structure $195.3 million in toll revenue backed bonds to acquire the S.R. 91 express lanes, which have since grown from three to four lanes and from 10 to 18 miles. Built in the freeway median, the lanes provide a paid alternative for commuters.
Those bonds “were the first public offering of toll road bonds secured solely by tolls generated from congestion management pricing that utilized 100% electronic toll collection,” Martling said.
Another achievement, Martling helped secure for OCTA on the S.R. 91 express lanes, came in 2023, when the $47.5 million current refunding of the 91 express lane bonds achieved
The 2023 bonds for S.R. 91 are the only non-recourse managed lanes ever rated in the AA category, Martling said.
It was also a significant jump from 2003 when Martling said he labored to get rating agencies to consider rating the express lanes.
Martling has built his career and Sperry Capital — the company he sold to employees in 2023 as he turned 76 — on a different model.
“The careers of most financial advisors are transactional. They make money on bond deals. The more they do, the more money they can make,” Martling said. “But we got into long-term counseling for clients on long-term infrastructure projects.”
Martling has an unusual background.
He started his career as a public finance banker focused on housing finance and evolved into a municipal advisor who specializes in project finance. His schooling also reflects a different tenor: he studied Russian history and geography for his bachelor’s degree at the University of California, Berkeley — and then earned a master’s in both journalism and business administration at Columbia University.
He started out as a New York banker working for First Boston and then Kidder Peabody. He eventually relocated to the San Francisco region and founded Sperry Capital in 1995 to provide financial and project development advisory services.
“He’s been a great mentor,” said Bryant Jenkins, who nominated Martling for the Muni Hall of Fame. “And starting with the express lanes, it’s impressive what he was able to do.”
Jenkins, and two partners, purchased the firm from Martling in 2023 when he wanted to retire, retaining the founder’s focus on long-term relationships over the transactional bent of “pounding out three deals a week.”
Martling said Jenkins “turbocharged Sperry Capital.”
“I thought years ago, the game plan was to hire smart people and train them on the job, but what I learned from Bryant is you hire bright people who can teach you,” Martling said.
When Martling’s laudatory comments were repeated to Jenkins, he laughed at the idea that he taught the Sperry founder anything.
“The biggest thing I learned from working for Jim is knowing the CFO and the debt manager is not enough,” Jenkins said. “When I would visit OCTA with Jim, he knew everyone from the receptionist to the janitors.”
Martling included a broader range of people in his meetings at OCTA over the years — and as the financial people rose through the ranks to senior positions, they remembered how he treated them when they worked in a more subordinate position, Jenkins said.
“Treating people right,” Jenkins said, “it goes a long way.”
Martling served as the financial advisor for OCTA for almost 30 years. Other major projects he worked on include: planning and finance for the 405 express lane project in Orange County; and structuring the design-build-operate-maintain model for the Presidio Parkway Project in San Francisco.
The Presidio project replaced the seismically challenged Doyle Drive and improved access to the Presidio and the Golden Gate Bridge. It celebrated its 10 year
“The contract requires that they maintain it as it was on day one,” Martling said. “It’s in fabulous shape. When you cross the lane onto Presidio Parkway, the asphalt is pristine.”
