BondLink expands board with Martin, Geraci

BondLink, the Boston-based financial technology company that provides cloud-based debt management software solutions to issuers, added two industry experts to its board of directors.

Lynn Martin, president of Fixed Income & Data Services at Intercontinental Exchange, Inc., and Joe Geraci, partner at Old Orchard Capital and former Citi executive, join the board of directors.

Colin MacNaught, BondLink co-founder and chief executive officer, said the additions bring a good balance of market experiences to the board.

“These two very accomplished individuals have built trading platforms, distribution channels and are major providers of critical data on our market. Having these perspectives is incredibly valuable for our board.”

Martin and Geraci join Robert Stevenson of Franklin Templeton Investments, which first invested in BondLink’s Series A, as outside members of the board. MacNaught of BondLink, and Carl Query of BondLink, co-founder and chief technology officer, are also board members. MacNaught said the board of directors is deeply involved in BondLink’s growth.

Martin is responsible for managing ICE’s global data and fixed income businesses including the ICE Bonds execution venues and pricing and analytics, reference data, indices, desktop solutions, consolidated feeds and connectivity services that cover all major asset classes. She also serves on the SEC’s Fixed Income Market Structure Advisory Committee. ICE in May invested in BondLink in a deal to provide ICE Data Services’ data sets to BondLink’s municipal issuer clients.

“The municipal bond market continues to be an important area of focus for us and is a sector where we can bring more efficiency and transparency to help our customers manage risk,” Martin said in a release. “BondLink’s efforts to empower issuers by offering greater access to technology and information is a great match for how we’ve built our business at ICE, and we’re excited to work with them as they expand their offering and network of customers.”

Prior to joining Old Orchard as a partner in 2021, Geraci was a managing director and co-head of Global Spread Products within Markets at Citi, responsible globally for its credit, securitized, structured finance and municipal securities businesses. Before that, he was Deputy Head of the Municipal Securities Division at Citi where he ran Municipal Markets, Public Finance, and Citi Community Capital. Geraci is a former vice chair of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board.

“I’m a big believer in technology, and BondLink’s platform is the perfect application to help issuers engage with investors,” Geraci said in a release. “With such a focus on public infrastructure and the municipal bond market’s digital evolution, now is the time to get this best-in-class software in the hands of issuers so they can access capital more efficiently.”

BondLink also recently hired Alex Palazzolo as regional director of issuer development, based in Dallas, Texas. Palazzolo previously was a managing director at Stonebriar Commercial Finance, a vice president at Stifel Financial Corp. and an associate at Wells Fargo Securities.

BondLink’s clients range from the largest issuers such as California and Chicago, to less frequent, smaller issuers such as Danbury, Connecticut, and Barnstable, Massachusetts.

Over the last five years, BondLink has continued to grow its issuer technology platform. Its dashboard includes ICE Data Services’ daily interest rate curves, adding to the company’s existing functionality including investor intelligence and analytics, compliance solutions, and deal preparation. BondLink also integrated the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s EMMA website for direct disclosure uploading.

BondLink has various agreements with other firms in the municipal market, such as Fidelity Investments, Ipreo, and Municipal Market Analytics, as it continues to enhance its partnership network that a growing number of municipal issuers rely upon.

BondLink and Ipreo by IHS Markit have a collaboration that provides issuer credit data to institutional bond investors via technology.