Baird’s Sorensen brings charter school focus to Florida

Municipal bond veteran Bruce Sorensen has moved to Florida where he will continue to work for Robert W. Baird & Co. and focus on charter school finance.

Sorensen joins Baird’s Sarasota office, moving from Minneapolis, and continue to focus his work on charter school municipal finance, the firm said Monday.

Sorensen joined Baird in 2019 and has more than 30 years of industry experience in many areas of public finance, including local government, economic development, sales tax, tax increment, project revenue, new markets tax credit and charter school finance.

He established Piper Jaffray’s charter school finance business in 2007 and was their senior banker on charter school financings for over 10 years.

Baird’s National Charter School Finance Group has helped charter schools on more than 290 financings across the United States, raising more than $8 billion for various projects since 2003.

Sorensen’s relocation to Florida will allow the company to provide on the ground support to assess the various financing needs of charter schools in Florida, Baird said.

Baird said that for 13 straight years it has ranked as the number one underwriter of charter school bonds nationwide in both the number of issues and total par amount, according to Refinitiv.

Sorensen attended the Institute of Technology at the University of Minnesota and earned his Bachelor of Science in economics from St. Cloud State University.

Baird is an employee-owned financial firm.

In Florida its services include wealth management, investment banking, institutional and fixed income sales and equity research operations.

Besides Sarasota, it has offices in Merritt Island, Naples, Siesta Key, Stuart, Tampa, West Palm Beach and Winter Park. Additionally, one of Baird’s underwriting desks is located in Naples.