The Bond Buyer announces inaugural Hall of Fame class

The Bond Buyer has announced the inaugural inductees for its new Hall of Fame program, which recognizes and celebrates groundbreaking individuals who have left an indelible legacy on the business of municipal finance and the people and places it represents.

The class will give representation to a range of different areas and specialties within the business and provide an aspirational path for each sector of public finance.

Some of the industry’s most impactful careers — and the people behind them — are honored in the first-ever group of inductees. The five living honorees are:

• BEN WATKINS — Since 1995, Watkins has served as director of the Florida Division of Bond Finance, which administers bond programs for 35 individual credits.  Watkins is also a past vice chairman and board member of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, and former chairman of the Committee on Government Debt for the Government Finance Officers Association.

• F. JOHN WHITE— For 30 years, White served as CEO of PFM, a financial advisory powerhouse in the municipal market. During this period, PFM grew from a single office with five employees to the top-ranked and largest independent municipal advisory firm in the nation, with more than 350 employees in 30 offices across the country. 

• SUZANNE SHANK — Along with Muriel Siebert, the first woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, Shank founded Siebert Williams Shank in 1996, building it from a startup into the largest minority- and women-owned investment banking firm in the country, a status the firm earned through a 2019 merger that created Shank Williams Cisneros & Co.

• ROGER DAVIS — Over the course of his 50-year career, Davis has had a lead role in more than 1,000 transactions in roughly 25 states and territories. As head of Orrick’s public finance group, Davis orchestrated the team’s transformation from a regional to a national practice that has consistently ranked number one in bond and disclosure counsel volume.

• DAVID ANDERSEN — Through a nearly four-decade career, Andersen has changed the industry’s underwriting landscape, achieving unprecedented success. Along with being on pace to complete his 30th straight year of being the top competitive underwriter in the industry, Andersen has also led BofA Securities’ underwriting desk into position as the top negotiated underwriter for the past 10 years.

“There are countless individuals deserving of the Hall of Fame honor, but for our first class we selected a mix of municipal professionals from a variety of sectors of the business to represent the myriad ways in which to have an influential career,” said Michael Scarchilli, Editor in Chief of The Bond Buyer. “These individuals are standard-bearers, innovators, trend-setters — people who have had an indelible impact on the industry they’ve dedicated their professional lives to.”
In addition, the inaugural class will posthumously induct two legendary leaders who passed away this year:

• CLAIRE COHEN — Considered a pioneer in the industry for her extensive knowledge and analytical insights of state government credits, Cohen influenced scores of analysts in the foundational credit approaches she was instrumental in developing during her years working at Moody’s Investors Service and later Fitch Ratings. She was also a chair of the Municipal Analysts Group of New York.

• FRANK HOADLEY — The longtime Wisconsin capital finance director left an indelible mark on the public finance industry as a standard bearer for state debt management and champion for issuer advocacy. He promoted strong issuer disclosure and plain language in financial documents, and his opinions influenced recommended issuer practices through his leadership roles in the GFOA.

“We intend for the Hall of Fame to grow into an annual tradition, celebrating not just the modern day personalities, but also those of the past,” said Michael Ballinger, publisher of The Bond Buyer. “And with the celebration also inclusive of our annual class of Rising Stars, we can map that journey from Rising Star of today to Hall of Famer of tomorrow.”
The inaugural class will be celebrated at The Bond Buyer Hall of Fame Honoree Dinner on Tuesday, November 15 at the conclusion of its INFRASTRUCTURE conference, which takes place November 14-15 at the JW Marriott in Washington, D.C. The dinner will also host honorees of the seventh annual Rising Stars program, which showcases the brightest young minds in the municipal bond industry.