S&P analyst David Hitchcock retires after 43 years at bond rating agency

David Hitchcock, who just celebrated 43 years at S&P Global Ratings, retired on Friday.

Talking with The Bond Buyer on his last day, Hitchcock said he thought he made a positive difference in the municipal bond industry over the past four decades.

“I hope I’ve done some good in the world, at least in terms of public financing,” he said. “As I look back, I’m glad that I chose the path that I did.”

Hitchcock, an S&P senior director in the state group, grew up in a small town in Connecticut and went to Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. He received his bachelor’s degree with a major in physics and had planned to pursue a scientific career.

However, after school and a summer training to be an Olympic rower, he began his finance career in 1978 as an associate at E.F. Hutton’s municipal bond research department.

In 1980, he came to S&P as a muni bond analyst.

Right up until his last day, he served as an analyst for major states, chairing rating committees, writing sector commentary and was an analytical leader for state priority lien debt.

Only last month, he was the lead analyst on the state of New Jersey’s general obligation bond upgrade, to A from A-minus.

Previously, he was in the state and local government group and was sector leader for pension and other post-employment benefits issues, charter schools, special tax and special district bonds. Before that, he worked in the special revenue group, dealing with higher education, airport, toll roads, foundations, and enterprise systems.

His friends and colleagues know him as a good and decent man, who is both knowledgeable and experienced.

“Dave has always worked hard, maintained the highest analytic integrity and role modeled independent thought. He will be missed,” said Eden Perry, S&P managing director and head of U.S public finance.

John Hallacy, founder of John Hallacy Consulting LLC, was a colleague of Hitchcock’s at S&P in the 1980s.

“David was always a low-profile persona with a lot of inner strength. He never flinched in the face of power and prestige,” Hallacy said. “He was a fun colleague to debate with on the issues of the day inside and outside of the rating committee.”

Tiffany Tribbitt, an S&P senior director and analytical manager in municipal and cooperative power, said, “working with Dave has been a true privilege. His encyclopedic knowledge of the municipal market has been invaluable. We will miss him dearly.”

Many who have known him for a long time value his experience and viewpoint.

“In the 21 years that I have worked with Dave, he has always been a go-to for answers and insights on the emerging trends that matter to credit,” said Sussan Corson, an S&P senior director and analytical manager for states and transportation. “He has been an analytical leader on the team and will be missed.”

“Congratulations to Dave on an amazing career at S&P,” said Kurt Forsgren, S&P managing director and sector leader for transportation. “He has seen it all throughout the credit cycles. He has been a bedrock of consistency, integrity and insight that has contributed to our company’s and department’s strong reputation in the market. We thank him for always raising the bar, being a mentor and role model for many analysts at S&P and elsewhere!”

Hitchcock noted everyday life things affect the municipal bond market.

“Look at transportation, for instance, it’s very interesting. We drive on roads, we use water and sewer systems, we use airports when we travel,” he said. “All these things touch the municipal bond market.”

Hitchcock is a past chairman of the Municipal Analysts Group of New York and served on the board of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts, which gave him a meritorious service award in 2002.

He was on the U.S. Comptroller General’s Advisory Council on Government Auditing Standards. He was also a Smith’s Research and Ratings Review analyst all-star in numerous years. He has spoken at many conferences and written numerous articles for publications including The Bond Buyer and City and State magazine.

Hitchcock said he was happy with the way things turned out for him.

“I was pretty happy doing what I was doing, but I certainly think about what would have happened if I’d gone into the scientific field, but I don’t really regret it,” he said, joking that “certainly the money’s better in finance.”

The same sort of analytic rigor that one can use in science, Hitchcock noted, “can be applied to municipal bond analysis because we have hundreds of pages to document and you have to sift through that to find what’s really important. There’s no textbook telling you how to do it. You have to do it on your own.”

Working on bonds from issuance to maturity, he said, is interesting and gives a special viewpoint.

“I’ve worked on bonds that later defaulted,” Hitchcock said. “It’s always interesting to see the rush of enthusiasm when they are sold and compare that to what happens later and it gives you a different perspective on things.”

He said the reverse was true as well.

“I’ve also worked on some credits that seemed like they were in distress and later were able to work themselves out,” Hitchcock said. “I think it’s really helpful to have people with perspective and long-term history because these play out over many, many years.”

Hitchcock noted, when he started out in the 1980s, “Massachusetts was one of our lowest-rated states and having a great deal of financial difficulty. Now it’s one of our highest-rated states [AA-plus]. We’ve seen New York City raise itself up from the note default in 1975 to now being highly rated [AA].”

And what would he tell new analysts?

“My advice would be to sit on ratings committees and talk with more experienced analysts,” he said, “There is a lot of knowledge that’s available there — and not just in the municipal world. I’ve learned a lot from our corporate bond analysts.”

For example, when he rates gas-tax bonds Hitchcock said he learned much “talking to our automotive analysts” He added, “when I look at severance tax bonds in Alaska or Wyoming or New Mexico, it’s very interesting talking to our oil and gas corporate analysts.”

He also stressed the importance of being methodical.

“Read things through thoroughly because nobody is going to point out to you what’s important, so you have to cover everything and make sure you haven’t missed anything.”

A new analyst should read the news on a daily basis because almost everything that’s in the papers in some way touches municipal analysis — politics, economics, demographics and law, Hitchcock said.

“The thing I like most about municipal analysis is that it literally ties together so many areas of knowledge and there’s also room for subjective opinion too as part of that,” he said.

The job entails a good mix of being at your desk and being out in the field — where there’s reading, writing and also traveling to meet and talk to issuers, he added.

Looking ahead, Hitchcock said he wants to spend more time with family and plans to travel between homes in Vermont and Utah.

He added, he bought a lifetime National Parks pass and would like to visit national parks across the country, perhaps even drive to Alaska for a park visit.

Science fiction writing, is another area Hitchcock would like to involve himself in, using his scientific background.

“I’m still interested in science,” he said. “I’d also like to build a telescope — and a trebuchet [which is a type of catapult from the Middle Ages] and that’s more of an engineering challenge but I want to do it.”

Geoff Buswick, S&P managing director and sector leader for states, said that Hitchcock’s professional side was steadfast in analytic excellence.

“I appreciated his constant willingness to share his analytic thoughts, detailed history of a locale, or a quick editorial improvement,” Buswick said, adding, “on a personal note, I will miss his love of music and willingness to share the piano or banjo-box. He will be greatly missed at S&P.”