Morgan Keegan Expands Public Finance Investment Banking in Northeast with Two Key Hires

Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc. announced that Susan C. Schmelzer and Joseph DaBreo have joined the firm’s Public Finance Investment Banking group. Schmelzer has joined the public finance team in the firm’s New York office and DaBreo is based in Boston.

“The in-depth knowledge and extensive experience that Susan and Joe bring to our public finance practice will add to and further enhance a veteran team we’ve built over the past few years in the Northeast,” said Rob Baird, executive managing director and president of Morgan Keegan’s Investment Banking division. “Attracting public finance professionals like Susan and Joe to our team helps us to better serve our clients and to expand the services we offer. They share our commitment to provide municipal issuers with innovative ideas and problem solving solutions for today’s often complex financing needs.”

Schmelzer has focused her 27-year career on providing investment banking services to New York State agencies, authorities and local governmental entities. During the past five years at Jefferies & Company (successor to the First Albany Capital/DEPFA First Albany municipal group), she expanded the firm’s work with New York State local governments and served on the senior banking teams to the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY) and the New York Municipal Bond Bank Agency (MBBA). Schmelzer was instrumental in working with DASNY in the creation of its successful School Districts Revenue Bond Financing Program and has served as senior manager on over $1.5 billion of these program bonds since their inception in 2002. More recently, Schmelzer helped MBBA to implement its Recovery Act Bond program. The agency’s $184 million Recovery Act Bonds issue in December 2009 was awarded The Bond Buyer’s 2010 Northeast Region Deal of the Year. Schmelzer, who joined Morgan Keegan as a managing director, was with Roosevelt & Cross for 13 years prior to her stint at Jefferies. She is a member of the GFOA board of governors of New York State and serves as co-chair of its banking and investment management committee.

DaBreo, who joined Morgan Keegan as a senior vice president, managed more than $10 billion in municipal bond issuance from 2001-2008 during a 13-year stint at the former Lehman Brothers (now Barclays Capital) and served as lead banker for key state-level client issuers in the firm’s east regional group. Client issuers include the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA), Massachusetts Department of Transportation and the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA). He also covered a wide range of public and private higher educational institutions including the University of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts State College Building Authority (MSCBA), Simmons College and Wheelock College.

“Susan and Joe are talented and well respected public finance bankers with a wealth of knowledge of our industry,” said Mike Tierney, managing director in the firm’s New York public finance office. “Their experience with state and local governments, agencies and authorities goes hand in hand with our commitment to finding the right solutions for issuers in the Northeast.”

Morgan Keegan’s Public Finance Investment Banking group consistently ranks among the top ten municipal bond underwriters in the nation. In the first quarter this year, the firm was the tenth leading underwriter nationally, completing 81 transactions with a par amount of more than $1.4 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.

About Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc.

Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc., a full-service brokerage and investment banking firm, is the securities brokerage arm of Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE: RF). Headquartered in Memphis, Tenn., Morgan Keegan serves individual and institutional investors in over 300 offices in 20 states. Additional information about Morgan Keegan and Regions — a member of the S&P 500 Index — can be found at www.morgankeegan.com and at www.regions.com.

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