Essence, October 2008
When states like California need to pay for public works, they tap Shank and her team to structure the financing. To fund such projects, these government entities turn to bonds to raise money. Siebert Brandford Shank, a municipal bond investment banking firm, gets all the investors together to raise the capital and structure the transaction. Her job is to "assist city and state agencies to do everything from building schools to improving highways," she says. A top-notch financing proposal her firm submitted to the state of California became the largest deal ever lead-managed by a minority-owned firm—a $1.75 billion general obligation bond transaction in March.
This money is targeted for children's hospitals, clean drinking water, coastal and beach protection and city park improvements. Other megadeals for the company include those totaling $1.8 billion for New York City and $1.5 billion for Connecticut. In just over a decade, Siebert Brandford Shank has become one of the nation's top-ranked minority- and female-owned municipal bond investment banking firms.
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In October 1996, Shank used her personal savings to help launch the 51 percent Black-owned company along with public-finance veteran Napoleon Brandford and Wall Street maverick Muriel Siebert. "When we started the company, I tried to find other Black partners," she says. "We were approached by Siebert, who owned a seat on the New York Stock Exchange" and is known as the First Lady of Wall Street. "That was a good springboard for us." While no two days are the same, the married mother of two girls, ages 9 and 13, splits her time between work, home and being on the road. "After preparing breakfast for my two daughters, it's either to the office for meetings, conference calls and business luncheons with clients, or to the airport, taking off to talk to state treasurers and CFOs to develop and present financing strategies." —SHERRI McGEE McCOVEY |
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