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Contact: Jennifer A. Galloway, Chief Communications Officer
              (703) 797-6600
              jgalloway@msrb.org

FORMER MSRB CHAIRS, DAVID CLAPP AND RONALD STACK, TO PARTICIPATE IN SEC HISTORICAL SOCIETY PROGRAM ON PAY TO PLAY 

Alexandria, VA – The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) announced today that two former MSRB Chairs will participate in a live, audio program about the MSRB’s pay to play rule and its role in curbing conflicts of interest in the municipal market. The program will be broadcast on www.sechistorical.org by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Historical Society on April 28 and preserved in its virtual museum and archive on the site.

David C. Clapp (MSRB Chair, 1994) and Ronald A. Stack (MSRB Chair, 2009) will discuss MSRB Rule G-37, which was adopted by the MSRB in 1994 to ensure bond business is awarded on the basis of merit by seeking to sever any connection between political contributions to issuers and the awarding of underwriting contracts to municipal securities dealers. The rule was the first-ever to address pay to play in the financial industry and the MSRB has continued to refine the rule.

“The MSRB was the first regulator to prohibit pay to play activities in the financial services industry and our rules have served as a model for similar federal and state prohibitions,” said MSRB Executive Director Lynnette Kelly Hotchkiss. “David and Ron have been permanent proponents of the rule and their discussion promises to be fascinating for anyone interested in pay to play.”

The virtual "Fireside Chat" will take place on April 28, 2011 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. EST and will be broadcast on www.sechistorical.org. The event is free and no registration is required. Professor Lisa Fairfax of George Washington University Law School will serve as the moderator. Visitors to the site are welcome to submit questions for the program prior to the broadcast.

Mr. Clapp is a former partner at Goldman Sachs in charge of Municipal Bond Department and was Chair of the MSRB when Rule G-37 was adopted. Mr. Stack is a Managing Director at Wells Fargo and was Chair of the MSRB when it began requiring municipal securities dealers to publicly disclose contributions made in support of bond ballot initiatives. Mr. Stack has been a public finance investment banker for over 20 years.

www.sechistorical.org is the virtual museum and archive that opens the door to the history of financial regulation from the 20th century to the present. The site, free and accessible at all times, is built and administered by the SEC Historical Society, a non-profit organization. The virtual museum, archive and the Society are independent of the SEC and receive no government funding.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) protects and strengthens the municipal bond market, enabling access to capital, economic growth, and societal progress in tens of thousands of communities across the country. The MSRB fulfills this mission by creating trust in our market through informed regulation of dealers and municipal advisors that protects investors, issuers and the public interest; building technology systems that power our market and provide transparency for issuers, institutions, and the investing public; and serving as the steward of market data that empowers better decisions and fuels innovation for the future. The MSRB is a self-regulatory organization governed by a board of directors that has a majority of public members, in addition to representatives of regulated entities. The MSRB is overseen by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Congress.

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