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

MSRB ANNOUNCES NEW BOARD MEMBERS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2013

Alexandria, VA – The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) today announced the names of seven new Board of Directors members who will begin their terms on October 1, 2012. The 21-member MSRB Board of Directors establishes policies, approves rulemaking, enhances market transparency systems and oversees operations for the self-regulatory organization for the municipal securities market.

“I am delighted to welcome this knowledgeable group of professionals to the MSRB Board,” said MSRB Chair Alan Polsky. “They bring a broad and extensive set of talents to the table and will ensure that the MSRB continues to fulfill its mission.”

The MSRB’s new Board of Directors members represent the public as well as entities regulated by the MSRB. New public representatives are Richard K. Ellis, Treasurer for the state of Utah; W. Bartley Hildreth, Professor of Public Management and Policy at Georgia State University; Gene R. Saffold, independent consultant; and Robin L. Wiessmann, former Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Joining the Board as a bank representative is Kym S. Arnone, Managing Director and Head of Municipal Securitization Initiatives at Barclays. The Board’s new securities firm representative is Craig A. Noble, Managing Director and Head of the Retail Fixed Income Group for Wells Fargo Advisors. Marianne F. Edmonds, Senior Managing Director for Public Resources Advisory Group, joins the Board as a municipal advisor representative. Each new Board member will serve a three-year term.

The new Board members were selected from a pool of 130 applicants. Biographical information about the new Board members is below.

Kym S. Arnone is the Managing Director and Head of Municipal Securitization Initiatives at Barclays. Prior to her role with Barclays, Ms. Arnone was a senior banker at Bear Stearns.  Ms. Arnone is a trustee for the Citizens Budget Commission, and a board member of the Municipal Forum of New York. Ms. Arnone graduated magna cum laude from St. John’s University with a bachelor’s degree in finance.

Marianne F. Edmonds is the Senior Managing Director for Public Resources Advisory Group. Prior to her role with Public Resources Advisory Group, Ms. Edmonds was the founder and principal of Marianne Edmonds, Inc., a public finance advisory services firm, and the senior vice president at William R. Hough & Company. Ms. Edmonds is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Committee for the school of business at the University of South Florida and the former vice chair of the Florida Prepaid College Board. She is also a former member of the State of Florida Construction Industry Licensing Board. Ms. Edmonds has a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University and a master’s degree in business administration from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Richard K. Ellis is the Treasurer for the state of Utah and an adjunct faculty member in Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Business. Prior to his role as the Utah state treasurer, Mr. Ellis served nine years as the chief deputy state treasurer. He was also the first finance director for Draper City, Utah and the assistant treasurer with the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District. Mr. Ellis has been a member of the Utah Retirement Systems Board of Trustees, the Utah Science Technology and Research Board and the Private Activity Bond Review Board, among others. He is also the 2012 secretary/treasurer of the National Association of State Treasurers and a member of the Government Finance Officers Association. Mr. Ellis has a bachelor’s degree in business management from Brigham Young University and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Utah.

W. Bartley Hildreth is a tenured professor in the department of public management and policy, and former dean, in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University in Atlanta. Prior to his current position at Georgia State University, Dr. Hildreth was the Regents Distinguished Professor of Public Finance at Wichita State University, where he was also the director of the university’s Kansas Public Finance Center and interim dean of the W. Frank Barton School of Business. Dr. Hildreth has served as editor-in-chief of the Municipal Finance Journal since 1989. He is a former member of the board of directors of the Kansas Development Finance Authority and the Wichita Public Building Authority, and earlier served as director of finance for the City of Akron, Ohio. He is a Fulbright Scholar and received the 2008 Wildavsky Award for lifetime scholarly achievement in the field of public budgeting and finance. His memberships include the Association for Budgeting and Financial Management, the Financial Management Association, the Government Finance Officers Association and the National Tax Association. Dr. Hildreth has a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Alabama, a master’s degree in public administration from Auburn University at Montgomery and a Ph.D. in public administration from the University of Georgia. 

Craig A. Noble is the Managing Director and Head of the Retail Fixed Income Group for Wells Fargo Advisors. Prior to his position with Wells Fargo, Mr. Noble was an executive vice president and co-director of the municipal securities group of the tax-exempt fixed income sales and trading department at EVEREN. He also held positions with Lehman Brothers and Shearson Lehman Hutton. Mr. Noble is the current vice chairman of the board of directors of the Bond Dealers of America and a member of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA)’s Municipal Executive Committee. He is a past chairman of SIFMA’s Regional Advisory Committee. He is also a member of FINRA’s fixed income committee.

Gene R. Saffold is an independent consultant on financial, strategic and operational matters. Prior to his current role, Mr. Saffold served as chief financial officer of the City of Chicago and previously was vice chairman - national accounts at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Inc. He also worked for Salomon Smith Barney, Inc. as managing director in the company's Midwest public finance group. Mr. Saffold is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago, and is a current board member of the Erikson Institute and the Chicago Low-Income Housing Trust Fund.  Mr. Saffold has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Carleton College and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Chicago.

Robin L. Wiessmann is the former Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Prior to her position as the treasurer of Pennsylvania, Ms. Wiessmann was a founding principal and president of Artemis Capital Group, a woman-owned Wall Street investment bank. She was also a vice president at Goldman, Sachs & Company. Ms. Wiessmann is a current board member of the Met-Pro Corporation, where she is chairman of the compensation and management committee, and a member of the Pennsylvania Bar. She is also chairman of the board of directors of The Vantagepoint Funds, a mutual fund. Ms. Wiessmann graduated cum laude from Lafayette College with a bachelor’s degree in government and law. She also has a law degree from Rutgers University.


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. 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. 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. MSRB is overseen by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Congress.