Brief History of The Municipal Forum of New York

Brief History of the Municipal Forum

The Municipal Forum grew out of a series of informal lunches in the 1930's by a group of men in the municipal bond business. A number of the people who used to attend those lunches included Dana B. Scudder of National City Bank, Floyd Stansbury, and James J. Carpenter of Bankers Trust Company, Glen Thompson of Chemical Bank, Wilbur Merritt of First Boston Corporation and William J. Wallace and John F. Thompson from Savings Bank Trust Company. Many in the group were in the Municipal Credit Analysis side of the business; some like Floyd Stansbury and Jim Carpenter were in the syndicate side. Most of the luncheon discussions were informal among the participants, but there was much to discuss, particularly municipal credits There had been many defaults during the depression, and these were in process of being cured, largely through negotiation with bond holders' committees. The usual format was exchange of longer refunding bonds for those in default, some with the same and some with lower rates of interest. Such exchanges took place for Miami, Detroit, Atlantic City, Arkansas Highway bonds, and many smaller issuers. New York City, though not in default, was operating under a "bankers agreement" negotiated by then Governor Herbert H. Lehman. Dealer firms and investment advisors were producing much more credit research, and many of the luncheon participants were engaged in this.

Jim Carpenter was a gung-ho sort of person, and was a disciple of Dale Carnegie ("How To Win Friends and Influence People"). It was this background which led him to organize the Municipal Forum. Following his initialive, Jim served as President for the first two years.

Membership of the Forum has fluctuated over the years. In the mid-fifties, there was a move to take "New York" out of the name in an effort to obtain more non-resident members, but this change in name was not made. In 1983-1984 with a strong program and a push by the membership committee, total members increased some 200 to about 450. (The name of Richard Gage is mentioned in connection with this effort.)

In the very early years, Forum membership was largely in the credit analysis side of the business, but soon broadened to cover all aspects -- sales, syndicate and trading in the dealer and bank dealer firms, intitutional portfolio managers, municipal bond approving attorneys, editors of trade publications, brokers who match trades between firms and provide wire service access to markets, the rating agencies, and issuers, especially New York State and City and the important issuing authorities. Down through the years representatives of each of these categories have been Presidents of the Forum and have served on the Board of Governors.

Past Presidents of the Municipal Forum 1938-2008

1938-40	James J. Carpenter	Bankers Trust Co.
1940-41	Cushman McGee	R.W. Pressprich & Co.
1941-42	Graig S. Bartlett	Bankers Trust Co.
1942-43	Charles F. Aufderhar	Savings Bank Trust Co.
1943-44	John J. Rust	Equitable Securities Corp.
1944-45	Phillips T. Barbour	First Boston Corp.
1945-46	Elmo P. Brown	United States Trust Co.
1946-47	David M. Ellinwood	Moody's Investors Service
1947-48	Leander I. Shelley	Port of New York Authority
1948-49	Paris Scott Russell, Jr.	Glore Forgan
1949-50	Robert T. Veit	Shields & Co.
1950-51	Albert J. Milloy	First Boston Corp.
1951-52	Frederick L. Bird	Dun and Bradstreet
1952-53	John N. Mitchell	Caldwell, Trimble & Mitchell
1953-54	Fred D. Stone, Jr.	Marine Midland
1954-55	Marquette de Bary	F.S. Smithers and Co.
1955-56	Rollin C. Bush	First National City Bank
1956-57	Henry Grady Wells, Jr.	Wells and Christiansen
1957-58	Robert W. Fisher	Doremus and Co.
1958-59	William E. Bachert	The Bank of New York
1959-60	David H. Callaway	First Michigan Corp.
1960-61	Eugene A. Mintkeski	Port of New York Authority
1961-62	George R. Waldmann	Manufacturers & Traders Trust
1962-63	Jerome C.L. Tripp	Tripp & Co. Inc.
1963-64	Donald D. Miner	Chemical Bank
1964-65	Winthrop S. Curvin	Smith Barney & Co.
1965-66	John B. Dawson	Wood, King, Dawson Logan
1966-67	L. Eugene Crowley	Lehman Brothers
1967-68	Arthur R. Guastella	Wainwright & Ramsey Inc.
1968-69	Robert R. Maller	United States Trust Co.
1969-70	Frank E. Curley	Dillon, Read and Co.
1970-71	Roger S. Phelps, Jr.	The Bank of New York
1971-72	Alfred J. Bianchetti	Dean Witter and Co.
1972-73	Walter W. Niebling	Merrill Lynch
1973-74	John F. Thompson	W.H. Morton & Co.
1974-75	Henry Milner	Wertheim & Co.
1975-76	Robert E. Ferdon	Mudge, Rose, Guthrie & Alexander
1976-77	Edwin A. Bueltman	Bache, Halsey Stuart
1977-78	Ernest J. Childs, Jr.	The Securities Corporation of Puerto Rico
1978-79	Frank J. Guadagnini, Jr.	Marine Midland Municipal Co.
1979-80	Paul J. Finn	L.F. Rothschild Unterberg Towbin
1980-81	Thomas S. Kane	Kidder Peabody & Co., Inc.
1981-82	George G. Fleig	Continental Illinois National Bank
1982-83	John B. Feery	Prudential Bache Securities
1983-84	Robert W. Chamberlin	Dean Witter Reynolds Inc.
1984-85	Richard L. Tauber	Morgan Guaranty Trust Co.
1985-86	Freda S. Ackerman	Moody's Investors Service
1986-87	William J. Solari	Morgan Stanley & Co., Inc.
1987-88	John H. Allan	The Bond Buyer
1988-89	Robert Zipf	AMBAC Indemnity Corp.
1989-90	Leon J. Karvelis, Jr.	MBIA Insurance Corporation
1990-91	R. Fenn Putman	Dean Witter Reynolds Inc.
1991-92	Susan G. Peabody	Alliance Capital Management, L.P.
1992-93	Austin V. Koenen	Morgan Standley & Company, Inc.
1993-94	John E. Haupert	The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
1994-95	Daniel N. Heimowitz	Moody's Investors Service
1995-96	Frank A. Trumbour	Prudential Mutual Funds Investment Management
1996-97	Cathy S. Callender	Standard & Poor's J.J. Kenny
1997-98	Peter E. Hoey	Financial Security Assurance Inc.
1998-99	Stephen V. Reitano	Four Sprague Road
1999-2000	Arthur T. Murphy, Jr.	First Albany Corporation
2000-01	Samuel A. Ramirez	Ramirez & Company, Inc.
2001-02	Mark G. Muller	Loews Corporation
2002-03	Walter T. Kicinski	UBS Painewebber
2003-04	Dominick F. Antonelli	Roosevelt & Cross, Inc.
2004-05	Kimberley Paparello	Bank of America
2005-06	Stephen F. DeGroat	Financial Assurance Guaranty, Inc.
2006-07	Colleen Woodell	Standard and Poor's
2007-08	Colleen Woodell	Standard and Poor's
2008-09	Joseph A. Branca	Banc of America Securities LLC

The Municipal Forum of New York

Annual Awards and Urban Leadership Fellows Dinners

	*1990*
K/A* -- Award:	David N. Dinkins, Mayor, NYC Robert R. Kiley, Chairman, MTA James A. Lebenthal, Chrm., Lebenthal & Co., Inc
	1991
K/A* -- Award:	Hugh L. Carey, former Governor, State of New York Felix G. Rohatyn, Chrm., MAC Robert N. Downey, Partner, Goldman, Sachs & Co.
	*1992*
K/A -- Award:	Beryl F. Anthony, Jr. (D. Arkansas) Richard B. Dixon, CAO, Los Angeles Co. Gerald L. Friedman, former Chrm., FGIC
	1993
K/A -- Award:	Robert G. Beckel, Chairman, Beckel Cowan John E. Hull, Deputy Comptroller Office of the New York State Comptroller John H. Allan, Executive Director, the Bond Buyer
	1994
Award:	Thomas A. Devane, Jr., Deputy Executive Director, New York State Dormitory Authority J. Kevin Kenny, Former President and CEO, J.J. Kenny & Co., Inc.
	1995
Award:	Mortimer L. Downey, Deputy Secretary, United States Department of Transportation David C. Clapp, Limited Partner, Goldman, Sachs & Co.
	1996
Award:	Mark Page, Deputy Director/General Counsel, Office of Management and Budget, The City Of New York Donald J. Robinson, Esq., Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
	1997
Award:	Terry Agriss, President, New York State Environmental Facilities Corp. R. Fenn Putman, Chairman, O'Brien Partners, Inc.
	1998
Award:	Louis R. Tomson, First Deputy Secretary of the Governor, The State Of New York Brenon W. Harries, Former Chairman, President and Chief Financial Officer Standard and Poor's' Corporation
	1999
Award:	E. Virgil Conway, Chairman, The Metropolitan Transportation Authority Michael D. McCarthy, Managing Director, Goldman, Sachs & Co.
	2000
Award:	Maryanne Gridley, First Deputy Secretary to the Governor, The State Of New York Hyman C. Grossman, Managing Director, Standard & Poor's Cathy S. Callender, Director of Development, Marymount School
	2001
Award:	Thomas J. Murphy, Executive Director , New York State Dormitory Authority Richard F. Chapdelaine, Chairman, Chapdelaine & Co. Heather L. Ruth, President, The Bond Market Association
	2002
Award:	John F. Thompson, Former President, Municipal Forum of New York Claire G. Cohen, Vice Chairman, Fitch Ratings Joseph J. Lhota, Former Deputy Mayor, City of New York
	2003
Award:	The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Gedale Horowitz, Salomon Smith Barney
	2004
Award:	Alan Anders, Deputy Director, Office of OMB, City of New York Daniel Keating, Managing Director, Bear, Stearns & Co. Gerard Fernandez, Hawkins Delafield and Wood LLP
	2005
Award:	Charles A. Gargano, Chairman, Empire State Development Corporation Terry L. Atkinson, Managing Director, UBS Financial Services Inc. Damon P. Smith, III Honorary Achievement Award, (posthumously)
	2006
Award:	Herman R. Charbonneau, SVP, Roosevelt & Cross, Inc. Lifetime Achievement Award James T. Gebhardt, CFO, NYSEFC, Public Service Award Andrew Gurley, MD, UBS Securities LLC, The Austin V. Koenen Career Achievement Award
	2007
Award:	Frances Walton, CFO, Empire State Dev Corp., Public Service Award Howard Zucker, Partner, Hawkins Delafield & Wood LLP, The Austin V. Koenen Career Achievement Award William W. Cobbs, Chairman, PRAG, Lifetime Achievement Award