M.R. Beal Hires Public Finance Veterans Cheryl Ishmael and Robin Ginsburg as Managing Director and Senior Vice President

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--M.R. Beal & Company, a leading investment banking firm specializing in municipal finance, corporate finance and equity execution, announced today that Cheryl Ishmael and Robin Ginsburg have joined the firm as senior members of its Public Finance Department.

Ms. Ishmael primarily will be working with issuers in the areas of health care and higher education and will broaden the firm’s coverage significantly in those areas as well as the not-for-profit sector. In addition, she will assist in the coverage of New York State issuers. Ms. Ginsburg’s focus will be on housing and general infrastructure clients in New York State and around the country. They are both based in New York.

Ms. Ishmael, with more than 25 years of public finance experience, most recently served as an Administrator at Westchester Medical Center in New York. Previously, she served for 13 years as Managing Director of Public Finance at the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, one of the nation’s largest issuers of tax exempt debt. In addition, she worked in the private sector as a public finance banker at Ramirez & Co., Lebenthal & Co., Inc., and Kidder Peabody & Co.

Most recently, Ms. Ginsburg was Principal of the Public Finance Housing Group at Banc of America Securities LLC where she worked on a range of single family and multifamily financings for state and local housing authorities around the country. Recently, she senior managed several high profile transactions for the California Housing Finance Agency, the Connecticut Housing Finance Agency, the Massachusetts Housing and the New York City Housing Development Corporation.

Previously, Ms. Ginsburg was Director of Municipal Finance at Financial Security Assurance (FSA), where she successfully headed the marketing and development of the firms housing finance capabilities. Ms. Ginsburg also worked for Ambac Assurance Corp. and Financial Guarantee Insurance Company (FGIC).

Ms. Ishmael earned her Masters in Public Administration from the State University of New York at Albany and a Bachelor of Arts from Syracuse University. Ms. Ginsburg earned her Masters in Business Administration from Fordham University and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Clark University.

About M.R. Beal

Founded in 1988, M.R. Beal is a leading investment bank specializing in municipal and corporate finance, taxable and tax-exempt fixed income sales and trading, and equity sales and trading. Based in New York, the firm participated in $40.3 billion of municipal underwritings in 2008 and continues to rank among the top 20 underwriters of municipal securities worldwide. M. R. Beal & Company is one of the nation’s oldest and most established minority-owned investment banking firms. The firm has participated in nine of the 11 largest IPO's in history, representing an equity volume exceeding $21 billion to date. M.R. Beal's institutional clients include a wide array of leading U.S. corporations, as well as state and local government and not-for-profit entities. In addition to its New York headquarters, M.R. Beal also has offices in Chicago, Sacramento and Dallas.