Innovations in Muni Bonds: Delivering Cutting-Edge Solutions – AllianceBernstein – 3.17.22

Summary:

Now On Demand.

Building effective muni portfolios in today’s constantly changing market requires speed, efficiency and a flexible platform. To be successful, muni managers must embrace technology to be better, stronger, and faster than the competition. As advisors search for income and returns for clients in their municipal bond allocations, partnering with tech-powered solutions that offer different sources of alpha—including speed, trading and tax—while being customized and personalized will be critical.

Register today to hear from AllianceBernstein’s panel of muni bond experts who will cover how technology can unlock differentiated sources of alpha, including:

• Trading Alpha—How faster more efficient trading is required to execute on mispriced bonds in the marketplace, and how the traditional analog method of trading could lead to missed opportunities
• Speed Alpha—How introducing automation technology into the traditional portfolio construction process and eliminating bottlenecks can enable implementation of clients’ portfolios much faster
• Tax Alpha—How fixed income SMAs that employ systematic tax optimization can add significantly to after-tax returns in a given calendar year

Speakers:

Daryl Clements is one of the portfolio managers responsible for overseeing the firm’s various municipal bond accounts. He joined AB in 2002 as a municipal credit research analyst, responsible for evaluating municipal issuers nationwide, with a particular focus on the transportation, public power and tobacco-backed bonds sectors. In 2006, Clements joined the portfolio-management team and became a member of the Tax-Exempt Fixed Income Investment Policy Group. Prior to joining the firm, he was an associate director for Financial Guaranty Insurance Company (FGIC) for six years, covering various issuers and sectors nationwide. For the five years prior to that, Clements was a research associate for Moody’s Investors Service, assigning ratings for the southwest region of the country and New York. He holds a BS in business, management and finance from Brooklyn College and an MBA in finance from Pace University. In 2008, he co-authored the “How to Analyze Airport Revenue Bonds” chapter in The Handbook of Municipal Bonds.

Gavin Romm is a Senior Vice President and Head of Fixed Income SMA Solutions. He is responsible for the management and strategic growth of AB’s fixed-income SMA business. This includes the construction and ongoing evolution of AB’s deeply customized, technology-driven SMA investment platform delivering bespoke solutions to investors across a variety of commercial channels. Previously, Romm was a senior leader responsible for fixed-income technology and data initiatives, driving innovation through data science, analytics and automation to enhance AB’s investment decision-making capabilities. Prior to that, he was a portfolio manager and member of the High Yield and High Income portfolio-management teams. Before joining AB in 2013, Romm was a fixed-income specialist at Bloomberg, where he developed and supported fixed-income cash bond and derivative analysis tools. He holds a BA in economics with a minor in entrepreneurship from Trinity College and is a CFA charterholder.

Alec DeWitt is a Vice President and Investment Strategist—Municipal Bonds and is a member of the Fixed Income Product Management team. He works extensively with the firm’s portfolio-management team to monitor and communicate portfolio positioning and analysis to clients around the US. Before joining AB in 2019, DeWitt served in client-facing roles within the investment-management industry, most recently as a product specialist for a boutique municipal bond manager. He holds a BA in economics from Pennsylvania State University.

Mike Capella is a Senior Vice President and Managing Director of the US Strategic Relationship Group, where he oversees the firm’s relationships within the independent broker-dealer, custodian and bank-trust channels. Prior to joining the firm in 2010, he was a vice president at T. Rowe Price, where he managed relationships with broker-dealer and global private bank clients. Before joining T. Rowe Price in 2004, Capella was a financial advisor at UBS Financial Services. He previously spent four years working as an account executive in the advertising industry. Capella holds a BA in communication and an MBA from the University of Maryland.