BAM Mutual today announced that municipal bond electronic trading expert Tom Vales will join the Board as an independent director representing BAM’s municipal issuer-members. Mr. Vales was elected to fill the unexpired term of John White, who is retiring.

“Tom’s career has been about making fixed-income markets more transparent and efficient,” said Seán W. McCarthy, Chief Executive Officer of BAM. “His perspective on the markets and knowledge about emerging technologies will support our mission to protect investors and improve market access for issuers financing essential infrastructure.”

Mr. Vales was formerly the Chief Executive Officer of TMC Bonds, the leading electronic trading platform for municipal bonds, which was acquired by the Intercontinental Exchange in 2019. He currently serves as a Director for InspereX, a fixed-income focused broker-dealer, and as an Independent Trustee for the Axonic Funds. Earlier in his career, Mr. Vales was a Managing Director at Bankers Trust and Deutsche Bank.

“Over my career, BAM was an amazing partner for expanding the ease of use of online bond insurance,” Mr. Vales said. “I look forward to helping support BAM’s leadership and vision for the future of electronic trading by bringing both greater liquidity and transparency to the insured marketplace.”

He succeeds John White, who joined BAM’s Board in 2017. Mr. White is the former Chief Executive Officer of PFM Financial Advisors and was inducted into The Bond Buyer Municipal Finance Hall of Fame in 2022.

“John’s decades of experience as an innovative financial advisor was excellent background for his role as a BAM independent director, representing the interests of our municipal issuer-members,” Mr. McCarthy said. “We appreciate his service and contributions and wish him well in retirement.”

About BAM Mutual

Headquartered in New York, BAM is a mutual bond insurance company operated for the benefit of its members – cities, states and other municipal entities – that use BAM’s financial guaranty to enhance the credit strength of their bond issues. From inception through September 30, 2024, BAM has insured more than $155 billion of municipal bonds for more than 6,000 issuer-members. BAM-insured bonds are rated AA with a Stable outlook by S&P Global Ratings, and BAM is the preferred provider of bond insurance for members of the National League of Cities.

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