Veteran municipal bond banker and industry expert Peter Hill has joined Ramirez & Co. as a senior managing director effective Wednesday, according to the firm.
In his new role, Hill will work alongside Ted Sobel, head of public finance and with other senior executives, continuing to grow and expand the 51-year-old minority-owned investment banking, brokerage, and advisory Wall Street firm, according to Sam Ramirez Jr., the firm’s managing director.
“We are excited to have him on board,” Ramirez Jr. said of the veteran banker who, in late 2022, left his position as managing director and head of public finance at UBS Securities for new opportunities.
“Peter knows the market, he knows what we do, he knows our DNA and is a guy that can fit into whatever we want to do and wear many hats,” said Sam Ramirez, founder, president, and chief executive officer. “He will be able to help us tremendously in different areas — not just public finance.”
Ramirez, who has known Hill for years, considers him a friend and a colleague who is well respected in the industry and will be a valuable resource as the firm grows.
Hill complements the firm’s strong teams, he said, and adds his own style of doing business and experience.
“Peter will bring a lot of ideas to the firm,” Ramirez added.
Prior to UBS, Hill was managing director and head of public finance at Wells Fargo for over eight years.
Hill will now serve as a strategic advisor in public finance and utilize his reputation and industry experience to help Ramirez with its future vision of growth and expansion, according to Ramirez.
“We are focused on next 50-year chapter of the firm and our strategic growth,” Ramirez told The Bond Buyer Wednesday.
The firm, he said, has been in an expansion mode, building on past successes.
“Peter brings a great reputation and experience and is an individual that is going to help us continue our growth and really help us with ideas, and continue to grow the firm in general,” Ramirez said.
In January, the firm added of three senior investment bankers in New York and Texas: Gabriella Briceno, Carlos Montoya, and Chapman Grumbles.
Hill will continue to help diversify the firm’s nationwide coverage model, according to Ramirez.
“We are plugging in lower, mid, and senior level executives trying to get us to another level,” he explained. “We are very focused on the next 50 years of the firm and we are in a great position for that,” he continued. “We are well capitalized and I think Peter can help.”
Hill joins Ramirez after more than five years of helping to rebuild the public finance department at UBS Securities.
In January, after five years of growth that followed a relaunch of its municipal business, UBS Financial Services cut its banking ranks in the aftermath of a down year for issuance and headwinds for 2023.
The firm slashed 20% of its overall municipal team — which includes banking, sales, trading and underwriting — with the cuts concentrated in the public finance banking group, according to multiple market sources who asked not to be named.