In the latest of a series of hires in recent months, Philadelphia-based Fairmount Capital Advisors Inc. has named Lawrence Singer, formerly an assistant director in New Jersey's division of investments, as a vice president.
Mr. Singer, who became New Jersey's director of public finance in 1989 and switched to portfolio management for the state in January, has also held several positions in the private sector.
From 1977 until 1981, he worked at Standard & Poor's Corp., where he was one of the rating agency's first analysts dedicated solely to health-care issues. He joined L.F. Rothschild, Unterberg, Towbin in 1981 as a senior vice president covering mainly health-care and higher education issues.
Before joining New Jersey's public finance department, Mr. Singer was a senior vice president and director of marketing for the College Construction Loan Insurance Association.
Commenting on his experience with the public sector, Mr. Singer said he came away with "a much deeper respect" for New Jersey's management and for state government in general.
"I think anybody who is an investment banker working with the public sector should at some point have the experience of actually being a client of investment bankers," Mr. Singer said.
Rodney Johnson, Fairmount's founder and president, said that in addition to Mr. Singer, the firm has made several other hires in recent months.
"We've tride to combine a diverse group of backgrounds so we have the experience to deal with just about any problem that comes along," he said.
Elizabeth Felker, another former director of public finance for New Jersey, joined the staff this year as a vice president, as did Robert G. Kreider, formerly a vice president at Kidder, Peabody & Co. in Philadelphia.
Other recent additions include David Womack and Nancy Rapoport, who joined Fairmount after leaving senior positions at Advest Inc. and Dillon, Read & Co. respectively.
Mr. Johnson, who was director of finance for Philadelphia in 1982 and 1983 and the chief financial officer for Temple University until 1987, said the firm hopes to expand further with a Manhattan office in about a month or two.
Many of the firm's recent hires have extensive health-care experience, and Fairmount counts several hospitals, including Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, among its clients. The Penssylvania Convention Center Authority is also a client, Mr. Johnson said.
Since opening exactly five years ago today, Fairmount has acted as financial adviser on 10 bond issues totaling $375 million, according to Securities Data Co./Bond Buyer.
