WASHINGTON - The comptroller of Chicago and an executive with Goldman Sachs & Co; are among five new members who have been elected to three-year terms on the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, the board has announced.
Walter K. Knorr, Chicago's comptroller since 1989, and Frederick W. Gaertner, vice president of the investment department for the Chubb Corp. in Warren, N.J., will represent the public, while David C. Clapp, a partner with Goldman Sachs, is the new representative of securities dealers.
Robert H. Drysdale, president and chief executive officer of PNC Securities Corp. in Pittsburgh. and Phillip E. Peters, executive vice president, chief investment officer, and head of investment banking for Boatmen's Bancshares Inc. in St. Louis, will represent dealer banks.
The new members, whose terms begin Oct. 1. are joining at a key time for the board, which is under pressure from federal regulators to crack down on sales of riskier bonds to small investors and to help the municipal industry with the complex task of developing a system for broadly disseminating bond prices to small buyers.
They also will take their seats just as the board prepares this fall to launch its long-awaited electronic pilot system for continuing disclosure information. The project's fate hinges on the level of participation the board can drum up from bank trustees and, eventually issuers, in the system.
Both of the board's new public members have been in their present jobs since 1989. Mr. Knorr, who will represent issuers, is in charge of Chicago's annual budget, including the management of its cash-flow, debt, and credit activities. Formerly with the accounting firm of Arthur Young & Co. and the Northern Trust Bank in Chicago, the city comptroller is a trustee of the Chicago Police, Firemen, and Municipal and Laborer's Pension Funds and chairs the city's health benefits committee and deferred compensation plan.
Mr. Gaertner, who will represent investors, manages Chubb's tax-exempt securities portfolio. Previously, he was vice president of asset management at Salomon Bros. and vice president of Chase Manhattan Bank.
Mr. Clapp, the new representative of securities dealers, has been a partner at Goldman Sachs since 1978 and currently runs the firm's municipal bond department. Previously, he was a financial adviser to state authorities.
Mr. Drysdale, one of the new dealer bank representatives, joined PNC Securities Corp. in 1988, after serving as president and chief executive officer of Jesup & Lampon Securities Group Inc. in New York City.
Before that, he was president and chief operating officer of Tucker Anthony Inc. in New York, where he worked 10 years. He also was first vice president for public finance with Blyth Eastman Dillon in New York and head underwriter of municipal bonds for Security Pacific National Bank in Los Angeles.
The other elected dealer bank representative, Mr. Peters of Boatmen's Bancshares, previously was senior vice president and head of fixed-income for Carolina Securities Corp. and a member of the boards of the Dealer Bank Association and the Public Securities Association. The MSRB, which was established by Congress in 1975, has 15 members, with five each representing bank dealers, securities firms, and the public. At least one of the five public members must be an issuer and another must be an investor. Each year the board selects five new members and a new chairman. All members serve three-year terms.
The replacement for outgoing Chairman Richard. D. Thayer, vice president of First Union Brokerage Services in Atlanta, is expected to be named in mid-September.
The five board members stepping down on Sept. 30 include the two public members, J. Barry Cregan, vice president of General Reinsurance Corp., who represents investors, and Richard M. Evans, director of finance for Savannah, Ga., who represents issuers. The departing securities dealer is Dean J. Torkelson, president of Seattle-Northwest Securities Corp., and the departing bank dealers are Harry R. Larson, president of First Chicago Capital Markets Inc., and Mr. Thayer.
