Andrews leaves Lazard to head N.Y.C. tax commission.

Investment banker Earl Andsews Jr. has resigned from the firm of WR Lazard. Laidlaw & Mead Inc. to join the administration of New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani as president of the city's tax commission.

Andrews, who in 1989 ran for Manhattan borough president on the Republican ticket, ended his eightyear career with WR Lazard on Friday. The firm underwrites city bonds, manages pension funds, and has served as a financial adviser for the city.

Earlier in the year, Giuliani, a Republican, appointed Andrews chairman of the board for the city's OffTrack Betting Corp and made him a member of the mayor's appointments committee.

In late August, the city council's committee on rules, privileges and election approved Andrews' nomination to the tax commission post, which is a cabinet-level appointment.

Andrews will fill the remainder of an unexpired six-year term, which ends on Jan. 6, 1996, and will be paid an annual salary of $103.000. Starting Sept. 12, Andrews will replace David Goldstein, an appointee of former Mayor Edward I. Koch.

Andrews will oversee a panel of six commissioners m the 45-person agency, which settles disputes between the city and landlords over property taxes.

"It's difficult to turn do{vn the mayor, who is a friend," Andrews said. "I toki him I would only come on under the right conditions, and I needed assurances it would not hurt my firm."

In May, the firm's founder, Wardell R. Lazard, died in his Pittsburgh hotel room, the victim of an apparent drag overdose.

Lazard' s death sparked widespread concern among the firm's municipal clients. particularly those that hired WR Lazard to manage their pension fund money. WR Lazard is one of the largest minority-owned asset managers and underwriters of municipal debt.

Several municipalities, including New York City, which hired WR Lazard to manage its pension funds, questioned the firm's ability to retain key employees.

The city finally decided to keep the firm as a manager of about $400 million in pension fund money, but said it will monitor the firm indefinitely. The decision was made by the office of city Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi, which oversees a multibillion-dollar pension fund system.

"I think they will miss me, but I would not take this job if I felt it would hurt the firm," said Andsews, who helped found WR Lazard with Wardell Lazard in 1984. "I think the firm is as strong now as when Wardell was around."

According to a resume submitted to the city council, Andrews has worked as an executive vice president at LM Capital Corp., also a minority-owned firm. and Sloan Financial Group, a minority-owned asset manager group.

Andrews says he has 22 years of securities business experience, including the structuring of real estate investment trusts and his work with the Resolution Trust Corp.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER