Anne Noble: Leading the Way in Public Finance

Anne Noble has a passion for Public Finance – and she can’t wait for more women to find success in the field.

Stifel’s Public Finance team has been going above and beyond for its clients for years.  In fact, LSEG has ranked them #1 nationally in the number of transactions for ten consecutive years.

Managing Director Anne Noble’s leadership has been crucial to our Public Finance team’s accomplishments.  I caught up with her to discuss her career and how mentoring can lead to a more inclusive public finance landscape.

Public Finance: Funding the Backbone of Communities

Public finance is an essential part of funding the essential infrastructure and services that communities rely on, including roads, sidewalks, street lighting, sewers, convention centers, airports, stadiums, elementary schools, university dorms, and courthouses, just to name a few.

“We help governmental borrowers and non-profits borrow money to fund capital improvement projects because many of them can’t go to banks for loans, as it’s often not a legal option.  They’re eligible to borrow on a tax-exempt basis, meaning the interest income on the bonds is tax-free to investors, which lowers the borrowing costs,” Anne explains.  “Our primary role is helping governmental clients access the fixed-income markets to borrow money.”

By selling municipal bonds, which work like a mortgage for the funding body, the Public Finance team makes securing funds for everything from healthcare facilities to affordable housing projects as simple as possible.  

Finding Fulfillment: Anne’s Public Finance Journey

Anne landed a position in Public Finance right after graduating from Washington University in St. Louis.  She was on the plane to attend an interview with a consulting firm when she found herself sitting next to a man who worked for St. Louis-based A.G. Edwards.

“He invited me to interview for a public finance analyst position.  I had already applied but hadn’t gotten an interview, but he bypassed HR for me,” she explains.  “Everyone I met during the interview loved their work.  I didn’t fully understand what they did, but I believed working with passionate people would be rewarding.”

She was right.  In fact, Anne loved the job so much that she chose to stay in the field rather than pursue her long dream of attending law school.  It has been an incredible journey so far, and Anne has no regrets about sacrificing law school to continue her career in Public Finance.

She and the Public Finance team have worked hard to help fund major projects that have significantly impacted local communities over the years.  For instance, the Public Finance team collaborated with Managing Director David Farina of Stifel’s Yardley branch on transactions for the Pennsylvania Turnpike and worked with our Morristown advisors on several public finance transactions for Jersey City, including recent water projects.

“We’ve also funded electric buses for Indianapolis, a new terminal for the Bay Area Rapid Transit system with a green roof, and various university projects,” she says.  “Every week, one in eight bond transactions in America is underwritten by Stifel.  No firm handles more public finance volume than we do.”

She takes great pride in the fact that the work she does results in facilities and services that truly benefit the public.

The Changing Landscape of Public Finance: Past, Present, and Future

Anne has been in the industry for 35 years, so she has plenty of experience when it comes to securing funding for capital improvement projects.  Throughout her career, she has noticed and appreciated the changing role of women in the field.  She has gone from often being the only woman in the room to being on a team where roughly a quarter of the managing directors are female.

“When I started, it was all men.  There were some female professionals in the department, but my direct team, bosses, clients, and colleagues were all men.”

Fortunately, Anne’s first two managers were amazing mentors.

“My second boss would tell clients, ‘I know she’s young and blonde, but she’s smart.  You should listen to her,’” she recalls.  “Today, such comments wouldn’t be politically correct, but his endorsement helped give me credibility back then.”

Now, Anne is on the other side of the mentor-mentee relationship, serving as a role model and source of advice and guidance for others.

“Being a great mentor requires superb listening skills.  It’s about them, not me.  Giving them a safe place to talk and ask anything is key.”

She acknowledges that she finds it easier to serve as a mentor for people who don’t work directly for her and aren’t directly involved in her work.

“Mentors can be of any age and skill set. I still rely on colleagues for different perspectives, and I hope others do the same,” Anne adds.

She also hopes to see more women in the industry and more women supporting other women.

“We have many successful women in Public Finance, but there are many more opportunities for women in financial services.  I hope more women will mentor and help young women enter this business.  Since women love working with other women and often prefer talking to female advisors, there are unending opportunities for women in wealth management and financial services.”