MPC | ADVISORY

History and Experience: My Story

I started my career in Financial Markets in 1987 after graduating from the University of Virginia with a BS in Systems Engineering. My first job was in the Business Systems group at Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co. (now KPMG) in NYC.  Here, I was part of a group that developed some of the earliest programs used to structure Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS) and, more specifically, the restructuring of these Securities into Collateralized Mortgage Obligations (CMOs).  If you’re familiar with the book Liar’s Poker, these are the Securities that the Wall Street firms created and traded.

With no formal financial training beyond Fabozzi’s The Handbook of Fixed Income Securities, I set out to try to understand a little bit how markets function. I worked for a couple of large brokerages (PaineWebber and DLJ) structuring CMOs, got my MBA at NYU Stern, earned my CFA charter and structured CMBS at Ernst & Young, but I still felt that something was missing.

In 1996 I started teaching as an Adjunct Professor of Finance at NYU Stern, and really enjoyed it.  My classes were a little different than most – rather than focusing on theoretical economic models and hypothetical company financings, I set out to make my class both practical and more approachable for students, in order to help them move forward in their financial careers.

In 2000 I started StreetSmart (now MPC | Advisory) to provide practical financial training and consulting services, working both directly with clients and subcontracting with training companies.  In the last 25 years I’ve worked with clients all over the world, having done training in over 35 countries.