• Firm hires Chris Sheehan from Stifel as Managing Director and Jeff Wilke from Maryland Economic Development Corporation as Director

• Sheehan and Wilke will focus on serving public and private sector clients in the State of Maryland, and other states along the east coast

• Roles expand the firm’s public finance presence in the mid-Atlantic region

CHICAGO, August 11, 2021 – Mesirow Financial Holdings, Inc. (“Mesirow” or the “firm”), an independent, employee-owned financial services firm, today announced Chris Sheehan and Jeff Wilke have joined as a Managing Director and Director respectively within Mesirow Public Finance. Based in Maryland, Chris and Jeff will focus on servicing municipal and developer clients within the State of Maryland and other states along the east coast— marking the sixth US urban center from which Mesirow Public Finance operates.

“We are excited to open our Maryland office with the hires of Chris and Jeff,” said Todd Waldrop, Senior Managing Director and Head of Mesirow Public Finance. “Bringing significant banking experience within the mid-Atlantic region, they will help expand our presence across the US and further our ability to fund important capital and infrastructure projects through innovative debt financing solutions.”

Chris joins Mesirow from Stifel, where he served as a Director of public finance and as a lead or co-lead banker on economic development and redevelopment financings across the nation, including inaugurating the first publicly offered bond in the State of Maine. Chris is active in the Urban Land Institute, is a member of the Baltimore Chapter of Lambda Alpha International, the Maryland Government Finance Officers Association, and the Municipal Bond Club of Baltimore. He also serves on the Council for Development Finance Agencies Board of Trustees.

Prior to joining Mesirow, Jeff worked as the Director of Bond Financing for the Maryland Economic Development Corporation (MEDCO), where he was responsible for overseeing its municipal bond program. While there, he successfully closed over $3.5 billion in tax-exempt and taxable revenue bonds with ratings ranging from triple-A to nonrated through a variety of structures and across multiple asset classes, including public-private partnerships such as the Seagirt Marine Terminal, Purple Line light rail, and the University of Maryland Utility Infrastructure projects. Additionally, Jeff managed seventeen of MEDCO’s owned and leased bond-financed properties. Jeff serves on the board of directors and as Treasurer for Baltimore Community Lending and is a lifetime member of the Leadership Maryland program.

About Mesirow Public Finance

Mesirow Public Finance has a longstanding tradition of providing objective professional services to a diverse group of public sector clients. The team's regional bankers, located in six major cities across the US, maintain the day-to-day relationships with clients, and coordinate their specific financial needs. Over the last two years, the Public Finance team has acted as underwriter on over $38 billion of negotiated public sector financing transactions. To learn more, visit mesirow.com/publicfinance.

About Mesirow

Mesirow is an independent, employee-owned financial services firm founded in 1937. Headquartered in Chicago with offices around the world, we serve clients through a personal, custom approach to reaching financial goals and acting as a force for social good. With capabilities spanning Global Investment Management, Capital Markets & Investment Banking, and Advisory Services, we invest in what matters: our clients, our communities and our culture. To learn more, visit mesirow.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

Mesirow was recently named one of the Best Places to Work in Chicago by Crain’s Chicago Business and one of the Top Workplaces by the Chicago Tribune.