Leonard Jones

Executive Director and the Head of Public Finance

Leonard was previously a Managing Director at Moody’s Investors Service, where he managed local government ratings in the US, in addition to the ESG, Charter School and Cybersecurity risk groups within US Public Finance.

His team of eighty credit analysts provides credit ratings, research, and ESG scoring to US public Finance issuers from four offices in the US. Prior to Moody’s Mr. Jones was a public finance investment banker at Smith Barney and Morgan Stanley.

He was also a Partner at a minority-owned public finance investment banking firm, Rice Financial Products Company. Mr. Jones has assisted state and local governments with over forty billion dollars of senior and co-managed municipal bonds issuances and credit facilities, structured and executed several hundred million dollars of interest rate swaps and provided financial advice for several large international infrastructure projects.

Mr. Jones also worked in Africa as an Advisor to the Zambia Privatization Agency where he managed the privatization of over twenty government owned assets. Mr. Jones is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Municipal Analysts Group of New York and a member of the Investment Committee of the Executive Leadership Council. Mr. Jones received a BA in economics from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Jonathan Ly

Senior Vice President

Mr. Ly has over 14-years’ experience in public finance and is responsible for client development, relationship management and transaction oversight. Mr. Ly has served as an underwriter and placement agent and covers a broad range of sectors including, but not limited to, transportation, economic development, water and sewer, public utilities, housing, assisted living, airports, public improvement, primary and secondary education and higher education. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Ly was an investment banker with Piper Jaffray, Benchmark Securities, CastleOak Securities and KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Previously, he worked at Ferrand Consulting Group, Inc., the parent company of the Munex software where he trained bankers and analysts on bond structuring, and Analyst at Chapman and Cutler as a senior analyst performing arbitrage rebate calculations. Mr. Ly is an Honors College graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago with dual BA degrees in Economics and Finance. He holds FINRA Municipal Securities Representative (Series 52) and Uniform State Law (Series 63) licenses.

Gail Schaeffer

Senior Vice President

Ms. Schaeffer has been a Wall Street professional for over 30 years and has been with the firm since 2011. She has held various positions in investment banking, public finance, sales and trading. Ms. Schaeffer has worked with numerous state and local governments, school districts, development authorities, water and sewer systems, transportation issuers, higher education institutions and corporations on municipal debt financings and capital market transactions.

Ms. Schaeffer leads the firms municipal efforts in the states of Texas, Louisiana, Missouri, Tennessee and Alabama. Her efforts have resulted in the firms inclusion on transactions totaling over $10 billion. Prior to joining Blaylock Van, Ms. Schaeffer held positions at Drexel Burnham & Lambert, Lehman Brothers, Frost Securities, Capis and Jessup & Lamont. Ms. Schaeffer has a Bachelor of Science from Texas State University and holds a series 7, 63, 55 and 24 licenses.

Will Howarth

Senior Vice President

Will Howarth provides analytical and transactional support to the BV municipal team. Mr. Howarth began his career with Bloomberg LP as an analyst in the Fixed Income group. He is currently serving as a support banker where his role includes quantitative analysis, as well as creating marketing materials for current municipal clients and potential issuers. He graduated from Rutgers University Business School in New Brunswick with a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance. Mr. Howarth holds a FINRA Municipal Securities Representative (Series 52) registration.

Gurami Kiladze

Senior Vice President

Mr. Kiladze joined Blaylock Van in 2018. At Blaylock Van, he has worked with large municipal issuers nationwide, with a focus on Northeast clients. Additionally, Mr. Kiladze uses his knowledge of programming, data analysis and machine learning to help build models and programs that help the firm develop complex structures and niche solutions for clients with unique situations.

Mr. Kiladze studied Economics at Baruch College where he earned a B.A. Prior to joining Blaylock Van, Gurami worked at NW Capital Markets where he assisted their underwriting team in various sole managed offerings. He started his career as an analyst in the Structured Products group at Bonwick Capital Partners where he worked with a team to securitize various asset backed cashflows including a successful securitization of peer-to-peer loans. Mr. Kiladze holds FINRA Series 52 and 63 licenses.