Mesirow Financial taps insider Dominick Mondi for president

Feb. 07--Mesirow Financial has named executive Dominick Mondi as its president, filling a spot vacant since 2011 and tipping its hand as to a possible successor to Chief Executive Richard Price.

Price, 69, has held the CEO job at the Chicago-based investment, risk management and advisory services firm since 2011, when he moved from president to the top spot after the death of CEO James Tyree.

Mondi, 62, who serves as president of Mesirow's capital markets business and is a Mesirow board member, will assume the new role April 1.

External candidates were considered, but the board was in unanimous agreement that an insider should get the job, Mesirow said in an email to workers. "Dominick has the right mix of strategic vision and effective execution," the email said. "He's also adept at recruiting."

The email also addresses when and whether Mondi is the heir apparent to Price.

"For the next several years, Dominick will work closely with CEO Richard Price and our businesses to help with the firm's strategic growth," the email said. "We fully expect that he will make a positive impact on the organization and are confident of his ability to lead Mesirow Financial into the future."

Price is the fourth person to run Mesirow, and all came from inside the company.

"I expect to be here a few years more, but it's up to the board," Price said.

Since joining the firm in June 2008, Mondi has expanded Mesirow's capital markets businesses, increasing its annual institutional sales and trading volume to $35 billion, from well under $10 billion when he joined the company. He will continue to co-manage that business, which also includes public finance and credit tenant lease finance and structured debt products groups.

Mondi previously was a senior managing director at Bear Stearns, where he led Chicago municipal sales operations and also worked in municipal bond sales efforts in the New York office.

Asked for some examples of his key hires, Mondi mentioned several names, including Stephen Jacobson, head of the credit tenant lease and structured debt products group; and Bryan McCoy and Paul Baker, both senior managing directors in the institutional sales and trading group.

Mondi has a bachelor's degree from St. John's University.

Mondi said he plans to begin taking a higher profile in Chicago, with a particular interest in causes related to health, education and the inner cities.

Mesirow also said it was expanding Chief Financial Officer Kristie Paskvan's duties to include chief operating officer, a role also once held by Price that has been vacant since 2011.

Paskvan, 58, joined Mesirow in 1997 and was promoted to CFO in 1999. She has a bachelor's from the University of Illinois and a Master of Business Administration from Northwestern University.

Both Mondi and Paskvan will report to Price.

Last year, Mesirow sold its insurance business, which accounted for 22 percent of its revenues and a third of its workforce.

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