Baird Fixed Income Capital Markets – 2025 Year in Review

Market & Macro Environment

Fixed income markets demonstrated resilience and adaptability in 2025 amid several notable macroeconomic and policy developments.

• Evolving Policy Landscape: Early in the year, renewed discussions around trade and tariff policy (informally referred to as the “tariff tantrum”), led to brief volatility but ultimately encouraged greater attention on supply chain stability and domestic production trends.
• Leadership Transition: The swearing-in of a new U.S. president introduced shifts in fiscal and regulatory priorities. Markets absorbed the transition with relative stability, supported by expectations for increased infrastructure and capital investment that contributed to a constructive tone across several sectors.
• Temporary Government Shutdown: A brief government shutdown caused short delays in selected economic data releases and certain Treasury operations. However, market impact proved limited as investors looked through the disruption and confidence remained firm once activity resumed.
• Monetary Policy Shift: After a prolonged period of tightening, the Federal Reserve began a series of measured rate cuts in the second half of the year as inflation pressures eased and growth moderated. These adjustments supported improved liquidity conditions, encouraged issuance, and renewed investor confidence across fixed-income markets.
• Sector Highlights:
  • Municipal Bonds: Issuance increased as state and local governments advanced capital projects and took advantage of lower borrowing costs.
  • Securitized Products: Investor appetite for diversification and yield supported steady performance across ABS and MBS sectors.
  • Government & Agency Securities: Treasury and agency markets continued to provide a reliable foundation for institutional portfolios amid elevated issuance.
  • Corporate Credit: Solid issuer fundamentals and consistent demand supported healthy new issuance and generally tight spreads.

Despite policy shifts and periods of volatility, 2025 proved to be a constructive environment for fixed income investors. Our teams remained proactive and client-focused—identifying opportunities, adapting to changing conditions, and delivering consistent value through disciplined market insight and execution.

Leadership & Platform Development

Our Fixed Income Capital Markets teams made meaningful progress in 2025, reflecting continued investment in people, our platform, and client relationships.

Chris Bolger assumed the role of Head of Institutional Fixed Income Trading, bringing strong leadership and deep market experience to our trading operations. We are pleased that the depth of talent at Baird allows us to promote from within, maintaining our strong culture and continuity while keeping our multi-year strategic priorities front and center.

We also welcomed several professionals whose experience broadens our capabilities and extends our reach into new regions:

• Tim Kelly (Florida) joined our Public Finance team, focusing on Higher Education and Non-Profit sectors nationally.
• JP Zaptin joined as a Municipal Bond Trader, based in Texas, enhancing our secondary market capabilities and regional presence.
• Brady Jessup joined as a Government and Agency Trader, based in North Carolina.

In addition, we continued to invest in our bench by promoting Josh Janak, James Srouji, Mike Williamson and David Wood to banking roles, reflecting our continued commitment to developing internal talent and strengthening client coverage.

• Josh Janak focuses on serving K-12 School District across Indiana.
• James Srouji and Mike Williamson will continue our long legacy of serving clients throughout Michigan and Illinois in a variety of capacities.
• David Wood’s promotion further supports the growth of our Texas Special District Public Finance practice, an area that remains highly impactful to our business.

Collectively, these leadership changes, strategic hires, and internal promotions reinforce our commitment to maintaining a deep bench of experienced professionals who deliver the highest level of client service. Throughout 2025, we remained focused on enhancing collaboration among our sales force to increase new-issue mandates and strengthen cross-product connectivity, improving our ability to serve clients and uncover opportunities they might not otherwise consider.

Business Highlights & Strategic Priorities

In 2025, the FICM team continued to advance strategic initiatives aimed at strengthening our platform and enhancing client outcomes. Key areas of focus included:

• Origination & New Issue Activity – Our trading and underwriting teams supported a diverse range of clients, executing transactions across corporate, municipal, and structured markets.
• Client Engagement & Growth – We deepened relationships with existing clients and broadened our institutional and issuer base. By pairing market insight with product expertise, we sought to provide thoughtful, actionable ideas tailored to each client’s risk profile, objectives, and time horizon.
• Product Expertise – Our tenured specialists across corporate credit, government and agency, municipal, and securitized products continued to deliver differentiated perspectives and disciplined execution. This product depth remains a key differentiator for our platform.
• Operational Excellence – We continued to invest in technology, data, and analytics to improve efficiency, transparency, and reporting across our platform, enhancing the client experience while supporting our teams with better tools and information.

Notable Transactions & Milestones

Our team executed a number of significant transactions during the year that reflect our broad expertise and client-focused approach solutions. Selected 2025 highlights include:

• Greater Texoma Utility Authority (TX) – Served as underwriter on the Authority’s fifth bond financing with Baird, supporting critical water infrastructure improvements. This long-standing relationship continues to demonstrate our commitment to public entities and sustainable community growth. (The Greater Texoma Utility Authority transaction was previously recognized with The Bond Buyer’s 2023 Deal of the Year.)
  View Transaction > 
• Legacy Traditional Schools (SC) – Served as underwriter for a financing supporting Legacy’s expansion into South Carolina, reflecting our continued partnership with one of the nation’s largest charter school networks.
  View Transaction >
• Rum River Special Education Cooperative (MN) – Served as underwriter on a complex, non-rated financing supporting the replacement of an outdated special education facility in central Minnesota, working with the Cooperative over the course of nearly two years.
  View transaction >

Each of these transactions underscores our ability to deliver thoughtful, tailored solutions that align with client objectives and current market dynamics. Additional recent transactions are available on our website.

Building on Our Strengths

In 2025, Baird’s Fixed Income Capital Markets platform continued to grow thoughtfully, expanding our reach, deepening relationships, and welcoming talented professionals across our product areas. Our ongoing investment in people, collaboration, and technology remains central to how we serve clients and sustain long-term success.

The momentum across our sales, trading, and public finance teams reflects a culture where teamwork and integrity drive performance. As we look ahead, our greatest advantage remains our people—their expertise, commitment, and shared focus on delivering exceptional results for clients through a range of market conditions.