Mr. Ciccarone is a Managing Director and Chief Research Officer at McDonnell Investment Management LLC. McDonnell is an institutional fixed income investment management firm located in Oak Brook, IL with responsibility for over $15 billion in fixed income assets. Mr. Ciccarone, who has over thirty years of investment industry experience, is responsible for managing the McDonnell investment research resources, including the management of research analysts and analytical tools to support client portfolios. In addition, he is the President and CEO of Merritt Research Services, LLC -- a municipal bond credit database research company serving institutional clients throughout the U.S..

Prior to September 2001, Mr. Ciccarone served as Senior Vice President and Co-Head of Fixed Income at Van Kampen Investments Inc. Prior to that position, he served at Van Kampen as Senior Vice President and Co-Head of Municipal Investments and Director of Research. From 1989 to 1996, Mr. Ciccarone was Executive Vice President at EVEREN Securities Inc (Chicago) and served in various capacities at its predecessor firms (Kemper Securities Inc and Blunt Ellis & Loewi. Inc) as an Executive Vice President and Director of Tax Exempt / Fixed Income Research. From 1983 to 1989, Mr. Ciccarone was a Vice President and Director of Unit Investment Trust Research for Van Kampen Merritt Inc. Prior to 1983, he was manager of municipal research at Harris Bank (Chicago), where he started his career as a municipal bond analyst in 1977.

He has received numerous awards and distinctions as the top Buyside research director and top municipal generalist analyst from Smith’s Research & Ratings and The Bond Buyer as well as a first team All American Fixed Income Analyst from Institutional Investor magazine. He also received a Life Time Achievement Award from Smith’s in 2007 and a Career Achievement award from the National Federation of Municipal Analysts in 2011.

Mr. Ciccarone is a co-founder and past national chairman of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts and past chairperson of the Standards & Practices Committee. He is a member of the Chicago Municipal Analysts Society. He is also a member and past-president of the Society of Municipal Analysts. During a term in the 1990s, he represented the NFMA as a member of the Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Council. He has written a number of articles for books and publications, including his most recent, “Financial Markets and State and Local Governments” that he co-authored in the Oxford Handbook of State and Local Government. He is the Publisher of MuniNetGuide.com.

Mr. Ciccarone served as an elected trustee of the Hinsdale Village Board (1999-2003) as well as a member of its plan commission (1996-1999). He also served as a member of the Hinsdale Firefighters Pension Board (2006-2009). He is as an executive member of the Civic Federation of Chicago Board of Directors and the co-chair of the organization’s State and Local Pension committee.

He earned his B.A. degree in Political Science at Miami University (Ohio) and his MA degree from The University of Akron in public administration and urban studies with a concentration in public budgeting.

Capital Markets, Investment Banking, Government Finance,