John P. Pocceschi

Mr. Pocceschi is a veteran fixed income municipal professional whose career spans over three decades. His experience and industry knowledge were developed primarily at national wirehouse firms in various fixed income product management and marketing positions. His expertise includes all aspects of portfolio creation, design, implementation and monitoring, including defining objectives, security selection, pricing/execution levels, risk/reward analysis and performance review. In addition, his experience includes both primary (new issues) oversight and secondary market trading strategies. Mr. Pocceschi joined SMC FIM after lengthy tenures at both Merrill Lynch (20 years) and UBS Financial Services (8 years). He received a B.S. in Business Administration (Minor in Marketing) from King's College and received a Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA) Certification from the Investment and Wealth Institute.

James George

As SMC FIM’s Director of Research, Mr. George evaluates sectors, performs credit analysis, undertakes research for a wide range of municipal credit issuers and structures, and determines suitability and fit for the firm’s client portfolios. Mr. George’s understanding and practical application of relevant credit, risk, and market analytics is based on over seventeen years of experience in the municipal fixed income market. In his previous roles he analyzed and rated local and state governments, foundations, public and private colleges and universities, human service providers, charter schools, and an assortment of non-profit entities. His career includes employment with three of the major bond rating agencies. Before joining SMC FIM, Mr. George served as a Director in the Public Finance Group at Fitch Ratings and at Kroll Bond Rating Agency, where he produced credit research and assigned ratings for various municipal sector credits. Mr. George began his municipal career with Standard and Poor’s Ratings in the Healthcare and Higher Education Group. His wide-ranging research career includes nine years of financial guaranty experience with Radian Asset Assurance spanning all municipal sectors, where he was responsible for credit underwriting and the surveillance of various sectors of the insured portfolio to minimize risk. Mr. George received an MBA from Baruch College and a B.A. in Accounting and Economics from Queens College, both of the City University of New York.

Doug Bermingham

Mr. Bermingham joined SMC in 2017 as an Investment Specialist focused on business development efforts across all of the firm’s product lines. Prior to joining SMC, he served as a Managing Director of Pulteney Street Premier, developing a structured investment strategy for offshore deferred compensation of hedge fund general partners, and as Managing Partner of Ten Pine Advisors, advising companies on capital market strategies. Mr. Bermingham began his career at Merrill Lynch as a municipal bond specialist and has held senior roles at Lehman Brothers, Thomas Weisel Partners, Spencer Trask Ventures, Jesup & Lamont Securities and Butler Capital involving both traditional and alternative assets. He received his B.A. in Economics from Hobart College.

John "Launny" Steffens

Mr. John L. Steffens is the Founder and Senior Managing Director of SMC, co-head of SMC’s Private Capital Funds Group and is a member of each SMC Fund’s Investment Committee. Prior to founding SMC in 2001, Mr. Steffens spent 38 years at Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., where he held numerous senior management positions, including President of Merrill Lynch Consumer Markets, Vice Chairman of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., and Chairman of its U.S. Private Client Group. Under his leadership, the Private Client Group experienced tremendous growth, increasing assets under management from $200 billion to $1.6 trillion. Mr. Steffens also served on the board of directors of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. from April 1986 until July 2001.

Mr. Steffens currently serves on the boards of directors of RepairSmith, and AtlasXomics Inc., and as Chairman of the Board of Directors of SMC Alternatives Inc. He also serves on the advisory board of StarVest Partners. In addition, he is currently National Chairman Emeritus of the Alliance for Aging Research. Previously, Mr. Steffens served as Chairman of the Securities Industry Association (now the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, or SIFMA), as a Trustee of the Committee for Economic Development, and as a member of the Board of Overseers of the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. In 2010, Mr. Steffens was the recipient of the Billie Jean King Contribution Award from the Women’s Sports Foundation.

Mr. Steffens received a B.A. in Economics from Dartmouth College and also completed Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.

Tara Sharp

Ms. Tara Sharp is the General Counsel of SMC. Before joining SMC, Tara was an associate in the Finance Department at Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP. Prior to joining Schulte Roth and Zabel LLP, Tara was an associate in the Credit and Mergers and Acquisitions Departments of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, and served as law clerk for the Honorable Richard Conway Casey, in the Southern District of New York. Tara received a J.D., cum laude, from Fordham University School of Law and a B.A. from The College of William and Mary, and is a member of the New York Bar.

Michael V. Fraternale

Mr. Fraternale is responsible for trade operations at SMC FIM and also serves as a municipal portfolio manager managing short-term cash positions. Mr. Fraternale has over 25 years of related experience. Prior to joining SMC FIM, Mr. Fraternale was an Assistant Vice President with Merrill Lynch Investment Managers’ tax-exempt department where he managed the short-term cash positions for 22 funds with assets of approximately $8 billion. He also assisted the operations department with the conversion of a new trading and compliance platform. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, Mr. Fraternale was a fund accountant.

Municipal Cash Management

The objective of this strategy is to provide a high degree of liquidity and safety of principal by investing in a diversified portfolio of variable rate demand notes (VRDNs). The strategy seeks to achieve a higher rate of return compared to typical tax-exempt money market rates. The portfolio also provides a defensive position against rising rates. VRDNs utilized in this strategy have a one-day or seven-day demand feature (put option) which enables an investor to tender the securities at face value. VRDNs for this strategy will benefit from third-party credit and liquidity enhancements guaranteeing payment of principal and interest on tendered securities. The main types of credit enhancements include letters of credit and standby bond purchase agreements, both of which are provided by highly rated U.S. banks.

Municipal Intermediate

This strategy offers a diversified portfolio of investment grade municipal debt securities with an average maturity range of 6 to 12 years and an average duration of 4 to 7 years. The average portfolio credit rating is “A” and bonds subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) are not utilized. Clients may choose state-specific portfolios. This strategy focuses on maximizing tax-exempt income and lowering interest rate volatility.

Municipal Opportunities Plus

This strategy offers a diversified portfolio of municipal debt securities with an average maturity range of 1 to 30 years and an average duration of 1 to 15 years. This investment strategy seeks total return by taking an opportunistic approach to the municipal market. The municipal sector is inefficient and there is dislocation in security pricing. SMC FIM believes this is an opportunity for clients to employ credit analysis with experienced portfolio management to find undervalued securities. Securities selected for this portfolio can include investment grade, non-investment grade and non-rated municipal issues. Active yield curve positioning is also a component of the strategy. The manager may select taxable or tax-exempt municipal securities in seeking total return opportunities. In addition, this portfolio will be highly flexible and can be structured to a risk profile of investment grade only, with a maximum maturity of 20 years and a duration limit of 10 years. The manager intends to employ an active approach to maximizing total return.