Wells Fargo Securities named Stratford Shields, a veteran public finance and capital markets leader, managing director and head of public finance.

Based in New York City, Shields will oversee a national team of professionals responsible for originating and structuring capital markets products and services for municipal and nonprofit clients. He will report to Phil Smith, head of government and institutional banking.

With more than 25 years of experience in the industry, Shields most recently served as managing director and Midwest regional manager for RBC Capital Markets. For the majority of his career, Shields worked in positions of increasing responsibility for Morgan Stanley, including head of public finance.

“Wells Fargo has a proven leader in Stratford,” said Smith, noting Shields is a former municipal division chair of the Securities Industry Financial Markets Association (SIFMA). “He brings to our firm an accomplished record of building strong investment banking practices and teams. We are excited to have Stratford on board to lead our team as we continue to partner with other Wells Fargo businesses to meet our clients’ capital markets needs.”