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Spotlight: Michael Ivcic

Posted: March 19, 2021

Michael (Mike) Ivcic serves as the Director of Municipals and a Plankowner at Bancroft Capital where he is responsible for spearheading Bancroft Capital’s entry into the new issue municipal market. He comes to Bancroft from Drexel Hamilton after five years in the municipal finance and syndicate department, including the last four as the Head of Syndicate. During his time at Drexel Hamilton, Mike oversaw all of the firm’s syndicate and RFP efforts, working closely with issuers, accounts, and other syndicate desks through each transaction. His experience there, coupled with his experience in a previous career as a news anchor and sports broadcaster, provides Mike with exceptional abilities to market any new issue offering to both salespeople and buy-side accounts.

 

Hometown
Born and raised in Yardley, PA and now live in Holland, PA.

 

Education
B.A. Communication, University of Dayton

 

Why did you decide to join the Bancroft Capital team?
I worked with Cal for four years previously and admire his integrity, honesty, and commitment to the veteran initiative. When I learned he was planning on starting a broker/dealer 30 minutes from my house, I jumped at the opportunity to eliminate my 4-hour daily commute to New York City. At least that’s what my wife says.

 

Tell us about your duties/day to day experience at Bancroft Capital.
As the Director of Municipals, my primary responsibility is creating new opportunities for Bancroft to work with state and local governments in bringing debt transactions to the market. As a former broadcaster, I also lend a hand in many of Bancroft’s public relations and marketing efforts.

 

Why are you proud to work at Bancroft Capital?
I played a number of sports growing up, including ice hockey at an extremely high level, and this is unquestionably the best team of which I’ve ever been a part. We have a tremendous combination of longtime industry veterans with a wealth of knowledge and experience, a few “younger” industry vets like myself who know just enough to be dangerous, and tremendous military veterans coming through our training program with incredible stories of sacrifice and service to our country who are smart, capable, and eager to learn all there is to know about finance. We’re truly helping to change lives, which makes it a lot easier to go to “work” every day.

 

What is your greatest professional achievement to date?
My greatest achievement is that Cal believed in me enough to entrust me with building an entire department from scratch. Thankfully he also surrounded me with co-workers who were able to do a lot of the things I couldn’t, otherwise this wouldn’t have worked!

 

What assets/skills do you bring to the team?
I like to believe I’m a fairly good writer. It should make sense considering my degree is in broadcast journalism and I spent four years writing news stories and broadcasting sporting events, but that’s not exactly a natural transition to financial writing. I also have the ability to think on my feet and make decisions quickly, which might be the single-best skill to have in a fast-paced environment when markets can shift dramatically in a matter of seconds.

 

What are your thoughts on Bancroft’s mission to hire veterans?
What we are doing at Bancroft is different from any other broker/dealer on all of Wall Street. By incorporating the formal training program into the fabric of the business – not setting it up as a separate not-for-profit or an independent training program – we are truly serving the veterans in the most meaningful and impactful way possible.

 

Do you have any ties to the veteran community? If so, please elaborate.
Both of my grandfathers served in WWII – my maternal grandfather enlisted in the Army and was part of the D-Day invasion that stormed the beaches at Normandy, and my paternal grandfather served in the Navy aboard the U.S.S. Intrepid in the Pacific. Additionally, I had two cousins who previously served, one in the Marines and one in the Air Force – and two cousins currently serving in the Marines.

 

What’s your favorite part about working at Bancroft Capital?
I really enjoy the people who sit to my left and right and make this firm truly work. My co-workers are some of the most knowledgeable people in each area of our business, and I learn something new from them almost daily. They also make it a fun environment, and we share in each other’s successes. We use the metaphor of “family,” and it really is an extension of that for me.

 

Favorite quote?
“If you don’t know where you’re going, you might end up somewhere else.”

 

When you’re not working, what are your interests/hobbies?
I still play and coach ice hockey (when there’s not a pandemic) and spend lots of time rooting for futile sports teams like the Mets, Jets, and Capitals – 2018 Stanely Cup run not withstanding. I also really enjoy concerts and live music (again, when there’s not a pandemic – see a theme here?). But, since there IS a pandemic, most of my time is now occupied by my four-year-old twin girls, Ava and Audrey, and one-year-old son, Patrick, who so nicely came into the world two weeks early and thereby beat the national coronavirus lockdown by four days!

 

Other things you’d like to share?
Growth comes from doing something outside the comfort zone. I didn’t have a degree in finance and knew nothing about municipal bonds when I agreed to work on RFP’s, and it grew into a full-fledged career where I’m now the industry veteran helping others achieve that same goal.