Richard Ciccarone has over thirty years of investment management and research experience, specializing in municipal bonds.

He has received numerous awards and distinctions as the top buy-side 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 has authored a number of articles, including a recent chapter in the Handbook of Municipal Bonds on “Managing a Buy-Side Municipal Research Department”.

He 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 and past president of the Society of Municipal Analysts.  He is also a member of the Chicago Municipal Analysts Society. 

Active in community affairs, Ciccarone has served as an elected trustee of the Hinsdale Village Board, a member of the Hinsdale Plan Commission, and a member of the Hinsdale Firefighters’ Pension Board.  He has also been a longtime member of the Civic Federation of Chicago Board of Directors Executive Committee.

Ciccarone is also President and Chief Executive Officer of Merritt Research Services, LLC, a municipal bond credit database company.

He received a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Miami University (Ohio) and a master’s degree in Public Administration and Urban Studies with a concentration in municipal finance from the University of Akron.