Our Team

Jeff Westergaard
Senior Vice President, Manager
Mr. Westergaard oversees the sales, trading and underwriting operations of the Institutional Capital Markets group as well as business and technology strategy.  Prior to joining First Trust, Mr. Westergaard managed the Midwestern regional municipal operations for UBS AG in Chicago.  Mr. Westergaard has 26 years of experience in municipal fixed income markets.  Mr. Westergaard holds a Bachelors of Business Administration degree from the University of Iowa.

Greg Coffman, CFA
Senior Vice President, Fixed Income Research & Strategies
Mr. Coffman is responsible for the development of cross-sector fixed income strategies and fixed income portfolio solutions for the Institutional Capital Markets Group and its clients. Mr. Coffman has over 15 years of experience across a variety of fixed income disciplines. In addition to his role as the Head of Mortgage Sales & Trading for RBC Capital Markets, Mr. Coffman also held positions as the Head of Middle Market Sales, and Head of Fixed Income Research & Strategies. Prior to his work at RBC, Mr. Coffman acted as the Senior Depository Analyst as well as a Senior Mortgage Strategist for ABN AMRO Securities in Chicago. Mr. Coffman completed his undergraduate studies at Northeastern University in Boston, MA.

William E. Field, CPA
Senior Vice President, Institutional Fixed Income Sales
Mr. Field focuses exclusively on providing fixed income strategies, solutions and securities to community bank portfolio managers. Mr. Field started in the securities industry in 1975 and has spent virtually his whole career serving community banks. This included 17 years as a salesperson at RBC Dain Rauscher and Clayton Brown & Associates, Inc.; and several years mentoring younger salespeople and as a Manager of Investment Research at Performance Trust Capital Partners.  Just prior to joining First Trust, Mr. Field was the founder and portfolio manager of the Trinity Community Banc Stock Fund, LP. This experience has further enhanced his understanding of community banks and their investment needs.

Richard Olson
Senior Vice President, Sales and Trading
Mr. Olson has in excess of 30 years experience in municipal bond sales and trading.  Prior to First Trust, Mr. Olson spent 15 years at Van Kampen Merritt where he worked primarily in municipal bond sales.   Mr. Olson holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Business Administration degree, both from Illinois State University.

Ric Pedersen
Senior Vice President, Fixed Income Sales & Strategies
Mr. Pedersen is responsible for providing fixed income strategies and solutions to portfolio managers of community banks, trust departments, and other institutional clients.   Mr. Pedersen has over 28 years of experience in fixed income sales with an emphasis on mortgage backed securities and CMO’s.   Prior to joining First Trust, Mr. Pedersen held roles as the National Sales Manager for RBC Capital Markets, as well as the Head Sales Manager for Dain Bosworth and Clayton Brown & Associates.   In addition to his fixed income experience, Mr. Pedersen also served as a partner/owner at Trinity Research and Investing LLC where he was responsible for investing fund assets in community bank stocks.  The experience at Trinity provided Mr. Pedersen a thorough understanding and appreciation for community banking investment strategies.   Mr. Pedersen is a graduate of Wheaton College where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Business and Economics.

Francine Russell
Senior Vice President, Municipal Underwriting
Ms. Russell has been with First Trust in the Capital Markets group since its inception in 1991.  She has managed competitive and negotiated municipal issues nationwide ranging from $500,000 to $100,000,000.  Ms. Russell has also been responsible for the purchase of over $20 billion principal amount of municipal securities, totaling more than 1,200 issues.   Prior to joining First Trust, Ms. Russell spent 10 years as a municipal underwriter for The Northern Trust Company.  Ms. Russell holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from Roosevelt University.

Eric Maisel, CFA
Vice President, Fixed Income Research & Strategies
Mr. Maisel is a member of the Fixed Income Strategy and Research group at First Trust Portfolios L.P. and BondWave LLC. Prior to joining First Trust, Mr. Maisel was a Senior Portfolio Manager at Vanderbilt Capital Advisors where he managed the Ascendant Structured Credit Opportunity Fund. Mr. Maisel joined Vanderbilt Capital Advisors from Black River Asset Management, where he was Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager for the Black River Global Credit Fund. Prior to that, he was Vice President and Senior Trader for the Cargill Financial Markets Group, and was a Senior Corporate Bond Trader for American General Corporation. Mr. Maisel has over sixteen years of investment experience.  Eric earned his B.A., summa cum laude, from the University of Pittsburgh, and his M.Sc. from Oxford University -- which he attended on a British Marshall Scholarship.

Thomas Myhre
Vice President, Institutional Fixed Income Sales & Marketing
Mr. Myhre oversees sales and marketing for Institutional Capital Markets. Prior to joining First Trust in the fall of 2008, Mr. Myhre spent 11 years working in corporate and investment banking primarily with Societe Generale and Scotia Capital.  Mr. Myhre holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Boise State University and a Master of Business Administration in Finance & Strategy from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Blair Petersen
Vice President, Sales and Trading
Mr. Petersen joined First Trust in 1992 and has held various roles within the firm.   He has spent the last 15 years buying and trading corporate and mortgage backed securities for our UIT portfolios as well as institutional clients.  In addition to his active role in sales and trading, Mr. Petersen is also actively involved in hedging and risk mitigation for the firm.   Mr. Petersen has a Bachelor of Arts in History from Wheaton College.

Jeff Samuel
Vice President, Institutional Trading
Mr. Samuel joined First Trust in 1992 and has held various roles within the firm, including sales and Unit Investment Trust (UIT) buying.   He currently works on the institutional trading desk where he brings over 15 years of experience in trading fixed income securities including municipal bonds, U.S. Treasuries, and U.S. Agency debt.   Mr. Samuel has a Bachelors of Business Administration degree from North Central College.

Edward Sistowicz
Vice President, Sales and Trading
Mr. Sistowicz works on the sales and trading desk where he brings over 30 years of experience in municipal bond sales and trading.   Prior to joining the First Trust Institutional Capital Markets team in 1999, Mr. Sistowicz worked for Everen Securities, Mesirow Financial, and Bear Stearns in municipal bond sales.  Mr. Sistowicz holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Loyola University.

William Click
Assistant Vice President, Sales and Trading
Mr. Click works on the sales and trading desk as an Institutional Client Manager.  Prior to joining First Trust in the spring of 2008, Mr. Click worked at Griffin Kubik where he was involved in institutional bond trading.   Prior to his experience at Griffin, Mr. Click worked for IBM in Atlanta as a sales manager.  Mr. Click has a Bachelor of Arts in Business and Economics from Wheaton College.

Tim March
Assistant Vice President, Sales and Marketing
Mr. March joined First Trust in August of 2008.  Prior to joining First Trust, Mr. March spent time as a treasury futures trader at Asymmetric Bond Markets.  Mr. March joined the Capital Markets Group after completing the Rotational Training Program at First Trust. Mr. March has a Bachelor of Arts Business and Economics from Wheaton College.

Wendy Flaherty
Senior Vice President, Manager
Ms. Flaherty is responsible for managing the Pubic Finance team, client relationships and all aspects of bond financing. She has over 20 years of experience in providing financial solutions for municipalities, school districts, park districts, library districts and commercial businesses. She is an active member of the Illinois Government Finance Officers Association, Illinois Association of School Business Officials and Women in Public Finance.

Linda Ciaglia
Vice President
Ms. Ciaglia has specialized in the tax-exempt municipal market for the last 18 years. Her extensive knowledge in structuring debt for municipalities, school districts, park districts and library districts throughout the United States has resulted in over $500 million in financed debt. Prior to joining First Trust Portfolios L.P. in early 2008 she was Vice President of the tax-exempt finance division for LaSalle Bank.

Raymond Worrell
Vice President
Mr. Worrell brings over 20 years of Sales/Marketing and senior Operating experience from Boise Cascade Corporation and OfficeMax. He has successfully built and operated North American commercial sales organizations with revenues exceeding $2B, as well as lead Business Development to create value added business and distribution services for the large corporate and SMB marketplaces.