Voice of Experience: Judy Wesalo Temel, Principal and Director of Credit Research, Samson Capital Advisors
By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)
Judy Wesalo Temel, Principal and Director of Credit Research at Samson Capital Advisors, believes enthusiasm about your work is crucial for a successful career.
“You have to be passionate about what you’re doing,” she explained. “You are not going to be successful unless you really care about your field. Read and absorb new developments and do not get stuck in a rut.”
“A colleague once told me, ‘If you go home at night without learning something new every day, you haven’t done your job.’ This advice applies to everyone, no matter what area you’re in,” she added.
Career in Public Finance
Wesalo Temel has spent her career in public finance. “I was fortunate to find an industry that matched my interests – and some of this is luck,” she said with a laugh. “There are so many curve balls that life throws at you.”
After graduating from Cornell University and then earning an MPA from NYU, she emerged into New York City’s fiscal crisis in 1977 and took a job in the City Comptroller’s office. “It was an interesting place to start my career –in the thick of things,” she recalled. “But public finance proved to be the absolute right place for me.”
Next, she spent two years at Lehman Brothers, and then 17 years at Goldman Sachs, working in credit and in public finance investment banking, covering a range of public finance clients such as hospitals, cities, and states. “I left Goldman in 1997. By then I had three children, and I immediately started writing my book, The Fundamentals of Municipal Bonds.”
“Being an author was very challenging compared to anything else I’ve ever done because you’re by yourself,” she explained, “It was a lot of work and provided me more flexibility, and was very rewarding.”
Wesalo Temel counts the book as one of her proudest achievements. “It was a big transition from being at a large firm to being an entrepreneur. My book was also cited in a Supreme Court case, which is a huge accomplishment.”
After spending some time consulting, Wesalo Temel joined up with the people who eventually formed Samson, a privately held fixed income asset manager, and has now been there eight years.
She continued, “I’m proud to be part of this industry, the municipal bond industry, providing capital for the public infrastructure that makes American lives better. I’m proud to have started this firm and I’m proud that Samson really does the best by its clients. I’m proud to see the office we’ve created. We started off with an idea and now we employ 33 people and have more than $7.2 billion fixed income assets under management”
Industry Views
“Professionally, I’m always a municipal bond analyst. I really like to delve deeply into the numbers – thinking about pensions and debt issues. I like to get into all the gnarly details,” she explained.
“But as a partner at Samson, so much of the excitement is in growing and creating the business. I’m helping to develop new strategies and products, and researching new investment strategies to help grow this business we started eight years ago.”
Wesalo Temel is particularly interested in the issues facing Wall Street following the economic crisis over the past few years. “The credibility of Wall Street has been challenged, both on the buy side and the sell side. Reestablishing confidence in investing is crucial for moving forward.”
She added, “And for a sector of the financial industry that never even made the paper, now municipal bonds are on the front page. We’re in an extraordinarily complex market, and that makes it interesting. The real reason I came into this business is the interplay between finance and politics at all levels.”
Advice for Professional Women
Wesalo Temel believes that of all the careers on Wall Street, public finance is particularly good for women. “It’s an area of Wall Street that has always embraced diversity, she said. “And on the asset management side, it seems there aren’t barriers for women coming in, at least in the early levels.”
“There’s a lot of luck in your career. Seize opportunities when they come up.”
She continued, “There were several women among the founding Samson partners, and that was important to me. Our employees see that we value and promote women.”
She also emphasized the importance of being self-sufficient. “You have to have the long-term view,” she said. “This comes from my personal background. My mother became a widow when I was five, and I learned early on that you have to be able to support yourself. That’s been one of my guiding principles.”
She encourages women to stay involved in industry groups and networks, no matter where their career path takes them. “There are different phases of your life. Get involved early in professional organizations and mentor others. Know what your priorities are and make decisions recognizing that they’ll evolve. It’s critical for you to know what’s important to yourself.”
“The other thing is to make life as simple as you can. In New York, we’re lucky – you can live closer to where you work. But most of all, stay true to yourself and your values.”
She added, “And for those of us who have made it this far – and I do have a lot of good friends who have – my advice is to keep doing it as long as you can and stay healthy. Take care of yourself.”
In Her Personal Time
“I have three terrific children and I’m very proud of them,” Wesalo Temel said. “I have a wonderful husband who is my partner in all this. You have to pick the right person.”
Wesalo Temel is actively involved in community affairs, serving on the Management Advisory Board of the MTA Inspector General. She is also involved with the Cornell Council and many charitable organizations. “They have greatly enhanced my life,” she said.
“There are lots of problems in the world – it’s important to use our skills to make people’s lives better. In the end, that’s the most important thing we can do.”
