Tom Vales

Tom Vales began his advisory, Starkweather Management LLC, in 2021 to address market structure for fixed income management and trading. He is currently serving as an Independent Trustee for the Axonic Funds managed by Axonic Capital LLC.

Prior to starting his advising practice, Tom was the Chief Executive Officer for TMC Bonds (TMC, formerly TheMuniCenter), an electronic marketplace for trading fixed income which was acquired by the Intercontinental Exchange in July of 2018. Mr. Vales had started the ATS in May of 2000, with backing from industry leaders including Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and Assured Guaranty. He oversaw and managed the company to become a market leader for electronic bond trading with over 1000 firms participating on its live trading platform at the time it was sold.

While running TMC, he was an active participant in industry groups speaking at conferences and writing comment letters for regulatory initiatives. Mr. Vales served as a Member of the FINRA Fixed Income Steering Committee, Subject Matter Expert for the MSRB, and participant for the FIMSAC Municipal Market sub-committee.

Prior to starting TMC, Mr. Vales spent ten years with Bankers Trust where he was a Managing Director of the Relative Value Arbitrage Group and Senior Manager of the Tax-Advantaged Arbitrage desk. From 1989 to 1996, he worked as a Vice President at BT Securities in municipal trading, sales, and derivatives.

Mr. Vales graduated in 1986 from the University of Vermont with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. He is an outdoor enthusiast, spending a great deal of his free time in the Adirondacks.