Richard Raphael

Richard J. Raphael is Managing Director and Head of Fitch Ratings� U.S. Public Finance Group.� The Public Finance Group includes over 100 professionals in four offices around the country who provide ratings and commentary on all type of municipal securities. Rich was previously responsible for the State and Local Ratings Groups.Rich joined Fitch shortly after its recapitalization in 1989 following 10 years with Standard & Poor�s. Rich started up and managed Fitch�s Local Tax-supported Group and later managed the State Ratings Group. He has produced numerous research and rating guideline reports on state and local tax-supported bonds and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences.�Rich is a member and former Chairman of the Municipal Analysts Group of New York (MAGNY) and a former President of the Municipal Forum of New York.� He is also an associate member of the Governmental Finance Officers Association (GFOA) where he serves as a private sector advisor to its Committee on Economic Development and Capital planning. He previously served two three-year terms in the same role to its Government Debt and Fiscal Policy Committee. Rich has also been a trustee of the Citizen's Budget Commission.Rich has received numerous Smith�s Research and Gradings Municipal All-Star awards and received the Career Achievement Award from the National Federation of Municipal Analysts (NFMA) in 2014. Rich was awarded the Austin Koenen Career Achievement Award from The Municipal Forum of New York in 2015. �