Press Release

July 16, 2008

RAYMOND JAMES PUBLIC FINANCE
ANNOUNCES SEVERAL APPOINTMENTS

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – John Forney, manager of General Governmental Public Finance, and David Sutton, manager of the Municipal Structured Finance group for Raymond James & Associates, Inc., member New York Stock Exchange/SIPC, announced the following appointments in their respective units.

Megan Sansons has been named a director of Public Finance in Boston. In this role, she will be responsible for tax-exempt and taxable bond financings within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and surrounding areas. Sansons comes to Raymond James from UBS Investment Bank in Boston, where for the past four years she was an executive director in their Municipal Securities Group. Prior to UBS, she was a managing director in the Public Finance department for Advest, Inc., also in Boston.

Helen Billak, Marie Prezioso and Joseph Nassif all joined the firm in June from Ferris, Baker Watts, Incorporated.

Billak, vice president of public finance, is based in Pittsburgh and responsible for public finance activities in Pennsylvania. She had a similar role with Ferris, Baker Watts, and before that, spent 16 years directing public finance activities for privately held firms and large public financial institutions. Billak’s career also includes two years working for the City of San Antonio as the assistant director of the Department of Economic and Employment Development.

Prezioso and Nassif previously worked for the Charleston, W.Va., office of Ferris, Baker Watts. At Raymond James, Prezioso will be responsible for covering issuers within West Virginia and surrounding areas, and will be based in Charleston. With almost 30 years of investment banking experience in both the public and private sectors, Prezioso spent four years as the deputy commissioner of finance and administration for the state of West Virginia. She has served on numerous academic and industry boards and commissions.

For the past 10 years, Nassif provided investment banking services for a variety of taxable and tax-exempt municipal financings while at Ferris, Baker Watts. He completed more than 100 transactions amounting to $3.8 billion in municipal bonds in the state in West Virginia. At Raymond James, he is also based in Charleston.

Eric Carl re-joined the firm in June as a managing director in St. Petersburg and is responsible for public finance activities in the Southeastern United States. Carl was most recently with Bear Stearns, but began his career at Raymond James in 1999.

In May, Marc Silver joined Raymond James as managing director in the Municipal Structured Finance Group. Previously a managing director at Wachovia, he has more than 17 years of commercial and investment banking experience, and has completed numerous transactions as senior banker for not-for-profit entities including senior living facilities, human services providers and hospitals.

“We are excited to have Marc join our team,” offered Sutton.“His extensive experience will augment our commitment of resources to the senior living arena as we continue to expand our services to the health care/501-c-3 sectors.”

Also in May, Brit Stock joined the Dallas office of Raymond James as an assistant vice president of Public Finance. In this capacity, he provides day-to-day analytical, transactional and quantitative support for all the firm’s Texas issuers.He came to the firm from Banc of America Securities, where he spent eight years as a quantitative analyst in their Public Finance department. He joins Jim Stewart and Jim Buie, who came to Raymond James from Banc of America Securities earlier this year.

Joining the firm’s St. Petersburg Municipal Structured Finance Group in April was Nicholas Hoffer. In his former role at Credit Suisse in New York, Hoffer was primarily responsible for managing the execution of tax-exempt mortgage revenue bond issues. Prior to Credit Suisse, he worked in fixed income departments with Redwood Trust in Mill Valley, Calif., Citigroup in New York, and Eichner & Norris in Washington.

Bill Johnston also joined the firm in April as managing director of Public Finance responsible for the firm’s activities in Georgia. He came from Banc of America Securities with more than 15 years of experience serving public finance clients such as the State of Georgia, Georgia State Road and Tollway Authority, Georgia Higher Education Facilities Authority, Georgia Housing and Finance Authority, Georgia Municipal Association, the City of Atlanta, the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority, and the University of Georgia Athletic Association.

“The ability to attract this number of high-quality professionals with their breadth and depth of experience is a testament to Raymond James’ growth and stability, and to the opportunities we have for senior bankers with established books of business,” said Forney. “This is an environment where they can continue to be successful.”

Raymond James & Associates
Raymond James & Associates, which has built a national reputation during the past 45 years as a leader in financial planning for individuals, corporations and municipalities, is a

wholly owned subsidiary of Raymond James Financial, Inc. (NYSE-RJF), a financial services holding company. Through its three principal broker/dealer subsidiaries, Raymond James Financial has more than 4,850 financial advisors serving 1.7 million accounts in 2,200 locations throughout the United States, Canada and overseas. In addition, total client assets are approximately $221 billion, of which approximately $37.7 billion are managed by the firm’s asset management subsidiaries.

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For additional information, please contact Anthea Penrose at 727-567-2824.
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