The Treasury Department is creating an Office of State and Local Finance to coordinate the department's efforts to oversee developments in state and local financial markets, including public pension fund liabilities.
Kent Hiteshew was named the office's first director; he will start in mid-May, according to a Treasury representative. Mr. Hiteshew is currently managing director at J.P. Morgan Chase, responsible for public finance in the Northeast U.S. as well as the bank's housing finance group.
The new office will “support policies to improve the management of public pensions and other liabilities” as well as monitor municipal bond markets and potential federal policy responses to municipal financing issues, the Treasury representative wrote in an e-mail.
