John is a Senior Portfolio Manager for the First Trust Advisors Municipal Securities Team. Prior to joining First Trust in 2013, John was a Portfolio Manager for Municipal Bonds at Performance Trust Investment Advisors (PTIA). John has over 24 years of credit research and portfolio management experience in corporate and municipal securities. During his two and one-half years at PTIA, John built the municipal research function and worked with Tom Futrell in trading municipal securities and managing $400 million in municipal AUM in mutual funds and separately managed accounts. Prior to joining PTIA, John worked at Nuveen Investments for 11 years. Most recently at Nuveen, John was a Senior Vice President and Portfolio Manager, responsible for approximately $3 billion of municipal assets under management involving nine different strategies. Before he joined the portfolio management team, John led a team of credit analysts responsible for research of industrial development bonds, utilities and real estate-backed financings.

Prior to joining Nuveen Investments, John was a Senior Credit Analyst in the Van Kampen Senior Loan Group. As a Senior Loan Analyst, he was responsible for the oversight of a team of three analysts with coverage of 180 companies with a total exposure of approximately $6 billion. Before joining the senior loan group, he was a Senior Fixed-Income Analyst for the Van Kampen mutual funds and unit investment trusts where he specialized in the health care and industrial development bond sectors. John earned his BS in Business, with a concentration in Finance, from Miami University of Ohio and his Juris Doctor from DePaul University College of Law.