Melanie Johnson

Melanie Johnson joined the Piper Sandler public finance group in 2006. Johnson serves on the firm’s public finance advisory council as the head of social infrastructure, encompassing single family housing, higher education, private schools and cultural and social non-profits.

Johnson works with state housing finance agencies, serving as underwriter or financial advisor to several agencies across the nation. She has experience with tax-exempt and taxable single family and multi-family mortgage revenue bond transactions. She oversees all quantitative analysis, including yield calculations, rating agency cash flows, cash flow projections and bond issue structuring.

Johnson also has extensive experience with colleges, universities and private schools, as well as other non-profit and governmental clients. She has assisted clients with publicly offered bond issues, private placements, debt capacity analysis, first-time ratings and strategic planning. Johnson works closely with her clients to guide them through these various processes and provides ongoing support to her clients including rating agency and investor communication.

Johnson is a CFA® charterholder and is a registered securities representative holding Series 7, Series 50 and Series 53 licenses. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Northern Iowa with a bachelor’s degree in finance. Johnson is president-elect of the National Women in Public Finance Board. She was a member of the board for the Minnesota Institute of Public Finance for nine years, serving as both president and vice president of education. Johnson serves on the Downtown Community Board for the YMCA of the North as past board chair and is a member of the Woodbury Racial Equity Steering Committee.