New year brings new career chapter for Micah Green

High schoolers often have a career path in mind when they pick a college, but longtime fixed income advocate Micah Green was particularly focused. He picked the George Washington University because it was going to have a subway stop that would give him easy access to Capitol Hill.

"They were literally building the subway in 1974, the year before I graduated high school," Green said in a recent interview, adding that while GW is a great school, the prospect of an on-campus Metrorail stop was the deciding factor in his choice of college. "I said that would be for me because I could get right to the Hill."

More than five decades later, Capitol Hill still holds plenty of allure for Green, who on Dec. 31 concludes his more than 10-year career at law firm Steptoe LLP to focus full time on Democracy Solutions, LLC, a strategic policy consulting and advocacy firm he launched in March 2024. Earlier in his career, Green was president and CEO of the Bond Market Association and later served as president and co-CEO of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, formed by the 2006 merger of the Bond Market Association and the Securities Industry Association.

"I've loved my work in and around the Congress and the government," he said. "And frankly, that's where the name Democracy Solutions comes from, because to live in a democracy means you can communicate with your government about how things will affect people's lives, people's businesses, people's industries."

It's also safe to say that Green has a soft spot in his heart for the muni market.

"Oh my God, I bleed muni bond blood, Built by Bonds!" he quipped. "The story to tell about muni bonds is so good."

Green praised the Public Finance Network, a coalition of organizations dedicated to preserving state and local government use of tax-exempt bonds, for its efforts to communicate that story. PFN is administered by the Government Finance Officers Association andEmily Brock, director of the GFOA's Federal Liaison Center.

In September, Brock was awarded the National Association of Bond Lawyers' 2025 Bernard P. Friel Medal. NABL President Matthias Edrich, who presented the award, highlighted her role in leading PFN's advocacy efforts, adding that, most notably, her efforts "culminated in a tax reform bill that not only protected, but even expanded municipal financing, an extraordinary achievement."

PFN "has been a game changer," Green said.

"And I think it really serves not just all the state and local agencies, it serves the U.S. Congress and the federal government in making sure that they don't make uninformed decisions, which, again, is the key to lobbying," he said. "If you don't engage and you don't actively advocate and lobby, you're risking not only the wrong decision, but you're not contributing to a better decision."

Brock "has been a tremendous leader, but virtually every single one of those public organizations that are involved [in PFN] has shown an amazing level of commitment to coordination, and that's been so important," Green said.

Green, who grew up in Trumbull, Conn., got an early lesson in public advocacy from a key teacher: His mother.

"She was active on public policy areas," he said, adding that he started volunteering alongside her for political campaigns early on. "And I thought, you know, this is pretty interesting."

In October 1975, shortly after beginning his freshman year at GW, Green became a legislative intern for U.S. Rep. Ronald Sarasin, R-Conn. Green subsequently became a legislative assistant to Sarasin before becoming a legislative assistant to U.S. Rep. Donald Albosta, D-Mich.

Green's early career roles also included working as a member of the National Association of Realtors' legislative team. After receiving his J.D. degree from the George Washington University Law School in 1984, Green served as tax legislative counsel for MCI Communications from 1985 to 1987.

"So I represented them during tax reform of '86, then after tax reform of '86 a friend of mine came to me and said, 'You know ? the bond people are looking to rebuild their operation,'" he said. "They hired Marc Lackritz to run the office and then he hired me to be the head lobbyist."

When Green came aboard in 1987, the Bond Market Association was known as the Public Securities Association. Working together with other groups,the organization "helped to turn the pendulum around on the Congress' view of state and local municipal bonds," he said.

After serving as president and CEO of the Bond Market Association for several years and then becoming president and co-CEO of SIFMA, Green joined law firm Patton Boggs as a partner in 2007. In 2015, he left what by then had become Squire Patton Boggs as the result of a 2014 merger to join Steptoe as a partner.

"At the start of 2024, I transitioned to senior counsel at Steptoe while also launching Democracy Solutions," Green said in a recent LinkedIn post regarding his plan to depart Steptoe to focus on his firm full time. "I'm deeply grateful to the partners and leadership at Steptoe for their support and for allowing me to begin building the firm during this transition."

Decades after he started as an intern on Capitol Hill, "I still get pretty excited about this stuff," Green said during the interview.

"And that's why I wanted to form this [firm] so that I could contribute to the dialogue and the debate to help clients and to help policy makers do the right thing," he said. "And as long as I can use my brain and my energy, I want to do that."

Years ago, Green got something else he wanted. On March 27, 1976, the Metrorail had its opening day and the Foggy Bottom?GWU station opened on July 1, 1977.

"Infrastructure empowers us all," he said. "A career Built by Bonds."