How Africa News
Despite earning a good living, businessman and consultant Ron Gault felt he wanted a more difficult role in his professional development. He left CS First Boston after an eight-year career in municipals to join JP Morgan in 1993. He took the risk because his role was to assist the firm in regaining its top position in the public finance market.
The board of JP Morgan’s confidence in him to get the company back on track encouraged him on and gave him confidence. As managing director of JP Morgan’s Municipal Finance Group, his objective was to use his expertise in bringing on new clients and delivering infrastructure funding for various city, state, and national governments.
He capitalized on the contracts and knowledge he gained while working with Boston. One of his Boston triumphs was assisting them in becoming one of the five senior managers on financings for New York City, one of the largest debt issuers in the United States. However, his job at JP Morgan was demanding and at times seemed insurmountable to Ron.
He was given a key performance indicator to enhance the state’s finances in Washington, D.C. JP Morgan advised the federal office on financial and investment matters at the time. This was in addition to other tasks such as closing agreements in major cities in the Northeast, south to Florida, and west to Colorado. According to the free library, while playing this function, he had an eye on raising a generation of black South African managers as part of his contribution to the African community.
Ron began his career in 1964 with the Urban League, where he worked on voter education and registration before joining USAID. Despite his desire to serve at the Francophone Africa program, he joined the Foreign Service in 1965 to work in Vientiane, Laos. During that time, he accepted a job offer from the United States Justice Department, where he worked as a mediator under Ramsey Clark and Roger Wilkins.
After leaving the Justice Department, he worked for the Ford Foundation from 1969 to 1978. It wasn’t until 1979, when he accepted a position as senior advisor to former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, that he began to contemplate working on employment-related issues. In 1984, he accepted a position as managing director with 1st Boston Corporation, and in 1994, he joined JP Morgan to oversee its Johannesburg, South African branch.
