COLD CALLS, HOT CASH

Staying hungry, says James Haddon, is the only way to stay on top; and in public finance, the need to keep up with the people rotating through public offices is crucial. Beyond that, he adds: "There's a saying in the business: The higher up you go, the bigger the target on your back."

But this 38-year-old managing director and head of PaineWebber Group Inc.'s 17-member Infrastructure Group, part of its Municipal Securities division, doesn't let the intense competition for new business get to him. He thrives on it. The truth is that Haddon started bringing clients to his firm when he was just a junior vice president.

In 1982, as a second-year associate in PaineWebber's Student Loan Finance Group, also part of public finance, Haddon's job was to beef up the firm's position as an underwriter for issuers of student loan revenue bonds for secondary markets across the country. That year he clamped a $40 million deal in Iowa, new territory for PaineWebber in the student loan area. Over the next two years he senior-managed over $30 million in student loan business in several states.

In the mid-1980s, Haddon was promoted to first vice president and moved into the General Markets Group. There, Haddon senior-managed an $88 million financing for Philadelphia Gas Works, an authority new to PaineWebber. He also senior-managed a $180 million transaction for the City of Detroit, which needed the money to expand its convention center.

Haddon was promoted to first vice president. In 1987, he became a managing director in March 1990, heading the Infrastructure Group, charged with geographic coverage of about 20 states. Haddon describes the pace of his progress through the ranks as "typical," of the three PaineWebber associates hired straight out of business school in 1980. However, he was the first to attain managing director status. The promotion, he says, was recognition of his record as "a producer for the firm and a leader in getting business." Even as a manager, Haddon still makes cold calls to potential clients. "Every day lsubmit our qualifications to people, build relationships, offer new products, services ideas and strategies, he says with enthusiasm." A graduate of Wesleyan University and Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, Haddon was attracted to public finance from the beginning of his career. "I always liked the fact that I was helping public entities. It doesn't sound as sexy, but intrinsically it's more down-to-earth."

Born in Columbia, S.C., and raised in Passaic, N.J., Haddon is blunt in responding to queries about the predominance of African-Americans in public finance. "Clearly, we've seen more blacks in public offices and in positions where they're issuing debt. We've seen more blacks coming into municipal finance because of that. It's an issue that no one should be second-guessing or embarrassed about. It's opened up Wall Street for minority individuals."

That said, however, Haddon adds: "Do I get business from minorities because I'm a minority? No. Part of the reason I'm still here and thriving at PaineWebber is that I've shown that I'm adept at selling our services to anyone." Surely no one would say Iowa is a minority account.

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