Called by Asia Times "the leading lobbyist for the US bond market," Michael Decker serves as Senior Vice President for Research and Public Policy at the Bond Dealers of America. Michael oversees regulatory advocacy and public policy development for the nation's fixed income securities dealers.Before returning to BDA, Michael served as Managing Director and co-head of municipal securities at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA). In that role Michael oversaw many of the association’s initiatives and advocacy regarding municipal bonds and related products.Previously Michael was the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Regional Bond Dealers Association (RBDA), now known as the Bond Dealers of America. In that role, Michael was responsible for representing the interests of RBDA’s members before federal legislative and regulatory bodies and managing a wide variety of RBDA functions and services.Prior to RBDA, Michael was Senior Managing Director for Research and Public Policy for SIFMA and its predecessor organization, the Bond Market Association. Michael oversaw SIFMA’s research activities, including analyzing industry and market trends, collecting market and industry data, and publishing research reports covering all aspects of the global securities markets. He also managed public policy development and analysis. Before that, he was a financial consultant to the U.S. Agency for International Development.Michael graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.A. in political science, and earned a Master of Public Management degree with a concentration in public finance from the University of Maryland School of Public Policy.