James Wangsness
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- Full Name
- James Wangsness
- Title
- President
- Firm
- TMC Bonds L.L.C. (ICE TMC / Intercontinental Exchange)
- Firm Type
- Fixed-income electronic trading platform (Alternative Trading System) — *note: the "Angel Investors" label in the source stub could not be verified (see Background)*
- Investment Stage
- Not verified — no angel/seed investing activity found
- Sector Focus
- Fixed-income markets, financial technology / market infrastructure
- Geographic Focus
- United States
- Location
- New York, NY area
Background
James Wangsness is President of TMC Bonds (originally TheMuniCenter, and now branded ICE TMC following its acquisition by Intercontinental Exchange in July 2018 for roughly $685 million). At TMC he is responsible for sales and client relationships, marketing, strategy, and product development, and he directly oversees the voice brokerage desk for Taxable & Syndicate Trading. TMC Bonds, founded in 2000, is a leading Alternative Trading System that combines electronic trading with expert voice support for municipals, corporates, treasuries, agencies, and certificates of deposit, and was historically backed by a consortium of major dealers including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi, Morgan Stanley, and Assured Guaranty.
Wangsness joined TheMuniCenter as Chief Operating Officer in November 2006, focusing initially on retail sales, marketing, and product development; he had been a client of TMC's private-label service since mid-2004 before joining. As COO he led the firm's move to a cost-effective self-clearing model (working with Broadridge) for high-volume dealer-to-dealer products such as municipals and corporate bonds, before rising to President.
His earlier career spans several decades in financial services and market infrastructure: Senior Vice President / Managing Director and Head of Institutional Advisory and Correspondent Clearing at Ameritrade (Ameritrade Advisor Services), where he built a business serving independent registered investment advisers; CEO of two private equity–backed companies specializing in derivatives trading and portfolio management; Co-Managing Partner of Zacks Investment Research's Institutional Asset Managers division; and Vice President of Global Custody at JP Morgan. He holds an MBA in International Business/Finance from Columbia Business School and a BA in Economics from Columbia College.
Important verification note: The stub data classified James Wangsness as an "Angel Investor" focused on "Seed Round" deals. Extensive web research did not surface any evidence that he makes angel or seed-stage startup investments. His verifiable public profile is that of a senior fixed-income markets and trading-platform executive. The email domain (tmcbonds.com) is consistent with his role at TMC Bonds, but the "angel investor / seed" attribution appears to be aggregator noise rather than a documented activity, and should be treated as unconfirmed.
Investment Thesis & Focus
- No public, documented angel or seed investment thesis could be found for James Wangsness. The "Angel Investors / Seed Round" classification in the source data is unverified.
- His professional expertise is in fixed-income market structure: electronic and voice trading of municipal, corporate, treasury, and agency bonds, plus clearing, custody, and correspondent-clearing infrastructure.
- If approached as a potential investor or advisor, the relevant domain fit would be fintech / capital-markets infrastructure, fixed-income trading technology, and RIA/advisor-facing platforms — areas where he has operating experience — rather than a broad angel portfolio.
Notable Investments
- None verified. No portfolio companies, angel deals, or seed-stage investments attributable to James Wangsness could be confirmed from public sources. (To avoid fabrication, none are listed.)
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