Omar Daghestani
Omar Daghestani, 51, Managing Director and Executive Committee Member, Public Finance leads Stifel’s Chicago, New York and Boston practices and #1 ranked national public pension practice.
Omar has worked with public pension systems nationally for the past two decades with his career first transaction, the State of Wisconsin’s $1.79 billion General Fund Annual Appropriation Bonds issue in 2003, setting the national analog for best practice. Omar and his colleagues have led more financings than anyone in the nation with 42 transactions, $2.47 billion in the past three years alone with a strong focus on activity in Arizona, West Virginia, Massachusetts and the Midwest.
Omar has also worked extensively on new municipal pension innovations in the State of Arizona, through Senate Bill 1082, the first state-level framework, which allows local employers to prefund their share of the proportionate unfunded liability into the Arizona State Retirement System. Omar also worked with the State of West Virginia to codify pension best practices in West Virginia through House Bill 4756 and was invited to the bill signing with Governor Justice and the sponsoring delegates.
Mr. Daghestani is a regular speaker at industry conferences and has lectured at the Harvard Kennedy School, University of Chicago Harris School, and other forums on pension liability management and public policy.
Omar drives positive public policy outcomes through his service including;
- Board Chair & Governor; City Club of Chicago
- Treasurer Governing Board Director, Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center
- Director, University of Chicago, Harris School Center for Municipal Finance Board
- Class Reunion Co-Chair (5, 10, 15 and 20 year), Harvard University, Kennedy School
Omar received a B.A. with Honors in Economics (Phi Beta Kappa) from Northwestern University, where his thesis, “Redlining in Chicago: A Predictive Model of Home Mortgage Origination” was recognized with the William Henry Exum Paper Award by the Department of African American Studies. Omar earned an M.P.P. from Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government, where he was twice elected Student Body President. Most recently, Omar was recognized by Crain’s Chicago Business with the 2023 Crain’s Notable Leaders in Finance award and 2025 Crain’s Notable Leaders in Philanthropy. He is married to his wife Cathleen, and they have a 13-year-old son.
