Mike Nicholas
Chief Executive Officer
Bond Dealers of America
Mike Nicholas is CEO of the Bond Dealers of America, the only DC based trade association representing securities dealers and banks focused on the U.S. fixed income markets. In this role, Mike is responsible for all aspects of BDA growth, strategy and operations. This includes federal lobbying and advocacy, marketing, communications, member relations and agenda development. Prior to the BDA, Mike spent ten years as Managing Director at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association and Vice President at The Bond Market Association. At SIFMA and the BMA, Mike directed all regional dealer capital markets activities while also managing a variety of other departments including the political action committee, issuer relations and member outreach. Prior to joining the BMA, Mike worked in the fixed income capital markets division at Morgan Keegan & Company in Memphis, Tennessee. Prior to that, Mike served as the district field representative to former U.S. Representative Don Sundquist. Mike lives in Vienna, VA with his wife and three children.
Michael Decker
Senior Vice President for Research and Public Policy
Bond Dealers of America
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 in 2019, 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 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.
Brett Bolton
Vice President of Federal Legislative & Regulatory Policy
Bond Dealers of America
Brett Bolton is the Vice President of Federal Legislative and Regulatory Policy at the Bond Dealers of America where he is responsible for analyzing federal legislative and regulatory policy and staffs the Municipal Bond Division and the Fixed Income Legal and Compliance Committee.
Prior to joining BDA, Mr. Bolton was a Principal Associate of Federal Advocacy at the National League of Cities (NLC) where he lobbied on state and local tax and finance and intergovernmental relations at the federal level. Prior to NLC, Mr. Bolton served as the Deputy Director of Federal Affairs for the State of Florida’s Washington, D.C. office. Prior to his lobbying work, Mr. Bolton served on Capitol Hill in the office of U.S. Representative Steve Southerland. He earned a Bachelors degree from Samford University and a Masters degree from the Florida State University’s Askew School of Public Administration and Policy.
