Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

Lakshmi Kommi serves as the Director of Debt Management for the City of San Diego, and has over 20 years experience in municipal finance in the issuer capacity.� She has overseen numerous public and private bond transactions and manages the City�s debt portfolio of roughly $3.4 billion. In addition to implementing complex financing plans while keeping the City�s costs low, her department ensures through a citywide Formal Compliance Monitoring Program that the City is in compliance with respect to all city bond offerings.Ms. Kommi is currently serving as a public member on the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board and is on the San Diego Board for Women in Public Finance. She serves on the City of San Diego�s Disclosure Practices Working Group and the Capital Improvement Program Review Advisory Committee. �

As a senior manager within Tax Exempt Bonds, Steve leads the IRS’s voluntary compliance, educational guidance, and compliance analysis and review programs with respect to tax-exempt bonds, tax credit bonds, and Build America Bonds. In this capacity, he directs the resolution of tax violations voluntarily brought forward by governmental issuers, the review of claims for recovery of overpayments of arbitrage rebate, the planning and implementation of compliance activities within segments of the municipal bond market, and the implementation of new legislation impacting IRS programs. Steve is also responsible for providing technical assistance to the Director and the Field Operations staff, coordinating formal guidance projects with Chief Counsel and Treasury offices, and developing education and compliance initiatives. He joined Tax Exempt Bonds as a Tax Law Specialist through the Presidential Management Fellows Program. Steve received both a Juris Doctor and Master of Science in public policy and management from the University of Oregon as well as a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Puget Sound. He is currently a member of the Missouri State Bar.

Cindy McKim was appointed as the Director of the California Department of Transportation on May 27, 2010.  As Director, Ms. McKim is responsible for the maintenance and operations of more than 50,000 lane miles of roadway in the State Highway System, a budget of more than $13.8 billion, and providing leadership to more than 22,000 employees.Prior to this appointment, Ms. McKim served as the Chief Deputy Director where she advised and assisted the Department Director regarding all aspects in the policy and operation of the Department of Transportation.  She represented the Department in meetings, hearings, boards, commissions and committees and had responsibility related to the overall operation and management of the Department.Ms. McKim has been with the Department for more than 30 years, serving in a number of high profile management positions including the Chief Financial Officer, Deputy Director for Rail, Transportation and Aeronautics; Deputy Director for Policy and Administration; Assistant Director of the Administrative Service Center; Accounting Division Chief; Rail Division Chief; Mass Transportation Division Chief; and Assistant Director for Management and Policy Planning.As the Chief Financial Officer, Ms. McKim was responsible for the Department’s financial management and policy, including oversight of an annual operating budget of nearly $13.8 billion. She was also responsible for programming State and federal transportation funds.During her assignments with the Rail and Mass Transportation programs, Ms. McKim oversaw implementation of an expanded intercity rail program in California. She chaired two groups of local representatives and business interests responsible for evaluating the feasibility of rail service along important transportation corridors in the State. She represented the Department in Congressional hearings on the Department’s Rail Program, and in dealings with the Legislature and the California Transportation Commission.As Division Chief for Accounting and Assistant Director of the Administrative Service Center, Ms. McKim was responsible for implementing business process improvements that streamlined delivery of administrative services. The Transportation Research Board has recognized several innovations developed during Ms. McKim’s tenure.Ms. McKim earned her bachelor’s degree in Human Resources and Organizational Behavior from the University of San Francisco. She also holds a Certificate in Public Administration from the California State University, Sacramento.

Sean L. Spear is currently the Executive Director of the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee (CDLAC) for the California State Treasurer’s Office, which administers the private activity bond program for California.  Each year, CDLAC distributes this allocation to privately-controlled projects and programs with a public purpose under  six program pools: Qualified Residential Rental (Multifamily Housing Development), Single Family Housing, Extra Credit Teacher Home Purchase, Industrial Development Bonds, Exempt Facility Bonds and Student Loan Bonds.  With more than $3.3 Billion in tax-exempt bond authority for California in 2009, this represents the largest allocation in the country.  Mr. Spear has over twenty years of experience in community development and housing finance.  Prior to joining the State Treasurer’s Office in August 2009, he previously served as the Director of Major Projects for the City of Los Angeles Housing Department; overseeing the operation of the five rental housing production-related units; including the $100 Million Affordable Housing Trust Fund.  He also served as the LAHD’s point person on public-private lending partnerships; leveraging the City’s capital funds for additional affordable housing development resources.  In this capacity, he lead the City’s effort to create the $100 Million New Generation Fund; an affordable housing acquisition and predevelopment loan fund which closed in May 2008.Prior to joining the LAHD, Mr. Spear was a Community Development Manager with Fannie Mae’s Housing and Community Development Unit, based in their Western Regional Office in Pasadena.  Responsible for Fannie Mae’s short-term direct community development financing business throughout California and other parts of the West, he closed important transactions such as a $30 million Line of Credit for the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles and a $1.5 million construction bridge loan for the Blackfeet Nation; Fannie Mae’s first direct affordable housing loan to a Tribal Entity.  Before joining Fannie Mae, Mr. Spear was a Senior Development Specialist (Housing) with the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, and a Project Manager (HOPE VI/New Construction) with the San Francisco Housing Authority.  With the Redevelopment Agency, he implemented and oversaw San Francisco’s innovative Affordable Housing Preservation Program, which saved more than 1,700 units of low-income housing from conversion to market in San Francisco’s high-pressure real estate market.  He began his career with the New York City Department of City Planning, where he served as the City Planner for the Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhoods of Brooklyn.Mr. Spear holds both a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree from Cornell University.

Brian Thomas is the Assistant General Manager/Chief Financial Officer for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the country's largest purveyor of treated drinking water. He is responsible for all of Metropolitan’s financial programs, including financial planning, investments, debt management, operating and capital budgets, and accounting operations and reporting. He is also responsible for developing and implementing Metropolitan’s water rates and charges. Thomas has participated in a wide range of water policy discussions and negotiations, ranging from the Colorado River to water markets and local conjunctive-use programs. Since his appointment in 2000, Metropolitan has issued over $5.1 billion of debt, including fixed rate debt, Build America Bonds, variable rate bonds, and SIFMA Index Tender Bonds. In addition, during Thomas' tenure, Metropolitan implemented its interest rate swap program, with $1.5 billion of swaps outstanding. Working with the General Manager and the executive team, Thomas manages a $1.8 billion annual budget. Most recently, Thomas has been working with other major California water issuers on alternatives to traditional municipal standby bond purchase agreements as credit support for variable rate debt.Thomas has worked in the power and water business for over 25 years, including experience at the cities of Anaheim and Riverside Public Utilities. He has Bachelors of Science degrees in Biology and Economics from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and a Master’s and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Riverside.Thomas has lectured in economics and environmental science and policy at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona; and California State University, Long Beach. Thomas authored and co-authored numerous articles on water and power planning and finance, and is a frequently requested speaker at professional conferences.

Mr. Bellwoar has worked as an investment banker focusing on higher education finance since 1986. Prior to that time, Mr. Bellwoar worked as a bond lawyer at a national law firm. Mr. Bellwoar has served as senior investment banker on the full range of tax-exempt and taxable higher education bond issues. Mr. Bellwoar manages the higher education and non-profit public finance practice at BofA Merrill Lynch. BofA Merrill Lynch has 12 dedicated higher education and non-profit public finance investment bankers located in seven offices spread across the country. BofA Merrill Lynch has consistently ranked among the top firms in underwriting taxable and tax-exempt bond issues and structuring transactions for higher education and non-profit institutions.Mr. Bellwoar graduated with a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a B.A. from Georgetown University.

David Kvam is the Director of Financing Coordination for the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York. His responsibilities include the credit analysis of institutions seeking to borrow through the Dormitory Authority, the negotiation of the terms under which such institutions borrow, the production of disclosure documents used in connection with the sale of Dormitory Authority obligations and the ongoing monitoring of existing client institutions for financial health, continuing disclosure and covenant compliance. Mr. Kvam received his Bachelor’s Degree from the State University of New York at Brockport and holds a Master of Business Administration from the State University of New York at Albany. His entire 29-year public sector career has been with the Dormitory Authority.

Mr. Smalls joined Jefferies & Company in 2009 as a Managing Director, in the firm's Sacramento office. Mr Smalls brings 19 years of public finance experience notably in the state of California. Since March 2000, Mr. Smalls had day-to-day responsibility for 123 transactions representing $94.3 billion in par amount (including 10 deals for an aggregate par amount of over $2.0 billion where he served as lead banker for the book-running senior manager). Mr. Smalls has developed a strong experience base of state general obligation, revenue and lease financings, pension obligation bonds, tobacco securitizations, utility and complex refunding programs over the course of his career. In November 2009, Mr. Smalls led the firm’s contributions in the role of joint senior manager on a $743 million lease financing for the State Public Works Board. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Smalls was a Senior Vice President with M.R. Beal & Company for seven years, servicing state and local issuers in California as well as selective accounts across the nation. Some of the accounts, Mr. Smalls has served over the course of his career includes: the State of California, Alameda County, City of Oakland, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Los Angeles County MTA, Los Angeles County, and the City of San Diego, to name a few. Prior to M.R. Beal, Mr. Smalls served as the Executive Director for the California Pollution Control Financing Authority (CPCFA) in the State of California State Treasurer’s Office and before that, was a Senior Managing Consultant at Public Financial Management, Inc. where he provided a wide array of services to both general municipal and transportation clients. While at PFM, Mr. Smalls assisted in the structure and sale of over $4.7 billion in general obligation, sales tax revenue, lease revenue, tax increment, and toll revenue bonds. Mr. Smalls also served as an assistant vice president and assistant director of policy, research and planning with the Federal Home Loan Bank of SF where he evaluated new products and services for the Bank and FHLB system as well as help develop the Bank's strategic and business plans. Mr. Smalls received a BA with honors in Social Studies (Govt./Economics) from Harvard College and maintains FINRA licenses of Series 7, 53 and 63.