Banco Popular de Puerto Rico is a full-service financial services provider with operations in Puerto Rico, the United States and Virgin Islands. Popular, Inc. is the largest banking institution by both assets and deposits in Puerto Rico, and in the United States Popular, Inc.
Latest NewsKemp Lewis leads Morgan Keegans investment banking coverage of The City of New York and its issuing authorities as well as other major clients of the firm. In addition to his direct client coverage responsibilities, Mr. Lewis works with bankers and clients throughout the firm on complex financing issues involving analytical banking and derivatives, including leading the Morgan Keegans efforts to help clients take full advantage of the municipal debt provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Mr. Lewis joined Morgan Keegan in February, 2009. Most recently, he co-headed the municipal derivatives marketing group at Goldman Sachs, among other responsibilities. Prior to joining Goldman in 1998, Mr. Lewis led the municipal debt strategies group at Lehman Brothers. In his more than 22 years as a public finance banker, Mr. Lewis has worked on the development of numerous complex credit, bond and derivative structures for issuers in every sector of the municipal market. Mr. Lewis earned a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the College of Charleston and a Master of Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University. Mr. Lewis serves on numerous SIFMA committees including Municipal Financial Products, Municipal Operations and Infrastructure Finance.
As Debt Management Director of the Finance Division, a position he assumed on March 1, 2006, Mr. Hernandez manages the Departments municipal bond programs, oversees the State Infrastructure Bank, and participates in the comprehensive development agreement process. Prior to his employment with the Department, Mr. Hernandez was the southwest regional manager of the Fitch Ratings office in Austin for over six years. Prior to his tenure with Fitch Ratings, Mr. Hernandez served with the Texas Bond Review Board for seven years, the last two as executive director. Mr. Hernandezs governmental finance career also includes service with the cities of San Antonio and Corpus Christi. Mr. Hernandez earned Bachelor and Master of Business Administration degrees from Corpus Christi State University.
Richard A. Ciccarone is President & CEO of Merritt Research Services, LLC
Patrick is the chief municipal analyst at Wells Fargo Advisors, the retail brokerage arm of Wells Fargo. Prior to joining WFA, Patrick was with the bond insurance company Assured Guaranty for four years, where he served initially as the director of fixed income investor relations and later as the firm’s municipal credit officer. Previously, Patrick was at A.G. Edwards for 16 years, serving as vice president and the manager of the Municipal Research group. As a municipal credit analyst, Patrick has been a generalist covering all sectors of the municipal market, producing credit specific analysis and authoring publications for both retail and institutional clients. Mr. Early is a member of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts, and has served a number of terms on the NFMA’s board and executive committee.�
Peter Shapiro is managing director of Swap Financial Group, the nation�s leading independent advisor on swaps and complex financial structures. Swap Financial specializes in market strategy and financial structure advice for large borrowers. Over the last four years, Swap Financial Group has handled over 2000 derivative transactions, with notional principal totaling more than $100 billion. Swap Financial Group advises clients on market strategy, transaction design, pricing, documentation, transaction management, and financial reporting. Swap Financial Group advises three principal groups of clients on the use of financial structures: major non-financial corporations, governmental clients including federal, state and city governmental agencies, and non-profits such as cultural institutions, health care providers, and institutions of higher education. The firm advises most U.S. states and state agencies, including New York, California, and Texas, major cities like New York, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia, and many of the largest higher education, health care and cultural organization like Harvard, Stanford, the J. Paul Getty Trust, the University of California, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and the Council on Foreign Relations. Major California clients include the California Housing Finance Agency, Metropolitan Water District, San Francisco International Airport, the Bay Area Toll Authority, Richmond, Santa Clara County, Catholic Healthcare West, Irvine Ranch Water District, Sacramento Suburban Water District, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Gemological Institute of America. Prior to founding Swap Financial Group in 1997, Shapiro worked at Citibank, where he served as a senior banker, and headed the municipal derivatives business and the public finance department. Before Citibank, Shapiro spent twelve years in government service. Shapiro received his A.B. degree cum laude from Harvard University in 1974.
Mary N. Simpkins is Senior Special Counsel in the Office of Municipal Securities at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.� She joined the Commission staff in 1997 after practicing law for over 15 years in the areas of municipal finance and taxation with law firms in Washington, D.C., New York and Florida.� Ms. Simpkins graduated from VanderbiltUniversity, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and from the University of Virginia School of Law.� She also received an LL.M. in Taxation from New York University School of Law.��
Pedro J. Miranda specializes in public finance and serves as bond counsel, underwriters counsel, disclosure counsel and trustees counsel on bond issues in Florida, Texas and Puerto Rico.Mr. Miranda has broad experience in various types of municipal bond transactions including special district, community development district, general obligation and revenue financings. Mr. Miranda has served as bond counsel and underwriters counsel in more than 30 special district and community development district financings in Florida and Texas. Mr. Miranda is a member of the National Association of Bond Lawyers, The Florida Bar and the Puerto Rican Bar Association of Florida.
Robin Prunty is a Managing Director, Head of Analytics and Research for S&P Global Ratings – U.S. Public Finance. In this role, she represents U.S. Public Finance in various capacities to discuss the municipal bond market and S&P's ratings, research and methodology to governments, investors, industry associations, media outlets, and other market participants.�Prior to her current role, Robin was a Lead Analytical Manager with responsibility for the U.S. States, Higher Education, and Not For Profit Health Care practices and Analytical Manager for the U.S. States and Public Higher Education Group.Robin has a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from Siena College and a Master of Public Administration from the University at Albany - Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy. She is President of the Municipal Forum of New York and a member of the Municipal Analysts Group of New York, National Federation of Municipal Analysts, and Northeast Women in Public Finance.�
Brian Mayhew joined the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) as Chief Financial Officer in October 1999. As CFO, Mr. Mayhew manages all accounting, treasury, and financial functions, including debt issuance and management for MTC, MTC Service Authority for Freeways and Expressways (SAFE), and the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA).�As CFO of MTC/BATA, Mr. Mayhew has overseen the growth of the toll operation from $120 million to over $750 million per year; transportation grant administration to nearly $1billion annually, as well as a capital program that has expanded from $2.4 billion to over $13 billion, including the $6.2 billion replacement of the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge.� Mr. Mayhew is responsible for a debt portfolio of $8.5 billion, swap portfolio of $1.9 billion, with assets under management of $4.5 billion.��Prior to working at MTC, Mr. Mayhew spent ten years as Finance Director for the City of Westminster, California where he oversaw accounting, payroll and treasury, as well as redevelopment and economic development project funding.� Prior to working for the City of Westminster, Mr. Mayhew served for five years in Mountain View, California as Revenue Officer.�Mr. Mayhew has also been the recipient of awards from the State of California and OrangeCounty in recognition of his protecting public assets by removing funds from the county’s treasury prior to the bankruptcy, as well as the California Public Securities Association for excellence in public financing. �BATA has been the recipient of three Bond Buyer Western Region Deal of the Year awards and one Governing Magazine national deal of the year.�Mr. Mayhew holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of California at Santa Barbara, along with multiple certifications in accounting, payroll, purchasing, cash and debt management.� Mr. Mayhew is active in both state and national professional associations and has served on the Issuer Advisory Committee of the MSRB.
Lynnette Kelly has been the Executive Director of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) since June 2007.� Ms. Kelly leads the day-to-day management of the MSRB, a self-regulatory organization whose mission is to protect investors, municipal entities, and ensure a fair and efficient municipal securities market.� It does so by developing rules for municipal advisors who advise on issuance, securities firms and banks that underwrite, trade and sell municipal bonds, and by operating information systems, including the Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA) system, designed to promote transparency and investor access to information.� The MSRB also serves as an objective and expert resource and repository of municipal market information.Previously, Ms. Kelly was a managing director and associate general counsel at�the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) (formerly The Bond Market Association), where she helped develop and implement legal, regulatory and best market practices in the fixed income markets, with a focus on municipal finance.�From 1990 to 1993, Ms. Kelly served as general counsel for the Municipal Assistance Corporation for the City of New York, and has worked at several law firms in New York City in all areas of municipal finance.�She graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1981 and from Tulane University School of Law in 1984.






