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 NewsJay M. Goldstone has recently retired from the City of San Diego. While at the City, he served as its Chief Operating Officer from July 1, 2007 through March 1, 2013. As Chief Operating Officer, he oversaw the City�s daily operations and implements Mayoral and Council initiatives and policies. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Goldstone served as the City�s first Chief Financial Officer. In that role he identified the magnitude of the City�s financial needs, developed solutions, and implemented changes and corrective actions to guide the City on the road to financial health.Mr. Goldstone has had a successful 35-year career in municipal finance and administration. Prior to arriving in San Diego, he spent 10 years as Director of Finance for the City of Pasadena. He has been a representative to various organizations such as the League of California Cities� Revenue and Taxation Policy Committee and is currently a Commissioner on the California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission and is Chair of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board. Mr. Goldstone holds a bachelor of science degree in political science, economics, and business administration from the University of Minnesota; a master�s degree in public administration from Arizona State University; and a master�s degree in business administration from the University of Santa Clara.�
Don Farrell manages the Municipal Finance Underwriting Group in the Eastern Region for BAM. Prior to joining BAM, he was Managing Director and Head of Public Finance for Assured Guaranty, covering the same geographic area. Before that, he worked at Ambac for 17 years, where he was involved in all aspects of municipal transaction underwriting, including pricing and client relationship management. He holds a B.B.A. in Accounting from Pace University.
Michael Brown is an economist for Wells Fargo Securities. Based in Charlotte N.C., heis responsible for tracking national and regional economic trends. He also writes forthe companys Weekly Economic & Financial Commentary, and provides analysis andcommentary on the national economy, business investment and state budget issues. Prior to joining the economics group in 2010, Michael served as an economist and legislative analyst for the Arkansas Bureau of Legislative Research, which serves the Arkansas General Assembly. In this role, Michael focused his research on quantitative public policy analysis and the Arkansas economy.Michaels commentary has been featured in Bloomberg News, Reuters, and TheChicago Tribune.Michaels research interests include state budget issues, regional economics, information economics, and econometrics.Michael earned his B.S. in business economics and his masters degree in economics from the University of Arkansas, in Fayetteville, Ark. He has also completed additional graduate coursework in economics at Georgia State University, in Atlanta. He is a member of the National Association of Business Economics (NABE) and the Charlotte Economics Club.
Municipal Market Analytics (MMA) is an independent research firm based in Concord, Massachusetts, founded in 1995. MMA’s core business is to provide strategic analysis and commentary on historical and quantitative conditions of the US municipal market. MMA, in 2012, introduced its Portfolio Credit Benchmark (PCB), an enterprise risk solution for bank portfolios to meet their regulatory needs pertaining to the credit review of municipal bonds. Since its inception, MMA has conducted nearly 1000 bank portfolio reviews that have successfully passed regulatory examinations. In addition, MMA’s consulting practice has continued to expand. The firm’s consulting clients include investment banks, insurance companies, law firms, investors, hedge funds and foundations. MMA’s engagements have covered a wide variety of important issues including: − default and loss analysis on portfolios of municipal bonds; analysis of various states’ budget practices and trends; new business analysis for entrants into municipal market; development of a screening methodology to prioritize municipal holdings for review; risk management analysis to guide policy on capital requirements; liquidity analysis of municipal bond holdings; white-papers on risks and opportunities of specific products and retainer relationships to provide analytical insights on a variety of issues and credits.Over 300 organizations receive MMA’s research reports, and they value the firm’s honest and timely perspective on key industry issues. MMA’s clients include leading investment firms, banks, security dealers, financial advisors, issuers and regulators. MMA also maintains relationships with staff members at a number of influential organizations including: Securities Exchange Commission, Federal Reserve Board, National Governors Association, Government Finance Officers Association, National Federation of Municipal Analysts, Council of Economic Advisers, Government Accounting Standards Board, and Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.Throughout his career, Mr. Doe has addressed all the leading groups in the municipal industry, as well as serving as a resource to the broad array of financial media. His insight, integrity, candor, historical context and vision are sought to establish a clear perspective of current conditions impacting investors and issuers in the municipal cash and derivative markets. Currently, Mr. Doe’s focus has been on innovative means to generate new revenue for states and cities. Subjects have included transportation, specifically autonomous vehicles, the vehicle miles travelled tax, drone and air space regulation, water and marijuana legalization.Most notably, Mr. Doe has testified before the Senate Banking Committee on the future of municipal regulation and the state of the industry and appeared before the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) to provide insight on the market’s stability and liquidity. Most memorably he represented the industry in a CNBC interview in January 2011 to accurately define imminent market credit risks in response to Meredith Whitney’s dire municipal default projection. Mr. Doe has addressed the Municipal Division of the SEC, and has been a featured speaker at Build America Mutual Leadership Conferences, Philadelphia Council of Business Economics, Municipal Bond Buyer’s Annual Conference, Bond Dealers of America National Summit, and Security Industry and Financial Markets Association Municipal Summit. In addition, Mr. Doe had the honor of addressing the National Governors Association’s winter meeting regarding the state of public finance on two separate occasions, as well as keynoting or serving as a panelist at National Association of Bond Lawyers, Government Finance Officers Association, National Association of State Treasurers and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation conferences.Between 2002 and 2005, Mr. Doe served a 3-year term as a public member on the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB), the regulatory entity of the municipal securities industry. Mr. Doe received his undergraduate degree from Colgate University in 1980 and a Master’s from Harvard University in 1984.
Mr. Stephens leads BAML’s municipal products and credit products teams. These teams are responsible for providing credit facilities to municipal entities and interest rate swaps to municipal and non-profit counterparties nationally. He has over 30 years of experience in the municipal finance industry, having served clients across the country. His clients include state agencies, utilities, counties, cities and school districts.�
Susan Collet is Senior Vice President of Government Relations for the Bond Dealers of America. She oversees advocacy efforts before Congress, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board and other agencies. Prior to joining the BDA, Susan served as Senior Principal for Government Relations for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, where she successfully led efforts to develop and enact tax credit bonds for financing utility infrastructure. In addition, she advanced the interests of municipal utilities for over a decade as an advocate at both the American Public Power Association and the Van Ness Feldman law firm, where she represented the Large Public Power Council. In these roles, Susan ensured that the tax exemption for municipal bonds would be preserved through new private use relief rules that reflected significant changes in the utility industry.
Chris Chafizadeh is Managing Director & Head of Origination at Assured Guaranty Municipal. Chris joined Assured Guaranty Municipal in 2012 following a 20 year career in Public Finance at MBIA. At Assured Guaranty Municipal, Chris is responsible for business development and origination in all municipal sectors covered by Assured. Mr. Chafizadeh is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and is a Member of the Municipal Analyst's Group of New York (MAGNY), the National Federation of Municipal Analysts (NFMA), the National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA), the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA), the American Finance Association, the Municipal Bond Club of NY, NACUBO, the Municipal Forum of New York, the Fixed Income Analysts Society, the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) and the Education Finance Council. Mr. Chafizadeh earned a Bachelors of Science (BS) degree in Business Administration/Finance from Saint Michael's College in Winooski Park, Vermont and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Corporate/Investment Finance from Pace University's Lubin Graduate School of Business in New York.




