Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

Doug Scott is a managing director in Fitch Ratings' U.S. Public Finance Group. Doug serves as manager and analytical head for both the U.S. water and sewer sector as well as the U.S. municipal bond fund sector. Doug has also served as manager of Fitch's Southwest regional office, which covers tax-supported credits. Before joining Fitch, Doug worked from 1994-1997 with First Southwest Company, a municipal financial advisory firm, and subsequently worked for the Texas Water Development Board, a state agency, from 1997-2001.

David Faris is a Director in Public Finance for Edward Jones Investments. Edward Jones provides financial services for individual investors in the United States and, through its affiliate, in Canada. The firm's 12,000-plus financial advisors work directly with nearly 7 million clients to understand their personal goals and create long-term investment solutions.David opened the firm’s Texas Public Finance office in 2003, and he specializes in developing and structuring bond issues that utilize Edward Jones' retail marketing capabilities. He has participated in hundreds of refunding and new money issues for general obligation, K-12, water and sewer, 501(c)(3), and public higher education financings throughout Texas. David received a B.S. in Agribusiness and an M.B.A. from Texas A&M University. He holds Series 7 and 63 licenses.

Mr. Liu is currently the Manager of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Water and Wastewater/SRF Group.� For most of his 27 year career, Mr. Liu has specialized in water and wastewater financings and has served numerous municipal issuers throughout the U.S. including the City of Chicago (wastewater), Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District, Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority, DC Water, Philadelphia Water and the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority.� He has also advised water issuers on various matters including public-private partnerships, program start-ups, asset loan sales, consolidations and divestitures.� Additionally, Mr. Liu is a well-recognized expert in state revolving fund (“SRF”) financings and has served as senior manager on over $17 billion for 24 SRF programs throughout the U.S.Mr. Liu has also been a featured speaker or moderator at various national and regional water conferences.� He is currently an active board member to U.S. EPA’s Environmental Financial Advisory Board.� Mr. Liu received his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in Finance and Economics and his B.S. from the University of Maryland in Accounting and Economics.��

Billy Hamilton is a consultant in tax, fiscal policy and related issues. In this capacity, he works with a wide range of public and private clients. He also writes a regular column on state tax issues for the national publication State Tax Notes. He currently serves an Interim Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration for the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Prior to January 2007, Hamilton was Chief Deputy Comptroller of Public Accounts of Texas. He was appointed to that position in January 1999 by Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn. Hamilton previously served as Deputy Comptroller for seven years from 1991 to February 1998. In the interim, he was in private practice. As Deputy Comptroller, Hamilton was responsible for the day-to-day management of the Comptroller’s office. The Comptroller is the state’s chief fiscal officer and is responsible for state tax administration, statewide financial management, and state treasury operations. The Comptroller employs a staff of 2,800 in Austin and more than 40 field offices around the state and in three other states. Hamilton retired from state service in late 2006.Hamilton has also served on special assignment as Co-Executive Director of the California Performance Review for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The CPR’s 2,500 page assessment of California government, A Government for the People for a Change, was released in July 2004. Prior to joining the Comptroller in 1991, Hamilton was director of state and local services for the Policy Economics Group of KPMG Peat Marwick in Washington, D.C. He served in that position from 1987 through 1990. In 1986-87 Hamilton was executive director of the Select Committee on Tax Equity, a panel created by the Texas Legislature to study the state’s tax structure. Prior to his work with the Select Committee, Hamilton worked for the Texas Association of Taxpayers, a business group interested in tax policy and fiscal responsibility in Texas government. From 1982-86, Hamilton was Associate Deputy Comptroller for Fiscal Management and Chief Revenue Estimator with the Comptroller of Public Accounts. He was also research director for the Comptroller. Hamilton is past president of the national Federation of Tax Administrators and the National Tax Association. He has served on the board of directors of the Federation of Tax Administrators, the Multistate Tax Commission, and the National Tax Association. He has served as a member of the board of directors of Quality Texas and also served as a board member of the national Electronic Benefits Council. He was the first recipient (1998) of the Bullock Bullock Award for Public Stewardship. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.Hamilton is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. He was recognized as the first recipient of the LBJ School’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 1987.

Todd Brewer is a Partner in the Houston Office of Andrews Kurth. Mr. Brewer has an extensive public finance experience in all areas of tax-exempt transactions. He has acted as Bond Counsel, Underwriters’ Counsel, Trustee’s Counsel, letter of credit providers counsel and borrowers counsel in transactions for traditional governmental entities, nonprofit organizations and private entities. In addition, Mr. Brewer has extensive experience in the representation of both governmental entities and private parties in connection with economic development projects and major sports and entertainment facilities. HE received his J.D. in 1986 from the University of Tennessee College of Law and his B.A., cum laude, from the University of Tennessee in 1983.

Amy R. Laskey is a managing director in Fitch Ratings’ U.S. public finance group. Amy manages Fitch’s tax-supported ratings group, including analysis and ratings of bonds backed by both taxes and water/sewer utility revenues.� Prior to joining Fitch in 1995, Amy was a deputy assistant director for capital financial planning in New York City’s Office of Management and Budget, where her responsibilities included overseeing the development of the 10-year capital strategy, as well as the annual capital budget. Earlier, Amy was a program coordinator with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, where she monitored and approved spending for the New York City Transit Authority’s capital program.� Amy earned a BA in music from Barnard College before receiving an MBA in finance from Columbia University. She is a member of the Municipal Analysts Group of New York, and is an advisor to the Government Finance Officers Association’s Committee on Governmental Budgeting and Fiscal Policy.

John Kromer is a housing and development consultant who specializes in the design and implementation of reinvestment strategies for distressed urban communities.As the City of Philadelphia’s Director of Housing from 1992 to 2001, Kromer supervised the expenditure of more than a billion dollars in public investment in support of housing preservation and development activities that improved living conditions for thousands of Philadelphia families. The perspective gained through this experience is described in his most recent book, Fixing Broken Cities: The Implementation of Urban Development Strategies.Since 2001, Kromer has maintained an affiliation with the University of Pennsylvania’s Fels Institute of Government as a Senior Consultant. In this capacity, he has completed consulting projects in Camden, Allentown, Reading, York, and other postindustrial cities. At Penn, he also teaches a fall-semester course on “The Politics of Housing and Urban Development.”

Jerry W. Ford is president of Ford & Associates, Inc. a Florida based financial advisory firm. Mr. Ford founded Ford & Associates in 1998 after spending fourteen years as head of Florida public finance for a major southeastern regional bank and, subsequently, for one of the nation’s largest privately-held investment banks. His advisory practice includes K-12 education, local infrastructure and not-for-profit organizations. Since 1998, he has completed a full range of tax-exempt, taxable, and tax-credit financings totaling over $8 billion for clients from Florida to California. Ford & Associates is nationally recognized for developing negotiated issue pricing protocols designed to increase retail sales by encouraging and rewarding co-manager performance while increasing accountability. Before entering investment banking, Mr. Ford was a senior consultant with Booz, Allen, and Hamilton Applied Research, Washington, D.C. His duties included providing financial and economic analysis to military research and development programs, both U.S. and foreign. He developed financial models for funding research development and subsequent implementation of military equipment/programs. Mr. Ford’s initial employment after college was as a staff member in the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, where he developed financial models and measurement systems for government programs and agencies. He is a graduate of California State University (Bachelor of Science) and received a Master’s of Public Administration from the University of South California.Mr. Ford is an active member of the Tampa community where he serves on various boards, and is involved in other church and community activities. He is a founding member of First Nesters, a charitable organization that furnishes first homes for young adults leaving foster care.

Known as an internationally recognized expert on performance auditing, an authority on governance, and a fine public speaker, Mark Funkhouser has been helping people and associations learn about leadership, auditing, and how to change the culture of government for over thirty years. Mark holds a BA in Political Science, an MSW, an MBA, and a PhD in Public Administration and Sociology. He has held a variety of positions during his forty-year career, from Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor to Assistant Professor to State and City Auditor. He is currently theMayor of Kansas City, Missouri. Mark has authored the book “Honest, Competent Government: The Promise of Performance Auditing," which shows how auditing can increase citizens’ trust in government. Mark has also authored numerous articles and essays that have been published in journals such as Public Administration Review, and in books including Public Administration: Cases in Managerial Role- Playing. In addition, Mark was the editor for Local Government Auditing Quarterly for nineyears, and has served as a reviewer for American Review of Public Administration since 1989. Mark is a regular keynote speaker for conferences and events hosted by a variety of organizations, and has been featured on many local and national broadcast media programs including ABC’s “Good Morning America,” NPR, and Fox Business Channel’s “LIVE” and“Money For Breakfast.” He’s also appeared countless times in the local and national press,including the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. In 2003 Mark was named one of Governing Magazine’s “Public Officials of the Year.”