Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

Richard has extensive experience in public finance, including providing counsel to states, public authorities and municipalities on housing finance, economic development, water, sewer and solid waste infrastructure, public-private partnerships, securitization, special fund financings, transportation and validation. He develops financing program plans and provides legal counsel and assistance once the plan has been instituted. He has drafted significant financing legislation in many states, including Alaska, California, Connecticut, Indiana, Montana, New Jersey, New York, West Virginia and Wyoming, and for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.Richard has been a long-time trustee of the Citizens Budget Commission, contributing to several special committee reports and has chaired several Bond Buyer and other public finance conferences.He has managed and structured a variety of (tax exempt, taxable, general obligation, revenue-based, private activity, credit-enhanced) bond and securitization issues as bond or finance counsel for various states, public authorities and local governments. He has also served as underwriter’s counsel for various investment banking firms, and has extensive experience in working with state treasurers and budget officials, rating agencies, financial advisers and underwriters on complex and innovative new programs such as state regulatory, financing and oversight statutes for its distressed municipalities.

Frank Fairman is head of Piper Jaffray public finance services where he oversees the firm’s public finance activities, as well as the municipal derivative business. He has held this position since 1991 and is a member of the firm’s executive leadership team. He joined Piper Jaffray in 1983 as an investment banker in public finance. Prior to that, Fairman started his career as a consultant at Arthur Andersen & Co.Fairman holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Yale University and a Master of Business Administration degree with a concentration in finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Rashmi Khare is a Director on the Social Investment�team, focused on developing financial products designed to drive social progress. She develops collaborative partnerships between key private, nonprofit, and public sector stakeholders, leading the processes of due diligence, program design, financial modeling, contracting and raising capital.�Prior to Social Finance, she spent eleven years as a fixed-income bond trader with Fidelity Investments. Rashmi holds an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, where she was a Center for Business and Society Fellow, and a B.S. in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Richard J. Raphael is an independent consultant focusing on sustainable finance. He is currently consulting with Fitch Ratings on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues. Rich is also an Adjunct Faculty member of Drew University since January, creating and teaching a course on urban governance and finance with three other industry professionals.Rich brings an extensive background in public finance to these areas. �After 36 years in in the municipal ratings industry, he retired from Fitch Ratings on October 30, 2015 where he was Managing Director and Head of Fitch Ratings’ U.S. Public Finance Group since 2009.�� The US Public Finance Group includes over 100 professionals providing ratings and commentary on municipal securities. Rich was previously responsible for the State and Local Ratings Groups.Rich joined Fitch shortly after its recapitalization in 1989 following 10 years with Standard & Poor’s. Rich started up and managed Fitch’s Local Tax-supported Group and later managed the State Ratings Group. He has produced numerous research and rating guideline reports on state and local tax-supported bonds and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences.��Rich is a member and former Chairman of the Municipal Analysts Group of New York (MAGNY) and a former President of the Municipal Forum of New York.� He is also an associate member of the Governmental Finance Officers Association (GFOA) where he serves as a private sector advisor to its Committee on Economic Development and Capital planning. He previously served two three-year terms in the same role to its Government Debt and Fiscal Policy Committee. Rich has also been a trustee of the Citizen's Budget Commission.Rich has received numerous Smith’s Research and Gradings Municipal All-Star awards and received the Career Achievement Award from the National Federation of Municipal Analysts (NFMA) in 2014. Rich was awarded the Austin Koenen Career Achievement Award from The Municipal Forum of New York in2015. ��

Mollie Foust is a Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Government Performance Lab, which provides pro-bono technical assistance to state and local governments. In her current role, Mollie is embedded in the IL Governor’s Office and offers her expertise to the State as they consider utilizing Pay for Success contracts (also known as Social Impact Bonds) in new contexts. She holds a Masters in Public Administration from the London School of Economics.

Ajay Thomas is a Managing Director and Head of U.S. Public Finance in William Blair & Company’s Debt Capital Markets Division. Mr. Thomas joined William Blair in 2014. Prior to joining William Blair, Mr. Thomas worked with Morgan Stanley, Raymond James and Robert W. Baird as a senior banker within their municipal departments managing investment banking groups in the Southwest United States.Ajay has over 15 years in public finance experience and has significant transaction experience having led transactions across sector disciplines for a diversity of municipal issuers across the country.� A selected U.S. General Course Scholar at the London School of Economics, Mr. Thomas received his B.A. in Economics from Southwestern University, his Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard University, and his J.D. from the University of Texas.Ajay currently serves as a member on the Texas Business Leadership Council (formerly the Governor’s Business Council) and is a member of the TBLC’s Legislative Task Force and involved with subcommittees on Texas Public Education, Infrastructure and Water helping to advise state leaders on various policy matters. Ajay was most recently appointed to the Board of Visitors of Southwestern University, one of our nation’s leading liberal arts undergraduate universities to advise University leadership on matters of higher education policy.

On January 11, 2016, Governor John Bel Edwards was sworn in as the 56th Governor of Louisiana.� �The governor grew up in Amite, Louisiana as one of eight children.� With four Tangipahoa Parish Sheriffs in his lineage, he learned the importance of public service at an early age.� Governor Edwards graduated in 1988 from the United States Military Academy at West Point.� The governor served eight years as an Airborne Ranger on active duty with the United States Army and commanded a rifle company in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.� He went on to graduate Order of the Coif from Louisiana State University Law Center and set up a civil law practice in his home town of Amite.� In 2008, he was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives from District 72, where he served for eight years until the voters of Louisiana elected him governor in November 2015.� Governor Edwards and his wife, First Lady Donna Edwards, have three children: Samantha Bel, Sarah Ellen, and John Miller.

DeVona Wright Cottrell is Director and Associate General Counsel at Baird and supports the firm’s Fixed Income business unit. Joining Baird in 2007, she partners with the Fixed Income Capital Markets Business Unit by providing Fixed Income Sales & Trading and the Public Finance team with legal advice and support regarding municipal finance transactions and best practices. DeVona also provides legal support to several of the firm’s internal departments, including Marketing & Communications, Facilities, and Compliance. In addition, she is the primary in-house attorney overseeing Baird’s IP Portfolio and advising the businesses with regard to IP related matters. DeVona also provides support to Facilities with the negotiation and drafting of commercial real estate leasing transactions and other real estate related matters.Prior to joining Baird, DeVona was a partner at Gonzalez, Saggio & Harlan LLP, where she represented corporate clients on public finance, real estate, intellectual property, general transactional matters. She is a past co-chair of PRISM, Baird’s Multicultural Associate Resource Group and is President of SWSIC, a Baird-sponsored women’s investment club focused on increasing financial literacy in the African-American community. DeVona also participates as a Mentor in Baird’s Mentoring Circles Program between the Lubar School of Business at UW – Milwaukee and Baird.DeVona is a diligent volunteer and mentor in the greater Milwaukee-area community as well. She is pro bono corporate legal counsel to her church and serves on numerous boards and committees throughout the city, including the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation’s (WWBIC) loan committee, Milwaukee Collegiate Academy, UW–Milwaukee Foundation, Girl Scouts of Wisconsin Southeast and Milwaukee County Research Park Corporation. DeVona earned her J.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, M.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and B.A. in political science from Jackson State University, summa cum laude.DeVona is a Wisconsin native and a proud wife and mother. She was selected as one of The Milwaukee Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 winners for 2014 and was for 2 consecutive years recognized as R3-100: Poised For Prominence as published in Inside Counsel, August 2014 and R3-100: Ready to Rise as published in Inside Counsel, August 2015 and in October of 2015 received the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee Alumni Gold Award (Graduate of the Last Decade). Other honors and awards include the 2006 Milwaukee Times – Black Excellence Award, 2007 Wisconsin Law Journal – Leader in the Law Award and 2009 Super Lawyers Magazine – Wisconsin Rising Star.