Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

Chris Mier is President of Rosebud Strategies LLC

Michael Liikala is CEO and Managing Partner of Solutions International, a firm focused on helping leading firms enter the U.S. and international markets in the infrastructure, renewable energy and technology sectors including high speed rail and various public private partnership (P3) projects. SI has gained a reputation as a highly competent and efficient advisor to select Fortune 1000 and newly emerging firms. SI works with clients to build a custom team of advisors as well as market experts for each tailored strategy. These experts are selected based on Mr. Liikala’s almost 30 years of international business experience working with private and public sector leaders and as a senior U.S. Diplomat. Their advisor relationships include leading U.S. legal, consulting and investment banking firms often working on an exclusive basis with SI.Before returning to the private sector, Mr. Liikala had a distinguished and highly recognized career spanning over 20 years of service in senior U.S Government positions. His last assignment was as the Director of International Strategic Alliances for the U.S. Commercial Service (CS) and leader of the CS California Trade Partnership initiative. In this role he advised and developed trade and investment strategies for the CS worldwide and for the State of California and its firms. He also advanced and helped organize Governor Schwarzenegger’s trips to Asia, which helped create new business opportunities for numerous firms in China, Japan and Hong Kong.From 2000-2004, Mr. Liikala served as Senior Commercial Officer, SCO, in the U.S Embassy in Spain and oversaw the commercial operations for the United States through offices in Madrid and Barcelona. He and his team assisted Boeing, G.E., General Dynamics and Cisco as well as over 200 small and medium sized firms enter or expand operations there in sectors as diverse as energy, technology and franchising. As head of the Commercial Service in Spain, he was tasked by the White House to put together Joint Ventures for the rebuilding of Iraq between US and Spanish firms. He helped coordinate CEO level meetings with US and Spanish firms which led to key infrastructure projects for example helping CH2MHilll to create a joint venture for water infrastructure in the Middle East. Prior to Madrid he served 4 years as SCO in Buenos Aires where Mr. Liikala had an extraordinary record of achievement in commercial diplomacy including opening the market for over 350 U.S firms, serving as acting Ambassador and helping a U.S. firm win the concession on the privatization of all 33 airports in Argentina, the largest such privatization in history.In the United States, Mr. Liikala served as Western Regional Director for the U.S. Department of Commerce, managing 33 offices in 13 states. In that role he developed and implemented, with Secretary Ron Brown, the California Initiative, creating a state-wide partnership to assist firms commercialize their technologies and expand their sales abroad. As part of this initiative, he led the development, funding and launching of TradePort, now one of the top 10 international trade websites. From 1988-1992 Mr. Liikala established and directed the first Western Regional operations for the Bureau of Export Administration (BXA) with responsibilities for regulating and advising companies on export regulations affecting over $90 billion dollars in exports annually.Previous to these field positions, Mr. Liikala worked in Washington, D.C. as Chief of Staff for the Under Secretary of Commerce (1984-88), where he helped manage a 700 person organization responsible for U.S. Trade Laws and the complex U.S. Export Control Regulations. He led the team of negotiators who successfully concluded multi-billion dollar voluntary restraint agreements with Japan and Taiwan and was the Commerce lead on negotiations with developing countries during the 1980’s debt crisis. In addition, from 1981-1984, he was the Senior Trade Advisor to the Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade and was responsible for developing Commerce Department positions for Secretary Malcolm Baldridge and the Cabinet-level committee on U.S. International Economic Policy.Mr. Liikala has also worked in the U.S. Treasury Department on International Investment issues and on the United States Senate Banking Committee, where he was involved in the drafting and passage of the Export Administration Act, the Export Trading Company Act, and the Congressional review of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Prior to this, Mr. Liikala started and ran his own successful international trading firm and worked as a legislative analyst at the California State Legislature.Mr. Liikala has a Masters Degree from John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in International Law/Economics and a Masters Degree in Finance and Public Administration from the University of Southern California. He received a BA in Law and Public Policy from the University of California. He has lectured and spoken to business groups worldwide, including Executive programs at Harvard Business School, Stanford School of Engineering, the University of California and leading think tanks and is often quoted in business media including the Wall Street Journal and foreign business press.

Mr. Gold has over 25 years of experience providing investment banking services to a variety of transportation and infrastructure clients in the public and private sector, having led over $20 billion of financing assignments. Mr. Gold's transportation clients have included the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority, the North Texas Tollway Authority, the Texas Department of Transportation, the Riverside County Transportation Authority, the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, the Northeast Texas Regional Mobility Authority, and the Mississippi Department of Transportation. His P3 financing experience includes, among others, the concessions for the Highway 407 Express Toll Route in Toronto, the Northwest Parkway in Colorado, the North Tarrant Express and LBJ IH-635 projects in Texas, and the I-285/SR 400 Project in Georgia.� Mr. Gold earned a BS from Claremont McKenna College and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

David Wylie is Director, Primary Investments for John Laing in New York.� He is responsible for originating, developing and structuring equity investments in major infrastructure projects in the United States and Canada.With over a decade of experience in PPP investments in the US, Canada, Singapore and UK, he has worked in the highways and bridges, transit, healthcare, education, street lighting, defense and water sectors.In 2013-14, he led John Laing’s successful bid and closing on the I-4 Ultimate Project, Florida – the largest availability-based P3 deal in the United States to date.� Other deal experience includes Ohio River Bridges, Indiana/Kentucky; Purple Line, Maryland; and the Automated People Mover project at Los Angeles International Airport, currently in procurement.David holds a B.A. History and Politics from the Queen’s University of Belfast and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Strathclyde Graduate School of Business.

Emeka Charles Chinwuba's practice focuses on project finance transactions primarily in the power (including renewables) and infrastructure sectors.� His experience includes general bank finance transactions (including acquisition financings, investment grade financings and ABLs) and project development and finance transactions including for wind power projects, asset acquisition transactions, parking and toll road concession transactions and US P3 transactions.��His work has covered complex financing projects in the United States, South America, Middle East�and Africa.In 2010, Emeka served as a volunteer prosecution attorney at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, where he assisted in reviewing pleadings, drafting appellate briefs and interviewing prosecution witnesses relating to the trial of genocidiares in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. �

Mr. Belinsky joined Frasca & Associates in 2011 and has more than 30 years of government and finance experience, specializing in financial, strategic, and transactional advisory for airports and infrastructure development projects. Mr. Belinsky currently leads Frasca’s P3 financial advisory efforts. Mr. Belinsky had a significant role in the LaGuardia CTB $4 billion Replacement Project for Frasca.He is advising the Los Angeles World Airports on its $5.5 billion P3 Landside Access Modernization Program, the San Diego Regional Airport Authority on its new FIS facility and ADP project. He has advised the City of Kansas City ATAG committee on future Terminal development at MCI.As part of these projects, Mr. Belinsky has reviewed and evaluated capital programs, financing structures and assisted in the development of alternative financing structures as well as the procurement process.

Victoria Ozimek offers legal advice to clients regarding all aspects of tax advantaged obligations, from vetting the tax issues on proposed financing structures to assisting issuers with post-issuance compliance matters such as remedial actions and private business use analyses. She can be reached at victoria.ozimek@bracewell.com.
is a member of Bracewell LLP's Public Finance practice in Austin.

Ron is a partner at Hawkins Delafield & Wood LLP.� He has practiced as a public finance and contracts attorney at the firm for over 35 years.� His areas of practice focus on project finance, governmentally sponsored infrastructure project procurement and economic development project financing.� His clients are primarily governmental project developers and issuers and underwriters of municipal bonds.� The categories of law are bond counsel, disclosure counsel, lenders’ counsel, procurement counsel and contact counsel.Ron was lenders’ counsel for the LaGuardia Airport Terminal B Replacement Project.� He worked with the project sponsors and proposal team in developing the financing portions of the proposal to the Port Authority and, following selection of the proposal team by the Port Authority, he worked with the project sponsors, financial advisors, underwriters, bond counsel and disclosure counsel to develop the security documents and the disclosure documents for the transaction.

I am currently the Commissioner of Finance and Budget Director for the County of Rockland.� I started with the County of Rockland in 2011 and have worked to turn around a County in serious fiscal stress.� Many programs were implemented to cut cost and increase revenues, such as an early retirement incentive, sale of surplus properties, payroll deferral, increase to property taxes, establishment of a new motel/hotel tax, residential energy tax, vehicle registration fee and 911 surcharge.� The County currently has an operating budget in excess of $700 million.Before I came to the County of Rockland I was a senior vice president in charge of marketing and new business development in the Municipal Finance Engineering Group, Department of Public Finance at Dexia Credit Local.� Prior to that I was a managing director of the Municipal Finance Department at Financial Security Assurance, and vice president and eastern region manager of MBIA Insurance Corporation’s Tax-Backed Department.� My municipal career began as a senior examiner of municipal affairs for the New York State Comptroller’s Office in White Plains, NY.�I joined Dexia Credit Local in 2007 and directed my efforts in the direct lending private placement area for municipal governments and agencies.� Our new business development lead to an array of various bank taxable and tax-exempt financing, such as lines of credit, restructuring and refunding, equipment financing, bridge loans, POB’s and OPEB’s.In 1996 I joined FSA and worked diligently to eliminate their trading differential, increase deal volume and put FSA in position as the number one municipal bond insurer.� New business development included using the insurance product in new areas such as the New Jersey Investment Trust, Pool Financings and Royal Charter Properties.During my eleven years at MBIA, I held a number of analytical and management positions and worked on a wide variety of transactions, including Illinois Sports Facilities Authority (Chicago White Sox Stadium), Atlantic City Convention Center, New York Dormitory Authority (United Cerebral Palsy), Rhode Island DEBCO, Republic of Ireland, and several New York City and New York State local municipal issues.In the past I have been a member of the Municipal Analysts Group of New York, the Bond Market Associations, a trustee of the Citizen’s Budget Commission, President of the Municipal Forum of New York (2005-2006), member of the board of governors for the Municipal Forum of New York, Chairman of the Government Finance Committee of the Westchester County Association (1993-96), member of the Financial Reporting Task Force for the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB), member of the Presidents Council and alumni hall of fame of St. Thomas Aquinas College and Alumni Chair for the STAC Annual Giving Program (1995-97).�Professionally, I am affiliated with the National Federation of Municipal Analysts, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants. and the Government Finance Officers Association.Presentations that I have made to numerous professional organizations include the National Government Finance Officers Association, the National Association of School Business Officials, the National Association of State Treasurers, the American Banker-Bond Buyer conferences, the National Forum on Public Finance (Governing Magazine), the University of Illinois at Chicago, Old Dominion University, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and the University of Delaware.I have a MBA in finance from Iona College, Hagan School of Business and hold a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration with a concentration in accounting from St. Thomas Aquinas College.� I am a Certified Public Accountant.��