Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

Dr. Bart Hildreth is professor and former dean at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University in Atlanta. Previously, Bart spent 30 years as a business school professor at Wichita State University (including interim business dean), LSU, and Kent State. His expertise is state and local finance, with a specific focus on municipal securities and tax policy.He is a public member of the Board of Directors of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (2012-2015). He has served on the National Advisory Council on State and Local Budgeting and the Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Council, received two gubernatorial appointments to serve on the board of the Kansas Development Finance Authority, chaired a state-wide tax review committee, served on several GFOA national committees (including the disclosure task forces), and held the position of Director of Finance for the City of Akron, Ohio where he had financial responsibility for the successful workout of a technical default on a waste-to-energy facility.Since 1989, he has served as the editor-in-chief of the only refereed journal devoted to municipal securities, the Municipal Finance Journal. In addition to numerous journal articles and books, his publications include State and Local Government Debt Issuance and Management, the Handbook on Taxation, and Budgeting: Politics and Power (Oxford University Press, 2010).A Fulbright Scholar (at McGill University, Montreal), he also received the 2008 national award for lifetime scholarly achievement in the field of public budgeting and financial management. Bart�s degrees are from the University of Alabama (B.A.), Auburn University at Montgomery (M.P.A) and the University of Georgia (Ph.D.).

After 13 years in the capital markets working as an institutional financial advisor, investment banker, and risk management professional, Peter Orr founded Intuitive Analytics in March 2005. Most recently he was employed at JPMorgan Securities where his responsibilities included swaps and derivative strategies in the housing, healthcare and local government sectors. He also designed and developed analytics that were used broadly within JPMorgan public finance investment banking, swaps, and risk management.Mr. Orr was vice chair of the Bond Market Association's New Products Committee in 2004 and chair of its Financial Products Committee in 2005-2006. Mr. Orr holds a BA in economics from the University of Florida and a Masters of Science in Mathematics from the University of Chicago.

Jason Falzon is Director of Pricing and Market Research at Assured Guaranty. Jason joined Assured Guaranty in 2008 following seven years at Radian Asset Assurance in their Public Finance Secondary Markets Group. Jason’s career began with six years at Merrill Lynch in their Money Markets Group where he most recently served as a Vice President on their Commercial Paper Trading Desk. At Assured Guaranty, Jason is responsible for setting premiums on new issue business, monitoring trading value and assisting in the firm’s new business origination effort. Mr. Falzon earned a Bachelors of Arts (BA) degree in Business and Economics with a Minor in Anthropology and Sociology from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania and a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the Yale School of Management in New Haven, Connecticut.

Colin MacNaught is the Assistant Treasurer for Debt Management in the Massachusetts State Treasurer�s Office. Colin is responsible for all of the Commonwealth�s short-term and long-term borrowing needs, and is responsible for the accounting and timely repayment of debt service to investors. Prior to joining the Massachusetts State Treasury in January 2008, Colin worked as an Associate Director for Standard & Poor�s. Colin evaluated and rated a number of states along the east coast, and was a specialist in Standard & Poor�s interest rate swap sector.Colin is a board member of the Massachusetts State Finance & Governance Board. He is also on the executive committee of the State Debt Management Network. In 2010, he was the recipient of the SIFMA Municipal Division Honor Roll Award for his contributions to the municipal bond market. In 2011, one of the financings Colin structured and priced was named �The Deal of the Year� by The Bond Buyer newspaper for its complexity and innovation. And in 2013, the new Massachusetts investor website was given the 2013 Industry Contribution award by the National Federation of Municipal Analysts.Colin earned his Master in Public Policy degree from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Shortly after graduation, his thesis on reforming the Massachusetts School Building Program was used as the basis for the creation of the new independent authority.

Philip J. Fischer is head of Municipals and Indices Research at BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research.� Under his leadership, the group produces municipal credit research and�a municipal strategy product with�a focus on�thematic pieces and�relative value�analysis and ideas.�Fischer and his�group work�closely with other Fixed Income�and Global Wealth Investment Management research�professionals to analyze and position the municipal asset class as part of an asset allocation strategy and determine�relative value�compared�to other fixed income products.Fischer brings nearly 30 years of finance experience to his role, largely in the municipal sector. �He was recognized by both Smith�s Research and Institutional Investor as an all-star�municipal strategist for more than 10 years.� He is the author of �Investing in Municipal Bonds� (McGraw-Hill, January 2013).Prior to joining the firm, Fischer spent three years at eBooleant Consulting, a financial and computer consulting firm.� During that time he was also a director of Banc America Preferred Funding Corp.� Before that, he spent four years as a senior technical analyst followed by 13 years as the manager of municipal strategies at Merrill Lynch.� He has also worked at Salomon Brothers and Citicorp Investment Bank.� Fischer has taught at the University of Oregon (finance and business law) and SUNY Albany (finance, investments and economics).Fischer has a bachelor�s degree from Oregon State University, a J.D. from Loyola School of Law and an M.B.A. (finance) and Ph.D. from the University of Oregon.

R. Mark Epstein co-founded California Financial Services after spending almost a decade in public finance at Smith Barney. Leaving the firm as Vice President after three years leading the California K-12 Education group, he became a partner in his own firm, California Financial Services (CFS) in 1990. Today, he is the managing partner of CFS and oversees the Northern California Region, including the firm�s Sacramento and Santo Rosa offices. In his 29 year career in public finance, he has participated in more than $5 billion in municipal funding programs -- including $3 billion in public education and related borrowings. In addition to his background in finance, Mr. Epstein served for seven years on the Rincon Valley School District Board of Trustees in Sonoma County, where he expanded his understanding of the operations, culture and political realities of running a California school district. While at Rincon Valley, Mr. Epstein was the lead board member in conducting the district�s G.O. Bond election and one of two board members with lead responsibility for the two parcel tax measures passed by the district during his tenure. Through this and other experiences in his three decades serving schools, he has developed a multi-disciplinary approach to providing financial/facility planning services, including the evaluation and preparation of facility master plans, demographic studies, development projections, debt management software and State of California school construction grant programs. Mr. Epstein has an A.B. degree in Humanities from Stanford University.

Sarah Sullivant is an Associate in Standard & Poor�s Ratings Services� State and Local Government Ratings Group. Based in San Francisco, Sarah covers a variety of local government credits in the Western US. She has published commentaries on the credit impact on California schools of state budget and policy changes and produces a quarterly update on economic and credit conditions in the Mountain and Western states. Sarah is a member of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts (NFMA) and the California Society of Municipal Analysts (CSMA). She holds a B.A. from Rice University and a Master of Public Policy (MPP) from the University of California, Berkeley�s Goldman School of Public Policy.

Mary Colby is a Managing Director and the Head of the Municipal Fixed Income Research Group for Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. (CSIM") in San Francisco, California. Ms. Colby joined the fixed income research group at CSIM in 1996 as a senior analyst and achieved her current position in 2004. Her team of eleven analysts and staff provide research and support for two municipal bond funds and seven municipal money market funds whose assets total over $28 billion. Prior to joining CSIM, she spent six years as a public finance analyst at Standard & Poor's Corp. in New York in the infrastructure and local government groups. Ms. Colby holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts in European History from Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill. She sits on several advisory committees for the Investment Company Institute, including those for the municipal market and for money market funds. She is a past President of the California Society of Municipal Analysts, a past member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Governors of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts and is a member of the Society of Municipal Analysts."