Rebecca Rhynhart will leave her current position as Philadelphia’s treasurer and replace former budget director Stephen Agostini beginning Nov. 1.
Mayor Michael Nutter Tuesday announced Rhynhart’s promotion. As treasurer, she manages the city’s debt transactions, including addressing variable-rate debt, derivatives, and credit facility issues. As budget director, she will oversee Philadelphia’s $3.78 billion budget and its $2.3 billion capital budget, and craft yearly and five-year financial plans.
Rhynhart was the city’s debt manager for a few months before becoming treasurer in July 2008.
“As treasurer, Rebecca skillfully guided the city through a period of unprecedented turmoil in the financial markets,” Nutter said in a statement. “She successfully restructured all of the city’s $1.9 billion in variable-rate debt, saving significant interest costs to the city and limiting the city’s risk exposure, all during the toughest of economic times. She also gained an understanding of the financial challenges facing the city, making her a natural fit for this position.”
Officials will begin the search for a new treasurer and aim to fill the position by Nov. 1, Rhynhart said in an e-mail.
Before her work in government, she headed the tax-exempt group in Bear Stearns’ global credit department, reviewing municipal and nonprofit credits for derivative trading. She was a credit analyst at Fitch Ratings from 2001 to 2005.
She holds a master of public administration degree, with a concentration in public finance, from Columbia University and a BA from Middlebury College. Agostini left Philadelphia government in late August to serve as chief financial officer for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
In addition, Maari Porter will oversee all of Philadelphia’s federal stimulus funding. As recovery officer, Porter will report to the mayor and the federal government over distribution of stimulus funds.
Porter joined the city in February as deputy budget director for recovery efforts, reporting to the recovery officer.
