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Sam Adams

Title: Managing Director, Public Finance
Firm: KeyBanc Capital Markets
Age: 38

Columbus, Ohio-native Sam Adams says he was drawn to public finance as it marries finance and public policy. His interest in the field dates back to his youth when his father was a municipal banker who spent years working with Ohio school districts.

Sam said he loves to talk public finance with his dad at family gatherings, but “the rest of the family finds the conversations very boring.”

Read the full profile here.
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Chris Bergstrom

Title: Executive Director
Firm: UBS Financial Services Inc.
Age: 39

Chris Bergstrom, a 16-year public finance veteran, has concentrated much of his career on airport and aviation-related financings.

His accomplishments include working with Maine’s Portland International Jetport in 2019 to bring the first designated green-bond offering for a U.S. airport, a $58.5 million deal.


Read the full profile here.
Brett Bolton comments on the newly passed tax legislation.

Brett Bolton

Title: Vice President for Federal Legislative and Regulatory Policy
Firm: Bond Dealers of America
Age: 33

As vice president for federal legislative and regulatory policy at Bond Dealers of America, Brett Bolton is a full-time federal advocate for the municipal bond market.

He was instrumental in the formation of the Municipal Bonds for America Coalition and leads that initiative, which combines sell side, buy side, legal, insurance and other parties trying to advance the interests of the muni market through federal infrastructure legislation.


Read the full profile here.
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Jonathan Bradley

Title: Vice President
Firm: Assured Guaranty Corp.
Age: 33

Jonathan Bradley is putting his strong analytical skills — some of which were acquired during his years as a youth coach in multiple sports — into practice as a vice president at Assured Guaranty Corp.

He joined the New York-based financial guaranty insurance company in 2010 after graduating with a dual degree in finance and economics in 2010 from Penn State University.


Read the full profile here.
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Luke Brewer

Title: Debt Specialist
Firm: City and County of San Francisco
Age: 28

Former banker Luke Brewer left RBC to take a position as a debt specialist with the City and County of San Francisco and is now leading the city’s efforts on possibly its largest development project — Treasure Island.

In discussing his switch to an issuer role, Luke said it began after Anna
Van Degna left Stifel to become director of the Controller’s Office of
Public Finance for the City and County of San Francisco.


Read the full profile here.
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Sarah Brown

Firm: City of St. Paul
Title: Debt Manager
Age: 33

Eleven years ago, before transitioning into a public finance career, Sarah Brown taught English in China. Sarah studied Chinese during college and
with jobs difficult to come by during the Great Recession, it offered a
great opportunity.

When Sarah returned home to Minneapolis, she gravitated toward public sector work. “I think that I was predestined to work in the public sector,” Sarah said, as her mother worked for the county and state, and her next-door neighbor became a prominent politician. “The community or ‘village’ that raised me are the underpinning for the life of service I lead today.”


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Monika Calamita

Monika Calamita

Title: Partner
Firm: Kutak Rock
Age: 37

At an early stage of her legal career, Monika Calamita is already an instrumental part of Kutak Rock’s national charter school practice.

“Her ability to grasp concepts and gain the trust of clients and other members of the deal team allowed her to lead deals and create solutions to problems,” Dane Fernandes, chair of Kutak Rock’s public finance department in Scottsdale, Arizona, said in his nominating statement.

Read the full profile here.
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David Cantamessa

Title: Senior Fixed Income Analyst
Firm: ICE Data Services
Age: 35

David Cantamessa was hired by the Municipal Evaluations team at ICE Data Services in 2016 to help with the firm's roll out of live, real-time municipal yield curves.

Since then, David has led the implementation and management of ICE's Municipal Bond Curves for real-time market data, time-sensitive pricing, evaluations and reference data for municipal securities trading, spanning the yield curve and credit spectrum.


Read the full profile here.
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Christine Crotwell

Title: Director
Firm: Masterson Advisors LLC
Age: 37

Christine Crotwell learned about public finance on the job and by understanding the Houston suburb that is her hometown.

As a business school student at the University of Texas, she saw public finance as something that was barely mentioned. Although considering entering law school, she attended a job fair hosted by First Southwest Co., the predecessor firm of HilltopSecurities.


Read the full profile here.
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Lisa Eisenberg

Title: Director of Management
Firm: Ohio Treasurer of the State
Age: 30

Lisa Eisenberg says she didn’t set her sights on a public finance career, public finance chose her.

The Chagrin Falls, Ohio-native, who moved to Columbus to attend The Ohio State University and never left, recalls it was a friend’s internship at the Treasurer’s office during her own last year of undergrad work at Ohio State that gave Lisa the idea of submitting her resume as she eyed a finance career.


Read the full profile here.
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Christopher Elmore

Title: Vice President
Firm: Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC
Age: 36

A fascination with airports helped land Christopher Elmore in the world of public finance. When interning one summer at Goldman Sachs’ San Francisco office, which overlooked the airport, it seemed like Christopher found a home.

The public finance work that summer was interesting, he said, and “I liked the debt financing piece. I was always fascinated by transportation,” and in his position, “we get to help solve some of the most complicated financing problems and help our clients achieve great outcomes.”


Read the full profile here.
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Lindsay Evans

Title: Director
Firm: HilltopSecurities
Age: 36

At HilltopSecurities, Lindsay Evans is known not only for her work on behalf of clients but for sharing knowledge at a firm that has invested heavily in training.

“Hilltop and I have a firm commitment to developing the next generation of investment bankers through our training and internship programs,” Lindsay said.


Read the full profile here.
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Kristen Fontana

Title: Director Public Finance — Credit Strategy
Firm: Wells Fargo
Age: 39

Kristen Fontana always had an affinity for the policy side of public finance. After dipping her toes into public finance with an internship at an investment bank during the financial crisis, she decided to go back to school for a graduate degree.

There, Kristen said, her “eyes were opened” to the connection between policymaking and state and local government finance.

Read the full profile here.
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Chandra Ghosal

Title: Vice President, Senior Analyst/Manager
Firm: Moody’s Investors Service
Age: 35

Since joining Moody’s in 2012 Chandra has taken multiple roles of increasing responsibility.

Recently, he has been manager of the specialist team, which rates letters of credit, gas pre-pay, and other bank-supported financings. He is also in charge of the team publishing the annual issuer comment report for local governments and utilities.


Read the full profile here.
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Andrea Greenwald

Title: Senior Associate
Firm: Orrick
Age: 34

Rising Star Andrea Greenwald’s career trajectory was not initially aimed at public finance when she graduated from law school.

Andrea wanted to be a financial litigator, doing battle each day in court. But after successfully defending San Diego’s Grossmont Union High School District in court from a taxpayer challenge over their use of bond funds, she found her path.


Read the full profile here.
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Adam Harden

Title: Partner
Firm: Locke Lord LLP
Age: 38

Adam Harden, partner in Locke Lord’s Austin office, was introduced to the concept of public finance when his father called to say his hometown wanted to use tax-exempt bonds to build its first public high school.

"At that time, I was in the process of earning my master in professional accounting at the University of Texas at Austin," Adam said. "Due to my
accounting and tax background, my father thought I would know or at
least enjoy hearing about tax-exempt bonds."


Read the full profile here.
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Joan Monaghan

Title: Director
Firm: S&P Global Ratings
Age: 35

In five years at S&P Global Ratings Joanie has emerged as a leader of the housing group, taking on increasing responsibilities, moving from analyst to team leader and training junior analysts.

S&P values her background in municipal accounting, and allowed her to lead a
new criteria project, a testament to the confidence leadership has in her abilities and judgment.


Read the full profile here.
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Safi Najdawi

Title: Director
Firm: RBC Capital Markets
Age: 36

Early in his senior year at Villanova University, Safi Najdawi knew he wanted to pursue a career in finance.

Healthcare in particular interested him. It was in the news a lot, with debate percolating over what would become the Affordable Care Act.


Read the full profile here.
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Svetlana Olchevski

Title: Principal Financial Analyst
Firm: Prince William County Government, Virginia
Age: 38

Svetlana Olchevski is an integral part of Prince William County’s municipal finance team. Although she’s been working in municipal finance only about a year, Svetlana has grasped the many details and regulations of the industry, which have been compounded by the challenges brought on by COVID-19.

"I am very happy I have been given an opportunity to advance my career in public finance. In my opinion, working for a local government is a big responsibility," she said. "We must work diligently performing complex and sensitive analyses in order to provide transparent and accurate information that affects the decision making of our investors. In turn, these efforts provide positive contributions to the community we serve."

Read the full profile here.
Vishnu Paruchuri

Vishnu Paruchuri

Title: Managing Director
Firm: Samuel A. Ramirez & Co.
Age: 38

Vishnu Paruchuri applies his quantitative expertise to Ramirez & Co.’s analysis and structuring efforts.

The 38-year-old brings two master’s degrees — in physics from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and in financial engineering from Columbia University — to his work. Before that, he earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in India.

It’s a diverse educational background, but a central theme ties it together.

“The thing that unites everything that I’ve done in my life is math,” he said.

Read the full profile here.
Omid Rahmani, associate director of US public finance at Fitch Ratings

Omid Rahmani

Title: Associate Director
Firm: Fitch Ratings
Age: 31

Omid Rahmani has emerged as a leading voice on cyber security and its impact on municipal credit.

He is a member of Fitch’s cross-practice cyber risk group. He has written several pieces on cyber risk issues and is a popular speaker at conferences.

His commentary has covered cyber hygiene, the effects of ransomware attacks, and cyberterrorism.

Read the full profile here.
Zach Solomon

Zachary Solomon

Title: Executive Director, Head of Tax-Exempt Project Finance and Sustainable Infrastructure Group
Firm: Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC
Age: 32

Zach Solomon started at Morgan Stanley as a summer intern in 2009 and rose to executive director by the age of 30.

Zach, now 32, is its youngest group head.

In 2019 and 2020, Zach led $2.7 billion in unrated, tax-exempt private-activity bond transactions for Brightline Florida, America’s first privately funded high-speed passenger rail service.

Zach leads Morgan Stanley's Municipal Sustainable Infrastructure practice, which ranks No. 1 in green, social and sustainability bonds underwritten for municipal and not-for-profit issuers to date and was named 2021 Lead Manager of the Year for U.S. Muni Sustainability Bonds,

Read the full profile here.
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Christine Song

Title: Director
Firm: Miller Buckfire & Co.
Age: 39

An internship at an asset management firm the week Detroit filed for Chapter 9 led Christine Song to working on one of the largest bankruptcies in municipal history — an opportunity she wouldn’t trade.

Her connections turned into a full-time position at Miller Buckfire & Co. — the investment banker for the city at the time.

During her seven-year career at the financial restructuring company, Christine has worked on the firm’s largest municipal restructuring mandates, including Detroit.

Read the full profile here.
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Charles Stavitski

Title: Executive Vice President-Public Finance Department
Firm: Roosevelt & Cross Inc.
Age: 39

Even when he was graduating from law school, Charles Stavitski envisioned a career in public finance.

“I knew as I went on that I really didn’t want to practice law and didn’t know how good I would have been at it,” said Charles.

He joined municipal securities broker-dealer Roosevelt & Cross Inc. in 2007 on the recommendation of a family friend and has risen to executive vice president in its public finance department, working out of New York City.

Read the full profile here.
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Casey Turner

Title: Senior Vice President, Managing Director
Firm: PNC Financial Services Group
Age: 39

As a senior vice president, managing director and senior relationship
manager at PNC, Casey Turner has been called a selfless team leader who
always makes clients, PNC and his teammates his highest priorities.

As a banker, he covers financing, cash management and investment
strategies for non-profits, state and local governments and education
institutions. He directly banks a large portfolio of important clients
in North Carolina, such as the city of Charlotte, city of Raleigh,
Durham County, Harnett County, Holden Beach, Triangle Aquatic Center and
Oak Island.

Read the full profile here.
Jade Turner Bond

Jade Turner-Bond

Title: Partner
Firm: Nixon Peabody LLC
Age: 38

Jade Turner-Bond set becoming a Rising Star as a goal.

When she saw previous cohorts earn Rising Stars, she wanted to be a member of the group that achieved the prestigious muni industry award.

"This recognition reaffirms that the work that I, alongside my fellow Nixon Peabody finance team members, do on various financings is truly making a positive impact on our communities," Jade said. "I look forward to continuing to rise as a leader in our industry while also continuing to help advance diversity, equity, and inclusion among future leaders."

Read the full profile here.
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Raquel Wilson

Title: Assistant Vice President-Public Finance Legal
Firm: Build America Mutual
Age: 36

Her career in New York City is a long way from the small Caribbean island where Raquel Wilson grew up, but she is thriving in an industry she loves at a firm where she has grown by leaps and bound in a short time.

“I’ve always had an interest in anything finance,” admitted the 36-year-old assistant vice president and paralegal at Build America Mutual.

She graduated with a bachelor of science degree in business management and finance from Brooklyn College - City University of New York.

Read the full profile here.
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Kimberly Witherspoon

Title: Shareholder
Firm: Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A.
Age: 37

Kimberly Witherspoon joined Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A., in 2010 as a member of the firm’s public finance practice group.

She serves as bond counsel for colleges and universities, foundations, healthcare institutions, senior living communities, charter schools and various nonprofit organizations.

She also assists healthcare and educational institutions in mergers, acquisitions, expansions and affiliations with a concentration in providing legal strategies for complex taxable and tax-exempt financings.

Read the full profile here.
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