NFMA names Fugiel Scholarship winner

The National Federation of Municipal Analysts announced this week its 2019 Fugiel Scholarship winner is Christian Beltran, a student pursuing his master’s in public administration at the University of Southern California’s Sol Price School of Public Policy.

The scholarship was created in memory of Dr. Peter Fugiel, a past NFMA chair who died in 2014. Fugiel developed the education event called the Introduction to Municipal Bond Credit Analysis. Over the past few years, NFMA has reached out to students in public administration and public policy graduate programs to encourage more interest in municipal research.

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Christian Beltran is the National Federation of Municipal Analysts' sixth annual Fugiel Scholarship winner

"The NFMA is honored to be able to award this scholarship annually to a student in recognition of Dr. Fugiel’s work, both as a practitioner of municipal credit analysis, and as a professor/educator,” NFMA wrote in its press release.

While he is pursuing his studies, Beltran is also a finance budget analyst with the California Department of Finance and staff to the State Public Works Board. Beltran analyzes budget proposals and facilitates lease revenue bond sales related to projects managed by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Board of State and Community Corrections and the Judicial Council of California.

Before finance, Beltran worked for the California State Senate as a senate fellow in Sen. Steve Glazer’s office.

Previously, Beltran worked for Los Angeles’s city administrative officer and brokerage firm Ramirez & Co., Inc, as an investment banking analyst. Beltran has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Loyola Marymount University in political science and economics and a graduate certificate in applied policy and government from California State University, Sacramento.

NFMA awarded an honorable mention to Ricardo Correa of the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies’ LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is a dual master’s candidate in public affairs and Latin American studies. Correa is a graduate intern for Travis County, Texas' Planning and Budget Office.

The NFMA was established in 1983 and now has about 1,400 members composed of research analysts, who evaluate credit and other risks in the municipal market.

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