Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

Mr. Taverna practices solely in the area of federal income taxation. He is a graduate of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey (B.A., summa cum laude), Brooklyn Law School (J.D.) and New York University School of Law (LL.M.).Mr. Taverna provides tax advice to issuers and underwriters regarding tax-exempt bond financings involving new money projects, current and advance refundings, capital as well as working capital financings, commercial paper issues, and pooled bonds. He participates in the structuring of governmental bonds, private activity bonds, §501(c)(3) bonds, recovery zone bonds, qualified zone academy bonds, build America bonds, and any other type of tax-credit bonds. Mr. Taverna has also represented issuers in connection with various IDRs, V Cap Closing Agreements and IRS audits. Mr. Taverna is a member of the American Bar Association, New York State Bar Association, and the National Association of Bond Lawyers.

Dr. Lomax has been extensively involved in urban mobility research for more than 20 years. He developed and applied a methodology to assess areawide traffic congestion levels and congestion costs. The current study includes information on 85 cities throughout the U.S. from 1982 through 2003. The study examines trends in urban area mobility and documents the effect of transportation investments. Several measures of effectiveness have been used to describe mobility to a wide range of audiences including transportation professionals, public policy decision-makers, the media and the general public. The research, with funding from state DOTs and metropolitan planning organizations, will improve the mobility measuring capabilities and expand the ability to communicate with general audiences.He has been invited to make presentations on congestion, mobility and performance measure issues to a variety of groups including the Transportation Research Board, the Institute of Transportation Engineers and state and local governments in the U.S. He has testified before subcommittees of the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate and Texas Senate on mobility issues. He has appeared on PBS's "Lehrer NewsHour," National Public Radio's "All Things Considered," major television network news shows and many newspapers, radio and television stations in major cities covered in the annual mobility report.Dr. Lomax has also been involved in developing and evaluating a wide range of solutions to mobility problems, including high-occupancy vehicle facilities, and in improving decision-making processes and performance measurement. These studies assessed the need and cost effectiveness of potential improvements, improved the evaluation and prioritization processes and resulted in cost effective implementation of projects and programs.

Bernard L. Weinstein is director of the Center for Economic Development and Research and a professor of applied economics at the University of North Texas in Denton. The Center was established in 1989 to provide economic analysis and consulting services to university constituents in the private, non-profit, and public sectors. He also serves as director of the Institute of Applied Economics, which offers masters degree programs in economic development.Dr. Weinstein studied public administration at Dartmouth College and received his B.A. in 1963. After a year of study at the London School of Economics and Political Science, he began graduate work in economics at Columbia University, receiving an M.A. in 1966 and a Ph.D. in 1973.He has taught at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the State University of New York, the University of Texas at Dallas, and Southern Methodist University. He has been a research associate with the Tax Foundation in Washington, D.C., and the Gray Institute in Beaumont, Texas. He has worked for several U.S. government agencies including the President’s Commission on School Finance, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Federal Trade Commission.Dr. Weinstein has authored or co-authored numerous books, monographs, and articles on the subjects of economic development, public policy, and taxation, and his work has appeared in professional journals such as Land Economics, Challenge, Society, Policy Review, Economic Development Quarterly, Policy Studies Journal, and Annals Of Regional Science. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, and a number of regional newspapers and magazines. He is a former member of the editorial board of Society magazine and currently serves on the Dallas Morning News Board of Economists.Dr. Weinstein has been a consultant to many companies, non-profit organizations, and government agencies, and he testifies frequently before legislative, regulatory, and judicial bodies. His clients have included AT&T, Texas Instruments, Entergy, Devon Energy, the Nuclear Energy Institute, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the Western Governors Association, the City of San Antonio, and the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress.Dr. Weinstein was director of federal affairs for the Southern Growth Policies Board from 1978 to 1980 and served as director of the Task Force on the Southern Economy of the 1980 Commission on the Future of the South. From 1984 to 1987 he was chairman of the Texas Economic Policy Advisory Council and from 1987 to 1988 served as visiting scholar with the Sunbelt Institute in Washington, D.C. In 1992 he was appointed by Lieutenant Governor Bob Bullock to the Texas Partnership for Economic Development. He is currently a senior fellow with the Southern Growth Policies Board, and he serves on the board of the Dallas Business Finance Corporation. He is also a director of Beal Bank, the largest locally-owned bank in Texas.

Kim Edwards is a Vice President in Municipal Finance with Fidelity Capital Markets, the brokerage and trading division of Fidelity Investments. Fidelity Investments is a leading provider of investment management, retirement planning, portfolio guidance, brokerage, benefits outsourcing and other financial products and services to more than 20 million individuals, institutions and financial intermediaries. Kim has worked in the public finance industry for over twenty-five years. Prior to joining Fidelity she served eleven years as the Executive Director of the Texas Public Finance Authority, where she managed debt issuance and capital finance for the State of Texas. In that capacity she was responsible for the issuance and administration of over $5 billion of municipal bonds. Kim has also served as the Assistant Executive Director of the Municipal Advisory Council of Texas, where she managed a team of municipal credit analysts and the implementation of SEC Rule 15 c 2-12. Ms. Edwards has also served as a financial advisor to state and local governments, and worked for the Government Finance Officers Association and Price Waterhouse in Washington, D.C. Kim holds a B.A. from Rice University, an MBA from the University of Texas, and a Masters degree from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at UT Austin.

Dwight Burns became the Executive Director of the Texas Public Finance Authority in May 2009. Previously he served as Vice President/Senior Analyst at Moody’s Investor Service in Dallas and served as a financial advisor at Southwest Securities, and prior to that, a policy analyst/advisor for the Austin City Council and for the Texas State Senate. He holds a bachelors degree in government from the University of Texas, and a master’s in public affairs from the University’s LBJ School.He served as president of the Allen Library Endowment Fund; and was a member of the legislative affairs group of the Allen Chamber of Commerce. He has also taught Texas and U.S. politics courses for the Dallas Community College and Austin Community College systems.At this time he lives with his wife Ursala and three children in Austin, Texas.

Mr. Hinojosa has built a strong reputation for creative solutions to complex challenges in the world of investment banking. He has broad experience as a financial advisor to municipalities, as well as direct involvement with the firm's municipal bond underwriting activities.Since co-founding Estrada Hinojosa in January of 1992, Mr. Hinojosa has been responsible for managing the successful execution of the firm's transactions totaling in the thousands and in excess of $192 billion in par value. In the past two years alone, the firm participated in 445 transactions totaling in excess of $47 billion.In 1995, Mr. Hinojosa was the first Hispanic to serve on the Texas Municipal Advisory Council, the state industry's board. In 2006, he was elected by industry peers to serve on the global board of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA). SIFMA is the industry's think-tank, with offices in New York, Washington, London and Hong Kong. He was appointed by former President George W. Bush to the Board of Directors of the Securities Industry Protection Corporation, completing his second term in 2006. He also serves on several civic boards.Recognized as an authority in the Investment Banking industry, Mr. Hinojosa has provided expert testimony in numerous seminars in the United States, Mexico and Spain.

Ms. Vobach joined the Merrill Lynch Health Care and Higher Education Group as a Director in late 2002.  She is based in Texas and covers a wide variety of governmental, healthcare and academic institutions throughout the country focusing primarily on issuers within the South and Midwest.  She has significant experience working with a wide variety of healthcare clients on credit analysis, debt capacity and capital formation strategies, debt restructurings, mergers and acquisitions as well as legal document structuring. She has also worked on significant replacement hospital projects for large specialty hospitals and most recently with a number of hospital districts issuing Build America Bonds (“BAB”s).   Relevant healthcare clients include: Arkansas Children’s Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine, Baylor Health Care System, Bexar County Hospital District (University Health System), Christus Health, Cook Children’s, Dallas County Hospital District (Parkland Health & Hospital System), Driscoll Children’s Hospital, Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System, Harris County Hospital District, Methodist Hospitals of Dallas, Midland County Hospital District (Midland Memorial Hospital), Richardson Hospital Authority, Saint Francis Health System Tulsa, University of Texas System and Health Science Centers, Texas Children’s Hospital, Trinity Mother Frances Health System, University of Virginia Medical Center, Woman’s Hospital Foundation, Valley Baptist Health System and Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Ms. Vobach previously worked as a senior banker with Goldman Sachs for over 15 years.  Prior to her work in investment banking, Ms. Vobach was a management consultant for Deloitte & Touche.  Ms. Vobach is active in the community with her support of women’s and children’s charitable organizations including Our Children’s House, Serving as a Chair for Celebrating Women Breast Cancer Luncheon benefiting the Baylor Health Care System Foundation, and most recently serving as a Rice University Alumni Association President. She received a BA with a concentration in economics from Rice University.

Philip Aldridge is the Vice Chancellor for Finance and Business Development at The University of Texas System, consisting of nine universities and six health institutions. Philip leads several System-wide programs including debt management, treasury, technology commercialization, and business development. Philip is also the liaison to UTIMCO, which manages more than $25 billion of operating and endowment funds. Prior to joining the U. T. System, Philip served as the Vice President, Finance and Treasurer of the Columbia Energy Group, a Fortune 500 vertically integrated energy firm based in Herndon, Virginia. At Columbia, Philip was responsible for conducting all corporate finance, capital allocation and business development activities. Philip earned his BBA in Finance from Texas Christian University and his MBA in Finance and Accounting from U. T. Austin. He earned his Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation in 2005 and is also a Certified Treasury Professional (CTP). Philip has completed Executive Development programs at the Harvard Business School and the Wharton School of Business.

Susan Bandy, CPA., Deputy Director – Resource Management assumed her position in May 2005 and has over 29 years of public and private sector experience in accounting, finance and management, 23 years of which have been with the City. Ms. Bandy is currently responsible for the management, monitoring and control of the Department’s finances, accounting, procurement and warehousing, and all utility customer service functions. Prior to joining the staff of the Department, Ms. Bandy served as Deputy City Controller over Financial Reporting. Assistant Director (and various other positions) in the City Department of Finance, a and was on loan for four years as President of Houston‘s 2012 Olympic bid effort. Prior to her employment with the City, Ms. Bandy assisted in developing and running the Houston Small Business Development Center, was an accounting lecturer at the University of Houston and worked for two big eight accounting firms. Ms. Bandy has both a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Houston and is a Certified Public Accountant.