Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

Senator West was installed as State Senator, District 23 (Dallas County), in January 1993 after winning the election for the Senate seat in November 1992. He has represented the 23rd Senatorial District in the 73rd, 74th, 75th, 76th, 77th, 78th, 79th and 80th Legislative Sessions. Texas Monthly Magazine recently named Senator West as one of the 25 most powerful people in Texas politics. Over the course of his legislative tenure, the magazine chose him as one of the “Ten Best Legislators in Texas” and twice named Senator West as an “Honorable Mention.” The Associated Press named Senator West as one of the “key players of the 2005 Legislature” in its “Movers and Shakers” list. On April 17, 2006, Senator West was sworn in by his fellow state senators to serve as President Pro Tempore of the Texas Senate until January 2007. As President Pro Tempore, Senator West was second in the line of succession to be Governor of Texas, and assumed the top leadership position whenever Governor Rick Perry and Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst were out of the state.Senator West is Chairman of the Intergovernmental Relations Committee and is a member of the Senate’s Committees on Education, Finance, Health and Human Services, Higher Education and the Joint Select Committee on Operation and Management of the Texas Youth Commission. He also serves on the Education Committee of the Southern Legislative Conference (SLC) and the standing committee on Communications, Financial Services and Interstate Commerce of the National Conference of State Legislature (NCSL). In April 2005, Governor Rick Perry appointed Senator West to the Education Commission of the States.Senator West’s key initiatives over his legislative career have included creating college admission opportunities for all students, establishing in statute the University of North Texas at Dallas and operationally, the University of North Texas-Dallas Campus. His legislation created the Texas Juvenile Crime Prevention Center at Prairie View A&M University, increased funding for at-risk youth programs, imposed a new zero tolerance law for minors who drink and drive, enacted stiffer penalties for adults who sell or provide alcohol to minors, awarded greater compensation to victims of violent crime, addressed the problems of criminal street gang violence, established new standards for child care and enhanced enforcement of protective orders. He has worked to create a fair system of appointing election precinct judges, to establish an electronic marketplace for state vendors and provide financial assistance to grandparents who raise their grandchildren.Senator West has provided leadership in many areas including rewriting the Education Code, Tort Reform, Welfare Reform, and revising the Juvenile Justice Code. In 1997, Senator West was appointed Chairman of the Senate Interim Committee on Gangs and Juvenile Justice by the late Lt. Governor Bob Bullock. This committee studied and made recommendations on ways to address the increasing gang problems in Texas and resulted in the passage of a package of anti-gang violence bills.For fifteen years, Senator West has sponsored the Dr. Emmett J. Conrad Leadership Program. The program has provided college students from Senatorial District 23 with paid employment in their respective fields of study. In 1996, Senator West established a Student Advisory Committee (SAC) to obtain the perspectives of students on legislative issues and to expose them to volunteer opportunities in the community. In 1994, Senator West also created "One Community-One Child," a parental involvement program at Julia C. Frazier Elementary School. The program was designed to increase the performance and attendance of students by eliciting the support of their parents or guardians as volunteers at least twice per semester without loss of pay.To address the procurement practices of many State agencies with Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUBs), Senator West created the “Doing Business Texas Style - Spot Bid Contract Fair” and regularly sponsors procurement workshops and seminars. Senator West has received numerous awards and honors for his legislative, public service and professional work.In addition to his senatorial duties, Senator West is a partner in the law firm of West & Associates, L.L.P. He is also a caring father to his children and devoted husband to Carol R. West, CPA, as well as an active deacon of Good Street Baptist Church.

Johan Rosenberg is a visionary leader with more than two decades of capital advisory experience. In 2011, he founded Blue Rose Capital Advisors, Inc., an independent bond and swap advisory firm. Mr. Rosenberg monitors new products and trends in other sectors, exploring their application to the needs of his clients. He also follows legal and regulatory changes, developing innovative products and services in anticipation of his clients’ evolving requirements. Mr. Rosenberg’s achievements include the conceptualization and development of the first independent swap valuation and monitoring service, DerivActiv LLC, and an online bond pricing transparency service, MuniPriceTracker. He also has overseen more than $100 billion in debt and hedging transactions.

Sam Katz is a lifelong Philadelphian who has experienced a diverse and unique career in public and project finance, venture capital, civic affairs, development, politics and now documentary filmmaking.In 1976 he joined Public Financial Management, Inc., a municipal financial advisory firm.  During his 20 years there, the firm grew from two to 200 employees with Sam serving as its Co-CEO.  While at PFM, he structured and arranged financing for major projects including the Orlando International Airport; the Los Angeles, Metro Washington and Atlanta rapid transit systems; major stadiums and arenas including the Wells Fargo Center (Philadelphia), Camden Yards (in Baltimore), Coors Field (Denver) and others,  and assisted several fiscally distressed cities.  Sam led PFM for nearly two decades and helped the firm build a robust national public finance practice and reputation.During the Philadelphia's major fiscal crisis in 1991, Sam ran for Mayor commencing a long term quest to win that job.  In 1999, he lost the closest election in the city’s modern history.  Following that defeat, Sam was selected as the CEO of Greater Philadelphia First a business civic group focused on regional economic, education and other policy issues.  In 2003, he again ran for Mayor in a campaign that will long be remembered for the FBI's "bug", installed in the Mayor's office, and that ultimately swamped the campaign.  He also was a candidate in the Republican primary for Governor of Pennsylvania in 1994.In 2000, Sam created a venture capital fund, Wynnefield Private Equity Partners, which invested in Philadelphia area technology companies and was a co-founder of BioAdvance, the region's leading early stage investor in biotech.  He presently serves as Board Chair of BioAdvance. In February 2011, Governor Tom Corbett appointed Sam to the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, the State board overseeing the Philadelphia’s finances.  He currently serves as Board Chair.Over the past three years, Sam and his son, Philip, have been producing a documentary film series on the history of Philadelphia entitled, “Philadelphia: The Great Experiment”.  They have also produced films on the life of Bishop Richard Allen, the life of merchant-banker Stephen Girard and the founding of the Union League and are working on several other projects.Sam has recently joined USA250, Inc. a not-for-profit established to vision, plan, collaborate and develop a national celebration of America’s 250th anniversary, which will take place in 2026 and based in the Greater Philadelphia region.Sam and Connie Katz have been married for 40 years and raised their now four grown children in the West Mt. Airy section of the city.   They are both active leaders in organizations within the Greater Philadelphia Jewish Community including Germantown Jewish Centre, American Associates of Ben Gurion University, Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia and Barrack Hebrew Academy.Sam is a graduate of Central High School (226th graduating class, 1967), the Johns Hopkins University (BA, 1971) and the New School for Social Research (MA, 1974).

Mr. Sullivan has over twenty years of progressive financial analysis and control background with municipalities, large corporations, and "think tank" academic research organizations.  Prior to his current position he was Director of Financial Planning for the Long Island Power Authority, which owns the electric transmission and distribution system on Long Island that delivers power to more than 1.1 million retail customers.  His responsibilities at the Authority included the administration of LIPA’s long-term financial planning, including, oversight of financial modeling and economic forecasting.  In addition Mr. Sullivan was responsible for the financial implementation of one of the most ambitious energy efficiency programs in the country.Prior to that position, he was recruited to head revenue and economic analysis for the Nassau Interim Finance Authority created by Governor George Pataki under the leadership of Frank Zarb, former Chairman of the NASD and the NASDAQ Stock Market Inc.  In this role, Mr. Sullivan instituted the development of the County’s first Four-Year Financial Plan to identify future budget shortfalls and map recurring gap closing measures to achieve structural balance.  In 1996 Mr. Sullivan was brought in to serve as the initial director to head the budget office for the newly created Nassau County Legislature, which represents 1.3 million residents.  He has also performed research for Wharton Econometric Forecasting Associates.Mr. Sullivan has a Master of Arts Degree in International Economics from Fordham University and holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from there as well.

Girard Miller is one of the nation’s most widely read authorities on public finance and retirement systems. His weekly columns in Governing magazine educate and inform thousands of public finance professionals. He is a senior strategist at the PFM Group working as a retirement plan design and management consultant. In 2008 he was a voting member of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. Previously, Girard was the president of the Janus mutual funds and was Chief Operating Officer of Janus Capital Group, Inc., a global investment company with $170 billion of assets under management. Prior to that, he was the president and chief executive officer of the ICMA Retirement Corporation for ten years after heading Fidelity Investments’ public funds group. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and a past fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.

Natwar M. Gandhi is the chief financial officer (CFO) for the District of Columbia and is responsible for the city’s finances, including its approximately $7 billion in annual operating and capital funds. He was appointed to this position on June 7, 2000, and was reappointed in January 2007. As the independent CFO, Gandhi manages the District’s financial operations, which include more than 1,000 staff members in tax and revenue administration; the treasury, comptroller and budget offices; economic/fiscal analysis and revenue estimation functions; agency financial operations; and the DC Lottery. He works closely with congressional committees and the US Office of Management and Budget staff that oversee District affairs. He also regularly interacts with the Wall Street financial community, including rating agencies, regarding the District’s financial matters.Gandhi has built on the District’s financial progress by securing multiple rating upgrades (a total of 13 rating steps since FY2000) from the major rating agencies for its general obligation bonds, which are currently rated A+ by Standard and Poor’s and Fitch Ratings and A1 by Moody’s Investors Service.  These are the highest ratings ever assigned to the District of Columbia’s general obligation bonds.  In 2009, Standard & Poor’s assigned a rating of AAA to the District’s inaugural offering of income tax revenue bonds, which were rated AA by Fitch and Aa2 by Moody’s.  Savings on debt service costs from the income tax bonds are estimated to total $28 million between FY2010 and FY2013.As CFO, Gandhi sits on the boards of the Washington Convention and Sports Authority and Destination DC.Prior to this appointment, Gandhi served as deputy chief financial officer for tax and revenue, leading an organization that administers the District of Columbia’s tax laws. When Gandhi joined the Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR) in 1997, the agency was in disarray. Its revenue base was shrinking, and employee morale was sinking. Under his leadership, OTR demonstrated a remarkable turnaround. Successes included collecting substantially more in tax revenue than in previous years, turning projected city deficits into huge surpluses; issuing more than 150,000 tax refunds within 15 days during the 1999 and 2000 tax-filing seasons; and establishing a new one-stop, walk-in customer service center to improve public outreach.The momentum Gandhi established at OTR has continued under his leadership as the city’s CFO. In 2002, OTR received the Federation of Tax Administrators “Award for Outstanding Technology Applications for State Administrations” for its Electronic Taxpayer Service Center.Prior to his appointment to OTR, Gandhi served as associate director of Tax Policy and Administration for the US General Accounting Office (GAO), where he managed major research projects involving tax policy relating to large financial institutions. In that capacity he worked closely with the US House Ways and Means Committee and the US Senate Finance Committee, among others, and he testified numerous times on tax and financial issues before congressional and state legislative committees. In 1991, Gandhi served as a special assistant to New Jersey Gov. Jim Florio, where he studied the state’s pension system and advised on changes in its funding.From 1973 to 1976, Gandhi was assistant professor of accounting and then coordinator of the Department of Accounting in the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Business. From 1976 until 1998, he was an adjunct professor for the MBA programs of American University, Georgetown University, and the University of Maryland.In 2007, Gandhi was named one of Governing magazine’s 2007 Public of Officials of the Year and Washingtonian magazine’s 150 most powerful public officials. He was also named one of Washingtonian magazine’s 2006 Washingtonians of the Year and was a recipient of the Association of Government Accountants’ (AGA) 2007 Distinguished Local Government Leadership Award. His other honors include The Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation Meritorious Leadership Award (Inaugural Recipient) and the DC Chamber of Commerce Impact Award in 2005, as well as Achievement of the Year Awards from the AGA (National chapter in 2000 and Washington, DC, chapter in 1999). He also received the President’s Award from the Greater Washington Society of CPAs in 2000, and Distinguished Service and Meritorious Service Awards from the GAO.In 2005, the National Academy of Public Administration elected Gandhi as a fellow for his “sustained exemplary contributions and continuing active commitment to the improvement of public administration.” He is also a member of the Metropolitan Club of Washington, DC.Gandhi holds a doctorate in accounting from Louisiana State University, a master’s degree in business administration from Atlanta University, and an LLB and BCom in accounting from the University of Bombay.

Gavin manages the Special Accounts Group in Wells Fargo’s Corporate Trust Services Department.  The Special Accounts Group administers the portfolio of defaulted municipal and corporate bonds in which Wells Fargo serves as trustee.  Gavin joined Wells Fargo in this capacity in 1997.A quick review of the Lucite tombstones on Gavin’s desk provides a representative sample of Gavin’s experience in bond workouts, bankruptcies and (occasional) full recoveries including:Republic of Argentina City and Province of Buenos Aires Republic of Ecuador Enron Corp. Jefferson County Kmart Corporation Las Vegas Monorail Corporation NTL Corporation Sumner Regional Health Systems TWA Airlines United Airlines Waldorf CollegePrior to his work in bond workout, Gavin practiced law in St. Paul, Minnesota where he represented clients in securities fraud, antitrust and consumer fraud class actions.Gavin has degrees from the University of Minnesota and Macalester College (go Scots!).

Bill Rhodes is Chair of the Public Finance Department at Ballard Spahr LLP, and Practice Leader of the firm’s Municipal Recovery Initiative.He represents clients in the financing of public infrastructure, transportation, economic development, and other facilities for governments, nonprofits and utilities, with an emphasis on distressed municipalities and the offering of high-yield municipal securities.� Mr. Rhodes also advises clients in the evolving landscape of municipal securities regulation and enforcement, including regulatory compliance, primary and secondary market disclosure, and enforcement actions.Mr. Rhodes is a graduate of The Dickinson School of Law of The Pennsylvania State University, Swarthmore College and Phillips Exeter Academy.

Patrick J. Harvey is a partner in the Litigation Department and a member of the Labor and Employment Group and the Municipal Recovery Initiative. Mr. Harvey's practice includes the defense of claims of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).Mr. Harvey represents employers in labor arbitration and collective bargaining in both the private and public sectors. He litigates and advises clients regarding NLRB and PLRB litigation, Heart and Lung Act litigation, police and fire disability and pension issues, and litigation involving public sector employees. He also represents municipal employers in Act 195 and Act 111 interest and grievance arbitrations. He places special focus on defending the often conflicting and confusing claims resulting when an employee simultaneously files workers' compensation, ADA, FMLA, Heart and Lung claims, and union grievances. Mr. Harvey uses his disability law background to ensure that employers are fully represented and works towards the goal of globally resolving all employment claims.Mr. Harvey also defends employers in general employment litigation matters, including claims of wrongful discharge, employment tort and contract claims, and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). He litigates and advises employers on compliance with federal and state equal employment opportunity (EEO) laws, and on laws in such areas as hiring and firing practices, discrimination, and sexual and other types of harassment investigations. Mr. Harvey defends employers in state courts against such claims as workers' compensation retaliation and Whistleblower Act claims.Mr. Harvey’s education: Villanova University School of Law (J.D. 1985) Villanova University (B.S. 1982)