Oscar works as a director within the Americas Public Finance team’s U.S. States and Transportation Group. He began his work with S&P as an analyst within the local governments group predominately covering cities, counties, and school districts. Oscar’s portfolio includes credit analysis for the states of California, Florida, Indiana, New Jersey, and previously Alabama, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, and Washington.

Prior to joining S&P, Oscar served as a policy analyst for a member of Texas House of Representatives working on a broad legislative portfolio, including energy policy, public education, water policy, transportation, and criminal jurisprudence.

Oscar graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance. He also holds a Master of Public Affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.

Michael Osborn covers a diverse portfolio of colleges and universities as well as a variety of not-for-profit organizations primarily in the Midwest and Western United States.

Michael has authored various sector related publications, including the Higher Education Outlook and extensive research on the impact of cyber security in higher education. His higher education experience extends to time spent in banking and working directly for a small liberal arts college.

Michael was a Vice President in the Education and Not-for-Profit practice at Wells Fargo Bank. He was also the Senior Director of Admissions and Financial Aid at a private college. Michael holds an MBA from Fordham University and a BA from Michigan State University.

Katherine Newman became the Provost and Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs at the University of California in January of 2023. She was simultaneously appointed as the Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Public Policy at UC Berkeley.

Dr. Newman is the chief academic officer of the University, working closely with all ten campuses of the nation’s largest and most accomplished public research university. She is the author of sixteen books on topics ranging from technical education and apprenticeship to the impact of tight labor markets on the economic and social mobility of the nation’s working poor. She has served as the Forbes Class of 1941 Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs and Director of the Institute for International and Regional Studies at Princeton, the founding Dean of Social Science at the Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study and the director of Harvard’s Multidisciplinary Program on Inequality and Social Policy, where she served as the Malcolm Weiner Professor of Urban Studies in the Kennedy School of Government.

In her capacity as system wide provost, and in collaboration with the University’s new President, James Milliken, Dr. Newman is developing new models of higher education that aim to improve the competitiveness of UC graduates in the California labor market, expand the possibilities of system-wide programs that benefit from the “power of ten,” bolster the university’s ability to attract international talent, increase opportunities for the commercialization of faculty discovery research, and deepen an already historic dedication to the upward mobility of low income, first generation students.

Paige Litten joined the Public Finance team at Assured Guaranty in March of 2024. Prior to joining Assured, Paige spent about 8 years working on the syndicate desk at Citi where she was responsible for pricing negotiated new issue securities in the municipal bond market. While Paige underwrote credits spanning a variety of sectors and across the credit spectrum, she primarily focused on housing, healthcare, and taxable transactions. Away from her day-to-day responsibilities at Citi, Paige was a senior mentor in Citi’s Women’s Mentorship Program and was co-head of Citi Women in Public Finance. Paige is excited to bring this background into her new role at Assured Guaranty, as she works to market AG’s product and expand the business in the primary market. Paige graduated magna cum laude from Colgate University where the received a BA in mathematical economics.

Henry “Hank” Levy has been serving the people of Alameda County as Treasurer since 2017 with experienced, responsible oversight over:

Douglas J. Kilcommons is a Managing Director in the Public Finance team at Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA). He is responsible for assigning and maintaining debt ratings on municipal issuers including tax-supported state and local government credits, as well as revenue-supported credits including transportation/project finance, higher education and health care. Doug also serves as rating Chair for Public Finance Credit Committee and is actively involved in methodology development and refinement.

Prior to joining KBRA, Doug served as a Senior Credit Officer and Executive Loan Committee member at First Republic Bank. In this role, Doug was responsible for approving loans to nonprofits, including educational and cultural institutions and social service providers. He also partnered closely with business bankers to tailor solutions to the unique needs of nonprofits and participated actively in the firm’s targeted client calling effort. In April 2020, Doug was asked to manage the credit process for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and served as senior credit approver on several complex PPP bankruptcies and loan workouts. Doug also mentored business banking support analysts at First Republic, notably on accounting for tax-exempt organizations and on underwriting fundamentals.

Previously, Doug held senior positions at Wells Fargo Bank, most recently as National Credit team manager for the Education/Nonprofit Banking team. In this role, he was responsible for extending credit to college, university, and nonprofit clients, monitored a $6.9 billion portfolio of loan commitments, and managed a team of portfolio managers. He also held senior positions at Moody’s Investor Service, where he headed the Public Finance Local Government Surveillance team, and at Fitch Ratings, where he was managing director of the Education/Nonprofit and Tax-Exempt Housing sectors. While at Wells Fargo, Moody’s and Fitch, Doug refined analytic policies and practices, authored risk acceptance criteria and rating methodologies, and oversaw development and implementation of credit monitoring and surveillance systems. Doug also held positions at Radian Asset Assurance, Neuberger Berman, and Barclays. He began his career as a municipal analyst at Standard & Poor’s, focusing on enterprise credits, including higher education, health care, and transportation.

Lisa Marie Harris joined the Water Authority in May 2014 and has more than 23 years of financial experience in both the public and private sector, including working at the County of San Diego as chief deputy treasurer; the State Treasurer’s Office as executive director of the California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission; the City and County of San Francisco; San Francisco International Airport as the Assistant Deputy Airport Director for Budget and Finance; and most recently for Siebert Brandford Shank & Co., LLC, an investment banking firm, as senior vice president. Harris received her bachelor’s degree in economics from University at California, Berkeley, and her master’s degree in public policy from the University of Michigan.

The Finance Department has a broad range of responsibilities for accounting, financial reporting, payroll, deferred compensation, and accounts payable and receivable (including reporting, billing and collection of water charges, budget oversight, and internal controls). The department is also responsible for investing and borrowing funds; protecting credit ratings in the investment market; developing long-range financing plans in support of the Capital Improvement Program; advising the Board on proposed policy decisions; and providing oversight of imported water activities.

Jonathan Guz is a partner in Stradling’s Public Finance group. Jonathan has experience servicing clients as bond counsel, disclosure counsel and underwriter’s counsel in various finance transactions including general obligation bonds, tax allocation bonds and revenue bonds financings, conduit 501(c)(3) financings, tax and revenue anticipation notes and certificates of participation.

Dave George has provided leadership of SELF for six years, the largest excess liability joint powers authority (JPA) in California protecting over half of California’s public-school students.

Mr. George has over 33 years of experience in risk management, risk financing, and claims administration. Mr. George holds a Bachelor of Arts from Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska, and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Mr. George also holds Associate in Risk Management (ARM) and Certified Chief Business Official (CASBO) certifications.

Mike Fine became Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT), Chief Executive Officer on July 1, 2017. Before joining FCMAT in 2015, Mr. Fine served a combined 13 years as interim superintendent and deputy superintendent of business services and governmental relations at the Riverside Unified School District. Mr. Fine has experience as Assistant Superintendent at Newport-Mesa Unified School District and Financial Administrator in accounting and indirect budgets at Hughes Aircraft Company and General Dynamics Corporation.

Mr. Fine is a regular presenter at many state and national convenings, workshops and professional development programs. He has degrees in accounting and public administration. Mr. Fine has a long history in governmental relations, working closely with policy makers in Sacramento on behalf of California’s K-12 students.