Texas CLASS 2022 In-Person Public Funds Investment Act Training

Texas CLASS, in conjunction with Coastal Bend TASBO, is excited to host a free Public Funds Investment Act Training. Please join us at the Education Service Center Region 2 on Tuesday, December 13, 2022, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. This is a great opportunity to enhance your knowledge of current topics in public funds management. There are limited seats available, so save your spot today.

Texas CLASS/Public Trust Advisors is a registered CPE sponsor through the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy and a Certified TASBO Educator; attendees can earn up to 4 hours of certified PFIA/CPE training credits.

Agenda

9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. 
Public Funds Investing 

Speaker: Heather Hurlbert | Director of Finance & Business Analysis, City of Corpus Christi

Field of Study: Finance | CPE Credit(s): One | Program Level: Overview | Pre-Requisites: N/A | Advanced Preparation: N/A

Session Description: This presentation will provide a high-level overview of key investment decisions that are made when investing public funds. Attendees will take a deep dive into market conditions, economic data, and fiduciary duty. 

Learning Objective: At the end of this session, attendees should have a high-level understanding of best practices when investing public funds.

10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Understanding Arbitrage

Speaker: Sandee Stallings | Chief Operating Officer/ Managing Director, BLX Group, LLC

Field of Study: Finance | CPE Credit(s): One | Program Level: Basic | Pre-Requisites: N/A | Advanced Preparation: N/A

Session Description: This presentation will provide attendees with a basic understanding of arbitrage requirements. The goal is to prepare issuers for positive arbitrage given higher investment rates. Finally, record retention requirements will be reviewed.

Learning Objective: Upon completion of this session, attendees should have a better understanding of arbitrage and the complex requirements; be able to recognize when they are earning positive arbitrage; be aware of the exceptions to rebate which allow entities to retain positive arbitrage; and be aware of the record retention requirements that pertain to tax-exempt bonds.

11:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Lunch Break

Lunch will be sponsored and provided free of charge.

11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. 
Municipal Debt & Securities 101

Speaker: Heath Barber & Ryan Cunningham | SAMCO Capital Markets

Field of Study: Accounting | CPE Credit(s): One | Program Level: Overview | Pre-Requisites: N/A | Advanced Preparation: N/A

Session Description: This session will cover the process of issuing municipal debt and securities, debt instruments and options available to Texas municipalities, recent market considerations, and recent legislative changes that may have important implications for the sector.

Learning Objective: Upon completion of this session, attendees should be able to identify the key participants involved in a municipal debt issuance and understand the duty each owes to an issuer; understand rating metrics and the credit rating scale; analyze current market trends; differentiate between the various debt instruments available and identify which is best suited to their projects; and be able to use debt prudently, understanding when and how to access capital markets.

12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
Fed Funds vs. LGIP Pool Rates

Speaker: Tony Sekaly | Director, Investment Services – Texas CLASS

Field of Study: Finance | CPE Credit(s): One | Program Level: Overview | Pre-Requisites: N/A | Advanced Preparation: N/A

Session Description: This session will provide an overview of the local government investment pool (LGIP) landscape available for public funds investment in Texas. Additionally, this session will touch on the relationship between a local government investment pool and a rising interest rate environment.

Learning Objective: Upon completion of this session, participants will have a better understanding of the different LGIP investment vehicles available to them; how an LGIP operates/who can invest; and the types of funds that can be invested in an LGIP.

Registration

Heather is the Director of Finance and Business Analysis at the City of Corpus Christi. Prior to this, she began her career with the City of San Marcos in 2009 as the Assistant Director of Finance and was promoted to Director of Finance in 2013. She was responsible for coordinating, preparing, and producing the annual operating and capital budget as well as a multi-year financial plan. Heather holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from the University of Texas San Antonio.

Heather serves on the Government Treasurers’ Organization of Texas Board of Directors and holds the designation of Certified Government Finance Officer.

With more than 3 decades of arbitrage and public finance experience, Ms. Stallings is a senior member of the BLX management team, and serves as Chief Operating Officer for the firm and the Business Group Leader of BLX’s Compliance Services, which encompasses Arbitrage Rebate and Yield Restriction Compliance, Post-Issuance Compliance, Secondary Market Disclosure and Program Administration Services. She is responsible for all aspects of project management, client services, work quality and the overall operations of the compliance and consulting services nationwide, overseeing production in the Los Angeles, Phoenix, Dallas, and New York offices.

Heath Barber, Managing Director, joined SAMCO Capital Markets in July of 2018 and has over 18 years of municipal finance experience. Prior to SAMCO, he served as a public finance banker at J.P. Morgan Securities and Coastal Securities, which was purchased by FTN Financial in 2017. During this time, Mr. Barber has worked with a variety of issuers across Texas, including the following cities, counties, school districts and special districts. Mr. Barber’s primary areas of expertise include the structuring and marketing of municipal credits. His primary responsibilities include providing municipal investment banking services to issuers in an underwriting capacity including execution-related structuring and quantitative analysis. Mr. Barber holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and a Masters of Business Administration degree from Texas A&M University. He is registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority as a Municipal Advisor Representative (Series 50), General Securities Representative (Series 7) and Uniform Securities Agent State Law (Series 63).

Ryan Cunningham has 15 years of public finance experience, including 10 as a public finance investment banker. His experience includes roles as a rating analyst for one of the Big Three rating agencies for project and infrastructure finance and international consulting for the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland in asset and liability management and environmental finance. Mr. Cunningham holds a B.S. in political science from St. Vincent College and dual advanced degrees from Indiana University Bloomington in public finance and Latin American Studies. Mr. Cunningham is a Spanish speaker and maintains SIE, Series 52, and Series 63 licenses from FINRA.

Tony is a Director of Investment Services with nearly thirty years of investment experience assisting public fund clients in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and Florida. He is very involved in the Government Finance Officers Association of Texas, Government Treasurers’ Organization of Texas, and the Gulf Coast Chapter of the Government Finance Officers Association. He has spoken at several Government Treasurers’ Organization of Texas Winter Seminars about “Investing in Current Times” and Texas County Treasurer’s Investment Training seminars.

Prior to joining Texas CLASS, Tony was the Managing Director–Fixed Income Securities for Coastal Securities, Inc. with over 150 public fund clients with assets ranging from $15 to $1 Billion. Tony holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) from Lamar University and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas. He previously held NASD licenses Series 7 and 63.

Public Trust Advisors, LLC is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have the final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website: www.nasbaregistry.org.