ASU hosts Financial Markets Boot Camp in Washington, DC

The ASU School of Public Affairs is hosting a Financial Markets Boot Camp to build the financial governance capacity and economic sophistication of local and state public servants in their interaction with the private market and its stakeholders. The Boot Camp will be held on March 12, at the Arizona State University Washington, DC Center, 1834 Connecticut Avenue NW. 

The event will focus on the hidden incentives and risk profiles of the for-profit private market firms that government officials interact with in the negotiation, transaction, and management of public finance deals. Local elected officials, managers and senior staff will hear directly from the finance professionals as to what goes on “behind the curtain” in a candid and constructive forum. 

Jonathan Koppell, director of the School of Public Affairs, will moderate the event. Panelists will include Lawrence Bashe, managing director of public finance for Raymond James & Associates, Bea Reyna-Hickey, director of revenue for the City of Chicago, Jim Blandford, managing director of Robert W. Baird & Co., and Marriane F. Edmonds, senior managing director of the Public Resources Advisory Group. The keynote speaker will be Joshua Gotbaum, director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, the federal agency responsible for backing private pension obligations.

“Local and state officials are increasingly involved in complex financial transactions that create risks and vulnerabilities they may not truly understand.  Moreover, many of those making decisions from the public sector side of the table believe their interests are more closely aligned with their private sector counterparties than they truly are,” says Koppell.

The cost for registration is $75.  Limited space is still available. Register online at: http://www.regonline.com/FMBC.

The ASU School of Public Affairs is part of the College of Public Programs located at the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus.