Conference Speakers - 2017 Financial Conference

Lewis AndrewsLewis Andrews

Lewis Andrews joined the North Carolina Department of State Treasurer in 2002 as an Accounting and Financial Management Advisor in the State and Local Government Finance Division’s Fiscal Management section where he assisted local governments with various financial management and compliance initiatives.

In early 2005, he assumed a new role as Senior Financial Analyst of State Debt.  During his tenure as State Debt Analyst, he has played a key role in the issuance of over $10 billion of bonds and other financing vehicles for the State.  

He is responsible for annual disclosure of the State’s indebtedness in the State's Comprehensive Annual Financial Report and for other post issuance compliance disclosures that are required to be filed with various regulatory entities. Prior to joining the North Carolina Department of State Treasurer, he was a senior financial analyst in the telecommunications industry.

Lewis is a graduate of North Carolina State University and is a Certified Public Accountant.
 

Michael EulissMichael Euliss

Michael Euliss  is the Director of Communications, Government Relations, and Training for the North Carolina Office of the State Controller. Mr. Euliss is also a motivational teacher and holds numerous nationally-recognized certifications in training, teaching, and organizational health. He has provided educational events to hundreds of governmental, church, corporate, and civic groups across North America to help them develop a culture of servant leadership and displace ineffective and autocratic leadership practices. 

With over 30 years speaking and coaching experience, he is internationally-recognized for practical but powerful motivational and inspirational learning experiences. His expertise is in leadership development, public and interpersonal communication skills, strategic direction, and group dynamics. He uses a variety of methods to equip today's leaders with the tools they need to excel and make others around them better.

He has been featured as a guest speaker at hundreds of venues in almost every state in the US. His other appearances include many television and other radio shows, the Texas Ministry Conference, the Christian Management Association Annual Convention, WFX, the Social Security Administration, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Trainer's Association, and the Institute for Church Leadership.

Mr. Euliss has experiences in the corporate world as well as the public sector. He is retired from local government after 20 years and served in executive management in the private sector for 10 years before founding a non-profit organization focused on leadership development where he served for 7 years. He is the author of Advanced Church Leadership, On Eagle's Wings - Developing the Leader in You, as well as Developing the Leader in You for Law Enforcement Professionals and created the BulletProof™ Initiative for the encouragement of public servants across America.

He has been married to his high-school sweetheart since 1984 and is the father of three children and a grandfather of three. He resides with his family in North Carolina.

John HicksJohn Hicks

John Hicks is the Executive Director of the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO) in Washington, D.C.  He joined NASBO in April, 2016.

Founded in 1945, NASBO serves as the professional organization for all state budget officers of the fifty states and U.S. territories.  NASBO collects data and publishes numerous reports on state fiscal conditions and organizes meetings and training for budget and finance officials.  The organization also provides public officials, the media and citizens detailed information on state financial management and budgeting.

Prior to coming to NASBO, Hicks served in Kentucky state government for 32 years, including 25 years in Kentucky’s Office of State Budget Director.  For the last ten years, he served as the Deputy State Budget Director.  In that position, Hicks oversaw the budget development and budget execution processes. 

Hicks graduated from Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky and received his master of public administration degree from the University of Kentucky’s Martin School of Public Policy and Administration.  

As a past member of NASBO, Hicks served on the association’s Executive Committee (board of directors) from 2007 to 2013, and was NASBO's President from 2011 to 2012. Hicks is the recipient of NASBO’s 1987 George A. Bell Service award and the 2013 Gloria Timmer award, which each recognize outstanding contributions and service to public budgeting and management in state government.

Dora FazziniDora D. Fazzini 

Dora D. Fazzini joined the North Carolina Department of State Treasurer in 2005 as the State’s Debt Director and as the Director of the NC Capital Facilities Finance Agency. During her tenure, she has issued over $10 billion of bonds and other financing vehicles for the state. Prior to joining NC, she was the Director of Debt Management for the Commonwealth of Virginia, another “triple A” rated entity.  Dora has been a Sr. fixed income portfolio manager in the private sector and also issued mortgage-backed securities for the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (Freddie Mac).

Dora received her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and M.B.A. from Cornell University.

Amy JohnsonAmy K. Johnson - Partner - Moore & Van Allen PLLC

EDUCATION

Clerk, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, 1994-1995
JD with highest honors, The University of North Carolina, School of Law, Editor-in-Chief, Law Review,
1994 BBA with high distinction, University of Michigan, 1991

BAR ADMISSIONS

North Carolina, 1994
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, 1995
Supreme Court of the United States, 2016

Concentrating her practice on public finance, Amy Johnson serves clients in the capacity of underwriter's counsel, disclosure counsel, bank counsel, borrower's counsel and trustee's counsel. She has considerable experience with the workout of troubled bond financings.

Representative Experience

  • Disclosure counsel to State of North Carolina.

Bar Activities

  • National Association of Bond Lawyers (NABL).
  • Inaugural Chair, 2006-2008, Charlotte Legal Diversity Clerkship Initiative, Mecklenburg County Bar.
  • Board of Directors, 2009-2012, Mecklenburg County Bar Foundation.

Awards & Recognition

  • Named Best Lawyers’ 2014 Charlotte Public Finance Law “Lawyer of the Year.”
  • Named among The Best Lawyers in America for Banking and Finance Law and Public Finance Law, 2007-2008.
  • Nominated for inaugural Charlotte ATHENA Young Leader Award.
  • Charlotte Business Journal “40 Under 40” winner for 2008.

William McBrideWilliam H. McBride

"Wally" is highly regarded for his securities law disclosure knowledge and his work with complicated trust agreement matters, primarily acting as bond counsel or tax counsel reviewing arbitrage and other matters. He has particular experience in swaps and derivatives, indenture covenants, permissible amendments and restructurings, bondholder approvals and legal challenges to indenture provisions.

Wally has been the senior Hunton & Williams attorney responsible for more than 500 bond counsel, disclosure counsel and tax counsel representations of which the following are especially notable:

  • Smallest Tax-Exempt: $10,000 Town of Newland, North Carolina Waste Water Treatment Bonds
  • Large Tax-exempt: Five transactions, each in excess of $1 billion – as either bond counsel, underwriters counsel, tax counsel or company counsel
  • Largest Taxable: $223,875,000 Carolina Corrections, LLC Taxable Bonds, Series 2001 Select Auction Variable Rate Securities (SAVRS) (State of North Carolina Correctional Facilities Projects)
  • Derivatives: $675,395,000 State of North Carolina Swap/Swaption, March 2005 – followed by termination with funding through $701,925,000 State of North Carolina General Obligation Refunding Bonds, Series 2013C and D
  • Tender Offer: $200,000,000 Covenant Health (Tennessee) tender for outstanding Auction Rate Securities
     

Wally has contributed to comments by the National Association of Bond Lawyers (NABL) on Internal Revenue Service proposed regulations, including on Issue Price Regulations, Political Subdivision Regulations, Circular 230, Preparer Penalties, Private Activity Regulations, Credit Bond Structures and Arbitrage, and authored numerous area outlines for presentations at the Bond Attorney Workshop and NABL Seminars. He has spoken at meetings or seminars hosted by NABL, the North Carolina Institute of Government, the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners (County Attorneys), the North Carolina Association of County Finance Officers, the Southern Municipal Finance Analysts Association, the Southeastern Securities Transfer Association, the Government Finance Officers Association, The Bond Buyer and the Bond Market Association.

EDUCATION

  • JD, The University of Texas School of Law, Associate Editor, Law Review, 1976
  • AB, Princeton University, 1970

BAR ADMISSIONS

  • District of Columbia
  • North Carolina
  • Texas
  • Virginia

Charles PeruseCharles Peruse, State Budget Director
North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management

On January 1, 2017, Governor Roy Cooper appointed Charlie to his second stint as State Budget Director. Charlie, a 25-year state employee, returns to the Governor’s Budget Office after serving six years as the Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the University of North Carolina System. In his earlier work with the Budget Office, he served as State Budget Director for three years and Deputy Director for six years. Charlie also spent eight years in the General Assembly’s Fiscal Research Division, serving three years as budget coordinator for the House of Representatives.

Charlie’s notable career accomplishments include: assisting with the development of UNC’s recently adopted Strategic Plan; balancing the state’s budget each year of the Great Recession; maintaining North Carolina’s AAA bond rating with all rating agencies; and transitioning the state to a market and competency-based compensation program for employees.

Charlie received a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from North Carolina State University. He lives in Raleigh, NC with his wife, Wendy, and two sons.[

Holly SullengerHolly A. Sullenger, M Ed, ABD PhD

Holly Sullenger describes herself as a knowledge broker. She currently works as the Assistant Director for NC State University’s Technology Training Solutions, a unit within the Division of Continuing and Professional Education. Her unit delivers both technology and professional development courses to members of business and industry who need additional knowledge to get ahead in their fields.

Holly is also a sought-after speaker for many organizations and professional associations, having done both technical and professional training for over 25 years. During that time, she also managed five different training centers, provided business software solutions to corporations across the country, and still runs her own consulting business. Holly specializes in the Microsoft products, and is known for her Excel Tips and Tricks seminar, which is sold-out each time it runs.

Holly believes strongly in the benefits of participating in lifelong education. She is currently in the dissertation phase of PhD studies in Adult Education at NC State University. Her previously earned degrees in Adult Education, Business Administration, Computer Science, and Liberal Arts, work together to provide Holly with a diverse knowledge base and an uncanny ability to connect with her audiences.

Michael Walden Dr. Michael L. Walden

Michael L. Walden is a William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor and Extension Economist at North Carolina State University and a member of the Graduate Economics faculty with The Poole College of Management. His Ph.D. degree is from Cornell University and he has been at N.C. State since 1978. He has also been a Visiting Professor at Duke University.

Walden has teaching, research, and extension responsibilities at NCSU in the areas of consumer economics, economic outlook, and public policy. He has published ten books and over 300 articles and reports, including the book North Carolina in the Connected Age, published by the UNC Press. He has served on several local and state level commissions. With his wife, he is the co-author of three “economic thrillers”, Macro Mayhem, Micro Mischief, and Fiscal Fiasco, designed to teach economics in an entertaining way.

Walden can be frequently seen, heard, and read in the media. He has daily radio programs aired on stations around North Carolina for which he has won two national awards. He is often interviewed on local TV and radio news broadcasts, has appeared on NBC, CBS, The Fox Report, and the Newshour With Jim Lehrer, and is frequently quoted in such newspapers as USA Today, The News and Observer, The Charlotte Observer, The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. His biweekly column, You Decide, is carried by over forty newspapers in the state. He has made over 2500 personal presentations.

Walden directs the semiannual economic forecast, The North Carolina Economic Outlook. He has won numerous academic and public awards, including two Champion-Tuck Awards for Excellence in Broadcasting, the UNC Board of Governor’s Award for Excellence in Public Service in 2010, the Order of the Long Leaf Pine in 2013, and the Holladay Medal for Excellence from North Carolina State University in 2014.

His newest book, North Carolina Beyond the Connected Age: The Tar Heel State in 2050, was published in late 2017.

Beth WoodThe Honorable Beth A. Wood, CPA
North Carolina State Auditor

Beth Wood is a Certified Public Accountant in her third term as North Carolina’s elected State Auditor. She is a long-time public servant with nearly 25 years of auditing experience, having worked in the Auditor’s Office for nearly 10 years before her election in 2008 and in the State Treasurer’s Office. Before that, she worked for several companies in the private sector. She is the first woman elected State Auditor in North Carolina.

Through her work as State Auditor, Beth has helped strengthen and improve state government. Audit teams across the state watch every area of state government for potential savings and smart use of taxpayer dollars. The office has focused particularly on healthcare spending and contracting practices that favored vendors at the expense of taxpayers. As a result, audits published by OSA during her tenure have identified millions of dollars of potential savings.

Additionally, the office is following up on prior audits, evaluating the use of best practices by state agencies, and working to attract and retain highly skilled auditors.