David Bodek is a Managing Director and Sector Leader of S&P Global Ratings’ Public Power and Electric Cooperative practice. David speaks frequently at industry conferences, discusses credit opinions with utilities, their financial intermediaries, and investors, actively monitors the credit ratings of a portfolio of high-profile public power and electric cooperative utilities, provides analytical guidance to colleagues, chairs rating committees, and develops rating methodologies. David also gained extensive experience at S&P Global Ratings performing credit analyses for investor-owned utilities, their unregulated affiliates, and energy sector project-financings. David holds a B.A., cum laude, in Economics from the State University of New York at Albany, and a Juris Doctor degree from the Hofstra University School of Law, where he was a member of the Law Review. Before joining S&P, David practiced law with an emphasis on commercial litigations and utilities’ regulatory proceedings. He holds a license to practice law in state and federal courts in New York.

Peter Bluestone is the associate director of domestic programs at the Public Finance Research Cluster in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. His research includes urban economics, static and dynamic economic impact modeling, and state and local fiscal policy. His work includes modeling state and local impacts of policy changes and economic development using various economic models including IMPLAN and Regional Economics Models Incorporated (REMI). Bluestone has served on the technical advisory committee for the Atlanta Regional Commission. He received his doctorate in economics from Georgia State University.

Ashton M. Bligh focuses her practice in the area of public finance, with a particular emphasis on taxable and tax-exempt financings including serving as disclosure counsel, bond counsel, underwriters’ counsel, trustee’s counsel, purchasers’ counsel, lender’s counsel and borrower’s counsel in connection with publicly and privately offered financings in a wide array of sectors, including general government, higher education, community development districts, and tax allocation districts. Prior to her practice at GT, Ashton gained public finance experience assisting: public school systems, cities, counties and water and sewer systems in Georgia; higher education systems throughout the US; and health care systems and affordable housing developments in completing projects related to new construction, equipment acquisition and refinancing.

Mohamed Balla is the Chief Financial Officer for the City of Atlanta. He joined the City in 2011 and assumed the role of CFO in July 2021. As CFO, Balla provides financial guidance to the Mayor and City Council and manages a team of 160 finance, accounting, and business professionals. He is responsible for overseeing the preparation, evaluation, and monitoring of the City’s $2.75 billion operating budget and financing the City’s $11.5 billion capital improvement program. Additionally, Balla serves as a Trustee on the City’s Pension Investment Board, managing investments for the General, Police, and Fire Pension Funds. Prior to serving as CFO for the City of Atlanta, Mohamed was the Deputy Commissioner and CFO for the Department of Watershed Management (DWM), where he led the department’s financial functions. Before that, he was a key member of the City’s pension reform team, responsible for restructuring the City’s $3 billion pension plan. He also served as the City’s Cash and Investment Manager, overseeing the City’s $2.0 billion cash portfolio. CFO Balla has a background in investment banking, corporate finance, and public finance, with over 20 years of experience. He has a strong background in financial modeling and analysis, leveraged lending, and public finance. He has worked at Citigroup Corporate and Investment Bank and Wachovia Securities as an investment banking professional. He holds a B.A. in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from Morehouse College and an M.B.A. from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Mr. Balla is a member of Leadership Atlanta’s Class of 2023. He currently resides in Southwest Atlanta with his wife, Teresa, and their two daughters, Eden and Ava.

Bernard Bailey is a Managing Director, Public Finance at Assured Guaranty with a primary focus on maintaining and expanding Assured Guaranty’s institutional client base. During his career spanning more than 35 year, including both the public finance banking and sales and trading areas of municipal finance, Mr. Bailey has held senior positions at major dealer firms with the majority of his career spent at Bear Stearns. While at Bear Stearns he covered major municipal institutional accounts including fund groups, insurance companies and asset managers as well as hedge fund and distressed debt platforms. Mr. Bailey is a frequent speaker and panelist on all matters related to the municipal bond industry including insurance, high yield fixed income and ESG. He sits on the Philanthropic and ESG committees at Assured. Mr. Bailey is a member of the Bond Club of New York and the Municipal Bond Club of New York. He is a graduate of the University of Georgia.