My Background     

I spent about forty years building and managing an investment management business that provided advice to thousands of state and local government investors across the country. The business was part of The PFM Group, which was a leading financial advisor and in the early days I was active as a financial advisor as well. I was chief investment officer and head of investment management business (1981-2021) of PFM Asset Management LLC which grew to $150 billion of assets under management that were invested in fixed income and multi-asset strategies. With the sale of the asset management business at the end of 2021 I am now a principal at Next Consulting and founder of the Public Funds Investment Institute working on other things that interest me.

I started my work career as a writer/editor for the Associated Press, took time away from employment for graduate study of American history at the University of Pennsylvania, spent 18 months at Harvard University as a Social Science Research Fellow and spent seven years working for the then-governor of Pennsylvania, Milton J. Shapp, as a policy analyst, speech writer, director of program planning and assistant for fiscal and budget matters. When that gig wound down I joined a colleague to start a business providing financial advice to local governments in Pennsylvania that became the platform for the successful investment management business of PFM Asset Management.