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Public Finance Professionals - Northwest

Bruce Allred
Senior Vice President, Pacific Northwest Public Finance

Mr. Allred joined Wedbush Securities in July 2010 as Senior Vice President and has over 25 years of industry experience. He has worked with numerous public sectors including municipalities, special districts and enterprise funds. In addition, Mr. Allred specializes in bond sizing, debt service impact analysis, structuring option analysis, cash flow modeling, refunding analysis and other computer modeling services. Prior to Wedbush, Mr. Allred was Director at Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, where he managed the quantitative analysis group for the Public Finance department. Mr. Allred earned his MBA from Boise State University and his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Utah State University. He also holds his Series 7 and 63 licensees.

Ronald Lehr
Senior Vice President, Pacific Northwest Public Finance

Mr. Lehr joined Wedbush Securities as a Senior Vice President in 2010. Dr. Lehr earned a PhD in Economics from the University of Oregon, his Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts degrees in Economics from Washington State University, and his Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from the University of Alaska. He has over 20 years experience in municipal finance and the public sector. In addition, he has worked in various public sector positions in the State of Alaska. These include Budget Director for the State, Deputy Director for the Alaska Industrial Development Authority, and Chief Executive Officer for the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation. Dr. Lehr focuses on structured transactions with a specialty in affordable housing. He has been the lead banker for over $1.7 billion worth of tax-exempt and taxable bond issues used to fund affordable multi-family housing.

Jim Wrigley
Senior Vice President, Pacific Northwest Public Finance

Mr. Wrigley joined Wedbush Securities in September 2009. He has over 26 years experience in the public finance capital markets sector having worked for Wells Fargo Public Finance, First Security Capital Markets and Prudential Bache. Mr. Wrigley is a natural resource economist by training with a Bachelor of Science degree from Brigham Young University and a Master of Science from Utah State University. He also has worked in the government sector as chief economist for the Idaho Water Resource Board. Mr. Wrigley is very experienced in education, higher education, economic development, energy, hydropower, and water resource finance and has successfully completed projects in Idaho, Oregon, Alaska, Wyoming, Nevada and New Mexico. He is located in Boise, Idaho.

Katherine Schwab
Senior Vice President, Pacific Northwest Public Finance

Ms. Schwab has over 18 years of investment banking experience, including 17 years at Seattle-Northwest Securities as the Vice President and Manager of Public Finance Operations. Ms. Schwab has provided transaction support for many complicated and high-profile financings, such as pension obligations, student housing, transportation and utility revenue bonds. She specializes in financings for local governments, public and private higher education, and transportation entities throughout the Northwest. Prior to becoming an investment banker, Ms. Schwab was the Finance Manager of Debt and Cash for the Port of Portland for 9 years, issuing over $800 million of general obligation bonds, revenue bonds, and conduit industrial development revenue bonds. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Lewis & Clark College and her MM from the Atkinson Graduate School of Management, Willamette University. Her professional registration is as a Municipal Securities Representative (Series 52).

Brendan Watkins
Associate, Pacific Northwest Public Finance