Professionals

Keenan Rice - President

Keenan Rice is the president of MuniCap, Inc. and has worked almost exclusively in the areas of urban renewal, economic development, and growth management for the last 30 years. Prior to founding MuniCap, Inc., Mr. Rice was the director of the Washington office of a major public finance consulting firm and a principal at one of the leading public finance consulting firms in California.

Mr. Rice was also a vice president at a major real estate development firm and begin his career as a real estate development loan underwriter for an insurance company and savings and loan. Mr. Rice graduated with honors with a degree in accounting and also received a master’s degree in finance. He has been a guest lecturer at a number of universities and has been a guest speaker at numerous conferences hosted by the Government Finance Officer’s Association, The Bond Buyer, the Urban Land Institute, and other professional associations. Mr. Rice is a registered Municipal Advisor (Series 50) as well as a registered Municipal Advisor Principal (Series 54) and serves as MuniCap’s principal. Mr. Rice is also a licensed investment advisor representative (Series 65).

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Emily Metzler - Executive Vice President & CCO

Emily Metzler has served over ten years as part of the MuniCap team. Ms. Metzler is passionate about real estate, furthering economic development opportunities, and assisting with the critical thinking aspect of creative funding mechanisms. In her position, Ms. Metzler manages over fifty different large-scale, catalytic development projects and actively participates in all aspects of the financial structure of each deal from conception to capitalization, implementation, and administration post issuance. In addition, she is responsible for new business development efforts in the markets for which she serves. Clients include public entities such as Fairfax County, VA, Howard County, MD, and Montgomery County, MD, as well as private entities such as Gaylord, Forest City, Related Companies, Newland, and PN Hoffman. Since joining MuniCap, Ms. Metzler has assisted with the issuance of publicly marketed bonds in excess of $1.2 billion. Furthermore, she worked extensively on the Southwest Waterfront bond offering in the amount of $145,000,000, which received the highest bond rating in the District of Columbia for a comparable bond issuance, and the first ever bonds to be issued in the State of New York secured solely with special assessments pledged as security.

Ms. Metzler is a 2005 graduate of Clarion University. She graduated with a degree in both real estate and finance. Ms. Metzler was an active member of the Financial Management Association, played intramural basketball, and obtained her real estate license for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania during her college career.

Following graduation from Clarion University, Ms. Metzler was hired into the management program at National City Bank, now PNC, where ultimately, she maintained the role of a branch manager and business lending banker before being hired at MuniCap.

Ms. Metzler is active in multiple organizations including the Association of Public Finance Professionals, Council of Development Finance Agencies, Urban Land Institute, Lambda Alpha International, and Women in Public Finance, Maryland and Virginia Chapters. Ms. Metzler is a registered Municipal Advisor (Series 50) and has passed the Municipal Advisor Principal Qualification Examination (Series 54). Ms. Metzler serves as MuniCap’s Chief Compliance Officer.

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David Saikia - Executive Vice President

David Saikia has nearly 20 years of specialized experience in public finance and urban redevelopment. Having joined MuniCap in 2001, Mr. Saikia now serves as the firm’s head of research and analytics, overseeing many of its most technically advanced projects. Throughout his career, he has honed a sophisticated understanding of the property valuation process and a nuanced approach to modeling projections of revenues and impacts. When it comes to developing forecasts of tax increment revenue, he is among the nation’s leading experts.

Mr. Saikia also writes most of the complex reports that MuniCap produces, including those that provide estimates of the revenue available to repay bonds. Drawing on his extensive interaction with local governments, developers, underwriters, and buyers of bonds, he crafts these studies to meet the specific and demanding requirements of the municipal bond market.

For any given project, Mr. Saikia advises clients on a range of aspects—from creating the plan of finance, to navigating the governmental approval process, to bringing the deal to market.

Prior to joining MuniCap, Mr. Saikia held roles in the Phoenix City Manager’s Office and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. He earned his Master of Public Affairs from the University of Wisconsin La Follette School of Public Affairs and a Bachelor of Arts from Penn State University. Mr. Saikia is a registered Municipal Advisor (Series 50) and has passed the Municipal Advisor Principal Qualification Examination (Series 54). Mr. Saikia is also a frequent guest lecturer at universities and professional conferences.

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Charles Kungu - Vice President & IT Manager

Mr. Kungu has been with MuniCap since 2003 and his responsibilities include ongoing bond administration for tax increment districts, special assessment districts, and special tax districts. Some of these roles include annual budget preparation, financial record keeping and trustee oversight, project monitoring, parcel research, preparing continuing disclosure reports, and surveillance and reporting, including SEC required reporting obligations. Mr. Kungu also serves as IT Director and is responsible for ensuring MuniCap information systems are running as expected. Prior to joining MuniCap, Inc., Mr. Kungu was a manager with Central Parking and was previously a financial analyst at two banks.

Mr. Kungu has an MBA in information systems from the University of Baltimore and a Bachelor of Science degree, summa cum laude, in business administration from Williams Baptist University. Mr. Kungu received numerous honors in his scholastic career, including being named to the conference scholar athlete team in soccer. Mr. Kungu is a registered Municipal Advisor (Series 50).

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Molly Dearstine - Executive Vice President

Ms. Dearstine joined MuniCap in 2008, bringing many years of experience with financial statement preparation and reporting, and construction requisition preparation. She has worked in the public accounting, construction, and television network industries where she was instrumental in developing, implementing and documenting internal controls and accounting systems, and streamlining operations. She has also aided past employers in obtaining ISO9001 certification.

Ms. Dearstine has a Bachelor of Science, Business Administration degree from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, where she graduated cum laude, with a major in accounting and a minor in management information systems. She also completed her Masters of Acupuncture degree at Maryland University of Integrative Health in 2013. Ms. Dearstine is a registered Municipal Advisor (Series 50) and has passed the Municipal Advisor Principal Qualification Examination (Series 54).

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Kathy Lovaas - Director

Ms. Lovaas’ primary responsibilities include preparing financial statements for special districts, coordinating with auditors, performing arbitrage rebate calculations, reviewing requisitions for bond funds, and supervising staff for efforts related to journal entries, account reconciliations for project bank accounts held with trustees, and other accounting tasks. She has been with MuniCap since January 2018.

Ms. Lovaas graduated cum laude from the University of Maryland with a degree in accounting. She is an active CPA, as well as a CGMA, Chartered Global Management Accountant. Ms. Lovaas is a registered Municipal Advisor (Series 50) and has passed the Municipal Advisor Principal Qualification Examination (Series 54). She is a member of the Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants (MACPA) and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).

Ms. Lovaas previously was the Controller for Search Ministries, a non-profit based in Ellicott City, MD, where she was the primary accounting contact for the board, external auditors, and thirty field staff. She also was responsible for the design and implementation of internal controls. In addition, Ms. Lovaas previously held the title of Internal Audit Manager at Giant Food where she planned and supervised audits of retail, distribution, manufacturing, real estate, and construction subsidiaries.

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Max LeVee - Vice President

Mr. LeVee specializes in financial modeling and the implementation of public financing programs for numerous projects. Mr. LeVee’s responsibilities consist of project management, financial modeling, and analytical research related to tax increment, special tax, and special assessment financing.

Mr. LeVee obtained a Bachelor of Science degree from West Virginia University in business administration, with a focus in finance. Prior to joining MuniCap, Mr. LeVee worked for Wells Fargo in Collateral Trust Services. Mr. LeVee is a registered Municipal Advisor (Series 50) and has passed the Municipal Advisor Principal Qualification Examination (Series 54).

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Joana Feimi - Manager

Ms. Feimi specializes in financial modeling and the implementation of public financing programs for numerous projects. Ms. Feimi’s responsibilities consist of project management, financial modeling and analytical research related to tax increment, special tax, and special assessment financing. Ms. Feimi handles the preparation of financial projections related to project feasibility, preparation of economic and fiscal impact analyses and reports related to financial analyses.

Ms. Feimi obtained a Bachelor of Science in Finance from University of South Florida and has a background in SBA commercial real estate lending and small business banking. Ms. Feimi is a registered Municipal Advisor (Series 50) and has passed the Municipal Advisor Principal Qualification Examination (Series 54).

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Osa Ogbebor - Senior Associate

Osa Ogbebor is responsible for providing accounting services as a part of MuniCap’s on-going bond and special district administrative services. These services include preparation of monthly account journal entries, bookkeeping, 1099 filling and year-end reporting.

Prior to joining MuniCap, Inc., Ms. Ogbebor worked as bookkeeper and payroll administrator with a CPA firm. In her prior role, she was responsible for filing 1099s, keeping general ledgers, preparing monthly account reconciliation, payroll services, individual tax preparation and year-end reporting for various small businesses.

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Jackie Abraham - Director

Ms. Abraham is responsible for providing ongoing bond administration and compliance services to a number of tax increment districts, special assessment districts, and special tax districts. A primary focus of Ms. Abraham’s work is ensuring proper project surveillance and annual reporting, including monitoring and managing SEC required reporting obligations and deadlines. Major compliance services include oversight of compliance with SEC Rule 15c2-12 and related MSRB rules, which specifically applies to municipal securities, to ensure timely continuing disclosure. Ms. Abraham is a registered Municipal Advisor (Series 50) and has passed the Municipal Advisor Principal Qualification Examination (Series 54). Ms. Abraham is also a licensed investment advisor representative (Series 65).

Ms. Abraham has a Bachelor of Science degree from the Merrick School of Business, University of Baltimore, where she graduated cum laude, with a major in finance. Prior to joining MuniCap, Ms. Abraham served as a financial sales consultant at PNC Bank, was an agribusiness project manager for the United States Peace Corps and served as a finance and compliance manager for the Akola Project in Jinja, Uganda. Each of these experiences have facilitated her growth in and provided strong expertise in economic development and public finance. Similarly, it has fostered her strength in her ability to communicate effectively and efficiently and manage deadlines, as well as client relations.

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Jason Jee - Manager

Mr. Jee’s primary responsibilities include preparing financial statements for special districts, coordinating with auditors, preparing arbitrage rebate calculations, reviewing requisitions for bond funds, and supervising staff for efforts related to journal entries, account reconciliations for project bank accounts held with trustees, and other accounting tasks.

Mr. Jee graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in accounting from the Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland.

Mr. Jee started his career at Reznick Group, now known as CohnReznick, as an auditor. He audited clients in real estate, defense contracting and renewable energy sectors. After leaving CohnReznick, he became a senior accountant at Kettler, a privately held real estate developer, where he worked on land development and construction projects. Mr. Jee is a registered Municipal Advisor (Series 50) and has passed the Municipal Advisor Principal Qualification Examination (Series 54).

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Eric Gettmann - Senior Associate

Mr. Gettmann is responsible for providing ongoing bond administration and compliance services for a number of tax increment districts, special assessment districts, and special tax districts. Services include annual budget preparation, financial record keeping and trustee oversight, project monitoring, preparing continuing disclosure reports, and surveillance and reporting, including SEC required reporting obligations.

Mr. Gettmann received a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance and a minor in computer information systems from James Madison University. After graduation, Eric worked as a project analyst and then as a manager of operations support at Teksystems Inc., where he specialized in process improvement, team development, and providing financial analysis for IT services projects across the country. Mr. Gettmann is a registered Municipal Advisor (Series 50).

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Michael Spatz - Senior Associate

Mr. Spatz is responsible for providing bond administration services to a number of tax increment districts, special assessment districts, and special tax districts. These services include annual reporting, parcel research, account reconciliation, trustee oversight and general project management.

Mr. Spatz also works as the National Field Manager of Team Up for 1, a 501(c)(3) charity organization based in Baltimore, Maryland. In this capacity, Mr. Spatz assists with team adoptions, matching children with physical and developmental challenges with different high school, college, and professional sports teams. Through ceremonies, team activities and programs, children and families receive support and compassion to improve their quality of life.

Mr. Spatz graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas.

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Lauren Lust - Senior Executive Assistant

Ms. Lust is responsible for assisting senior management and coordinating office management. She works directly with senior level employees and also assists with office management, including assisting with accounts payable, accounts receivable, banking, and invoicing. Ms. Lust also researches, prepares and finalizes certain company marketing and presentation information.

Ms. Lust has over ten years of experience in customer service, including five years of supervisor and management roles, and has worked in a diverse range of industries. Ms. Lust shows strong organizational, project management and problem-solving skills in her daily work.

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Elizabeth Rice - Project Manager

Ms. Rice specializes in financial modeling and the implementation of public financing programs for numerous projects. Her responsibilities consist of project management, financial modeling, and analytical research related to tax increment, special tax, and special assessment financing.

Ms. Rice graduated cum laude from American University with a B.A. in International Relations focused on International Political Economy and a minor in Economics. Prior to joining MuniCap, she worked as an Investment Analyst at Aldrich Capital Partners where she sourced and evaluated middle-market, B2B investments and managed recruiting. She also gained experience as a Project Assistant at Ballard Spahr LLP, working with lawyers in the real-estate practice to aid in document production and due-diligence review. Ms. Rice is a registered Municipal Advisor (Series 50).

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John Mooney - Senior Associate

Mr. Mooney is responsible for providing bond administration services to a number of tax increment districts and special assessment districts. His responsibilities include annual budget preparation, account reconciliation, preparing continuing disclosure reports, project monitoring, and surveillance and reporting, including SEC required reporting obligations. Mr. Mooney also assists with financial modeling and analytical research related to the preparation of economic and fiscal impact analyses and reports, capital facility needs, and revenue projections.

Mr. Mooney’s educational background includes a Master of Real Estate degree from New York University with a focus on investments and finance and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Connecticut School of Business, where he graduated magna cum laude with a degree in financial management. Prior to joining MuniCap, Mr. Mooney worked as an assistant project manager with a construction company and worked for a municipality in Connecticut.

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Kevin Oshinskie - Project Manager

Mr. Oshinskie specializes in financial modeling and the implementation of public financing programs for numerous projects. His responsibilities consist of project management, financial modeling, and analytical research related to tax increment, special tax, and special assessment financing, real estate proffers, and local economic impact analyses.

Mr. Oshinskie has a Master of Science in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Fordham University. Before joining MuniCap, he worked within the local government, defense contracting, and nonprofit fields. Mr. Oshinskie is a registered Municipal Advisor (Series 50).

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Amy Sullivan - Office Manager

Ms. Sullivan is responsible for all aspects of accounts payable and accounts receivable, including the monthly invoicing process. Her role also includes report preparation, project correspondence, and assisting with office management.

Prior to joining MuniCap, Ms. Sullivan worked as a bookkeeper and executive assistant for a CPA firm. For over a decade, she administered the daily office management and full set of financial records for various small companies in a diverse range of industries.

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Korina Velazco - Senior Associate

Ms. Velazco is responsible for providing bond administration services to tax increment districts, special assessment districts, and special tax districts. These services include annual budget preparation, parcel research, account reconciliation, project monitoring, surveillance and reporting, including SEC required reporting obligations.

Ms. Velazco obtained a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Finance from Montclair State University. Prior to joining MuniCap, Ms. Velazco worked as a senior analyst for Wells Fargo Corporate Trust Services where she handled loan reconciliation, bond payments and reporting on mortgage-backed securities.

Nancy Gomes-Hilditch - Senior Associate

Ms. Gomes-Hilditch graduated from University of Maryland, Robert H. Smith School of business with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting. Ms. Gomes-Hilditch is an active Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in the States of Virginia and Maryland.

Ms. Gomes-Hilditch previously worked at Johns Hopkins University as a Senior Accountant for the Financial Research Compliance Department. Prior to that, Ms. Gomes-Hilditch worked at United States Conference of Catholic Bishops as a Senior Accountant in Washington, DC. Ms. Gomes-Hilditch also has experience with small businesses doing general accounting such as accounts payables, accounts receivables, and payroll, all while attending college full time. Ms. Gomes-Hilditch is also a member of Phi Theta Kappa, an International College Honor Society.

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Viktoria Johnson - Senior Associate

Ms. Johnson is responsible for preparing financial statements and audit reports, performing arbitrage rebate calculations, reviewing requisitions for bond funds, and other accounting tasks.

Ms. Johnson graduated with a Bachelor of Science in accounting from Salisbury University. She started her career as an accountant in a real estate company. Prior to joining MuniCap, she worked in public accounting and specialized in tax reporting, preparation of journal entries and financial statements.

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Tim Rutten - Senior Associate

Mr. Rutten specializes in financial modeling and the implementation of public financing programs for numerous projects. His responsibilities consist of project management, financial modeling, and analytical research related to tax increment, special tax, special assessment financing, and economic impact analyses.

Mr. Rutten graduated from Catholic University of America with a Bachelor of Science in Architecture and is currently pursuing a Master of Real Estate Development from the University of Maryland. Prior to joining MuniCap, Mr. Rutten gained experience providing third-party environmental site assessments, capital needs assessments, and green building verification services for multifamily mortgage lenders. Mr. Rutten is a registered Municipal Advisor (Series 50).

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John Harris - Associate

Mr. Harris specializes in accounts payable and accounts receivable, including monthly invoicing and vendor payments. His role also includes report preparation and assisting with office management.

Prior to joining MuniCap, Mr. Harris worked as an accounting and funding specialist for several title companies. Mr. Harris is strongly skilled in project management, problem-solving, and organization.

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