MAINE BANKERS ASSOCIATION
NEW HAMPSHIRE BANKERS ASSOCIATION
VERMONT BANKERS ASSOCIATION, INC.
PRESENT:
2015 ANNUAL TRI-STATE TRUST FORUM
Monday, September 21, & Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Marriott Residence Inn
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
MEET THE SPEAKERS
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2015
RYAN SWEET
Director of Real-Time Economics
Moody’s Analytics
Ryan Sweet is Director of real-time economics at Moody's Analytics. He is a member of the U.S.
macroeconomics team in West Chester PA, which has received the Forecaster of the Month award
from MarketWatch/Dow Jones on several occasions. The team also has been recognized by Bloomberg
LP as the top forecaster for several economic indicators.
Mr. Sweet is also editor-in-chief of and a regular contributor to the Dismal Scientist web site, where
his analysis of global economic and financial market developments is posted throughout the business
day. His research interests include macroeconomics, monetary policy, labor markets and financial
markets.
Mr. Sweet gives regular talks on the U.S. and global economic outlook and is frequently cited in
international, national, and regional media outlets. He has appeared on MSNBC, Fox Business,
Bloomberg TV and Nightly Business Report and various other national networks and news programs.
He has also appeared on Bloomberg radio, WSJ radio and public radio's Marketplace.
Mr. Sweet is also an adjunct professor in the Economics and Finance Department at West Chester
University of Pennsylvania and was recognized by the Honors College as an outstanding faculty
member.
BRAD DAVIDSON
Founder & Principal, Spardata
Managing Partner, Unique Asset Partners LLC
Brad Davidson is a recognized expert in valuing, administering and managing “unique assets” (such as
real estate partnerships, privately-owned businesses, mineral interests, insurance policies, loans and
notes, and collectibles). He is founder of and a Principal with Spardata, a unique asset valuation firm;
and is Managing Partner of Unique Asset Partners LLC, a “one-stop shop” providing everything
professional trustees and owners need to manage unique assets successfully.
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Financial service providers currently using SPARDATA and/or Unique Asset Partners include PNC
Bank, Fiduciary Trust, First Hawaiian Bank, Bank of the West, Farmers & Merchants Trust Company,
Trustmark Bank, Key Bank and First National Bank of Omaha. The firm’s clients also include
business owners; the advisors serving them (including financial advisors, trust officers, CPAs and
attorneys) and government institutions.
Organizations that have invited Davidson to lecture include the Internal Revenue Service, the
Securities and Exchange Commission, the North American Securities Administrators Association, the
Department of Labor, the Federal Financial Institution Examination Council, the Federal Reserve,
numerous state banking associations and the American Society of Pension Actuaries. SPARDATA has
been cited on numerous occasions by the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and other
publications.
In 1980 Davidson began his career in the financial services industry when he became a financial
advisor with Merrill Lynch, where he was a “rookie of the year” in 1981. In 1984 he joined
Prudential-Bache Investments as a vice president, leaving in 1986 to run an investment fund that
bought and sold real estate limited partnership interests in the secondary market. In 1990 he became
president of SPARDATA.
Beyond financial analysis, Davidson has had a diverse array of work experiences. From 1977-1979 in
his first job after college, he worked on Capitol Hill as a legislative assistant to a Texas Congressman
from a rural district. (To this day he will discuss the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide
Act with anyone willing to listen.)
Working on the Hill infected him with the political bug so in 1979 Davidson enlisted in the Maryland
Army National Guard and was ordered to Ft. Sill OK for basic training. (Later he attended Officer
Candidate School, was commissioned an infantry officer and retired in the late 1980s having achieved
the rank of Captain in the United States Army Reserve.) Two years later Davidson became the “boy
wonder” of Annapolis politics by becoming the youngest person ever elected to the Annapolis City
Council; he was reelected without opposition in 1985. In 1987 Governor William Donald Schaefer
appointed him Chairman of the State Commission on the Capital City, a position he held until 1996.
Today Davidson serves on the boards of the Walters Art Gallery and the Bryn Mawr School in
Baltimore, and the J. M. Kaplan Fund in New York City. From 1984 until 2002 Mr. Davidson was a
Director of Microsemi Corporation of Santa Ana, California, a publicly-held manufacturer of
electronic products where he served on the audit and compensation committees. He previously served
on the boards of St. John’s College of Annapolis Maryland and Santa Fe New Mexico; the Historic
Annapolis Foundation (where he was chairman for eight years), and North Country School in Lake
Placid, New York. He lives in Annapolis Maryland with Lynne, his wife of 31 years. They have two
grown children.
Brad may be reached at bdavidson@spardata.com.
TOM NELSON
Chief Strategy Officer - Head of FDIC Insured Programs
Reich & Tang
Tom Nelson is Reich & Tang's Chief Strategy Officer and Head of FDIC Insured Programs. He works
extensively with community bankers and trust/wealth management professionals to develop balance
sheet management strategies, comprehensive funding programs, and FDIC insured investment
solutions that increase profitability, minimize costs, and decrease investment portfolio risks while
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increasing overall returns. Mr. Nelson previously served as the Director of Institutional Sales at IDC,
where he was responsible for building its FDIC-insured deposit program and introducing it within the
trust, bank, broker-dealer, and institutional markets.
ROBERT L. BIXBY
Executive Director
The Concord Coalition
Robert L. Bixby is executive director of The Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan organization that
encourages fiscal responsibility in Washington and helps educate the public about the federal budget
and the need to protect our children and future generations from excessive government debt.
Bixby joined Concord in 1992 and served in several positions, including policy director and national
field director, before being named executive director in 1999. He has served as a member of the
Bipartisan Policy Center’s Debt Reduction Task Force (the Domenici-Rivlin commission), which
produced a model plan for comprehensive fiscal reform.
He frequently speaks around the country on the nation’s fiscal challenges and possible bipartisan
solutions, including greater government efficiency, tax reform and improvements in the entitlement
program. He has testified at congressional hearings and been interviewed by news organizations
around the country. Bixby has appeared on ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, CNN and Fox News.
He and The Concord Coalition’s “Fiscal Wake-Up Tour” were also featured prominently in the
critically-acclaimed documentary film “I.O.U.S.A.”
Bixby has a bachelor's degree in political science from American University, a juris doctorate from
George Mason University School of Law, and a master's degree in public administration from the John
F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Before joining Concord, he practiced law
and served as the chief staff attorney of the Court of Appeals of Virginia.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015
PHOEBE A. PAPAGEORGIOU
Vice President and Senior Counsel
American Bankers Association
As Vice President and Senior Counsel for the American Bankers Association’s Center for Securities,
Trust & Investments, Phoebe Papageorgiou covers regulatory and legislative developments of interest
to trust bankers. She manages the advocacy efforts of the ABA Trust Counsel Committee, ABA Trust
Taxation Committee, as well as the ABA Collective Funds Task Force. She also is the Managing
Editor of ABA Trust Letter, a newsletter for the trust and wealth management industry. Before joining
ABA in 2005, Phoebe worked for the U.S. Department of the Treasury in the Office of Domestic
Finance. She received her law degree from The George Washington University Law School and her
undergraduate degree from Carnegie Mellon University.
JUDITH WARD
Senior Financial Planner & Vice President
T. Rowe Price Investment Services
Judith Ward is a senior financial planner and vice president of T. Rowe Price Investment Services. She
provides guidance on personal finance and retirement-related issues and is responsible for developing a
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broad range of financial planning products and services. Additionally, she provides T. Rowe Price
perspectives to individuals, institutions, and the media and contributes to T. Rowe Price publications.
She is also quoted in national news organizations' columns and websites. With the company since
1983, Judith earned a B.A. in economics and a certificate in finance from the University of Maryland,
Baltimore County. She is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certificant and is a Series 7 and
Series 65 registered representative.
ANNE FINK
Executive Director
J.P. Morgan
Anne Fink, Executive Director, is a member of the Fixed Income Insights Team within the Global
Fixed Income, Currency & Commodities (GFICC) group. Based in New York. Anne is responsible for
developing fixed income thought leadership, marketing content, and executive communications.
Throughout her career in the capital markets, she has been involved in client relationship management,
marketing, sales, investor relations, research and product development. Before joining J.P. Morgan in
2013, Anne was at Brightwater Capital Management, the fixed income asset management subsidiary of
WestLB AG, as the Head of Marketing & Investor Relations for Structured Finance investments. Prior
to joining Brightwater, Anne held a similar position at the parent company, WestLB AG, as Executive
Director responsible for Marketing & Investor Relations for the Asset Securitization business.
Previously, Anne had a ten year career at Chase and its predecessor organizations serving as a Vice
President at Chase Asset Management in Fixed Income Research as well as a Vice President at Chase
Manhattan Bank in Capital Markets Credit. Anne holds an M.B.A. in finance from New York
University and a B.S. in finance from Georgetown University.
BARRY H. SACKS, J.D., PH.D.
Saichek Law Firm
Barry Sacks is a tax lawyer who has recently retired after a 42-year career in several prominent San
Francisco law firms. His professional focus throughout his career was on the various tax-favored
retirement plans, including 401(k) plans, Keogh plans, and Individual Retirement Accounts (“IRAs”).
All of these plans are vehicle for accumulating wealth, to be ultimately distributed during retirement.
As he developed his understanding of the accumulation process and the subsequent distribution
process, he recognized that very often a personal residence is also a vehicle for accumulation of
wealth. And, when properly used, the residence can also provide a source for wealth distribution
during retirement. After studying some of the academic literature on the economics of retirement
income, he developed the strategy of integrating the deferred repayment equity line (also known as a
reverse mortgage credit line) with the retirement securities portfolio, as he will describe in his
presentation.
Barry is a graduate of Harvard Law School, a member of the California State Bar, and certified as a
Specialist in Taxation Law by the California Board of Legal Specialization. He has been selected by
his professional peers to be listed in “Best Lawyers in America” and in “Super Lawyers of Northern
California.”
Before his legal career, Barry studied physics at MIT, earned a Ph.D., and taught and did research at
the University of California at Berkeley and at the University of Paris.
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