An Overview of City & County Methodology and Its Impact on Ratings
A discussion of Moody's new rating methodology for US cities and counties
Moody's released a new methodology for assigning ratings to US cities and counties. Analysts will discuss the main changes and updates, the analytic reasoning behind them, and what they mean for ratings.
- Overview of the new methodology, including issuer and debt instrument ratings
- Analytical factors and considerations used to arrive at issuer ratings
- Debt instrument ratings and how we will assign them relative to the issuer rating
- Ratings placed on review for upgrade or downgrade and plans to resolve
- How market participants can obtain further information
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SpeakersNaomi Richman Senior Vice President, US Public Finance Moody's Ratings
Rachel Cortez Associate Managing Director, US Public Finance Moody's Ratings
Thomas Aaron Vice President - Senior Credit Officer Moody's Investors Service
Sarah Jensen Vice President - Senior Analyst Moody's Investors Service
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Naomi Richman is a Senior Vice President in Moody's US Public Finance Group. Naomi manages the Surveillance team and Data and Analytics team. She is also responsible for contributing to state and local government analytical initiatives, research and methodologies. Naomi was previously a Managing Director in US Public Finance and Chief Credit Officer for global public sector ratings. Naomi has over 35 years of experience in credit analysis at Moody's, covering state and local governments, housing, higher education, financial guarantors, and global sovereigns.
Prior to joining Moody's, Naomi spent four years with the New York City Department of Finance. Naomi holds an MPP from Harvard University and an AB from Bryn Mawr College.
Rachel Cortez is an Associate Managing Director with the US Public Finance Group of Moody’s Investors Service. As the manager of Moody’s Chicago-based analytical team, Rachel oversees local government credits in ten Midwest states. She has extensive experience covering tax-backed and revenue-secured credits issued by US local governments and not-for-profit health care organizations.
Prior to joining Moody’s in 2005, Rachel spent five years with American Management Systems (now CGI Group), where she implemented budget and financial management systems for state and local governments. She was also a budget analyst with the State of Illinois Bureau of the Budget (now Office of Management and Budget) and spent several years working in development and fundraising for a Chicago not-for-profit organization.
Rachel is a former President of the Chicago Municipal Analysts Society (CMAS) and served on the Board of Governors of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts (NFMA). Rachel received an MPA from the Maxwell School of Syracuse University and a BA in Government from Cornell University.
Tom is the dedicated public pension specialist for Moody’s Investors Service US Public Finance Group. He has held this role since 2013, in which he authors pension-related research and facilitates pension risk assessments across the group’s ratings. Tom originally joined Moody’s as a ratings analyst in 2011, where he covered local government credits throughout the Midwest. Prior to joining Moody’s, he served as Deputy Chief of Staff to a member of the San Diego City Council. Tom holds a Master of Science degree in Applied Mathematics (Actuarial Science) from DePaul University in Chicago and a Master of Arts in Economics from San Diego State University.
Sarah Jensen is an AVP-Analyst for the Dallas Local Governments Ratings Team covering credits primarily in Louisiana and Texas. She is a member of various analytical working groups including the Bankruptcy Taskforce.
Prior to joining Moody’s, Sarah was a Teaching Assistant at the University of Texas Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and an Intern for the internal audit division of the office of the Governor for the State of Texas. Sarah holds an MPA from the University of Texas at Austin and a BA in Public Affairs and Administration from the University of Oklahoma.