529 Conf: Plan Governance & Administration Best Practices

Paul Curley is Director of Savings Research at ISS Market Intelligence, where he oversees data, research, consulting and events on 529 savings plans, 529 prepaid plans and ABLE accounts for institutional clients. He is also the Editor of the 529 Dash e-newsletter and 529 Insiders website for advisors, accountants and estate planners.

Andrea Feirstein is a Managing Director with AKF Consulting Group, which she formed in March 2002. Over the last seventeen-plus years, Ms. Feirstein has advised forty-one public administrators of consumer-facing, state-run investment plans, including 529, ABLE and Secure Choice Programs. In all, Ms. Feirstein has over 34 years’ experience in the municipal finance industry. From 1999 to 2002, she managed the proprietary 529 business for Citigroup Asset Management, with overall responsibility for engagements with the States of Colorado and Illinois. Previously she was an investment banker with Salomon Smith Barney’s Municipal Securities Division (1987 to 1999, now Citigroup), and she was a bond lawyer with Brown & Wood (1984 to 1987, now Sidley Austin LLP). Ms. Feirstein is active in the National Association of State Treasurers (“NAST”), where she currently serves on the Board of Directors of the National Institute of Public Finance, a joint venture between the NAST Foundation and Pepperdine University. Ms. Feirstein is also a member of the Boards of Directors of the New York City Industrial Development Agency (the “IDA”), Build New York City (“BNYC”), and the Randalls Island Park Alliance (“RIPA”). She chairs the Finance Committees of the IDA and BNYC, and she serves as Treasurer of RIPA, where she also chairs the Finance Committee and previously chaired the Audit Committee. Ms. Feirstein graduated from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and the University of Virginia School of Law, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Virginia Tax Review. She is an SEC-registered, MSRB-licensed Municipal Advisor (Series 50), and was previously a FINRA-licensed Registered Representative (Series 7), Municipal Principal (Series 53) and Uniform Securities Agent (Series 63). She is a retired member of the New York Bar Association.