Team

Ms. Russel joined the Finance Authority in September, 2000 and had been serving as Chief of Programs since 2003.  Ms. Russel was appointed as the Finance Authority's Chief Executive Officer in November 2019.  Prior to joining the Finance Authority, Ms. Russel spent 10 years at the Illinois Development Finance Authority, where she held the positions of Marketing Director and Senior Program Administrator.  Ms. Russel earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Mr. Zavelle joined NMFA in June 2009.  Mr. Zavelle has an extensive and varied background in finance with public and private universities, a major cultural organization, and as a capital markets banker in Asia responsible for client relations and for loan and bond underwriting, syndication and private placement.  He served as a VP/CFO for Fisk University, Brooklyn College/CUNY , and Baruch College/CUNY, as Vice Chancellor for Administration & Planning for City University of New York, as SVP and Chief Operating Officer for The New York Public Library, and as a Managing Director with Chase Manhattan Asia Limited in Hong Kong and Tokyo.  Mr. Zavelle has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Dartmouth College and a Masters of Business Administration degree from Harvard University.

Mr. Lovato joined NMFA in August 2003 coming to NMFA from the State of New Mexico PERA.  Mr. Lovato has over 18 years of experience in Investments and Finance, majority of that time spent in the public sector.  Mr. Lovato has a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration/Finance from the University of New Mexico, and a Master’s degree in Business Administration/Finance from the New York Institute of Technology.

Mr. Opperman joined NMFA in Novermber 2010 as Assistant General Counsel and became General Counsel in October 2012.  Prior to joining NMFA, Mr. Opperman served as General Counsel for the New Mexico Department of Transportation ("NMDOT") for two years.  Mr. Opperman obtained his law degree from the University of New Mexico School of Law and his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of New Mexico.  Mr. Opperman is a retired professional baseball player with the Los Angeles Dodgers organization.

Mr. Rodriguez joined NMFA in October 2016.  Before that, he served as the Finance Director for the City of Santa Fe.  Mr. Rodriguez has more than 25 years of experience managing local government financing in New Mexico, District of Columbia, Texas, Maryland, and abroad.  He received a Masters of City Planning degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1982 and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University in 1980.

Peter Shellenberger is a Managing Director with PFM. With over 20 years experience, he has served as project manager on over $15 billion in financings involving new money issuance, refundings, fixed rate, variable rate, federal grant securitization and derivative product implementation. He has worked for a broad cross section of clients including cities, counties, water and wastewater, airports and numerous transportation clients across the U.S.  

Peter is a senior member in PFM’s national transportation practice. He advises transportation entities throughout the U.S. including Nevada DOT, New Mexico DOT, San Francisco MTA, San Diego RTC, Sacramento Transportation Authority, Southern Nevada RTC, City of Phoenix, Port of Tacoma, Southern California Regional Rail Commission, Caltrain, AC Transit, and others.  Prior to joining PFM, Peter worked with KPMG Consulting in Washington DC, providing New Starts financial plan evaluation to the FTA and financial and economic analyses for the US DOT.