Meet Our Team

David Rose

Senior Vice President and Manager of Public Finance

David Rose has served as Municipal Advisor to public sector clients throughout the United States for nearly 40 years. Since founding Davenport’s public finance practice in 1998, Mr. Rose focuses on the local government finance sector throughout the nation, ranging from large and complex municipalities to smaller town credits. Over his 20-plus years at Davenport, Mr. Rose has grown the firm’s public finance practice to one of the largest in the Mid-Atlantic region.* Mr. Rose graduated from Kenyon College and attended Harvard University.

*In terms of number of transactions and volume in MD, VA, NC, SC and GA. Source: Refinitiv, formerly Thomson Reuters.

Ted Cole

Senior Vice President and Manager of Public Finance

Ted Cole has served as Municipal Advisor to local government clients in the Mid-Atlantic for over 20 years at Davenport and leads the firm’s North Carolina public finance practice. Mr. Cole has assisted local governments and utilities throughout Virginia and North Carolina with a wide range of transaction, capital planning and credit rating interaction. Mr. Cole received his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia and an M.B.A. from the University of Richmond.

Mitch Brigulio

Senior Vice President

Mitch Brigulio began his career with Davenport in 2005 and since that time has served as Municipal Advisor on a wide range of issuers including local governments, utility systems, and toll roads. Mr. Brigulio focuses on public finance engagements in North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland and has extensive experience interacting with the North Carolina’s Local Government Commission. Mr. Brigulio received his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Jennifer Diercksen

Senior Vice President

Jennifer Diercksen began her career in the public finance sector in 2004 and joined Davenport in 2016. Ms. Diercksen started as a financial management consultant for the federal government. Prior to joining Davenport, Ms. Diercksen was a senior rating analyst for six years at Moody’s Investors Service for state and local governments in the eastern United States. She brings credit rating experience and serves as a resource to all of our Municipal Advisor engagements. Ms. Diercksen holds a B.A. in economics from the University of Maryland – College Park and an M.P.A. from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University.

Roland Kooch, Jr.

Senior Vice President

Roland Kooch has worked in public finance since 1993 and has served as Municipal Advisor to public sector and not-for-profit clients throughout the nation. Since joining Davenport in 1998, Mr. Kooch has led the analytical, financial modeling, and credit work on a wide variety of governmental and enterprise system engagements including large, complex municipal issuers, small local government borrowers and troubled entities. Mr. Kooch received his B.S. in business administration with a major in accounting from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

Kyle Laux

Senior Vice President

Kyle Laux began his career with Davenport in 2003 and since that time has served as Municipal Advisor to local governments throughout the nation. Mr. Laux’s experience in public finance is diverse and he has led efforts in financial modeling, capital planning and credit rating strategy development for large cities and counties, small towns and regional entities. Mr. Laux also has considerable experience working on behalf of established issuers and entities obtaining their first credit rating. Mr. Laux graduated from Kenyon College with a degree in economics.

Joe Mason

Senior Vice President

Joe Mason began his career in public finance in 1996, having served as a state-level debt manager, Senior Director for Fitch Ratings and a Municipal Advisor to state and local governments throughout the eastern United States. Mr. Mason works on client engagements throughout Davenport’s footprint and leads our department’s Maryland public finance practice. Mr. Mason holds a B.A. in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an M.P.A. from The American University in Washington, D.C.

Courtney Rogers

Senior Vice President

Courtney Rogers has worked in public finance since 1989. He is a Municipal Advisor to local government and utility enterprise fund credits throughout the Mid-Atlantic/Southeast. Since joining Davenport in 1998, Mr. Rogers has provided specialized quantitative analyses for clients in the region and has led Davenport’s public finance practice in Georgia. Mr. Rogers began his career as a Senior Consultant for Ernst & Young specializing in verification and arbitrage rebate calculations. Mr. Rogers graduated from the University of Alabama.

Jimmy Sanderson

Senior Vice President

Jimmy Sanderson has worked as a Municipal Advisor at Davenport since 2004. Prior to joining the firm, he practiced as a bond lawyer for Hunton & Williams in Richmond, Virginia for six years. Mr. Sanderson focuses on the local government and not-for-profit sectors bringing in-depth knowledge of federal tax and securities law to our clients in all aspects of the engagement. Mr. Sanderson received a B.S. in architecture from the University of Virginia and a J.D. from the T.C. School of Law at the University of Richmond.

Ty Wellford

Senior Vice President

Ty Wellford began his public finance career at Davenport in 2006. Mr. Wellford works with a wide range of clients, including state credits, transportation systems, large municipalities, utility systems, and not-for-profit entities. He specializes in providing customized solutions for clients facing complex financial challenges. Mr. Wellford also oversees the day-to-day operation of Davenport’s Investment Management Program. Mr. Wellford received a B.S. in accounting and business administration from Washington & Lee University.

Ricardo Cornejo

First Vice President

Ricardo Cornejo began his career in governmental finance in 1996 serving cities, counties and school districts. Prior to joining the firm in 2015, he worked at several regional financial institutions covering municipal clients in the southeastern United States. Since joining Davenport Mr. Cornejo has served a broad spectrum of clients and a wide variety of financings with a focus on issuers in Georgia. Mr. Cornejo received his B.A. from the University of Maryland and his M.A. from Clemson University.

Doug Gebhardt

First Vice President

Doug Gebhardt began his career as a Municipal Advisor with Davenport in 2012. Mr. Gebhardt has worked on numerous client engagements with a primary focus in the State of Georgia. Mr. Gebhardt has specialized in designing and constructing financial models for Cities, Counties, Towns and Authorities. Mr. Gebhardt’s expertise includes advising on Tax Allocation Districts, ongoing and inaugural Rating Agency Interactions, and Financial Policies. Mr. Gebhardt graduated from Amherst College with a degree in Economics.

R.T. Taylor

Vice President

R.T. Taylor began his professional development as an auditor with Ernst & Young. Mr. Taylor came to Davenport in 2001 and joined the Public Finance Team in 2004. Mr. Taylor works on client engagements throughout the Mid Atlantic/Southeast region performing multi-year governmental and enterprise fund financial modeling, capital planning, rating agency interaction, and debt issuance strategies. Mr. Taylor attended Hampden-Sydney College and obtained his B.S. in Accounting from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Susan Ostazeski

Vice President

Susan Ostazeski has worked as a Municipal Advisor since 2002, beginning at Public Advisory Consultants before joining Davenport in 2019. Ms. Ostazeski has served a variety of clients, focusing on Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Her expertise includes debt modeling and other financial analyses. Ms. Ostazeski graduated from Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College) with a degree in mathematics and economics.

Ben Wilson

Vice President

Ben Wilson began his career as a Municipal Advisor with Davenport in 2018. Mr. Wilson has worked on numerous client engagements with a primary focus in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Mr. Wilson’s expertise includes designing and constructing financial models, execution of municipal financing strategies, ongoing and inaugural Rating Agency Interactions, and Financial Policies. Mr. Wilson graduated from Virginia Tech with degrees in Finance and Economics.

AJ Allen, Analyst
Gregor Bates, Analyst 
Allie Baxter
Gracie Caplice, Analyst
Steven Fang, Analyst
Stephen Geisz, AVP
Christopher Holt, AVP
Miller Levitt, Analyst

Will Stinson, Analyst
Ben Tolbert, Analyst
Jamie Traudt, SVP