The Authority is governed by a board of seven directors, each appointed by the Governor, one each upon the recommendation of the Majority Leader of the State Senate, the Speaker of the Assembly and the State Comptroller. Four directors constitute a quorum for meetings of the directors of the Authority. The Governor also designates the chairperson and vice-chairperson from among the directors.

Ronald A. Stack - Chairman and Director

Ronald A. Stack recently joined Wells Fargo as a Managing Director in charge of the Northeast Region. Mr. Stack has been a public finance investment banker for 24 years and has worked for Barclays Capital, Lehman Brothers and Goldman, Sachs. He was head of the Public Finance Department at Lehman Brothers for ten years until the Firm's problems in September 2008. During his career as a banker, Mr. Stack has served the States of New York, New Jersey. Connecticut, Massachusetts, California, and the City of New York, as well as their various authorities and agencies on literally multi-billions of dollars of financings. The innovative initial financing for the New York City Transitional Finance Authority on which Mr. Stack led as senior banker won the Institutional Investor Magazine's "Deal of the Year" award.

Mr. Stack served as Chair of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) for the 2008-2009 term and was a Member of the Board from 2006-2009. He also was the Chairman of the Municipal Executive Committee of The Bond Market Association (TBMA).

Before joining the industry, Mr. Stack was a management consultant with Deloitte, Touche. Prior to that, he served as Deputy Secretary to the Governor for former New York State Governor Hugh L. Carey. Mr. Stack also has taught at Columbia and Fordham Universities.

Mr. Stack holds a B.A. from King's College in Pennsylvania and a Masters of Philosophy from Columbia University.

Mr. Stack was appointed to the NIFA Board by Governor Pataki on June 27, 2000. He was reappointed as Chairman on November 6, 2008. His current term expires on December 31, 2012.

John R. Buran - Director

John R. Buran is Director, President and Chief Executive Officer of Flushing Financial Corporation the holding company for Flushing Bank. He joined the company and the bank in 2001 as Chief Operating Officer and he became a Director of these entities in 2003. In 2005, he was named President and Chief Executive Officer of Flushing Savings Bank (now Flushing Bank) and Flushing Financial Corporation.

Mr. Buran’s career spans more than 35 years in the banking industry, beginning with Citibank in 1977. There, he held a variety of management positions. Mr. Buran left Citibank to become Senior Vice President, Division Head for Retail Services of NatWest Bank and later Executive Vice President of Fleet Bank’s (now Bank of America) retail branch system in New York City, Long Island, Westchester and Southern Connecticut. John also spent time as a consultant and Assistant to the President of Carver Bank.

Buran has been a Director of the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York (FHLBNY) since 2010 and serves on their Audit and Affordable Housing Committees. He is also Chairman of FHLBNY Risk Task Force. John also serves on the Advisory Board and is a former Board President of Neighborhood Housing Services of New York City. He is past Chairman and current board member of the New York Bankers Association as well as a Director of New York Bankers Service Corporation. In 2011, he was appointed to the Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council of The Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

John holds a B.S. in Management and an M.B.A., both from New York University.

Mr. Buran was appointed to the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority by Governor Andrew Cuomo on August 8, 2012. His term will expire on December 31, 2014.

George J. Marlin - Director

George J. Marlin serves as Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of The Philadelphia Trust Company. He is also a New York Post contributor and columnist for Long Island Business News. Mr. Marlin’s essays have appeared in over two dozen periodicals including, The New York Times, New York Daily News, Newsday, The Bond Buyer, National Review, The Washington Times and Newsmax.

Mr. Marlin is the author/editor of ten books including The Guidebook to Municipal Bonds: The History, The Industry, The Mechanics and Squandered Opportunities: New York’s Pataki Years.

Mr. Marlin was appointed to the NIFA Board by Governor Paterson upon the recommendation from the Majority Leader of the Senate on June 9, 2010. His current term expires on December 31, 2013.

Dermond Thomas - Director

Dermond Thomas serves as Director, Corporate Counsel of MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. Mr. Thomas has been a corporate transactional lawyer for over 10 years and has worked for Arnold & Porter LLP and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP.
Mr. Thomas has represented sovereign nations, companies and individuals in complex U.S. and foreign transactions, including securities offerings and mergers and acquisitions. He also serves as a Trustee on the Board of Trustees of the Village of Valley Stream.

Mr. Thomas received his Juris Doctor from Columbia University School of Law and his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Amherst College.

Mr. Thomas was appointed to the NIFA Board by Governor Cuomo upon the recommendation from the Speaker of the State Assembly on August 17, 2011. His current term expires on December 31, 2013.

Christopher P. Wright - Director

Chris Wright, from Protiviti's New York office, is the firm-wide Managing Director of the firm’s Finance Remediation and Reporting Compliance group. Chris is also the Regional Managing Director for Protiviti's Eastern United States region and for Protiviti’s Litigation, Restructuring and Investigation Services practice. He has over twenty years experience serving clients as an internal and external auditor, including 6 years as a partner at two global accounting firms (Arthur Andersen and KPMG). At Protiviti, Chris has provided internal audit out-sourcing and co-sourcing, Sarbanes-Oxley readiness and compliance services, and significant assistance to companies experiencing restatements, regulatory inquiries, stock compensation investigations and difficulties in implementing new accounting pronouncements. Chris earned his Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Accounting from Franciscan University.

At Protiviti, Chris has provided internal audit out-sourcing and co-sourcing, Sarbanes-Oxley readiness and compliance services, and significant assistance to companies experiencing restatements, regulatory inquiries, stock compensation investigations and difficulties in implementing new accounting pronouncements. Chris earned his Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Accounting from Franciscan University.

Chris serves on the boards of several charitable, civic, educational and business organizations on Long Island. His work in Finance Remediation has also involved a significant commitment to public speaking and the development and delivery of internal and external training.

Mr. Wright was appointed to the NIFA Board by Governor Spitzer upon the recommendation from NYS Comptroller DiNapoli on September 24, 2007. He was re-appointed, again on the recommendation of Comptroller DiNapoli, by Governor Paterson on June 15, 2010. His current term expires on December 31, 2013.

NIFA STAFF

Evan Cohen - Executive Director

Evan L. Cohen serves as Executive Director. He has approximately 20 years of financial management experience dealing with governments, including 7 years previously as Deputy Director of the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority and 10 years as Assistant Deputy Director of the New York State Financial Control Board for the City of New York. Previously, he worked for 5 years at Grumman Corporation. Mr. Cohen earned a BE in Electrical Engineering and an MBA in Finance.

Maria Kwiatkowski - Deputy Director

Maria Kwiatkowski serves as Deputy Director. She has extensive government service that includes leading development of performance management for Nassau County, Budget Director for the University of DC, and Program Manager of the Budget Award Program at the national GFOA. Ms. Kwiatkowski holds a PhD in the Psychology of Performance from the University of Tennessee

Jeremy Wise - General Counsel

Jeremy Wise serves as General Counsel and Chief Borrowing Officer. Mr. Wise has been admitted to the practice of law in New York State since 1978. The majority of his legal career has been spent working in the area of public finance.

Laurie Boucher - Corporate Secretary & Chief Administrator

Jane Cunneen - Acting Treasurer