Board of Trustees

Ira P. Cohen

Board of Trustees, Chairperson
Term: Indefinite

Mr. Cohen is a successful mutual fund executive with over 43 years of retail, offshore and institutional experience. He currently serves as an Independent Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Angel Oak Funds Trust as well as an Independent Trustee for multiple fund boards including the Valued Advisor’s Series Trust, the Apollo Diversified Real Estate Fund, the CRM Family of Funds and as the independent Chairman of the US Fixed Income Trust. Mr. Cohen previously served as the Executive Vice President of Asset Management for Recognos Financial, a provider of semantic data analysis for the financial services industry. Over the past 20 + years Mr. Cohen has served as Managing Partner of a boutique consulting company providing advisory and compliance related services to firms such as Depository Trust & Clearing Company (DTCC) and FINRA. Previously he has held senior positions at INVESCO (formerly known as AIM Investments), Prudential and The Bank of New York.

As a highly sought after thought leader, Mr. Cohen is a frequent speaker at top industry conferences. Mr. Cohen has held FINRA registered Series 6, Series 26 and Series 63 licenses.

Laurence Galvin

Principal, Sparrow Family
Office Consulting, LLC
Board of Trustees
Term: Indefinite

Laurence Galvin is a results-driven strategic planner with a passion for helping privately held companies and family offices grow operations, improve technologies, expand business models and return-on-investments. He specializes in operational management, financial advisory, and helping firms source capital for business growth. Prior to becoming a principal at Sparrow, Laurence founded his own FINRA Member firm, Sinclair & Company, LLC, which specialized in the distribution of Regulation D Private Placement Securities and Insurance Products to an Institutional Client base. During that same period, hewas a Partner with RingsEnd Partners, LLC, a Corporate Advisory Firm that complimented his activities in Sinclair & Company, LLC.

Laurence holds a BA from Rutgers University in Business Administration and Economics and resides in Dallas.

Laurence previously held FINRA Series 3, Series 7, Series 24, Series 63 and Series 79 registrations.

Michael Hollingsed

Orlando Utilities Commission
Board of Trustees
Term: Indefinite

Michael Hollingsed is Treasurer and Director of Treasury Services for the Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC), the 14th largest municipal utility in the United States. He is responsible for OUC’s capital financings, managing all investment activities, payroll, accounts payable, payment processing, and reconciliation as well as advisory and oversight rolls over defined contribution and defined benefit pension programs.

Mr. Hollingsed has 35 years of experience working both for OUC and in the private sector. Michael earned his Bachelor’s degree in Economics from The Florida State University and his Master of Business Administration from The Crummer Graduate School of Business, Rollins College

David Jang

Managing Partner
Deep Blue Investment Advisors
Board of Trustees
Term: Indefinite

David Jang is a Managing Partner at Deep Blue Investment Advisors responsible for directing the firm’s marketing, business development and client advisory services. He serves on the firm’s investment and credit committees and authors the firm’s weekly economic updates. David’s investment advisory experience coupled with his client focused approach enables him to work with each entities’ investment team then tailor advice to meet their unique investment goals, objectives and adherence to all applicable state investment statutes. His ability to understand and assess the multi-layered components affecting local governments enables him to provide valuable insight to the firm’s treasury management, investment management and consulting clients. David routinely speaks at Florida’s Government associations, chapters, annual conferences and various CPE seminars customizing his discussions to locale, current economic conditions and the challenges that face Florida’s entities.

Prior to joining Deep Blue Investment Advisors, David spent 12 years working with Florida local government clients and 30 years overall in investment advisory services.

David earned his Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He earned the Association of Financial Professionals (AFP) designation of Certified Treasury Professional (CTP). David also has FINRA Series 7, 24, 63, and 65 licenses and is a Registered Investment Advisor with the Florida Department of Financial Regulation.

Eva S. Gregory, CPM

Director of Finance
City of Granbury
Board of Trustees
Term: Indefinite

Eva Gregory is the Director of Finance for the City of Granbury and has served in this capacity since 2013. Eva oversees all the finance, accounting, budgeting, purchasing and utility billing functions of the City of Granbury. She has worked for the City since 2005 in various capacities. Eva received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Texas in Arlington. She is a Certified Governmental Finance Officer and has earned the designation of CPM for the completion of the Texas Certified Public Manager Program at Texas State University in 2021. Eva is a graduate of the LBJ Public Executive Institute of Leadership. She is an active member of the Government Finance Officers Association of Texas, the national Government Finance Officer Association, and the Government Treasurers’ Organization of Texas. In addition to her professional work, Eva is a member of the local Kiwanis Club and has served as the secretary, treasurer, and president of the organization. Additionally, Eva is a board member of the Hood County Texas Emergency Medical Services.

E.H. Levering

Principal, Levering Consulting Group
Board of Trustees
Term: Indefinite

Mr. Levering has recently retired from 19 years as the SVP/CFO of Miami Dade College and the MDC Foundation. At the College, he oversaw 26 financial, operational and student services departments and endowments totaling $1.6 billion.

Prior to Miami Dade College, he worked for 13 years with Ryder System, Inc., most recently in the role of CFO/CIO of the subsidiary Ryder Move Management, Inc.

He is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Management and a graduate of the Duke University, Fuqua School of Business with a Masters in Business Administration.

Randy K. Sterns, Esq.

Shareholder, Bush Ross, P.A.
Board of Trustees
Term: Indefinite

Randy Sterns has extensive experience representing financial institutions, credit union service organizations, and public and private companies. His transactional practice focuses on federal and state securities law reporting and compliance. He also advises on intellectual property matters and represents tax-exempt organizations including charities, schools, social service entities and religious organizations.

Randy began his career serving as a Legislative Assistant and Counsel to U.S. Senator Mark O. Hatfield (R- OR). He currently serves as trustee for the WY Fund, a Tampa-based mutual fund which serves as a short-term investment bond fund for governmental institutions. He is a member of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association and Non-Profit Organizations, State Regulation of Securities, Exempt Transactions and Exempt Securities sub-committees.

Randy obtained his B.A. from Oral Roberts University with magna cum laude distinction, M.B.A. and J.D. from Willamette University, and LL.M. from Georgetown University.

M. Brent Wertz

Managing Partner,
Deep Blue Investment Advisors
Board of Trustees
Term: Indefinite

Brent Wertz is the Managing Partner at Deep Blue Investment Advisors. Brent provides strategic leadership for the company and is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the firm’s investment process. He heads implementation of the firm’s investment strategies and portfolio risk management. He serves on the firm’s investment and credit committees.

Brent started Deep Blue Investment Advisors based on his experience serving as a consultant to special taxing districts throughout the State of Florida assisting these districts in bond offerings, assessment allocation and collections, as well as assisting District Managers with treasury management.

Brent is a graduate of Virginia Military Institute with a B.A. Economics. Brent received his Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Tampa.

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This communication and the products and services described within are intended solely for Texas public institutions and is not an offer to sell or buy any investments or services offered by Deep Blue Investment Advisors to any public institution in any jurisdiction in which such offer or solicitation would be unlawful under the securities laws of such jurisdiction.