48th Annual Conference - Speaker Bios

Thank you to our speakers for helping to communicate best practices and for sharing their experiences. We are so appreciative because we would be unable to provide quality CPE to our members without their dedicated time and effort.

                                                                                                         - AGFOA Board

Teri Westbrook - Director of Technology & Security

Teri Westbrook is the Director of Technology & Security at Pinnacle IT, where she leads the alignment of technology strategy, cybersecurity, and service delivery to support secure, scalable outcomes for clients across regulated and professional industries. With a strong background in cloud, security, and managed services, she plays a key role in shaping technical standards, strengthening security posture, and guiding organizations through complex technology decisions.

Michele Allgood - Mitchell Williams Law Firm

Michele grew up in Paris, Arkansas. She graduated from Hendrix College before earning her law degree from Vanderbilt School of Law. Michele is a member of Mitchell Williams Law Firm and splits her time between the Little Rock and Jonesboro offices. Her primary practice area is municipal finance, and she has had the opportunity to aid state agencies, cities, counties, facility boards, and commissions throughout the state. She also has a general transactional practice that includes finance, real estate, contract drafting and negotiations, and corporate governance. Michele lives in Sherwood, Arkansas with her husband and a rotating group of daughters, pets and a son-in-law.

John Albritton, CPA - Landmark

John began his career at Landmark in 2005 as an audit intern. He worked as a member of the audit team for three years and then transferred to the bond arbitrage/tax compliance team in 2009 where he now serves as a member. His expertise includes bond arbitrage services and tax compliance services for tax-exempt organizations and employee benefit plans. John and his wife, Allison, have two daughters, Avery and Audrey. In his free time, he enjoys all things like Razorback athletics and riding his road bike. John has participated in the RAGBRAI ride across Iowa many times.

Ryan Bowman - Friday, Eldredge & Clark, LLP

Ryan Bowman is a partner at Friday, Eldredge & Clark, LLP and Group Head of the Public Finance Practice Group. Ryan was admitted to the Arkansas Bar in 2000 and started as a full-time bond attorney with the firm that same year. Since that time, he has practiced exclusively in public finance. Ryan is a member of the National Association of Bond Lawyers and is listed in Chambers and Partners USA: America's Leading Lawyers in Municipal Bonds. Ryan’s bond practice has an emphasis on financing public projects throughout Arkansas. These primarily include revenue bonds, voter-approved bonds secured by local sales and use taxes and school district bond issues. These financings have included bonds sold through underwriters on a negotiated basis, bonds sold at competitive sale, bonds issued by State agencies, bonds placed with local banks, bonds that were rated by national rating agencies and bonds that were insured.

Jason Holsclaw - Stephens Inc.

Jason Holsclaw joined Stephens’ Public Finance Department in 2012. Since that time, he has managed a variety of debt financings for municipalities, school districts, utilities, and colleges and universities. Prior to joining Stephens, he was a Senior Analyst with the U.S. Government Accountability Office in Washington, D.C., where he led numerous reviews of federal agency operations and programs. Jason also served as a senior investigator and advisor to the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging. He holds a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Kentucky and a B.A. from Ouachita Baptist University. He is also a registered Municipal Advisor Representative, Municipal Securities Representative and a registered Uniform State Law Securities Agent.

Gabe Holmstrom - Capitol & Main

Gabe Holmstrom is the Principal at the Capitol & Main consulting firm. Currently, he is leading the effort to pass Issue 3 on behalf of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce. Gabe spent 10 years as the Executive Director of the Downtown Little Rock Partnership and is certified by the International Downtown Association as a Leader in Place management (LPM), he was also part of their Emerging Leaders Fellowship program. Prior to his work at the downtown place management organization, he served as Chief of Staff at the Arkansas House of Representatives. During his career, he worked for CJRW, one of the largest full-service marketing firms in the Southwest, the Arkansas Attorney General, a Member of Congress, and ran campaigns that have won and lost. Additionally, he has worked for both Republicans and Democrats.

Mimi M. Hurst - Stephens Inc

Mimi M. Hurst is a Managing Director of Stephens Inc. in Little Rock, AR. Mrs. Hurst is a Senior Vice President in the Stephens Capital Management division of Stephens Inc. and is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the investment components of the Stephens Choice platform and of the State of Arkansas Deferred Compensation Plan, known as the Arkansas Diamond Plan. She is Chairperson of the Stephens Choice Investment Committee and former Chairperson of the Stephens Allocation Strategies Investment Committee. Mrs. Hurst began her career in investments at T. J. Raney & Sons. Mrs. Hurst is a FINRA Registered Representative (Series 7) and a Registered Investment Advisor Representative (Series 66). Mrs. Hurst graduated with honors from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and a past member of the New York Society of Analysts. She is a member of the CFA Institute. She was one of the twelve founding Board Members of the Arkansas Society of Financial Analysts, renamed the CFA Society Arkansas.

David M. Coleman – Forvis-Mazars, LLP

David is a professional in FORVIS’ Public Sector Practice. He has over 22 years of experience providing audit and consulting services to various governmental and nonprofit organizations, including municipalities and their component units, utilities, and other service-related entities that receive federal and state assistance. He is responsible for engagement oversight and review for numerous governmental and nonprofit organizations subject to Single Audit requirements. He is a member of the American Institute of CPAs, the Arkansas Society of Certified Public Accountants, and the Government Finance Officers Association of Texas. He is licensed as a CPA in Arkansas and Texas. David is a graduate of Henderson State University, Arkadelphia, Arkansas, with a B.B.A. degree in accounting.

Katherine (Katie) R. Flores – Forvis-Mazars, LLP

Katie has over five years of experience providing audit services to governmental and nonprofit organizations, including Single Audits. She performs a variety of governmental and nonprofit audit engagements, including municipalities, private colleges, and other service-related entities that receive federal and state assistance. Katie is a member of the American Institute of CPAs, the Arkansas Society of Certified Public Accountants, and the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada. Katie is a graduate of the University of Central Arkansas, Conway, with a B.B.A. degree in accounting and business administration.

Richard E. Boer Jr. – Forvis-Mazars, LLP

Richard E. Boer Jr. is a Director at Forvis Mazars, LLP based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Rich specializes in State and Local Tax and has more than 30 years of experience. He has worked with multistate companies on various multijurisdictional compliance and consulting tax matters, including income, franchise, sales and use, property, and payroll taxes, as well as credits and incentives, and unclaimed funds.  He currently leads the state tax credits and incentives practice at Forvis Mazars. In addition to focusing on identifying and securing state and local tax credits and incentives for his clients, Rich has also been involved with assisting clients with the federal clean energy tax credits provided for under the Inflation Reduction Act. In addition to working in the credits and incentives area, Rich’s state and local tax experience has included managing extensive refund studies, analyzing nexus issues, assisting with determining taxability decisions, negotiating voluntary disclosure agreements, managing state tax audits, developing tax savings ideas, and evaluating current compliance strategies. He also has experience providing consultation to his clients related to the state tax consequences of various business realignment projects. Rich’s clients have included large publicly traded, multistate manufacturing, retail, transportation, and oil and gas companies as well as privately held companies operating in various industries. Before joining Forvis Mazars, he worked with different international accounting firms providing similar services. Rich is a 1993 graduate of Indiana University, Bloomington, with a B.S. degree in accounting.

Caran Curry – Arkansas Municipal League

Caran Curry has been working with grants for over 40 years. She is an attorney and the former director of a state agency where she was the state administrator of several federal grants. She has lectured in over 30 states about grants and for many federal departments including the Department of Justice, Transportation, Health and Human Services, EPA, and National Endowment for the Arts. She is currently the Grants Attorney for the Arkansas Municipal League.

Joy Black – City of Bryant

Joy Black has been a member of AGFOA and GFOA since 2007 when she moved back to Arkansas from Texas. In Texas, she graduated from the University of Texas in Austin and received her CPA. She went to work in public accounting/audit for Deloitte. When she moved back to Arkansas she became the Accounting/Purchasing Manager for the City of Hot Springs. In 2014 she accepted the position of Director of Finance for the City of Bryant. She continues in that position today. She also has a husband named Edward, a seven-year-old named Camber, and two new kittens named Cheeto and Rosabell. 

Tyler Winningham – City of Conway

Tyler Winningham has been the Chief Financial Officer for the City of Conway since 2011.  He graduated from the University of Central Arkansas in 2003 with a bachelor’s in business administration, majoring in accounting.  He worked for Lindsey & Company in Searcy for 1 ½ years as an Accountant, where he completed monthly and annual accounting duties for approximately 20 housing authorities across the country.  In 2005 he accepted a job with the City of Maumelle as an Accountant and was quickly appointed the Finance Director in January of 2006 after the previous Director left.  He worked there until September of 2011 when he was hired to become the CFO in Conway.

Casey Wilhelm – City of Rogers

Casey Wilhelm is the Director of Finance for the City of Rogers. She manages the Finance office for the City of Rogers, which is responsible for the payroll, receivables, payables, investments, grants and budgets. Ms. Wilhelm is a graduate of Arkansas State University with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and holds an active CPA license in Arkansas. She started her career with the Division of Legislative Audit in 1997, where she primarily audited cities and counties. In 2013, she started working for the City of Rogers as the Director of Finance. Ms. Wilhelm is a member of the Arkansas Society of Certified Public Accounts and a member of the Arkansas Government Finance Officers Association.