David W. Findlay, CPA, CMC – President & Principal
David Findlay is president of the company and chairman of the board of directors. After serving 24 years in the professional services industry, David co-founded FCS GROUP in 1988 to fill a need for independent specialization in the field of utility rates and finance and management consulting. Having completed close to 900 engagements in his career, David is adept in all aspects of the firm’s practice areas and provides specialized expertise in water and sewer utility mergers, appraisals and acquisitions/divestitures.
David is a member of several professional associations and is frequently called on to speak at conferences. He has recently presented on topics such as Indirect Cost Allocation Plans, Asset Management, Utility Capital Connection Charges, Fiscal Health and Financial Performance, and Cash Management and Rate Adoption. He has also served as an external board member for two regional environmental science consulting companies. David earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Washington and is certified as both a Public Accountant and a Management Consultant.
Taree Bollinger, CPSM – Vice President
Taree Bollinger is the vice president and a firm shareholder. Taree has been with the firm for over 15 years and has over 30 years of total experience in marketing, communications, and business processes. She oversees and directs the firm’s marketing, accounting, human resources, system administration, and facilities management activities. Taree has the ability to analyze organizational systems and effectively communicate recommendations for streamlining operational processes based on her prior experience as director of communications for an international non-profit association and manager of policy and procedures for two major northwest corporations.
Taree is a member of the Society for Marketing Professional Services. She also belongs to the Society of Human Resource Managers. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Washington State University and is a Certified Professional Services Marketer.
Edward J. Cebron - Principal
Ed Cebron co-founded the firm with David Findlay in 1988 to fill a need for independent specialization in the field of utility rates and finance and management consulting. Ed specializes in utility rates and finance. He has managed and conducted more than 500 financial and economic analyses for municipal water, sewer, storm drainage, and solid waste utilities. His work focuses on both traditional and innovative solutions and he is frequently asked to present at training seminars and conferences. He has recently presented on topics such as the What, Why and How of Utility Rate Setting; Water & Sewer Rate Structures; Septic Utility Formation, and Sustainable Utilities.
Ed has managed numerous citizen advisory committees, has served as a water district commissioner, and has served on a number of regional or purveyor committees. He is a member in the Washington Finance Officers Association and the American Water Works Association. He holds a master’s degree in infrastructure planning and management from Stanford University and a bachelor’s degree in engineering science from Harvard University.
John Ghilarducci - Principal
John Ghilarducci is a firm principal and shareholder. John has a broad knowledge of public policy and finance and has performed hundreds of rate studies for water, wastewater, stormwater, transportation and parks systems. He has a thorough understanding of the institutional issues and options underlying the formation of utilities and the design of supporting rate and charge structures. He has assisted several clients with stormwater and transportation utility formations.
John frequently leads public review and citizen advisory groups, and speaks at conferences and seminars for various professional organizations. He taught a statewide series of all-day training sessions on System Development Charges for the League of Oregon Cities Leadership Institute. John holds a master’s degree in public administration for organization and management from the University of Washington and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Oregon.
Peter Moy - Principal
Peter Moy is a principal of the firm and leads our Management Consulting practice. Over his 30-plus-year career, Peter has developed a thorough knowledge of government operations and has helped numerous public agencies find innovative and workable solutions to become more effective in solving policy, financial, management, and operational issues. He is frequently called upon to speak at professional meetings and training seminars. He has recently presented on topics such as Performance Audits – Evaluating the Impact of Special Development Projects, Setting up an Ambulance Utility, Equipment Repair and Replacement, Performance Audit Practice & Results, and Indirect Cost Allocation - Balancing Cost Recovery & Equity.
Peter holds a master’s degree in business administration and finance and a bachelor’s degree in finance, organizational behavior, and industrial relations from the University of California, Berkeley. He is a member of the Washington Association of Sewer and Water Districts.
Karyn Johnson - Principal
Karyn Johnson is a shareholder and principal with the firm, where her practice focus is Utility Rates & Finance. She has completed over 200 consulting engagements encompassing water, wastewater, and stormwater programs. Karyn provides specialized expertise in water conservation rate structures and complex cost allocation issues for wholesale/unique customers. She has spoken at several conferences throughout the U.S. and Canada. Her recent presentations have included Transitioning to Universal Metering & Water Conservation Rates; Large and Unique Customers: Defining Costs and Structures; Basics of Cost of Service Rates; Financial Planning; Long-Term Financial & Rate Planning: Policies, Practices, and Tools for Successful Management; Rates, Reserves, and Revenue: Where do you draw the line?, and Rate Forecasting for Small Water and Irrigation Systems.
Karyn is a member of the American Water Works Association, the British Columbia Water & Waste Association, the Water Environment Federation, and the Eastern Washington Water Alliance. She holds a master’s degree in business administration from Pepperdine University and a bachelor’s degree in business management from Franklin University.
Angie Sanchez Virnoche - Principal
Angie Sanchez Virnoche is a shareholder and principal. Angie has over 15 years of experience and has provided financial services for water, sewer, stormwater, solid waste, and electric utilities. Her project work includes multi-year financial planning, cost of service studies, rate design restructuring, capital/infrastructure planning, funding alternatives, cost benefit analyses, reserve analysis, and community education and involvement. She is often asked to speak at state and national professional conferences and has recently given presentations on topics such as Utility Rate Studies, Rates for Small Systems, Utility Rate Strategies and Techniques, Indirect Cost Allocation, and Asset Management Systems. She has also taught a one-day training seminar on Utility Rates for the Washington Financial Officers Association.
Angie is a member of the American Water Works Association (Rates and Charges Subcommittee and the Standards Committee); the Washington Finance Officers Association, and the Oregon Municipal Finance Officers Association. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and finance from Oregon State University.
Robert Grantham - Senior Project Manager, California Branch Manager
Robert Grantham is a senior project manager and the California branch manager. He specializes in financial and management analyses for water, sewer stormwater, solid waste, and transportation utilities. He has worked with over 60 municipalities in 13 states, including California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas, and Hawaii.
Robert is active in industry associations including being an active member of the AWWA National Rates Committee and has served on the WateReuse Association’s Project Advisory Committee. He has also published an article with the Underground Infrastructure Management Magazine on recycled water rates and cost of service allocations. His analytical skills include performing revenue requirement and rate development analyses, financial forecasting, economic feasibility studies, engineering financial chapters, capital facilities charge/connection fee development, bond parity certification, utility formations, facility valuations, unit price analyses, and indirect cost and management studies. He earned his bachelor's degree in government and history from Franklin and Marshall College.
E. Todd Chase, AICP, LEED AP - Senior Project Manager, Economist
Todd Chase is a senior project manager and assistant Oregon office manager. Todd is an economist with over 23 years of experience in management consulting, financial analysis, and economic analysis for public-sector clients. His experience includes management of over 150 impact studies, annexation studies, funding strategies, and capital facility plans, with emphasis on growth management and sustainable “green” infrastructure. One of his specialties is providing detailed economic and fiscal impact assessments of the costs associated with planned public and private improvements.
A recognized leader in Oregon on economic development policy issues, Todd is an appointed member of Oregon’s Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) Economic Development Planning Advisory Committee, and the Clackamas Economic Development Commission. He is certified by the American Institute of Certificated Planners and he is a LEED Accredited Professional. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Florida and completed master's-level coursework in finance at Johns Hopkins University.
Don Ganer – Senior Project Manager
Don Ganer is a senior project manager in FCS GROUP’s Oregon office. He has over 28 years of experience in local government management, finance, and consulting. His professional career
has focused on enhancing and improving local government operations and management. Don has worked with more than
50 local government organizations to develop capital facilities plans, cost allocation funding plans for capital facilities, and
non-tax funding alternatives for operations and maintenance.
He has developed over 90 impact fees, and has provided training
on these fees for numerous local government staff members, officials, and legal professionals. He recently spoke at the 2008 National Impact Fee Roundtable on park impact fees and has also presented on the topic of transportation impact fees.
Don has extensive experience in organizational performance planning and review, quality management, and productivity analysis. His hands-on field experience in performance-based analysis encompasses a wide variety of local government operations including permitting, planning, budgeting, purchasing, contracting, facilities maintenance, public works, parks and recreation, sanitation, vehicle maintenance, and other local government functions. He holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from Texas A&M University.
Scott Lester – Marketing and Business Development
Manager
Scott W. Lester, MBA, is FCS GROUP’s marketing and business development manager. He is responsible for market research, strategic planning, and communications, in addition to business development, client relationship management, and proposal creation. He has over 15 years of experience providing marketing communications for professional service firms in the public and private sectors. Scott is a member of the Society for Marketing Professional Services and on the Evergreen Chapter Board of the Solid Waste Association of North America. Scott holds bachelor’s degrees in journalism and global affairs with a minor in anthropology from Pacific Lutheran University and a master’s degree in business administration.
Gordon Wilson – Project Manager
Gordon Wilson is a project manager with expertise in budget management, performance measurement, and financial planning for local governments. He has over 21 years of experience working in finance and management for the public sector, most recently as the accounting/treasury manager at the City of Bellevue, and as financial manager for the City of Portland Parks and Recreation. Gordon has been a speaker for Washington Financial Officers Association and Washington Recreation and Parks Association and has recently presented on topics including Measuring and Communicating the Impact of Parks and Up in the Air about Parks and Recreation Fees?
He holds a master's degree in business administration from Harvard Business School, a master's degree in public policy degree from Kennedy School of Government, and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Brigham Young University. From 1990 to 2004, he served as adjunct professor at Portland State University and Lewis & Clark College, where he taught graduate courses in government financial management and public budgeting.
Nihat Dogan – Project Manager
Nihat Dogan is a project manager. His expertise includes statistical modeling and forecasting, economic analysis, and financial planning and budgeting. He has performed reviews of rate designs and modeling, and connection charges/impact fees. Nihat has also prepared revenue requirement and cost of service analyses for cities and districts. As a management consultant, he has analyzed the financial practices and procedures of a municipal public works department. He has presented on topics such as the What, Why and How of Utility Rate Setting and Utility Financial Reserves for the Washington Finance Officers Association.
Nihat is a member of the Institute of Management Consultants. He holds a master’s degree in business administration from Seattle University and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Middle East Technical University.
Nicholas Almeida – Project Manager
Nicholas Almeida is a project manager at FCS GROUP. In this position, he provides services in the areas of financial and management consulting. Mr. Almeida is responsible for conducting financial forecasts, cost of service and cost allocation analyses, fiscal policy reviews, economic feasibility analyses, and organizational analyses. Prior to joining FCS GROUP, Mr. Almeida consulted in the areas of policy, financial, and program evaluation as a senior associate for a research and consulting firm in Southern California. Mr. Almeida has also been a senior auditor evaluator for the California Bureau of State Audits, where he assessed the performance, compliance, and cost effectiveness of public sector entities and their activities. He has a master’s degree in sociology with a concentration in organizational theory and a bachelor’s degree in public policy from Stanford University.
Chris Gonzalez - Project Consultant
Chris Gonzalez is a project consultant. Chris’s expertise is focused in utility rate and related financial studies. His work to date includes standard cost of service rate studies, connection charge studies, and the derivation of specialized rate structures such as interruptible water service rates and wholesale water rates.Chris is also experienced with Washington State’s excise tax rules, having spent a substantial amount of time working with the Washington State Department of Revenue on excise tax audits on behalf of FCS GROUP clients around Washington State.
Chris has been a speaker for the Washington Financial Officers Association presenting on Utility Excise Tax Reporting Guidelines. He also published a two-part article in the Washington Association of Sewer and Water District's Pipeline on Understanding How Washington's Excise Tax Affects Water and Sewer Utilities.Chris holds a bachelor's degree in operations research and financial engineering and a certificate in engineering and management systems from Princeton University.
Nathan Reese - Project Consultant
Nathan Reese is a project consultant focusing on analytical work in support of the firm’s management consulting efforts. His previous experience includes positions as a senior budget analyst and management analyst for local government. Nathan has worked with several city departments, including transportation, and has performed various municipal/legal research functions. He has coordinated department narratives, prepared and analyzed data, and written various citywide performance reports. As an intern, he ran city surveys on animal control and police services.
Nathan has a master's degree in public administration from the Maxwell School of Syracuse University and a bachelor's degree in international politics from Brigham Young University.
Sergey Tarasov - Project Consultant
Sergey Tarasov is a project consultant specializing in utility financial (rate) consulting for water, sewer, stormwater, and electric utilities. His area of expertise focuses on customer statistics analysis, creating customer specific profiles to aid in detailed load forecasting, revenue requirement analysis, cost of service allocation, rate design analysis, and unit cost determination. His extensive modeling experience allows for tailoring each model to meet individual client needs and facilitates the generation of sensitivity analyses for selection of the optimum rate strategy. Prior to joining the firm, Sergey spent nine month with the Washington State Department of Ecology as an economist. He is a member of the Partnership for Water Conservation (PWC) and Northwest Public Power Association (NWPPA) and has presented at conferences on the topic of conservation-based rates. He received his bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Washington, where he also studied statistics, econometrics, and advanced mathematics.
Matthew Mullen – Project Consultant
Matthew Mullen is a project consultant at FCS GROUP with experience providing cost of service studies for various utilities throughout the western United States. His expertise includes cost allocations; developing retail rates, wholesale rates, drought rates, and recycled water and capacity charges; performing supply analyses and bond feasibility analyses; and incorporating VBA programming to develop intuitive, user-friendly financial models.
Prior to joining FCS GROUP, Mr. Mullen was an auditor for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Services Financial Management division. In this role, he was responsible for auditing contract payments and ensuring accuracy and legality of documentation and calculations. He holds a bachelor's degree in managerial economics and communications from the University of California, Davis.
Courtney Black - Senior Analyst
Courtney Black is a senior analyst specializing in utility finances and general government fees. She is experienced in rate modeling and design, connection charges and system development charges, revenue requirements, wholesale rates and parity certification. In the area of general government resource enhancement consulting, she has experience with user fee and indirect cost recovery plans. Courtney has specialized expertise in preparing financial chapters for water, sewer, and stormwater comprehensive plans for cities, counties, and utility districts throughout the Northwest. She graduated from Pacific Lutheran University, with a bachelor's degree in economics and political science.
Ryan Blake - Analyst
Ryan Blake is an analyst in support of the firm’s utility rate and general government financial consulting efforts throughout the western United States. Prior to joining FCS GROUP, Ryan served as an intern for the U.S. Department of Treasury in the Office of Debt Management under the Offices of Domestic Finance. He has a bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of California, Davis.
Catherine Otten - Analyst
Catherine is an analyst in support of the firm’s utility rate financial consulting for water, sewer, stormwater, and electric utilities, with a special interest in solid waste. Prior to joining FCS GROUP, Catherine was Manager of Communication and Programs at Futurist.com, a local firm that consults on future trends, strategic planning, and shaping the future. Catherine holds a bachelor’s degree in international business and economics from Boston University and an MBA from Seattle University.
Tage Aaker - Analyst
Tage Aaker is an analyst in support of the firm’s utility rate and general government financial consulting efforts. Prior to joining FCS GROUP, he worked as a test engineer where he provided quality assurance for Cisco Systems’ consumer electronics division. He graduated from the University of Washington with a finance degree where he also studied statistics, mergers and acquisitions, and business communication.
Tyler Lee - Analyst
Tyler is currently working as an analyst in our San Francisco Office. Prior to joining FCS GROUP, Tyler interned for a Registered Investment Advisor outside Philadelphia, specializing in alternative asset management. He received his BS in Managerial Economics and minor in Statistics from UC Davis in June of 2010.
Krista Shirley - Analyst
Krista is an analyst in support of the firm’s utility rate financial consulting for water, sewer, and stormwater utilities. Prior to joining FCS GROUP, she worked as a real estate appraiser, providing valuation and consulting for a variety of commercial property types. Krista graduated from the University of Washington with a bachelor’s degree in finance.
Doug Gabbard -Analyst
Doug Gabbard, MBA, is a financial and economic analyst with five years of experience in municipal and private sector positions. He was hired by FCS GROUP in 2011. Most recently, Doug served as a financial analyst for the City of Salem, Oregon, where he performed utility revenue forecasting and capital improvement planning. He was also involved with the development of economic statistical analysis and econometric modeling. Prior to that, Doug was a senior financial analyst at the Oregon Department of Transportation in Salem, Oregon, where he performed Monte Carlo simulations to model basis risk of interest rate swaps. Doug is a member of the Government Finance Officers Association, Oregon Municipal Finance Officers Association, and Oregon State Fiscal Association.
Amy Florence – Technical Writer
Amy Florence is a technical writer. She is responsible for writing and editing proposals, technical reports, and marketing collateral. She also assists with developing and updating the firm’s style guide and templates and is responsible for training and monitoring compliance. Amy has a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Washington and nearly three decades of writing and editing experience for a variety of industries.
Cindy Cornell - Marketing Coordinator
Cindy Cornell is a marketing coordinator with 20 years experience in the promotion of professional services. Cindy is responsible for industry conference coordination, database management, and proposal support. With a strong background in graphic design, she is also responsible for the creation of marketing collateral and corporate imaging.
Diane Harmon - Office Administrator/Bookkeeper
Diane Harmon has been with the firm for 10 years. As office administrator/bookkeeper, she is in charge of all accounting functions, insurance compliance, contract paperwork stipulation, voice and data networks, and client billing.
Kathy Lyons - Office Assistant/Project Assistant
Kathy Lyons is the office and project assistant. She provides project production support and is responsible for the reception area, inventory and supply, and billing support for the FCS GROUP team. Kathy is also responsible for facility maintenance, organization, and décor.