Advisory Professionals

Callowhill offers its clients access to seasoned professionals with a broad and deep range of practical, multi-faceted experience. Sandra Kurtz Baxter and Daniel Silva, Callowhill’s founders and principals, bring over 30 years of combined public finance experience to the firm.

Sandra Kurtz Baxter - President & Principal

cr=w_223,h_223.jpg

  • 20 Years Public Finance Experience

  • MBA, Drexel University - Bachelor of Science, The College of NJ

  • Passed CPA Exam, Series 50 Licensee (Municipal Advisor Representative), Series 54 Licensee (Municipal Advisor Principal)

Ms. Kurtz Baxter has twenty years of investment banking and financial and swap advisory experience in the public finance industry. She focuses on plan of finance development, transaction advisory management and provides credit analysis, covenant and debt capacity calculations, debt restructuring, refinancing analysis, swap advisory and rating agency and credit enhancement strategies and presentations for higher education and other non-profit clients. In addition, she provides guidance on the investment of bond proceeds and derivative products.

Before founding Callowhill, Ms. Kurtz Baxter served as a Managing Director at Fairmount Capital Advisors. She also served as an Assistant Vice President and Analytical Department Manager of a regional investment banking firm, where she assisted in the structuring of fixed rate, variable rate and synthetic debt for nonprofit borrowers.

Ms. Kurtz Baxter has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from The College of New Jersey and an MBA in finance and management of information systems from Drexel University. She is a member of Drexel University’s MBA Career Services Advisory Board. Ms. Kurtz Baxter is a Series 50 and Series 54 licensee and has been a licensed Municipal Securities Principal (Series 53) as well as Series 7 and 66 licensee and has successfully completed the Uniform Certified Public Accountant (CPA) examination program.

Daniel Silva, CFA - Managing Director, & Principal

rs=w_223,h_223,cg_true,m.jpg

  • 13 Years Public Finance Experience

  • Bachelor of Science, Drexel University

  • CFA Charterholder, Series 50 Licensee (Municipal Advisor Representative), Series 54 (Municipal Advisor Principal)

Mr. Silva has thirteen years of public finance experience and provides day-to-day transaction management. He is also the primary source of technical and analytical products development at Callowhill. His expertise is in plan of finance development, evaluation of financing alternatives, credit analysis, debt structure optimization, pro forma development, investment of bond proceeds and swap advisory.

Mr. Silva has been responsible for the development of various in-house models including those that replicate the rating agency methodologies, operating pro forma models, capital planning and project metric analysis used to evaluate various plans of finance and sources of capital, and valuation models for mergers. and acquisitions. Additionally, he has developed performance models that demonstrate the impact of various projects, changes in revenues and operating expenses, among other features.

In his role at software development firm Adaje Inc., Mr. Silva has also developed web-based, industry grade bond and swap modeling software used at Callowhill and providing unique capabilities to Callowhill clients.

Before founding Callowhill, Mr. Silva served as a Director at Fairmount Capital Advisors. Mr. Silva graduated magna cum laude with his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with concentrations in Finance and Economics from Drexel University. Mr. Silva has passed all three exams of the Chartered Financial Analyst Program and is a designated charterholder as well as a Series 50 and Series 54 licensee.

AMY THALLNER - ASSOCIATE

  • 24 Years higher education experience

  • Master of Science, Ed., Indiana University

  • Bachelor of Science, University of Baltimore

  • Series 50 licensee (Municipal Advisor Representative)

  • Certified Public Accountant (CPA), State of Maryland (inactive)

Ms. Thallner joined Callowhill after twenty-four years of higher education finance administration experience; including 17 years at Drexel University rising to Deputy Associate Treasurer and another seven years at Cabrini University as Deputy Treasurer and Risk Manager.

 Ms. Thallner is responsible for research and analytical support, provides initial RFP response reviews, credit and cost analysis, pricing memos and day-to-day transaction support.

Before joining Callowhill, Ms. Thallner served as Deputy Treasurer and Risk Manager at Cabrini University where she managed risk, operating cash, endowment funds, and tax-exempt bond fund compliance. At Drexel University, Ms. Thallner managed the pooled endowment fund of Drexel University as well as those of its subsidiary organizations (The Academy of Natural Sciences and the Drexel School of Medicine) in addition to operating cash management. She is a Series 50 licensee and was a State of Maryland Certified Public Accountant.