Wisconsin Public Finance Team

Managing Director
Director of Public Finance

Keith Kolb oversees Baird’s Public Finance Department and has been involved in the structuring and restructuring of virtually all types of tax-exempt and taxable financings. He has extensive experience working with cities, counties, school districts, villages, special taxing districts and economic development issues, and is a frequent lecturer on public finance issues. Keith also is a member of Baird’s Fixed Income Capital Commitments committee. Prior to joining Baird in 1985, he practiced municipal bond law, specializing in federal taxation and general finance areas. Keith earned a BBA from Marquette University and a JD from the Marquette Law School. He is a member of the Wisconsin Bar Association.

Managing Director

John Mehan has worked on a wide variety of taxable and tax-exempt municipal financings. He served as the lead investment banker on the Lambeau Field, Brown County Arena and Green Bay Convention Center financings, as well as the financings for Milwaukee Public Schools – Neighborhood Schools Initiative. John has been involved with economic development matters for many municipal issuers, including the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Milwaukee, the Community Development Authority of the City of Madison and the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Green Bay. He also has extensive experience in financings for private colleges, technical colleges and universities, including financing the Al McGuire Center for Marquette University. Prior to joining Baird in 1987, John served as Assistant City Manager/Director of Finance for the City of Webster Groves, Mo. He earned a BA and MA in Urban Affairs from St. Louis University.

Director

Brian Brewer has served Wisconsin school districts for the past 12 years. During his career, he has utilized his quantitative experience to develop financial solutions for over half of the school districts in Wisconsin. Brian focuses on developing customized, cost-efficient financing plans that meet the specific needs of each district in the primary areas of long-term debt management, capital planning and referendum financing.

Brian graduated cum laude from Marquette University with a BS in Business Administration, with specializations in Finance and Marketing. He also earned his Series 7 and 63 License through the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD).

Director

Michel Clark joined Baird in June of 2000. Since joining Baird, Mike has assisted many school districts with successful debt referendums totaling over $250,000,000. Mike's extensive experience working for public schools brings a unique perspective to the financial advisory role. With his experience as an assistant superintendent, Mike is uniquely qualified to support the financial service functions related to the business services office. He served as a commissioner of the Wisconsin School District Liquid Asset Fund, was an active member of the American Association of School Business Officials, chaired the Nominating Committee of the Wisconsin Association of School Business Officials and was a member of the School Administrators Alliance's School Finance Project Team. Mike earned both BBA and MSE degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, and a MBA degree from Keller Graduate School of Management.

Director

Mike Scalise has worked in various capacities in the securities industry for the past 20 years. In 2000, he joined Baird and has expanded the firm’s structured finance group to focus on providing creative financing for developers and owners of commercial, retail and residential real estate; manufacturing companies; private organizations; tax increment districts; secondary schools; universities; religious institutions; and nonprofit organizations. He was responsible for managing municipal bond funds totaling $2 billion and for developing structured financial products. Mike earned a BS in Business Administration from Marquette University and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Debby Schufletowski leads Baird’s School Business Solutions team in Wisconsin. A School Business Specialist, she joined Baird in July 2009 bringing several years of experience as a business manager and independent consultant for school districts across the state. She also continues to serve part-time as Business Manager for the Fall Creek School District. Debby earned an MSE in School Business Management and a BSE in Elementary Education from the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater.

Director

Brad Viegut provides investment banking services to municipalities and counties throughout Wisconsin. His expertise includes the analysis and creation of tax increment districts, negotiation of development agreements, long-term capital planning, refunding analysis and construction fund optimization. He also teaches the fundamentals of municipal finance to municipal clerks and treasurers through the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Brad graduated cum laude with a BS in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance, and an MBA, both from Marquette University.

Director

Lisa Voisin has served Wisconsin school districts for over 20 years assisting with over 3,000 school and municipal financing transactions. Her experience includes referendum planning, customized building project financing plans, budget forecasting models, tax-credit bond analysis and refinancing applications. In addition, Lisa has taught over 30 courses in school budget forecasting, and was an instructor on municipal finance at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Actively involved in the financial impact analysis of consolidations, she has developed and implemented a school consolidation model used by over 40 districts statewide in the past 10 years. Lisa served on the Muskego-Norway School District Board of Education.

Lisa has an MBA and a BS in Finance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She is licensed through the National Association of Securities Dealers as a Municipal Securities Representative (Series 52).