NE Region Fall School Finance Workshop 2021-2022

Aaron Rausch is the Chief of Budget and School Funding at the Department of Education & Workforce (previously Ohio Department of Education), where he manages an agency budget of more than $17 billion and administers the state’s school funding program. In 2019, Aaron received the Dick Maxwell School Finance Award from the Buckeye Association of School Administrators. Prior to joining ODE in 2014, Aaron worked for the Ohio Office of Budget and Management as a budget analyst in the education section. Aaron started his career in state government as a performance auditor, focusing on school district performance audits at the Ohio Auditor of State's Office. Active in his community, Aaron serves as an advisory board member on the Columbus and Central Ohio Children’s Chorus Foundation, sings with the Choral Union at Capital University, and rides in Pelotonia every year. 

Courtney Shalosky, CPA, CFE is the Assistant Chief Auditor for the East region. She has been with the Ohio Auditor of State’s Office for 8 years and previously was in the office’s Center for Audit Excellence specializing in single audits. Prior to her time with the Auditor of State’s Office, she worked in public accounting specializing in government auditing.

Courtney has a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Miami University. Courtney also serves on the Single Audit Committee for the National State Auditors Association (NSAA), and has represented the Ohio Auditor’s Office at several Single Audit Roundtable meetings and is also a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

Beverly A. Meyer is an employment and labor relations lawyer who counsels employers in both the public and private sectors. She is also an education attorney who represents K-12 school districts, colleges and universities. Beverly’s practice encompasses all areas of labor and employment law, including collective bargaining, employee discipline, harassment investigations, wage and hour claims, and leave and benefits issues. Beverly regularly litigates in federal and state courts and appears before administrative agencies, civil service commissions and labor boards. She has also served as an impartial hearing officer in special education due process hearings and has issued decisions on procedural and substantive matters. She is a frequent lecturer on matters affecting her areas of practice and has developed and presented employment-related trainings and programs for clients and professional groups on local, state and national levels.

Catherine Swartz focuses her practice on bond counsel, underwriter’s counsel and trustee's counsel in general obligation and revenue bond financings. Her clients include Ohio cities, counties, school districts and villages. She provides counsel to political subdivisions on issues related to tax levies, continuing disclosure filings, real estate, special assessments, public records, investment policies, sales and use tax, and ethics. She works with school district clients on matters such as school finance, public records law and board policy issues.

Chris McCloskey is chair of Bricker Graydon’s Public Sector industry group and is a partner in the Construction Law group. He focuses his practice on construction-related contracting and disputes, as well as general business and litigation. He is experienced in researching and drafting motions for construction lawsuits, preparing and reviewing construction contracts, construction claims, change orders, purchase orders, project analysis, mechanic's liens, bid strategy and project coordination. He represents school districts with all facets of their capital projects with the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission.

Brian currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce. Brian has a quarter century of senior leadership experience in Ohio’s state education agency guiding its fiscal and grant responsibilities.

Leading Ohio’s education agency team on grant and fiscal mandates for nearly two decades, Brian guides a large team with a multi-billion dollar portfolio of fiscal oversight mandates. Those mandates encompass federal financial compliance, internal control structure, risk assessment and subrecipient monitoring for the agency.

Prior to joining the state education agency, Brian served as an Audit Supervisor with both the Auditor of State (AoS) and the Ohio Department of Development.  During his tenure with the AoS, he led the agency’s auditing responsibilities of the Department Human Services at both the state and county levels.  While with the Department of Development, he was responsible for financial/programmatic compliance audits and technical assistance to numerous cities, counties and not-for-profits.

Brian is seen as a national leader in education fiscal policy, and he has presented at both state and national level conferences on both fiscal management and auditing in the education environment. 

Katie Johnson is the Executive Director of the Ohio Association of School Business Officials. Katie is the seventh Executive Director and the first woman to lead the organization since its inception in 1936.

Katie was the Deputy Executive Director for OASBO prior to being named Executive Director. In that role, she served as legislative lead and in-house legal counsel for the association, keeping staff and members abreast of legal and regulatory compliance issues in school business. In addition, she has served as the chief learning officer, developing curriculum to support OASBO’s strategic plan and the Ohio school business profession.

Katie also serves on boards and committees focused on public finance, including serving as a member on the Finance and Appropriations Committee for Columbus City School District, as Treasurer of the Confluence Community Authority, and as past President of the Ohio Chapter of Women in Public Finance.

Katie holds a bachelor's degree in Business Finance from the University of Colorado, a master’s degree in Education from The Ohio State University, and a law degree from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.

Rick Manoloff has served as legal counsel to Ohio school districts for more than 26 years on bond, note and lease financings, ballot issues, contracts, and other matters; chairs his law firm’s Ohio K-12 Public Schools Finance Team; co-authors the Ohio School Law treatise published by Thomson Reuters each year; co-presents the “Legal Update” at OASBO’s Annual Conferences; is called upon to draft levy and other legislation; served on a school board; and has written numerous articles for OASBO’s SBO over the years.  In the community, he served as President of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association and Cleveland Bar Foundation.

Kent joined RBC Capital Markets in 2002 after serving as the Chief Operating Officer for Cincinnati Public Schools. Prior to coming to Cincinnati, Kent served for nine years in finance, policy and administrative positions in Delaware state government. His last position there was Associate Secretary of Education for Finance, Policy and Administrative Services.

Kent specializes in education and local government transactions including tax increment financing (TIF). He also administers several large structured pooled financing programs in the State of Ohio.  

Kent currently holds Series 7, Series 24, Series 50, Series 53, Series 54 and Series 63 licenses.  Mr. Cashell holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Economics from the University of Delaware, specializing in mathematical economics and econometrics.    

Ryan is a Co-Founder and Portfolio Manager at RedTree Investment Group. He has over 25 years of investment experience in the fixed income markets. Specifically, over the past 19 years, Ryan has been assisting public entities and other agencies with their fixed income investment needs. At RedTree, he is responsible for overseeing the firm’s investment process along with communication of the unique investment strategies for the firm’s clients.

Ryan obtained his undergraduate degree in Accounting from the University of Kentucky and his MBA in Finance from Xavier University. He has received the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a current member of the CFA Institute. He currently serves on the Ohio GFOA Board and is on their Education Committee. 

With many years of experience in the investment industry, Joe has had exposure to both equity and fixed income markets. Much of this time has been spent working with fixed income products and portfolios. He brings a focused and detailed approach to portfolio management.

Much of his day-to-day involves working closely with current clients and fostering new relationships. His experience in portfolio management combined with the knowledge of relevant sections of Ohio Revised Code gives him the ability to serve RedTree’s clients to the fullest.

Originally from Tampa, FL where he spent most of his childhood, Joe now resides in Northern Kentucky with his wife, Rachel, their daughter, Rosie, and two dogs, Overton and Sable. He enjoys spending time with friends and family, hiking, golfing, and when time allows, traveling the world.