Case Competition

Amy Farrell, a seasoned financial executive with over 25 years of experience in banking and finance, currently serves as Senior Vice President at Citizens Bank in Boston, MA. Her career highlights include spearheading the acquisition and sale of over $200 million in commercial real estate assets and managing the growth of a debt and equity portfolio to $2.5 billion. Amy's educational background includes a Bachelor of Arts in American History from Harvard University and a Master of Science in Public Affairs from UMass Boston, enhancing her strategic insights. She has also supported the expansion of the Corcoran Center Case Competition at Boston College and nationwide.

Laurie Goodman is an Institute fellow and the founder of the Housing Finance Policy Center at the Urban Institute. The center provides policymakers data-driven analyses of housing finance policy issues they can depend on for relevance, accuracy, and independence. Before joining Urban, Goodman spent 30 years as an analyst and research department manager at several Wall Street firms. From 2008 to 2013, she was a senior managing director at Amherst Securities Group LP, a boutique broker-dealer specializing in securitized products, where her strategy effort became known for its analysis of housing policy issues. From 1993 to 2008, Goodman was head of global fixed income research and manager of US securitized products research at UBS and predecessor firms, which were ranked first by Institutional Investor for 11 straight years. Before that, she held research and portfolio management positions at several Wall Street firms. She began her career as a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Goodman was inducted into the Fixed Income Analysts Hall of Fame in 2009.

Goodman serves on the board of directors of MFA Financial and Arch Capital Group Ltd. and is a consultant to the Amherst Group. She is also on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Consumer Advisory Board. Goodman has published more than 200 journal articles and has coauthored and coedited five books. She has a BA in mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania and an AM and PhD in economics from Stanford University.

Aiza Galdo brings 25 years of LIHTC experience, managing all aspects of complex real estate finance and development transactions. As a Team Lead of Underwriting, Portfolio and Loan Management she leads a team responsible for underwriting new transactions, managing an existing portfolio of debt and equity exposure, and ensures a scalable and well-managed business. Prior to joining Capital One’s Community Finance, she most recently held the position of Director, GP Property Holdings of a tax credit syndicator. Previously she was a Vice President with a large financial institution’s Community Lending and Investment group where she oversaw a portfolio of direct equity investments. Aiza also serves as Board President of Cabrillo Economic Development Corporation, a Ventura County based non-profit affordable housing developer of 23 properties and provider of property management services for 1,200+ units.   

Stephen J. Peck, who served as a Marine officer in Vietnam, leads the nation’s largest non-profit provider of comprehensive services for at-risk and homeless veterans and their families. Peck, who recently celebrated his 25th anniversary with U.S.VETS, advocates at state and national levels to bring attention to potential solutions for homeless veterans.

“Our job at U.S.VETS is to engage the enemy at home—the enemy of homelessness, disillusionment and disappointment—to let these men and women know there is a path forward,” says Peck. “U.S.VETS strives to empower each veteran to take responsibility for his or her success, guiding them towards independence in the community, developing their workforce skills and supporting recovery.”

Peck graduated from Northwestern University in 1968 and entered the Marine Corps that same year. In Vietnam, he was a first lieutenant in the 1st Marine Division, serving as a forward observer outside of Danang in 1969, and received the Navy Commendation Medal.