Special Briefing: Strategies for Closing the US Infrastructure Gap

From the deteriorating Gowanus Expressway in Brooklyn, New York, to the aging dams that supply approximately 70 percent of California’s water, America’s public infrastructure is in dire need of repair. The nation is estimated to have accumulated about $1 trillion in deferred infrastructure maintenance, and even more will be needed to rebuild or retrofit roads, water plants, schools, and electrical grids to withstand the punishments of increasingly extreme weather. Our panel of experts discuss the state of America’s infrastructure and how some states are developing strategies to better identify and fund needed investments.

Coinciding with the Special Briefing is the release of the Volcker Alliance's latest report series: Meeting the Trillion-Dollar Challenge. Panelist and chief researcher for the project, Camila Fonseca Sarmiento, will discuss the findings of the project, which takes an in-depth look at how ten states are currently tracking, disclosing, and funding their infrastructure maintenance gaps. It also offers a review of deferred infrastructure disclosure in capital budgeting documents across all fifty states and provides a framework to help states establish or improve their approach to addressing this critical issue.

Moderated by William Glasgall, Volcker Alliance Public Finance Adviser and Penn IUR Fellow, and Susan Wachter, Co-Director of the Penn Institute for Urban Research and Wharton Professor of Real Estate and Professor of Finance, this briefing is the sixty-second in a series of sixty-minute online conversations featuring experts from the national research networks of the Volcker Alliance and Penn IUR, along with other leading academics, economists, and federal, state, and local leaders. 

Special Briefings are made possible by funding from The Travelers Institute, the Volcker Alliance, and members of the Penn IUR Advisory Board. Recordings of the entire Special Briefings series are available on the Volcker Alliance or Penn IUR websites.

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Geoffrey Buswick is a managing director and sector leader for the U.S. Public Finance (USPF) Group.  In this capacity, he is responsible for improving transparency and external understanding in S&P ratings and the rating process.  Currently, his focus is on sharing information to the broader capital markets in relation to S&P’s approach in gauging credit risk of direct purchase bank loans, pension and OPEB assessments and distressed municipalities.  

From October 2010 through March 2015, Geoff served as the Lead analytical manager for the Public Finance Infrastructure Group and, beginning in January 2014, the Housing team as well.   From 2005 through September 2010, he served as the Boston office head for Standard & Poor’s Rating Services.   As office head, Geoff was responsible for strategic planning and the day-to-day operations of the regional office serving New England.   He also oversaw regional investor relations’ activities and managed corporate and government client relations.  Geoff joined S&P in 2000 as a state and local government analyst, focusing on East Coast state, county, city, and town credits.  Additionally, he was a public finance national sector leader for both state revolving fund/pool issues and pension issues (including other post-employment benefits).   

Prior to joining Standard & Poor’s, Geoff served as the CFO, treasurer & collector for the City of Gloucester, Mass.  In addition, he spent three years as the Administrative Officer for the City of North Adams, Mass. Geoff served on the board of governors of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts (NFMA) from 2010-2013, and was the co-chair for the 2012 and 2013 NFMA Annual Conferences.  Geoff also served on his town’s Finance Committee from 2008-2015. Geoff holds both a BA in Political Science and an MPA from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. 

Hughey Newsome is the chief financial officer for Sound Transit. He was appointed to this position in October 2009. Newsome comes to Sound Transit from Piston Group, an automotive manufacturing company focused on electrification, where he was CFO. His strong base of experience includes strategic financial management and administrative oversight to ensure the financial health of a variety of large organizations. Newsome also has a track record of municipal finance leadership, including serving as CFO for both county and city governments, where he led successful bond financing initiatives and credit rating improvements.

Camila Fonseca Sarmiento is the director of fiscal research at the Institute for Urban and Regional Infrastructure Finance (IURIF) at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. At the institute, she is engaged with research related to evaluating the economic impacts of policies, public budgeting, and public finance. Camila is also a research scholar at the Center for Transportation Studies.

Camila has published in Transport Policy, Transportation Research Record, Urban Studies, and Sustainability, and has worked on funded projects supported by the Minnesota Legislature, Minnesota Department of Transportation, Minnesota Local Road Research Board, and The Volcker Alliance.

Camila holds a Master of Public Policy from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, and a bachelor's degree in economics and finance from Universidad del Rosario (Colombia). Before joining IURIF, Camila consulted for the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank and worked in her native Colombia in the financial sector.  

Leslie S. Richards is the former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), the fifth-largest state Department of Transportation in the United States, and the former CEO and General Manager of SEPTA, the sixth-largest transit system in the country, serving the greater Delaware Valley.

Trained as a planner, she is known for her commitment to inclusive community engagement and her ability to align complex interests across sectors. The first woman and the first professional planner to lead PennDOT, Richards prioritized the integration of quality-of-life and accessibility considerations into major infrastructure decisions. She led both agencies through significant crises—including a global pandemic and cybersecurity threats—while advancing long-term capital and modernization programs.

Richards is nationally recognized for her leadership in integrating emerging technologies into transportation systems. Her work has emphasized the use of data analytics, artificial intelligence, and smart infrastructure to drive innovation and improve public service.

She has served as Chair of the Pennsylvania Public-Private Partnership (P3) Board, Chair of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, and currently chairs the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies.

Richards received a Master of Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania in 1993 and was appointed to the Weitzman School faculty in 2020.

Fatima Yousofi is a senior officer for The Pew Charitable Trust. She leads the state fiscal policy project’s work examining additional long-term liabilities to state and local governments budgets, including the accumulated deferred maintenance of public infrastructure. Her research also explores emerging financial risks to public pension funds and infrastructure from the enduring effects of climate change, and the potential costs of failing infrastructure.

Before joining Pew in 2016, Yousofi was a senior policy and compliance analyst for the Virginia Retirement System, where she helped develop, implement, and manage the state’s Line of Duty Death and Health Benefits Trust Fund.

Yousofi holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s in public policy and public administration from Virginia Commonwealth University.