CRA Finance for Practitioners

 

 

 

Shawn Mitchell has worked in local government finance since 1999 including full-time positions with the City of West Palm Beach (1999 to 2008) and City of Alpharetta, GA (2008 to present) as well as financial consulting work through Redevelopment Management Associates (RMA) and other partners.

Shawn has extensive experience with local governments and Community Redevelopment Agencies in the area of policy formulation, strategic planning, governmental budgeting and purchasing, debt structuring and issuance, etc.  

Through RMA and direct business relationships, Shawn has had the pleasure of assisting numerous CRAs in the areas of long-range planning (e.g. Strategic Finance Plans), budgetary formulation, debt structuring, financial policy/procedural improvements, etc. Past/current clients include: City of West Palm Beach Community Redevelopment Agency; Pompano Beach Community Redevelopment Agency; Dania Beach Community Redevelopment Agency; Hallandale Beach Community Redevelopment Agency; just to name a few.

Shawn received his Finance degree and M.B.A. from Florida Atlantic University and holds the Certified Management Accountant and Certified in Financial Management designations from the Institute of Certified Management Accountants (ICMA).

 

Jeremy Earle, Ph.D., AICP, FRA-RA, is an award-winning public and private sector professional with almost 20 years’ experience in the fields of redevelopment, development, urban planning/urban design, and economic development.  Dr. Earle is currently an Assistant City Manager with the City of Hallandale Beach, Florida, where he oversees activities relating to citywide economic development, redevelopment, development, grants, and human services.  In addition to being an award winning landscape architect and urban planner, he has also won numerous awards and accolades for the creation of programs relating to sustainability, redevelopment and economic development.  A program that he created for the City of Fort Lauderdale called BEAMs, which stands for Business Engagement, Assistance and Mentorships was selected as an International Economic Development Council (ICSC) Excellence in Economic Development Gold Award recipient for 2018.

Dr. Earle is considered by many to be an expert in the fields of redevelopment and revitalization of distressed urban communities.  He has considerable experience working in both the public and private sectors, as a consultant with a large engineering and design firm, an asset manager for a large national homebuilder, and in government in his former roles as Deputy Director for the Department of Sustainable Development in the City of Fort Lauderdale, and as the Executive Director for the Dania Beach Community Redevelopment Agency which is located in Broward County, Florida. Through his leadership, the City of Dania Beach is going through a tremendous renaissance, with major real estate development projects that are either currently under construction or completed. The public and private partnerships which he spearheaded will generate almost a billion dollars’ worth of private sector investment over the next few years and will create thousands of new jobs.

Dr. Earle, an innovator, is also at the forefront of providing local access to healthy foods and promoting economic development in distressed urban communities in Broward County through the creation of one of the nation’s first multijurisdictional governmental collaborations called PATCH ™ which stands for People’s Access to Community Horticulture. This joint effort between local government, the private sector and other non-governmental partners, seeks to utilize government or non-profit owned real estate in order to create a large sustainable market garden network in Broward County, which provides locally grown, non-GMO vegetables to local restaurants, create jobs, provide educational opportunities, and addresses community health and social issues.

 

Nickens Remy graduated from Florida International University (FIU) in 2010 with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with a concentration in Finance. While working full-time at FIU, he graduated with a Master of Business Administration degree in 2013 from the same university. Mr. Remy’s primary role at FIU was to create and manage the budget within various departments at student affairs. After working in higher education for over 13 years, he left FIU and now serves as the Fiscal Operations Manager for the Hallandale Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (HBCRA). Mr. Remy’s responsibilities at the HBCRA includes the creation and management of the agency’s budget, preparation of audit schedules, and the monthly reconciliation of finances. Mr. Remy was instrumental in the overhaul of the HBCRA’s financial controls.  Mr. Remy has worked with the HBCRA for approximately 2 years.

 

Faith Phinn, is a graduate of St. Thomas University where she received her degree in Accounting.  Ms. Phinn is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree in Forensic Accounting at Florida Atlantic University.   Ms. Phinn has extensive private and public sector experience.  She has been with the Hallandale Beach Community Redevelopment Agency for the past 2.5 years where she helps to oversee CRA operations including financial and budgeting, and economic development programming including the CRA’s commercial investment programs.  Ms. Phinn was instrumental in the complete overhaul of the HBCRA’s financial controls.  She also has considerable experience with Community Benefits Programs including their creation and operations.  Due to her love of finance and accounting, Ms. Phinn has developed a keen ability to analyze many different types of City and CRA programs, and make recommendations for their improvement. Due to her hard work ethic and drive, she has also successfully completed the City of Hallandale Beach’s first leadership program called Roger’s Raiders.