Kelly Pfost – Bio
Kelly Pfost is the Director of Management and Budget in Gilbert, Arizona, where she coordinates the development of a $2 billion annual budget and spearheads efforts to be cost effective and fiscally sustainable. These efforts include helping the Town achieve an AAA bond rating from all three major credit agencies (the highest rating available). Kelly loves numbers and has over 15 years of experience with long-term financial modeling in the public and private sectors.

Prior to joining Gilbert, Kelly worked at a municipal consulting firm in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she provided expertise in economic development and long-term financial planning to cities and counties. She also worked in finance, economic development, administrative services, and recreation management at South Jordan City, Utah. Kelly holds a bachelor’s degree in organizational communications with a minor in physics from Brigham Young University-Idaho and an MPA from Brigham Young University’s Romney Institute of Public Management.

Mark Reader – Bio
Mark Reader has served as an investment banker to Arizona Cities and Towns for the past 35-years. In that role, he has advised Stifel’s clients on the most efficient way to finance through the issuance of tax-exempt bonds on a variety of Public Infrastructure and Economic Development Projects. His experience includes general obligation bond elections and subsequent issuance, utility revenue bonds (new money and utility acquisitions), WIFA Clean Water and Drinking Water programs, public pension bonds and assistance, special assessment improvement district bonds and community facilities districts transactions for master planned communities and certain economic development projects. Stifel’s Arizona office manages approximately 75 transactions per year in Arizona which includes Cities/Towns, Counties and a significant number of transactions in the K-12 sector.

Jeff Barton – Bio
Jeff Barton was named City Manager in October 2021, after serving as Assistant City Manager since February 2021. Prior to that he served as Deputy City Manager since March 2020 and served as the director of the city’s Budget and Research Department since July 2015.

He has a proven track record at the city as a leader who understands the city’s finances and operations, and the important balance between the city and the community and innovative solutions.

Barton’s 21 year career with the City of Phoenix started in 1999 as in internal auditor in the City Auditor Department. In the years that followed, he held a variety of roles that focused on the city’s sound financial stewardship, including multiple auditing positions, management assistant, and deputy Budget and Research Director.

He holds a bachelor of arts degree in political science from Morehouse College and a master of public administration from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania.

Debra Stark – Bio
Debra Stark serves as the Vice Mayor representing District 3 on the Phoenix City Council. Stark was first appointed Councilmember in 2016 and elected by voters in 2017. She secured her reelection in 2021.

Stark has spent her entire ​career as a public servant in local government. Her first career position was a planner for the city of Phoenix after receiving her Master's in Planning from Arizona State University. She then went to work for Maricopa County as the Planning Manager where she supervised the Planning Division and worked on the Maricopa County Comprehensive Plan. She then took her knowledge to the city of Peoria as Community Development Director where she managed the operations of the Community Development Department and worked with the Mayor and Council to implement the first design review ordinance for the city of Peoria.

Following her tenure at the city of Peoria, Stark returned to the city of Phoenix as the Planning and Development Director, serving 7 years as Director before retiring from the city of Phoenix in 2012. Never a woman to stay idle, she returned to Maricopa County and served as the Planning and Development Director until resigning in May 2016.

Stark also remains active in the planning industry and her community. She was president of the Arizona Chapter of the American Planning Association and a board member for the Arizona Council of the Urban Land Institute. She is also a former member of the Maricopa County Trial Court Selection Commission, a past board member of Valley Partnership, the Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS, and Charter 100.

​Stark currently serves as the chair of the Transportation, Infrastructure and Planning Subcommittee and is a member of the Economic Development and Housing Subcommittee. She co-chairs the Fast Track Cities Ad Hoc Committee.

Stark is married to Brian and they are proud parents of a son and daughter.​

Joy Rich – Bio
Joy Rich has worked in public service for nearly all her adult life, rising through the ranks of local government to become the first female County Manager in Maricopa County’s 150-year history. She served as the county’s chief executive for nearly seven years prior to her retirement in April 2023. In this position, she reported to the Board of Supervisors and oversaw all administrative functions, including a $4.5 billion budget and 13,000 employees. Prior to her appointment as County Manager, she held various positions in the organization, such as Deputy County Manager, Assistant County Manager, Planning and Development Director and Planning Manager. Before joining Maricopa County, she worked for the Cities of Glendale and Phoenix as a Planner and Neighborhood Programs Manager. Joy holds Bachelor of Science in Geography and Master of Public Administration degrees from Arizona State University. She is a member of the American Planning Association, the American Institute of Certified Planners, and the Arizona Planning Association.