Title: Director
Firm: Masterson Advisors LLC
Age: 37
Christine Crotwell learned about public finance on the job and by understanding the Houston suburb that is her hometown.
As a business school student at the University of Texas, she saw public finance as something that was barely mentioned. Although considering entering law school, she attended a job fair hosted by First Southwest Co., the predecessor firm of HilltopSecurities.
"They literally opened my eyes to the real world of public finance as it had never been explained or known to me previously through all of school at that point," she said. "I grew up in Sugar Land, one of the front runners when it comes to master planned community concepts in the state of Texas, and really the entire country, so it all started to make sense."
She entered the field at age 22 and has never looked back, becoming an expert at the hundreds of special districts that swarm the Houston suburbs. In 2018, she joined fellow First Southwest alum Drew Masterson at his new firm Masterson Advisors.
“When I started Masterson Advisors and called on my municipal utility district clients, many asked: ‘Is Christine coming with you?’” Masterson said.
Working with the districts, "I actually felt a personal connection because I could see the results, whether it was a road, bridge, drainage system or a beautiful entrance to a 1,000-acre residential development," Christine said.
The Houston area has between 800 and 1,000 special districts, depending on how they are defined, Masterson said.
“Our firm averages over 150 financings per year and Christine leads the execution teams on over 100 per year,” he said. “With such high volume, she is an expert on organization and efficiency. Christine orchestrates and trains our younger bankers and analysts thereby creating a lean, mean transaction machine.”
Christine and her husband Greg Lukin are raising a 2-year-old daughter Lily. They are also doting on their two dogs, a German shepherd and French bulldog while enjoying travel, equestrian sports and volunteering for several Houston-area organizations.
