Massachusetts State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg's simple advice for municipal bond industry professionals in uncertain times: make practical decisions.
"I come from a long line of practical businesspeople, grocers as a matter of fact," she told attendees at a keynote address kicking off The Bond Buyer's annual National Outlook Conference Thursday in New York. "Evaluate the economy through the lens of the grocer or retailer; what is selling and where in the country is it selling?"
Inflation, overseas conflict, soaring energy costs, and supply side issues will continue to stymie economies of all sizes throughout 2023, Goldberg said, all holding the potential to dramatically slow down new bond issuances and capital projects and turn economies inwards once more.
She advised professionals to plan long-term and stick to a "common sense" approach, something she credits with helping her shoulder the weight of the many new responsibilities her office took on at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Goldberg, first elected treasurer in 2014 and reelected twice since then, led the treasurer's office throughout the pandemic as it worked to develop and implement new funding and support schemes on the state and individual level while continuing to issue Massachusetts debt.
Cohesion among industry professionals in the public and private spheres was key to Massachusetts' success then and will surely be so going forward, she said.
"My management approach to everything is to get everyone in the room and figure out what's the best thing for the consumer," Goldberg said. "I think that one of our challenges is that in many cases each individual local community is trying to make their own decisions about what they're going to be doing."
Maintaining offices and employees dedicated to the public service task at hand would make establishing and maintaining that connection much easier, she advised.
"I can assure you with absolute certainty is that our national economic outlook is completely uncertain," she said. "Build a culture and cohesiveness that fosters collaboration and resiliency; it's those qualities that allow you to think long term and develop policies and strategies to help ride the ups and downs."
