Title: Managing Director
Firm: NW Financial
Age: 38
Heather Litzebauer's top-down understanding of the municipal finance industry has been key to her success at municipal underwriting and advisory firm NW Financial Group over a seventeen-year career.
Now a managing director at the Hoboken, New Jersey-based firm, the 38-year-old Heather originally hoped to pursue a career in sports marketing after graduating from Susquehanna University in 2005.
When the Middletown, New Jersey, native returned to the Garden State after receiving a degree in business administration, she instead applied for a job at NW Financial at the recommendation of her Little League softball coach.
Being a relatively small firm, NW provided Heather the opportunity to learn the industry on an intimate level.
"Working for a smaller firm has a lot of positive attributes," she said. "Not only do we get involved in projects from the preliminary planning phases all the way to the completion of the project, but we have to constantly be ready to pivot to what our clients need at any particular time."
Working her way up the ranks, Heather has time and time again proven a steadying force for her clients, as well as co-workers, in the face of unexpected difficulties.
With markets upside down during the pandemic, Heather led efforts to educate the NW employees and their clients on how to navigate the complicated web of federal relief programs that followed.
Pivoting to client needs when things get tough is what her firm was founded on, she said. Staying abreast of new developments is just part of the job.
"Whether it's redevelopment and PILOT analysis, water and wastewater rate studies, asset valuation, school referendums, or traditional bond financings for capital projects, learning new things is always a plus," Heather said.
