NAST swears in Connecticut treasurer Wooden as president

Connecticut Treasurer Shawn Wooden, who has been a vocal advocate on some recent municipal bond measures, takes over as president of the National Association of State Treasurers at a time when the nation faces key challenges.

“It’s an honor to serve as president of NAST and work alongside a bipartisan group of talented state treasurers from across the nation,” Wooden said in a statement, adding, “This year we have the unique opportunity to use our combined expertise to tackle some of the nation’s biggest challenges.”

Specifically, Wooden looks forward to strengthening NAST’s ongoing advocacy.

“I look forward to building upon our predecessors’ efforts in growing the influence and size of our organization, so we can help in the creation of a more inclusive economy that works for everyone, strengthen the public finance workforce sector, and highlight the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion throughout all of our work,” Wooden said.

Wooden, who succeeded Indiana treasurer Kelly Mitchell, was sworn in as Connecticut's 83rd state treasurer in 2019 and previously served as NAST’s senior vice president. As president, Wooden will chair NAST’s executive committee and the NAST Foundation board.

In the municipal arena, Wooden, who has had a long career in law and public finance, recently called for reviving and strengthening the Federal Reserve's Municipal Liquidity Facility, a $500 billion short-term lending program launched in March 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The MLF ceased purchasing eligible notes on Dec. 31, 2020.

Speaking in September, before the House of Representatives subcommittee on national security, international development and monetary policy, Wooden said that making the lending program permanent would be “valuable and forward thinking.”

Wooden has also been vocal on issues involving child poverty.

Last fall, not long after Connecticut became the first state to enact a so-called “baby bonds program,” Wooden and other advocates pushed for the enactment of the American Opportunity Accounts Act. The bill would seed a national savings account of $1,000 at birth for children born into poverty, with additional deposits of up to $2,000 each year, depending on household income.

At the time, treasurer Wooden credited Connecticut’s baby bonds program to “decades of research by leaders in academia and the willingness to act by both advocates and elected officials.”

In terms of helping NAST address its many priorities, Wooden is joined by additional new senior leadership. South Dakota treasurer Josh Haeder will serve as senior vice president and Illinois treasurer Michael Frerichs is NAST’s secretary-treasurer.

Haeder, who NAST says has a passion for “protecting citizens’ money and state accounts against cyber threats,” assumed his office as South Dakota’s 33rd state treasurer in 2019.

Frerichs, who was first elected Illinois treasurer in 2014 and most recently re-elected in 2018, “believes in providing individuals with financial tools so that they can invest in themselves,” according to NAST.