ABOUT

Bartle Wells Associates

BWA is a public finance consulting firm with over 60 years of experience providing independent, expert financial advice to public agencies throughout California and the United States. Our firm was established in 1964 and is owned and managed by its principal consultants. We specialize in three interrelated services: utility rate and fee studies, strategic financial planning, and project financing.

BWA has successfully advised over 600 public agencies – from small utility districts serving rural communities to large cities, counties, and regional agencies. We have the experience and expertise to evaluate all types of financial issues faced by local governments and to recommend the best and most-practical solutions.

BWA is a charter member of the National Association of Municipal Advisors and a preferred provider of the California Rural Water Association. Our lead consultants are registered Municipal Advisors with industry-leading expertise in the areas of utility rates and public finance.

History of our firm

Meet Our Team

Bartle Wells has a highly-qualified professional staff with experience and education in finance, civil engineering, public administration, business administration, and economics.

Michael DeGroot

Principal

Michael DeGroot is a Principal of BWA and has over a decade of experience developing utility rate studies, long-term financial plans, and development impact fees for cities and special districts throughout California. He has helped many agencies implement multi-year water and sewer rate increases designed to support their operating and capital programs while complying with the legal requirements of Proposition 218. He also has experience developing conservation-oriented rate structures, drought rate surcharges, and connection fees designed to recover the cost of infrastructure benefiting growth. He is an MSRB-registered municipal advisor.

Education
B.S., Business Administration – U.C. Berkeley Walter A. Haas School of Business, Berkeley, CA

Erik Helgeson, MBA

Principal

Erik Helgeson is a Principal of BWA with 14 years of experience in utility rates and finance. He specializes in developing long-term financial models and utility rates based on a cost-of-service approach. His experience includes working as a senior finance analyst for Denver Water in the rates and charges group and as a utility rate consultant in Colorado and California. His prior experience working for a utility gives him a unique perspective on the internal challenges a utility faces when implementing a study’s recommendations. He currently serves on American Water Works Association’s Rates and Charges Committee.

Education
M.B.A. – University of Colorado
B.S., Business Administration – Gonzaga University

Alex Handlers, MPA, CIPMA

Principal

Alex Handlers is a Principal of BWA with expertise in the areas of utility rates, strategic financial planning, and project financing. He has consulted for over 150 public agencies and has extensive experience developing long-term financial plans, utility rate studies, and development impact fees. As an independent financial advisor, he has helped public agencies secure over $2 billion in financing via bonds, COPs, bank loans, lines of credit, and various state and federal grant and loan programs. He is a Certified Independent Professional Municipal Advisor, an MSRB-registered municipal advisor, and has served multiple terms as a Board Member of the National Association of Municipal Advisors.

Education
M.P.A. - University of Washington, Pi Alpha Alpha Honor Society
B.A. - Lehigh University

Ashli Wong

Consultant

Ashli Wong is a Consultant with BWA with experience helping public agencies develop financial plans, utility rate studies and capacity charge studies. She works closely with public agency staff to evaluate alternatives and ensure final recommendations reflect each agency’s goals and objectives. Ashli has prior public agency experience working in the internal audit office of the County of Santa Barbara.

Education
B.A., Economics – University of California, Santa Barbara

Juana Espinoza

Consultant

Juana Espinoza is a Consultant with BWA with over 10 years of experience in public finance. She works closely with public agencies to develop financial models and utility rate and fee studies designed to equitably recover costs and support long-term balanced budgets. Her experience includes working as a Finance Director for the City of Lindsay, California where she prepared long-range forecasts for the city’s water, sewer, and solid waste utilities and developed a corrective action plan to address deficits and restore financial health. With experience as both finance director and consultant, Juana brings a broad public finance perspective to the project and clients she works with.

Education
B.A., Political Economy – University of California, Berkeley

Douglas Dove, PE, CIPMA

Principal Emeritus

Douglas Dove is a principal consultant with over 25 years of municipal finance and project management experience. He specializes in strategic financial planning, bond marketing, and utility rate setting. He has worked for a wide variety of public agencies and developed financing plans to support virtually all types of public works programs. Since joining BWA in 1990, Doug has secured billions of dollars of capital funding for public agencies through the issuance of municipal bonds and procurement of federal and state grants and loans. He is a Certified Independent Professional Municipal Advisor.

Education
M.B.A., Finance - University of California, Berkeley
B.S., Civil Engineering - University of California, Berkeley
Civil Engineering - University of Notre Dame

BWA Firm History

BWA Co-Founders: Richard Bartle & Ed Wells

Bartle Wells Associates was founded in 1964 by Richard Bartle and Ed Wells, who left their positions as partners in the securities firm Stone & Youngberg to form the first independent municipal finance consulting firm on the West Coast. For over 50 years, BWA has carried on its founders’ vision of providing independent and objective advice to help public agencies meet their financial challenges. To date, BWA has advised over 500 cities and special districts throughout California and the Western United States, developed over 2,000 financial plans and utility rate studies, and helped public agencies secure over $5 billion in debt financing. Some of our historical milestones include:

1964	BWA was founded and establishes its headquarters in San Francisco, California.
1969	BWA serves as financial advisor for the first competitive sale of lease revenue bonds in the Unites States.
1974	BWA assists the State Water Resources Control Board in developing Revenue Program Guidelines for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund Financing Program.
1983	BWA serves as financial advisor for the first competitive sale of Certificates of Participation in California.
1984	BWA secures reduced electricity rates for most California public agencies.
1989	BWA is a founding member of the National Association of Independent Public Finance Advisors (NAIPFA), established to promote high professional and ethical standards in the public finance industry.
1993	BWA serves as financial advisor for the first senior-subordinated assessment bond sale in the United States.
2001	BWA moves from its headquarters in San Francisco to its current offices in Berkeley, California.
2003	BWA serves as financial advisor for the first sanitary district purchase of a private water company in California.
2005	BWA coordinates the first competitively sold water/sewer revenue bond pool in California which ultimately helps over 25 cities and special districts obtain low-cost financing for infrastructure projects.
2010	BWA serves its 500th client.
2015	NAIPFA is renamed the National Association of Municipal Advisors (NAMA) to better represent the range of professionals regulated by the new Municipal Advisor Rule established in 2014 pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.