Emily Brock – Bio
Emily Brock as Director of GFOA’s Federal Liaison Center, Emily leads coalition and advocacy efforts of the Public Finance Network in Washington DC. Her advocacy includes anticipating and responding to federal legislative and regulatory activities that impact the finance functions of state and local governments and public sector entities including tax reform, municipal securities disclosure and public pension and benefit issues. Emily also serves as staff on GFOA’s Debt Committee, working with committee members to develop best practices that promote sound financial practices for local, state and provincial governments. Prior to joining GFOA, Emily was a commercial bank relationship manager at a large national bank, serving as the sole bank liaison for government and university clients.

Erika Coombs – Bio
Erika Coombs joined the City of Scottsdale in October 2024. Prior to this time, she spent more than 20 years serving municipalities, school districts and special districts in the State as a financial advisor, placement agent or underwriter.

Coombs is genuinely committed to the public finance community. She is a past board member of Women in Public Finance (WPF), Arizona’s Women Leading Government, past president of the Mountain Region Chapter WPF, a board member of National Federation of Municipal Analysts MARMOT Chapter, a member of the GFOA Committee of Economic Development and Capital Planning (CEDCP) and is an active member of the programming committee for GFOA Women in Public Finance Network (WPFN). She was the co-chair of the 2022 WPF and Arizona WLG conferences. She is a graduate of Valley Leadership Institute Class 38 and Scottsdale Leadership Class 32. Coombs is a graduate of the Barrett Honors College at Arizona State University with a bachelor’s degree. She also holds a master’s degree in public administration from Arizona State University.

Anna Marie Henthorn – Bio
Anna Marie Henthorn is the Assistant City Treasurer/Assistant CFO for the City of Scottsdale. She has been serving the residents of Scottsdale since 1997. Anna oversees the accounting, business services, and purchasing departments. She is responsible for all financial reporting activities as well as managing the city’s investment portfolio, developing, and assessing the city’s internal controls, and strategic planning for the division.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting, a master’s degree in business administration, and is a Certified Public Accountant. Anna currently serves as a board member for the Government Finance Officers Association of Arizona and is also serving on the Government Finance Officers Association Committee of Retirement and Benefits Administration.

Barbara Whitehorn – Bio
Barbara Whitehorn has worked in government finance for two decades. Her areas of expertise include budget and forecasting, accounting and financial reporting, procurement, treasury and cash management, and the issuance and management of long-term debt. She also has experience leading Information Technology, Human Resources and Risk Management.

Barbara holds an MBA with concentrations in Finance, Accounting and Operations Research from the University of Texas at Dallas, and a BA in the History of Art from Bryn Mawr College. Barbara has worked in tax, healthcare financial management, and the not-for-profit sector, as well as serving as an implementation consultant for government ERP systems with Tyler Technology. She gained governmental finance experience serving as Accounting Manager and Controller for the cities of Corinth and Arlington in Texas, before moving to Asheville, North Carolina, where she served as Finance Director and Chief Financial Officer for seven years. During her tenure in Asheville, Barbara became a Certified Treasury Professional (CTP) through the Association for Financial Professionals. She served as Agency Director of Administrative Services for the City of San Bernardino, California, and became the Director of Financial Services for the City of Sedona in September 2024.

Barbara is driven by a passion for public service. She believes that the role of a public servant is to provide the community they serve the best service, stewardship of assets, and highest level of transparency possible.

Vanessa Fielder – Bio
Vanessa Fielder currently runs the research and data analytics functions for the County Supervisors Association. In her role, Vanessa works to provide high quality research and analysis that informs local and state policy makers. As part of that work, Vanessa has conducted research related to county finance, statutory and constitutional restraints on local budgets and the impacts of pension on local governments.

Mrs. Fielder graduated from Arizona State University with a B.A.E in Secondary Education: Political Science (2014) and a Masters of Public Policy: Policy Informatics (2018). Prior to joining the County Supervisors Association, Vanessa taught high school government and economics in the East Valley.

René Guillen – Bio
René Guillen is a Deputy Director at the Arizona League of Cities and Towns. René was born and raised in Tucson, Arizona. He began working in politics in 2003 when he interned for the Arizona House of Representatives. He returned to work as research staff for the House in 2005. In 2010 he began working for the League of Arizona Cities and Towns and in 2011 he became their Legislative Director. In January of 2015 he became the Policy Advisor on Government and Transportation for Governor Doug Ducey. In the fall of 2017, he left the Ducey administration to join the Town of Gilbert to serve as their Director of Intergovernmental Relations. In 2020 he left to rejoin the League as a deputy director serving under Tom Belshe. René has worked a wide variety of legislative issues including: HOAs, pension reform, illegal immigration, energy and water policy, transportation issues, deregulation, autonomous vehicles, occupational licensing, the sharing economy and local government issues. René and his wife Stacy live in Goodyear, AZ and have two children, Lincoln (8) and Charlotte (6).