Provident founder Steve Hicks serves as the company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Steve practiced law for 25 years for a number of prestigious regional and national firms, specializing in the area of public finance with additional concentration in the area of legislative law. He participated in many public finance issues over his 25-year career in a variety of roles including bond counsel, underwriter's counsel, and counsel to the issuer. He played a major role in the formation of the Louisiana Public Facilities Authority, one of the nation's largest issuers of debt securities for a wide range of public projects. While practicing public finance law, Hicks was the principal attorney or supervisory partner on approximately $12 billion in project financings from 1973-1996 for acute care general hospitals, nursing facilities, affordable housing, and numerous other healthcare and other essential state and local government projects. Hicks served as General Counsel to the Louisiana Senate Committee on Revenue and Fiscal Affairs (1976-1980) where his primary responsibility was for bond and tax legislation referred to the Committee and the Louisiana Public Facilities Authority from 1974-1980. He served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Research Park Corporation, a public, nonprofit corporation organized by the Louisiana State Legislature to promote the development of high technology industries and research in Louisiana and Chaired the Audit Committee of the Research Park Corporation.
Education
Professional Affiliations
Community Involvement
As Provident’s President and Vice Chairman of the Board, Mr. Hicks is a member of the executive team that establishes the company’s strategy, culture and fulfillment of its charitable missions. Mr. Hicks also spearheads Provident’s public-private partnership financings, working with project partners and beneficiaries, financing partners, investors and rating agencies to ensure successful financial execution and an ongoing commitment to our partners for the life of our engagement. His role includes management of origination, analysis, and execution efforts for transactions and project relationships across a variety of asset classes. Chris works to foster relationships with state and local governments, public and private universities and healthcare systems, as well as development partners, allowing Provident to utilize its proven financing platform to further not only its non-profit missions, but the missions of each of these partners.
Prior to joining Provident, Mr. Hicks spent 18 years in the Public Finance Department of Citigroup Global Markets Inc., departing in 2019as a Director in their Higher Education and Public Private Partnership Groups. During his time at Citi, Mr. Hicks worked with clients on over $25 Billion in financings.
Mr. Hicks holds a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Wake Forest University.
Dr. Walter Bumphus currently serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Association of Community Colleges and was the recipient of the 2009 American Association of Community Colleges National Leadership Award. He served as distinguished professor in the Community College Leadership Program and as chair of the Department of Educational Administration. Dr. Bumphus held the A. M. Aikin, Jr. Regents Chair in Education Leadership at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Bumphus also served as System President of Louisiana Community and Technical College System from 2001-2007, where he was responsible to the Louisiana Community and Technical College System Board of Supervisors for providing leadership and direction for the State's seven community colleges, two technical-community colleges, and the 40 Louisiana Technical College campuses. He also led the development and implementation of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System Leadership Development Institute where more than 150 leaders have undergone training and approximately 50 percent of the participants have been promoted within the system. Dr. Bumphus was selected by the Association of Community College Trustees as the 2005 Marie Y. Martin CEO of the Year. From 1997-2000, Dr. Bumphus served as President of Voyager Expanded Learning, Higher Education Division, which created highly effective K-8 learning programs combining innovative curricula and advanced staff development and assessment to consistently achieve accelerated rates of learning. Voyager provided curricula to more than 1,000 school districts in 45 states. He was elected by community college presidents and chancellors to the American Association of Community Colleges' Board of Directors and was subsequently elected by members of the Board as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the American Association of Community Colleges for 1996-1997.
Education
Samantha Costanzo has 23 years of experience in investment banking, working with state and local governments and higher education institutions to develop creative financing solutions. She’s served as senior manager on over $25 billion of tax-exempt and taxable financings across various sectors. In March 2024, she joined Huntington Capital Markets as Senior Managing Director and Head of Public Finance. In this role, Ms. Costanzo is responsible for developing and executing upon the bank’s growth strategy nationally and providing expertise with large and complex financings. Prior to this, Ms. Costanzo was the Head of the Midwest Region at Citigroup (2014-2024) and Jefferies (2009-2014). She began her career as a public finance analyst at Salomon Smith Barney.
Ms. Costanzo is active in the Chicago community, serving as a member of the Board of Directors of the Chicago Summer Business Institute. She is a fierce advocate for other women in the public finance sector, and is an active member and prior board member of Women in Public Finance. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Huntington Securities, Inc.
Ms. Costanzo graduated cum laude from the University of Florida and holds a B.S. in Finance and Economics.
Thomas E. Greene III is nationally recognized in the fields of law, finance and asset protection. He is the founder of Liberty Street Advisory Group and Liberty Street Law. His professional experiences include: Senior Vice President and investment banker at Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs; in-house legal counsel for a national financial services firm; expert testimony before the United States Senate Finance Committee, the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee; President’s transition team on capital finance; Chief Executive Officer American Stock Exchange-traded company; Distinguished Practitioner/Lecturer, University of Georgia Terry College; author, A Family Asset Protection Plan and nationally published articles; and asset protection lecturer, National Business Institute.
Education
Professional Accreditations and Affiliations
Thomas H. Green III was an investment banker for 22 years at Citigroup. Prior to his retirement, Tom served as Managing Director and Head of Infrastructure Finance in Citi’s Public Finance Department. Tom’s clients included a variety of public and private institutions, ranging from state and local governments and their various project revenue bond issuing authorities to hospital systems, colleges, and universities. He also has extensive experience in U.S. municipal market asset securitizations. From 1992-1998, Tom served as the First Assistant Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, reporting directly to the Attorney General. Prior to that government service, he worked as an investment banker at the First Boston Corporation.
Education
· Juris Doctorate, Harvard Law School
· Master of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
· Bachelor of Arts, Harvard College
Professional Accreditation
· Member, Massachusetts Bar
Between 1978 and 1996, Nancy was a successful investment banker specializing in Public Finance, Corporate Finance, and Federal Finance with several major Wall Street firms, including Dillon, Read and Company, Inc. (1978-1982); Shearson Lehman Brothers Inc. (1982-1990); and M. R. Beal and Company. From March of 2005 to January of 2007, she served as the Executive Director of the New York State Commission on Public Authority Reform. On December 31, 2008, Henze retired as the Executive Director of the Municipal Assistance Corporation for the City of New York where, during her 10-year tenure, she was responsible for the oversight and management of more than $2 billion in municipal debt and all financial, legal, and administrative functions of the Corporation.
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