Don Puglisi is the MBNA America Professor of Business Emeritus at the University of Delaware and Managing Director of Puglisi & Associates.   He received a B.A. with high honors, majoring in accounting, and an M.B.A. with a concentration in finance from Michigan State University and holds a D.B.A., with a major in finance and minors in accounting and quantitative business analysis,  from Indiana University.  His primary teaching responsibilities at the University of Delaware, where he served on the faculty for thirty years starting in 1971, were corporate finance, securities analysis and portfolio management, the pricing and uses of derivative instruments,  and the management of financial institutions.  He has published extensively in those areas.  Don was the recipient of Excellence in Teaching Awards on six separate occasions while at the University of Delaware.  He has also been awarded the University of Delaware’s Medal of Distinction and an Honorary Doctor of Humanities degree. Don was appointed to the University of Delaware’s Board of Trustees in 2014. 

Don has served as a University of Delaware Public Service Fellow with the Office of the Treasurer for the State of Delaware and as a Visiting Research Scholar with the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, where he was the recipient of two Outstanding Service Awards.

Don founded Puglisi & Associates in 1973.  His company  provides financial and administrative services to a variety of Delaware-based holding companies, many of which are subsidiaries of major U.S. and foreign based corporations.  Don has over 25 years experience with a variety of forms of structured financings and serves as a director or trustee of a large number of special purpose finance vehicles, some of whose securities have been or are traded on major securities markets in the United States.

In July 1997, Don was nominated by Delaware’s Governor and confirmed by the Delaware Senate to be a Commissioner on the State’s Public Service Commission, the five-member group that is authorized by the Delaware General Assembly to regulate investor-owned utilities providing services for public use within the State of Delaware.  He stepped down from the Public Service Commission in December 2004.  In March 2000, then-Governor Thomas R. Carper presented Don the State of Delaware Order of the First State Award.

Don has been an expert witness in a number of cases involving valuation and other financial matters that have been adjudicated before a variety of state and federal courts, including Delaware's Chancery Court, the U.S. Tax Court, federal District Courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court by original jurisdiction.  His clients have included the United States Department of Justice Tax Division and Internal Revenue Service as well as individuals and corporations in the private sector.

GREGORY F. LAVELLE

Greg Lavelle has been with Puglisi & Associates in Newark, Delaware since 1987 where he currently serves as a Managing Director.  A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (Master of Governmental Administration, Fels Center of Government) and the University of Delaware (Finance and Economics), Greg also has his Certified Cash Manager designation from the Treasury Management Association.  His major responsibilities at Puglisi & Associates are investment management and accounting for a group of the firm's clients.  He serves as an officer and director for a number of Delaware entities. 

Greg served in the Delaware House of Representatives from 2000-2012. He was elected to the Delaware Senate in 2012 and continues to serve in this capacity. He has also been actively involved over the years with a number of civic associations, non-profits and other community organizations.

Ruth K. Lavelle is a 1987 graduate of the University of Delaware with a Bachelor of Science in Finance and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting with minors in Computer Science and Economics. Ms. Lavelle also completed her MBA at the University of Delaware in 1997.  She is currently a Managing Director at Puglisi & Associates where she has held various positions since 1985.  Her primary responsibilities include providing investment management and accounting services to the firm’s clients as well as serving as the firm’s office manager.  Ms. Lavelle also serves as an officer and director for numerous entities.  She received a Certified Cash Manager (CCM) designation from the Treasury Management Association in 1992 and earned her Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation in 1995. 

Ruth is active in numerous non-profit, civic and political organizations where she serves in a variety of capacities including board member, officer or volunteer.