Rachel Cortez is an Associate Managing Director with the Global Project & Infrastructure Finance Group of Moody's Ratings. She manages a sizeable portfolio of US municipal public power utilities, joint action agencies, and generation and transmission cooperatives. Previously, Rachel was the manager of Moody's Chicago-based public finance analytical team, where she covered tax-backed and revenue-secured debt issued by municipalities and water and sewer utilities. Prior to joining Moody's in 2005, Rachel spent five years with CGI American Management Systems, where she implemented budget and financial management systems for state and local governments. She was also a Medicaid analyst with the State of Illinois and spent several years working in not-for-profit development. Rachel currently serves on the board of the Chicago chapter of Women in Public Finance. She was President of the Chicago Municipal Analysts Society and served on the board of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts. Rachel received an MPA from Syracuse University and a BA from Cornell University.