Michael Finnegan

Michael Finnegan is a Managing Director and Head of Regions in the Public Finance Department of J.P. Morgan Securities in New York, specialising in Environmental Finance.

He was previously Chief Counsel to Governor George Pataki of New York, where he was responsible for all legislative, legal and policy matters.

Mike has won numerous public service awards, including the Conspicuous Service Medal (New York's highest award for civilian service), the Distinguished Service Award from the Rockefeller Institute, and was twice recognised by the American Academy of Public Administrators for his work in State Government.

Mike was a member the EPA Environmental Finance Advisory Board and the UN Development Programme. He currently serves on the boards of: the Natural Resources Defense Council; Catholic Charities for NY Archdiocese; the Bertram M. Beck Institute on Religion and Poverty; the Regional Plan Association; Common Ground Community HDFC; Hope for a Healthier Humanity; the Audubon Society; the Boy Scouts of America; and the Natural National Defense University Foundation in Washington DC. He chaired the Hudson River Task Force which led to the creation of the Rivers and Estuaries Institute Center on the Hudson. Most recently, he served as advisor to the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Blue Ribbon Finance Panel.

Mike is a graduate of Pace University Law School and Siena College. He frequently lectures on environmental issues, including at the Pace Environmental Law Center, the American Law Institute/American Bar Association Annual Conference on Environmental Law, the US Military Academy at West Point and at the Confederacion Hidrografica del Ebro in Zaragoza, Spain.