Team

Eduardo is the Chief Financial Officer for Austin ISD.  He grew up in the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas and attended St Edwards University in Austin on a College Assistance Migrant Program scholarship.  At St Edwards, he received a BBA in both Accounting and Finance.  Eduardo has 27 years’ experience working in school finance.  He has supervised various departments including finance, purchasing, transportation, grounds, maintenance, custodial, technology, food service and facilities construction.  He has been on leadership teams that helped pass over $2.9 billion in bonds in his career.  Eduardo has experience working in fast growth districts and districts with declining enrollment.  

He is currently the Chief Financial Officer for Austin ISD serving over 73,000 students and oversees an annual operating budget of $1.8 billion including recapture.  He supervises finance, budget, treasury management, procurement, state and federal programs and the district's HUB program.  He was recently part of a leadership team that helped pass a historic $2.44 billion bond package with a historic approval rating of 73%, balanced AISD's operating budget for both 21-22 and 22-23 and advocated and secured a 2nd AAA bond rating for the district giving AISD two AAA bond ratings.  

Eduardo is a servant leader and has served as a board member for the Texas Association of School Business Officials, board member for the TASB Risk Management Fund, served on the TEA Commission on Special Education Funding, and has presented at several conferences including TASA/TASB Midwinter Conference, TASBO Conference, Fast Growth Conference, and the Bond Buyer Conference.

Katrina Montgomery has over twenty-five years of accounting experience with a majority of those in leadership.  Katrina earned her BS at Grambling State University and her MBA from University of Phoenix. She spent over 15 + years at The Boon Group where she served as the Controller and 4 years at Huston-Tillotson University where she served as the Interim VP of Finance and Administration.  She is now the Assistant Superintendent of Financial Services at Austin Independent School District.  She has served on the boards of Community Action Network, Finding Our Voice, Austin Area Heritage Council and was an Audit and Foundation Committee Chair for the South-Central Chapter of Jack and Jill Inc.  She is a current board member of Communities In Schools, Measure, and is the Board Treasurer for the Ann Richards School Foundation.

Michael Needham serves as the Director of Treasury at Austin Independent School District ("AISD") and has long held an interest in public finance and serving the people of Texas. He brings debt management experience from his many years in state government. Michael has managed billion-dollar debt portfolios for the Central Texas Turnpike System and the Higher Education Coordinating Board. After working in the affordable housing industry, he returned to public service at AISD. He graduated as an MBA from the University of Texas, became a Certified Public Accountant, served the nation as a war veteran, and is a proud father.

Melissa has over 20 years of planning experience, having worked for city municipalities and a K-12 school district of over 75,000 students. She currently serves as Executive Director of Bond Implementation and Communications for the Austin Independent School District where she manages a team that works with school communities as part of the 2022 Bond Program to design campuses that reflect each unique community. Additionally, she works closely with other district departments on the implementation of the district's Long-range Plan, which includes over 450 strategies. Most recently, she led the multi-departmental long-range planning process which took a comprehensive look at the educational experience, guided by an Equity by Design model. The process centered the experiences of the most historically underserved communities to create the conditions for all students to thrive in the school system and was the basis for the district’s $2.44B bond program that was overwhelmingly supported by the voters in November 2022.