John is the Managing Partner of Hawkins Delafield & Wood LLP and a member of the firm’s Management Committee. He is a creative problem-solver and strategist who assists clients in understanding and navigating the legal complexities of financial transactions.
John’s practice is focused on transactional, governance, disclosure and corporate matters, with an emphasis on financing activity within the health care, housing, cultural and higher education sectors. He has been lead counsel for issuers, borrowers, underwriters, lenders and credit providers in connection with more than $25 billion of financing activity, and he has participated in transactions in nearly every state during his 30 years of practice. John led the firm’s participation in several transactions that were awarded “Deal of the Year” by The Bond Buyer.

John advises government entity clients with respect to constitutional and legal authority, contracts, pending legislation, proposed regulations, compliance matters and federal tax issues. For private sector clients, he organizes and assists with the maintenance of private business entities, including applications for tax-exempt status, merger/affiliation work, §501(c)(3) joint venture documentation, public-private partnerships, start-up activities, compliance matters and on-going general legal representation. During the course of his practice, John has interacted with all of the nationally recognized credit rating agencies and is familiar with their criteria and rationale for the assignment of ratings, including those for structured financings.

John has participated as a panelist and as a panel chairperson at conferences of the National Association of Bond Lawyers, the American Bar Association and the National Association of Local Housing Finance Authorities. He has written articles and white papers on issues relating to finance transactions, securities law and tax matters.

Natasha Holiday is Managing Director and Co-Head Infrastructure East for RBC Capital Markets, where she manages a 40-person banking team and structures debt and sells bonds in the public and private markets to raise capital on behalf of large city and state governments to fund public infrastructure. Natasha is a member of RBC’s Municipal Finance Operating Committee and serves as a Board member of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB), the federal self-regulatory organization. She also co-chairs RBC’s U.S. Capital Markets Diversity Leadership Council. Natasha is a senior relationship banker to the Cities of New York, Philadelphia, and the District of Columbia, and the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York including select transportation and water authorities. She has worked as a banker and financial advisor for 19 years and has financed and/or advised on over $20 billion of municipal bond transactions. Natasha was recognized in 2020 as a Crain’s New York Business 40 Under 40 honoree and received one of six Northeast Women in Public Finance Trailblazing Women awards in 2019, the 2016 Rising Star Award by Women in Public Finance and the inaugural Bond Buyer 2016 Rising Star Award. Natasha earned her Master of Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School of Government, with a concentration in urban development and transportation policy, and a BA in History/BS in Political Science from Xavier University (OH), where she currently serves on the Board of Trustees’ Executive Committee and chairs the Board’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee. Natasha is a political enthusiast, avid basketball fan, and most importantly mom to her two sons, Aaron IV and Harrison – ages 9 and 7.