Nikolai J. Sklaroff

Nikolai J. Sklaroff serves as Capital Finance Director of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC). He is also a Commissioner on the California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission (CDIAC) and he is member of the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) Debt Committee.

As the SFPUC’s Capital Finance Director, he is responsible for developing, implementing and administering the SFPUC Capital Financing activities across the agency which is comprised of Water, Wastewater and Power enterprises. He leads a team of professionals supporting the agency's capital project funding activities for four highly rated entities. The Capital Finance Director manages the day-to-day operations of the SFPUC’s capital finance portfolio which includes more than $11 billion of outstanding debt (including revenue bonds and state and federal loans) and the daily operations of the SFPUC’s three Commercial Paper Programs with total authorization of more than $2 billion.

Nikolai was appointed as a state Commissioner to the California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission (CDIAC) by California State Treasurer Fiona Ma in December 2022. CDIAC was created by the California Legislature to assist state and local agencies with the issuance, monitoring, and management of public debt and the investment of public funds through its research and technical assistance programs and acts as the State's clearinghouse for public debt issuance information. Commission members include the State Treasurer, Governor, State Controller, two Assembly members, two State Senators, a County representative and Nikolai representing California’s cities.

Nikolai has spent more than three decades in the public finance industry and most recently served as the Deputy Director of Finance responsible for the Debt & Treasury Management division in the City of San José. In that role he oversaw teams managing the City’s debt portfolio across all enterprises, management of the City’s investment portfolio and the City’s banking operations. Nikolai spent 22 years as a senior public finance investment banker in San Francisco with Citigroup Global Markets, J. P. Morgan Securities - as national Head of Cultural Institutions investment banking - and Wells Fargo Securities. Prior to becoming an investment banker, Nikolai was a senior Moody’s Investors Service rating agency analyst and member of Moody's rating committee. Nikolai began his career as a financial advisor with Public Financial Management, Inc. in his hometown of Philadelphia, where he received his degrees from the Wharton School and the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Pennsylvania, prior to moving to England (to live in a castle) to pursue his graduate degree. He pursued further graduate studies at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs prior to being relocated to San Francisco by Moody’s.

A frequent speaker at industry conferences and author on public finance topics, Nikolai has also served on multiple boards of directors and advisory committees including the Western Museums Association and the Association for Governmental Leasing and Finance (AGL&F)