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Rethinking Local Infrastructure Finance: UMD Smith Study Proposes New Model to Unlock Trillions in Institutional Capital

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COLLEGE PARK, Md., July 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — A new paper from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business argues that America’s infrastructure shortfall—estimated at $3.7 trillion over the next decade—is not primarily a funding problem, but a structural design problem.

In “Rethinking Municipal Financing: A Hybrid Institutional Capital Model for Local Infrastructure Development,” Smith MBA (finance) candidate Anton Steshenko proposes a new funding framework that could channel pension fund and insurance sector capital into local infrastructure at scale.

“The challenge is not the absence of capital, but the absence of institutional architecture capable of deploying it at scale,” writes Steshenko. Despite roughly $60 trillion in U.S. pension fund assets, most local governments—especially small and mid-sized jurisdictions—cannot access this capital because their projects are too small, too fragmented, or too risky under current structures.

Hybrid Model to Bridge the Gap

Steshenko introduces the Hybrid Institutional Capital Model (HICM), a layered financing framework that blends public credit enhancement with private institutional investment.

The model integrates four components:

Project aggregation through local or regional intermediaries (such as green banks) to overcome the “deal-size gap” that keeps institutional investors out of small projects.Public first-loss capital—often 10–20% of project value—to de-risk senior tranches.Structured risk allocation across equity, mezzanine, and senior debt layers aligned with investor mandates.Institutional capital participation through standardized, investment-grade vehicles.

Steshenko notes that “public capital deployed as credit enhancement produces materially higher leverage than public capital deployed as direct lending,” citing evidence from blended-finance facilities and U.S. green banks.

Green Banks as the Missing Link

One of Steshenko’s key findings is that the United States lacks the intermediary institutions needed to translate local project pipelines into investable products. He points to the success of the Connecticut Green Bank, which has achieved a 6.7:1 leverage ratio on $463 million in public capital, and the Rockville, Maryland-based Montgomery County Green Bank (MCGB), the first county-level green bank in the nation.

Steshenko says these institutions demonstrate that relatively small amounts of public capital can unlock large volumes of private investment. “MCGB provides a partial loan guarantee—covering 20% of principal—to a participating commercial lender… The result: $2 million in private capital deployed for $200,000 in MCGB capital, a 10:1 leverage ratio.”

Such viability, he adds, is reinforced internationally, including by the UK Green Investment Bank, Germany’s KfW and Australia’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation.

Steshenko’s paper outlines a practical implementation roadmap for local governments, emphasizing:

Intermediary creation (municipal, regional or state-partnered green banks)Integration with federal programs such as the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act, the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act, and the $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction FundPortfolio-level credit ratings to meet pension-fund requirementsLong-term governance independence to maintain investor confidence

Steshenko argues that his HICM can make $5-50 million projects—the vast majority of local infrastructure needs—investable for institutional capital for the first time.

Steshenko says his paper is especially timely, given that legislation such as the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act has injected historic levels of funding but still covers less than half of the national need. Without new financial architecture, he adds, local governments will continue to face widening gaps in transportation, water systems, clean energy and climate resilience.

Nima Farshchi, Smith’s executive director of the Office of Experiential Learning and director of the Center for Social Value Creation, says Steshenko’s work “surfaces a critical insight: the barrier to modernizing America’s infrastructure isn’t a lack of capital, but a lack of design. The Hybrid Institutional Capital Model, he says, “shows how thoughtful financial architecture can translate community-level projects into investable opportunities for institutional partners. This is exactly the kind of evidence-based, socially meaningful innovation we aim to cultivate at Smith—research that gives local governments practical tools to unlock scale, resilience, and long-term value.”

The HICM offers a scalable, evidence-based model that does not require new federal legislation—only new institutional design, Steshenko adds. “The infrastructure financing gap is large. But it is not inevitable. The Hybrid Institutional Capital Model provides a design for that architecture.”

Read the paper, “Rethinking Municipal Financing: A Hybrid Institutional Capital Model for Local Infrastructure Development,” at SSRN.

About the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business

The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and flex MBA, executive MBA, online MBA, business master’s, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.

Contact: Greg Muraski, gmuraski@umd.edu

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SOURCE University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business

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Debevoise Expands Fund Finance Practice with the Return of Zahra Sowder as Partner

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NEW YORK, July 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Debevoise & Plimpton LLP announced today that Zahra Sowder has joined the firm as a partner in its Fund Finance practice in New York.

Ms. Sowder advises private funds and financial institutions on a broad range of complex fund financing transactions, including subscription lines and NAV facilities, as well as bespoke financing solutions for LP and GP stakes. She also has extensive experience advising corporate borrowers on asset-based financings.

Presiding Partner Peter Furci said, “We continue to invest in our private capital platform to meet growing client demand for sophisticated financing solutions across the fund lifecycle. Zahra’s deep experience in this area, together with her longstanding connection to Debevoise and many of our clients, makes her an exceptional addition to the firm.”

Co-Chair of the Fund Finance Group Ramya Tiller said, “Private capital clients need sophisticated financing advice to support liquidity, fundraising and investment activity. Zahra has deep experience across the products our clients are using most actively, including NAV facilities across all strategies and other complex fund financing solutions. Having previously practiced at Debevoise, Zahra can contribute immediately to our growing practice.”

Ms. Sowder said, “Debevoise played an important role earlier in my career and is ideally suited for this next stage of my practice, especially given its specialized and growing fund finance practice. I look forward to working with colleagues and clients I know well and contributing to the continued growth of the practice.”

Ms. Sowder joins Debevoise from the New York office of another international law firm and previously practiced at Debevoise for more than 15 years as an associate and counsel. She received her J.D. from UCLA School of Law in 2008 and her B.A. from Vassar College in 2002.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/debevoise-expands-fund-finance-practice-with-the-return-of-zahra-sowder-as-partner-302825501.html

SOURCE Debevoise & Plimpton LLP

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As AI Agents Scale, Enterprises Demand Execution Control — Devenex Takes Control

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LAS VEGAS, July 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — • Inside the world’s largest organisations, AI agents are no longer experimental. They are executing in production — modifying financial records, triggering payments, approving workflows, and acting with the full operational authority of the enterprises that deployed them. By every credible estimate, the volume and consequence of these actions will increase by an order of magnitude within 24 months.

Yet no infrastructure layer exists to govern what these agents actually do. No systematic policy enforcement before action. No immutable audit trail after. No deterministic control between an agent’s intent and its real-world consequence. The most consequential technology shift in enterprise history is unfolding without an accountability layer.

Today, that changes. Devenex — the Execution Control Plane for AI agents — launches at Google Cloud Next 2026, introducing enterprise-grade governance infrastructure that sits between agent intent and real-world execution. Every action is policy-evaluated, explicitly authorised, identity-bound, and recorded as audit-grade evidence — before it takes effect, giving new life to enterprise AI initiatives.

Devenex is not a monitoring tool. It is not a workflow engine. It is the control plane that ensures no AI-initiated action executes without governance — giving CIOs, CTOs, CROs and enterprise security leaders the confidence to deploy agents at scale without sacrificing accountability.

THE STRUCTURAL GAP

Analyst consensus has converged on a single conclusion: enterprise AI execution capability is outpacing the controls designed to keep it accountable.

Gartner projects that by 2028, a third of enterprise software will incorporate agentic AI — up from less than one percent in 2024. McKinsey identifies governance and risk as the primary barriers to scaling enterprise AI, ahead of model quality or talent. Deloitte’s 2026 enterprise survey finds that 80 percent of leaders piloting AI agents cite security and compliance as the leading obstacle — up from 68 percent a year earlier.

The pattern is consistent across every credible source: enterprises are deploying agents faster than they can govern them. An AI agent that modifies a customer record, approves a discount, or initiates a wire transfer without a governing policy layer is not automation. It is an unmanaged compliance event, a latent security exposure, and a board-level liability.

Devenex addresses this gap at the infrastructure level — not as a feature bolted onto existing tools, but as a purpose-built control plane designed for governed enterprise execution from the ground up.

THE EXECUTION CONTROL PLANE

Devenex operates as the authorisation and governance layer between enterprise decision-making — whether initiated by humans, AI agents, or automated systems — and the execution of actions across enterprise systems of record.

Every action processed through Devenex produces four structured artifacts:

Intent Record. 

Execution Plan. 

Governed Execution. 

Execution Evidence. 

This model ensures that enterprises maintain full traceability from intent to outcome — satisfying EU AI Act, SOC 2, ISO 42001, and sector-specific regulatory requirements.

ENTERPRISE CAPABILITIES

Pre-Execution Policy Enforcement.  Every agent action is evaluated against organizational policy before execution. Nothing executes unchecked. Enterprises gain control over what agents are permitted to do — reducing compliance risk and eliminating ungoverned action.

Dynamic Human-in-the-Loop Governance.  High-consequence actions are routed to designated reviewers without halting low-risk automation. Approval workflows are configurable at the agent, action, or policy level — ensuring human oversight where it matters without creating operational bottlenecks.

Immutable Audit Infrastructure.  Every governed execution is recorded to an append-only ledger. Enterprises gain continuous compliance evidence without manual reporting.

Unified Observability Across Agents.  Live and retrospective visibility into agent activity, policy adherence, and anomaly patterns. Security, compliance, and operations teams share a single authoritative view of enterprise execution.

BUILT FOR ENTERPRISE REALITY

Devenex delivers flexible deployment models—SaaS, hybrid, and self-deployed—enabling organizations to adopt at their own pace.

Engineered to be framework-agnostic and cloud-native, Devenex integrates seamlessly across diverse enterprise environments. The platform does not replace existing systems of record, integration platforms, or identity providers. It governs execution across them.

LEADERSHIP

“For four decades, Abacus has earned the trust of enterprises navigating their most consequential technology transitions. Devenex represents the next chapter — purpose-built infrastructure for a world where AI agents execute with the authority of the organisations that deploy them. Governance at this layer is not optional. It is a precondition for enterprise AI at scale.”

— Aly Kuly Khan
Co-Founder & Chairman, Devenex

“For four decades, we’ve built the layers enterprises run on — systems of record, integration, workflow automation, API and iPaaS governance. Each wave solved the problem the previous one created. Today, AI agents are executing actions on architecture that was never designed to govern them. This isn’t an AI problem. It’s an architectural gap — and it’s the one our experience has prepared us to solve. Enterprises cannot answer four questions about any agentic action: who authorized it, what policy governed it, why it executed as it did, and whether they can prove it after the fact. In regulated environments, these aren’t edge cases — they’re the baseline. Devenex is the execution control plane that answers all four, by design, at execution time.”

— Shoaib A. Khan
Co-Founder & CEO, Devenex

AVAILABILITY & ENGAGEMENT

Devenex is available immediately, with deployment support from Abacus teams across the globe.

Enterprise pilot programmes are open to qualified organisations seeking to bring governed execution to production AI workloads.

Learn more at www.devenex.com

THE ROAD AHEAD

Enterprise AI is entering its execution era. The question is no longer whether agents can act — it is whether they can act accountably. The organisations that solve this first will scale AI faster, operate with greater confidence, and carry less risk than those that treat governance as a downstream problem.

Devenex exists to make governed execution the default operating model of the enterprise. Not as an aspiration. As infrastructure.

About DevenEx

Devenex is the Execution Control Plane for AI agents — enterprise infrastructure that governs every action across systems with policy enforcement, explicit authorisation, and audit-grade evidence. Built for the agentic era, Devenex sits between intent and execution so that no enterprise action moves forward ungoverned. Devenex is built by the team behind Abacus, bringing four decades of enterprise trust to AI execution governance.

About Abacus

Abacus is a global professional services leader in technology, outsourcing, and people solutions. With nearly 40 years of experience, 5,000+ professionals across four continents, and 1,500+ enterprise clients, Abacus designs bespoke solutions that enable organisations to create the future of business and embrace change for sustainable growth.

Media Contact

Devenex
www.devenex.com
Shoaib Khan
shoaib.khan@abacuscambridge.com
+1 (347) 701-4221

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CASIO Makes Classroom-Ready Calculator Free for Everyone with Launch of fx-300ES PLUS Online Emulator

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Casio’s fx-300ES PLUS Online Emulator is the First Web-Accessible Emulator of the Iconic Scientific Calculator, Giving Students, Parents and Teachers Free, Instant Access

JERSEY CITY, N.J., July 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Casio America, Inc. today announced a free online emulator for its fx-300ES PLUS scientific calculator, available now at ClassPad.net. The first web-accessible emulator of its kind for the fx-300ES series gives students and educators instant access to a fully functional digital calculator—at no cost—from any internet-connected device.

“The 300ES PLUS has been a staple in math and science classrooms for years because it’s reliable and easy to use,” said Marko Wityk, Senior General Manager of EdTech at Casio America. “This emulator takes that same experience and makes it available to any student. Whether they’re finishing homework or teachers are walking a class through a problem, this tool removes any barriers standing in the way of learning.”

Designed for Classrooms

The emulator requires only a free login through Google, Google Classroom, Microsoft, or Clever, platforms already in use at schools nationwide. Users gain access to a fully functional digital calculator replicating the fx-300ES PLUS, along with other scientific and graphing calculator options from Casio.

Key features include:

Projection mode – The emulator screen can be enlarged for display on a projector or interactive whiteboard, letting teachers walk the entire class through problems step-by-step.Key log – Displays a running log of each key used in a problem, allowing students to easily follow along with the teacher.Natural Textbook Display – See math problems and fractions exactly as they would appear in textbooks, homework, or exams.Zero cost and instant access – No app download needed and no purchase or subscription required now or in the foreseeable future.Device-agnostic – Compatible with any web-enabled device, from school Chromebooks to home laptops to tablets and other mobile devices.Screenshot – Capture an image of the calculator display to compare results and functions. Screenshots are copied to the clipboard for use in other applications as well.

The fx-300ES PLUS emulator is available now, free of charge, at ClassPad.net. Users can log in with an existing Google, Google Classroom, Microsoft, or Clever account. No additional registration is required.

The physical calculator remains available at major retailers nationwide and online at casio.com, typically priced around $15. Education pricing is available to teachers and schools by contacting edtech@casio.com.

About Casio America, Inc.
Casio America, Inc. is a subsidiary of Casio Computer Co., Ltd., one of the world’s leading manufacturers of consumer electronics and business equipment solutions. Casio’s EdTech division is dedicated to empowering students, educators, and parents with tools that make learning more accessible and effective. Casio products are sold through authorized Casio dealers. For more information, visit casio.com.

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SOURCE Casio America, Inc.

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