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Tanvi has been covering CLOs for over eight years and she joined 9fin in October 2023 to spearhead 9fin’s CLO structured credit product. Prior to this, she led the data journalism team at Creditflux which focused on providing in-depth analysis of the global CLO market. Tanvi graduated from the University of Warwick with a MSc in financial mathematics and holds a BSc in mathematics from Delhi University.

Christopher Terry joined AllianceBernstein in 2017 and is a Managing Director of AB Private Credit Investors, where he currently leads the Structured Products group. Based in New York, he is focused on structuring, negotiating, and executing structured credit transactions including private credit CLOs, RRL ABS, warehouse facilities, and other long term portfolio finance solutions. Previously, he was an Associate at Garrison Investment Group, where he managed treasury for portfolio investments within the structured finance and real estate platforms. Prior to that, Mr. Terry served as a Credit Analyst and CLO Analyst at Monroe Capital. He began his career at LaSalle Bank as an Account Manager within the Global Trust Services Group. Mr. Terry holds a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan.

Brian Pilko is the Head of Portfolio Management & Research at AGL Credit Management and a member of the firm’s Investment Committee. AGL manages $20 billion across CLOs and private credit and is one of the largest issuers of BSL CLOs since its inception in 2019. Prior to joining AGL in 2019, Pilko was a Managing Director at CIFC Asset Management and a member of the firm’s Investment Committee. Pilko has a BA in economics from Stanford University and an MBA in finance from the Leonard Stern School of Business at New York University. Pilko is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.

Mak is a managing director in Structured Products at Antares Capital. Prior to joining Antares Capital in 2022, he was a Director and Head of US CLO Structuring at Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC. Previously he was a Vice President at Deutsche Bank Securities. Mak has a total of 17 years of industry experience. He has a B.E. in E.E. from the University of Mumbai and an MBA from Duke University.

Elizabeth Legunn is a Managing Director in the Ares Credit Group, where she focuses on CLO investments. Prior to joining Ares in 2019, Ms. Legunn was an Assistant Vice President at AllianceBernstein, where she focused on structured credit investing. Ms. Legunn holds a B.A., with distinction, from Amherst College in Mathematics and Economics. Ms. Legunn is a CFA Charterholder.

Ms. Cleary is a Partner, President and Head of Ivy Hill Asset Management, L.P. ("IHAM"), where she has been employed since July 2010. She additionally serves as a member of the Ivy Hill Asset Management Investment Committee. Prior to joining Ares in 2008, Ms. Cleary was an Assistant Vice President at CIT Sponsor Finance, where she focused on evaluating new investment opportunities and performed credit due diligence on potential investments. Previously, Ms. Cleary was an Analyst at GE Global Sponsor Finance, where she completed GE's Investment Analyst program. Ms. Cleary holds a B.A. from Franklin and Marshall College in Finance and Accounting.

Joseph Buchheit joined Bain Capital in 2016. He is a Managing Director on the credit team and a member of the Private Credit Group.

Prior to joining Bain Capital, Joseph was an Associate at Antares Capital and GE Capital.

Joseph received a BA from Johns Hopkins University.

Pratik Gupta is a Managing Director and head of CLO and RMBS Strategy. Gupta and his team are responsible for covering trends in mortgage credit and its securitized market in the US and publishing their views on relative-value across sub-sectors and focal risk points for investors, as well as highlighting issues around governing documents and ongoing court cases. Gupta is also responsible for covering the CLO market, focusing on underlying CLO manager behavior, trends in the underlying leveraged loan asset class, relative value and performance trends. Regular research publications include Non-Agency Alert, Non-Agency MBS Weekly, CLO Alert, and CLO Weekly. Gupta has been ranked #1 in the Institutional Investor Survey for RMBS & CLOs in the 2021 survey. His team was ranked as the ‘Best US CLO Research’ in the 2021 Creditflux survey.  
 
He was the co-head of RMBS/CLO research at Nomura until 2019. He has an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, and a Bachelor's and Master's in Electronics from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras. 

For more information about any awards cited, visit https://go.bofa.com/awards 

Brad Rogoff is a Managing Director and Head of FICC Research, based in New York. The FICC Research team covers corporate and sovereign bonds, securitized products, interest rates, FX and economics across developed and emerging markets globally. In addition to his leadership role, he largely focuses on the US high yield, leveraged loan and CLO markets. He and his team have consistently been ranked by Institutional Investor in the High Yield Credit Strategy category since 2009, and the US Credit Alpha has been voted one of the Best Weekly Credit Research Publications each year since. In 2016, Brad assumed management responsibility for the Emerging Market Corporate Credit Research team globally; in 2018, his role was expanded to include the Developed Market Credit Research team; and in 2022, he took on responsibility for FICC research. He joined Barclays from Lehman Brothers in September 2008, where he was a member of the Credit Strategy team focusing on high yield bonds and derivatives. He joined Lehman Brothers in 2002 as a member of the High Yield Research team focusing on the media sector and moved to the Credit Strategy team in 2005. Brad graduated from Harvard University, cum laude, in 2002 with an AB in economics. He is also a CFA charterholder.

Arlene Shaw is a Managing Director and Treasurer.  Ms. Shaw is responsible for structuring and executing collateralized loan obligations, lines of credit and other financing for the firm.   Ms. Shaw joined Brightwood in February 2016.   Prior to Brightwood, Ms. Shaw was a Senior Associate at Schulte Roth and Zabel LLP in the corporate finance group, where her practice was focused on, middle market credit facilities, acquisition financing and liquidity facilities for hedge funds and private equity funds, including warehouse lines, leveraged finance vehicles, capital call facilities, CLOs and fund-of-fund loans.   Ms. Shaw holds a BA, summa cum laude, from the State University of New York at Albany and a JD, cum laude, from Tulane University Law School. Ms. Shaw is committed to philanthropic works and serves on the Water Board for the City of New York Department of Environmental Protection and the board of Inherent Foundation.

Rebecca O'Brien is a Partner in Clifford Chance's US Structured Finance practice. She specializes in structured debt, focusing on CLOs and securitization transactions across all major asset classes, and has experience in derivatives.

Daniel Lepore is a Managing Director and Head of Liability Management.  In his current role, Mr. Lepore is responsible for managing and expanding Cliffwater's bank and non-bank relationships in order to effectively finance Cliffwater's asset management business.  Mr. Lepore is also involved in structuring the firm's private managed vehicle investments, such as private/public CLO's, joint ventures, or other levered investment solutions; as well as driving strategy for liquidity optimization.  He joined Cliffwater in October 2022.   

Prior to Cliffwater, Mr. Lepore was a Managing Director and Head of Liability Management at PennantPark Investment Advisers, a $6.0 billion middle market direct lending platform.  There, Mr. Lepore was responsible for asset and fund financing, CLO formation and execution, private fund formation and solutions, and liquidity optimization.  Before joining PennantPark, Daniel was a Principal in the Direct Lending team of The Carlyle Group, with approximately $10 billion in private credit AUM.  There, Mr. Lepore helped oversee the liability management of the platform, including fund and asset-level financing, private and public corporate securitization formation with both banks and non-banks, and overall treasury management.  

Mr. Lepore spent the first 10 years of his career in the hedge fund industry, most recently as a Vice President with ZAIS Group, LLC, a $6.0 billion boutique securitized credit investment platform, from 2013 to 2016, where he was a CLO trader specializing in CLO mezzanine debt and equity.  Prior to that, Mr. Lepore was a Vice President in the Risk Management group at Marathon Asset Management through the credit crisis.

Daniel holds a BS in Economics from The College of New Jersey, magna cum laude, and is a CFA Charterholder.

Judy Chou joined the Cooper Family Office as a senior investment advisor with extensive credit experience including roles in investment management, buy-side business development, and mergers & acquisitions.  Ms Chou graduated from the Walter A Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, with a Bachelor of Sciences.  She also holds the Chartered Alternative Investments Analyst (CAIA) designation.  

Judy started her career as a mergers & acquisitions investment banker covering private equity firms at JPMorgan Chase, where she received her credit training.  Subsequently, Ms Chou was a Senior Credit Analyst at Callidus Capital, a CLO asset manager, where she managed a portfolio of leveraged loans and high-yield bonds. Consequently, she was an advisor to True Course Capital, a private credit boutique.  Judy was then a product specialist on the marketing team at CIFC Asset Management, an alternative credit manager.  Immediately prior to joining the Coopers Family Office, Judy was a Sales Director and Senior Relationship Manager at CreditSights/Covenant Review, a FitchSolutions Company, establishing and maintaining relationships with a broad array of investor clients in the leveraged finance space.  

Judy is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and is an avid golfer and tennis player.  

Aleksandr is a managing director in Deloitte Advisory practice, residing in Securitization market offering. He has 20 years of experience working with all types of collateralized debt obligations (CDO), collateralized bond obligations (CBO) and collateralized loan obligations (CLO), covering full lifecycle scope of agreed-upon procedures as well as other advisory services. He oversees CLO collateral portfolio tie-outs and CLO capital structure and cash flow tie-outs for marketing materials and offering documents, as well as investor payment date reconciliations covering priority of payments and collateral compliance testing. He is also involved in valuation of both debt and equity of CDOs/CLOs utilizing both Intex and internal proprietary models.  

Internally, Aleksandr assists audit teams with the valuation of CDO/CLO equity and debt securities and management fees analysis. Externally, he has been involved in financial accounting and reporting advisory services with respect to consolidation of CLOs onto sponsor financials. Additionally, Aleksandr has delivered CLO/CDO primer presentations to both his Deloitte colleagues and existing and potential clients.

Aleksandr has contributed to Deloitte CLO Publication covering accounting, tax, and regulatory aspects. He has spoken on panels at numerous ABS industry conferences, including ABS West 2015, ABS East 2015, IMN CLO Conference in New York in 2015, 2016 and 2023 and Opal CLO Conference in 2016 and 2023. 

Aleksandr is a CFA charter holder and a CPA, and received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in finance and accounting from the New York University Stern School of Business.

Joel Furusho is a Director on Deutsche Bank's US Structured Finance Sales Team based in California.  Joel has been with the bank for over 25 years and has experience in many functional areas of the CLO client service platform, including heading the CLO Trust business for 5 years.  In his current role, Joel’s primary responsibility is expanding Deutsche Bank’s Trust and Agency business within the CLO and private credit markets.  Earlier in his career with the bank Joel worked as an expatriate in Deutsche Bank’s Tokyo office, managing JPY ABS securitizations. 

Joel holds an M.B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles – UCLA Anderson School of Management and a B.A. from the University of California, Irvine.

Kos Vavelidis advises originators, issuers, arrangers, investment managers, and investors across the US and Europe on a broad range of structured finance, derivatives, securitization, and asset-backed lending matters, with a particular focus on Collateralized Loan Obligations (CLOs).

He has experience representing the majority of arrangers, warehouse providers, and a range of collateral managers and investors on European CLO transactions and warehouse facilities and a number of arrangers and managers on US transactions. He recently represented clients such as Ares, Barclays, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas, Citi, Credit Suisse, CVC, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, ICG, Jefferies, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, MC Credit, Neuberger Berman, New Mountain, Nuveen and Oak Hill Advisors.

His experience includes structuring CLOs and public and private securitizations to comply with a variety of regulatory requirements in the US and Europe, including the Dodd-Frank Act and the EU and UK Securitization regulations. He advises on the US, EU and UK regulatory framework, including the risk retention and transparency requirements regimes, as they apply to US and European transactions. 

He has been at the forefront of developments in the European CLO space and has been involved in the development of new concepts, including uptier priming debt language, new environmental, social, and governance (ESG) language, rating agency criteria, sanctions language, and commercial concepts. Kos has spoken at industry conferences and has been quoted in the press on legal developments in the industry.

Kos also has extensive experience in derivatives. He has acted for banks, hedge funds, private equity sponsors, and corporate borrowers, sovereigns, and sovereign wealth funds on a wide spectrum of cross-jurisdictional matters, with a particular emphasis on Over-The-Counter (OTC) and structured derivatives transactions in respect of currencies, rates, commodities, and credit.

Mr. Mezyk joined DoubleLine in 2016 as an Analyst focusing on CLOs and other structured products, later transitioning to his role as Portfolio Manager. Prior to DoubleLine, he was a Structured Products Analyst at American Capital where he invested in CLOs for their Leveraged Finance Group. Previous to American Capital, Mr. Mezyk was an Analyst in PNC Financial Services’ Asset Backed Finance group where he focused on structuring different ABS transactions. He holds a BBA from the University of Notre Dame and is a CFA® charterholder.

Nicole Byrns is an accomplished structured credit investor with 20+ year track record of private investing and financing experience at funds and financial institutions. Most recently, Ms Byrns was Managing Director at Canada’s largest pension plan, CPP Investments (CPPIB). She was a senior leader in CPPIB’s Capital Solutions Group where she focused on developing and growing the fund’s private structured credit platform. She managed $3.5bn credit portfolio that focused on asset-backed lending, specialty finance, renewables, CLOs and fintech sectors. She also led the division’s financing practices that oversaw a $47bn leverage portfolio. She was a member of the Real Assets Credit, Capital Solutions and Leveraged Finance Investment Committees.   

 Prior to CPP Investments, Ms. Byrns was at Deutsche Bank’s Global Credit Trading group where she developed innovative financing solutions for her clients in the fintech, aviation, mortgage and esoteric industries. Previously, she was at Garrison Investment Group and Citi where she was responsible for originating and executing asset-based financings and whole loan purchase programs. 

Ms. Byrns is a distinguished writer, contributor, and conference speaker, known for her engagements at industry-leading events such as the Kayo Women’s Group and ABS East. She regularly publishes insightful articles for "Credit Check," a forum dedicated to discussing trends in the asset-based finance industry. A strong advocate for women's advancement in financial services, Ms. Byrns frequently contributes to "Balancing the Books," where she explores themes affecting women in private credit. Additionally, she has collaborated with the Structured Finance Association on various research publications and is an editorial board member for SFA’s Structured Finance Journal. 

Ms Byrns received a BA from Wellesley College and an MA from the Fletcher School at Tufts University. She also studied at L’Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) as a Rotary Scholar. She serves on the board of Jacob Riis Neighborhood Settlement. 

Dan Wohlberg is a member of the Investment Team at Eagle Point Credit Management where he focuses primarily on analyzing asset managers, evaluating opportunities in the primary and secondary markets, monitoring investments and developing strategic initiatives. Dan has over a decade of experience investing in and advising others with respect to complex structured finance transactions and derivatives.  Prior to joining Eagle Point, Dan advised a broad array of market participants on matters relating to structured finance, leveraged lending, securities regulation, distressed situations and derivatives while at leading global financial service law firms.  Dan received his J.D., cum laude, from Brooklyn Law School, where he was an editor for the Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial and Commercial Law, and his B.A., cum laude, from Stony Brook University. He has been admitted to the bar in New York, New Jersey and North Carolina.

Alina Pak, CFA, is a senior director with Fitch Ratings Structured Credit team, responsible for managing CLO and CLO manager assessment.

Lyuba Petrova is a Managing Director, leading the N.A. Leveraged Finance team. Her team authors research on private debt, market trends, creditor recoveries, documentation, defaults and bankruptcies.

Prior to joining Fitch, Lyuba spent time in Leveraged Finance and Credit Risk Management at JPMorgan. As a Vice President in the Credit Risk Management team, she was tasked with maintaining a portfolio of $3.2 billion of primary exposure across a variety of industries.

Lyuba graduated Magna Cum Laude from Mount Holyoke College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Statistics.

• Mr. Horowitz is a Managing Director in the Fortress Credit Funds Business and the Head of Structured Liabilities 
• Prior to joining Fortress in 2022, Mr. Horowitz was a Managing Director and portfolio manager in the Chief Investment Office of J.P. Morgan where we was responsible for $45bn of CLOs and consumer ABS
• Prior to joining J.P. Morgan, Mr. Horowitz was a Managing Director in the CDO business at Morgan Stanley as Head of U.S. CDO Capital Markets and co-head of U.S. CDO Structuring and Origination
• Mr. Horowitz received a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate
  School of Business

Amit Roy is a Managing Director in the Investment Banking division at Goldman Sachs and heads the US CLO New Issue business for the firm. He joined Goldman Sachs in 2001 and has been directly involved in structuring and placing over $90bn of securities backed by bank loans, high yield bonds, investment grade securities, private placements and emerging market securities.
Amit holds an MBA, with honors, from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and S.B. degrees in Economics and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Mr. Chi is co-head of Direct Lending in the Americas within Goldman Sachs Asset Management.  He is also co-chief executive officer and co-president of Goldman Sachs’ seven BDCs and a member of the Asset Management Private Credit Investment Committee.  Prior to joining Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Mr. Chi worked in the Financial and Strategic Investors Group within the Investment Banking Division from 2006 to 2019, where he managed the firm’s relationships with private equity and related portfolio company clients. From 2000 to 2006, Mr. Chi was in Leveraged Finance, where he originated and executed leveraged loan and high yield financings for sponsor and corporate clients across all industries. From 1997 to 2000, he was based in Hong Kong, working on mergers & acquisitions, debt and equity financings, privatization and restructuring assignments for clients across Asia Pacific. Mr. Chi joined Goldman Sachs in 1994 as an analyst and spent his first three years at the firm across the Information Technology, Fixed Income Capital Markets and Leveraged Finance groups.  Mr. Chi serves on the Board of Directors for the JED Foundation and the Korean American Community Foundation.

Charlie is the Head of Credit at Hebbia AI, where he runs AI implementation for the world’s leading asset managers. Before joining the founding team at Hebbia, Charlie worked in credit investing at Sixth Street Partners, and in Financial Sponsors at Credit Suisse. He and his team's experience in credit and AI bridge the gap between capable tooling & subject matter expertise, unlocking value for leading firms. 

Mr. Worman is a Managing Director at HPS Investment Partners and Head of US CLO Management and Liquid Loan Funds and related Separately Managed Accounts. Prior to joining HPS in 2021, Mr. Worman was a Portfolio Manager and Partner at Brigade Capital Management where he was responsible for managing the US and European CLOs and CBOs. Prior to Brigade, Mr. Worman worked as a Senior Analyst at Greywolf Capital, where he focused on distressed and event-driven opportunities across the capital structure. Prior to Greywolf, Mr. Worman was an Associate in the Healthcare Group at Madison Dearborn Partners. Mr. Worman began his career at Bear, Stearns & Co. as an Analyst. Mr. Worman holds a BBA in Accounting and Finance from the Roberto C. Goizueta Business School at Emory University and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Jessica Shill is a Portfolio Manager on the Securitised Credit Team at Janus Henderson Investors. Additionally, she is a Securitised Products Analyst with a focus on CLOs. Jessica became portfolio manager in 2023, was an associate portfolio manager from 2020, and has held the analyst position since joining the firm in 2019. Prior to this, she was an intern and an analyst for the Wells Fargo Investment Portfolio.

Jessica received her Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Bryn Mawr College, where she graduated cum laude. She has 8 years of financial industry experience.

Steve is a seasoned structured credit banking professional and has been in the business for more than 25 years. He is presently responsible for running J.P. Morgan’s Primary CLO business globally. Previously with Apollo Global Management, Steve specialized in investing in CLOs and capital relief/SRT transactions as well as the issuance of Apollo’s managed CLOs. Steve also held positions with the U.K. Financial Services Authority and at Standard Chartered Bank. Prior to London Steve was in New York, where he was responsible for co-managing the CLO Banking Group at Lehman Brothers and was a senior member of the structured credit team at Natixis. Steve holds a BASc with First Class Honours in Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, an MBA from the Ivey Business School at Western University in Ontario, and is a CFA charter holder.

Andrew Giudici is a Senior Managing Director and the Global Head of Corporate, Project, and Infrastructure Finance at Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA). He leads a global team responsible for evaluating the creditworthiness of issuers across a wide range of sectors, including energy, infrastructure, telecommunications, healthcare, and industrials. Andrew founded KBRA's Project Finance Group in 2012 and took over responsibility for Corporate Finance in 2020. Since then, he has been instrumental in KBRA's expansion into private credit by developing industry-leading research and analytical approaches to evaluate middle market companies across all industries. 

Before joining KBRA, Andrew held multiple roles at Standard & Poor’s (now S&P Global Ratings). Most recently, he served as a director in the Utilities, Infrastructure, and Project Finance Ratings Group, where he managed ratings for independent power providers, public-private partnerships, and project finance transactions. In an earlier role, he led a team in the Structured Finance Group, overseeing a $1 trillion portfolio of credit ratings. Prior to his tenure at S&P, Andrew worked at Citigroup as part of the corporate workout team, managing distressed credits.

Andrew holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from SUNY Oneonta and an MBA from St. John’s University.

Eric Hudson is a Senior Managing Director at Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA), with a focus on CLOs, CDOs, and warehouse financing transactions. 

Eric joined KBRA after 11 years at Standard & Poor’s (now S&P Global Ratings), where he held various roles within the company’s structured finance ratings practice. Most recently, he was a senior director and analytical manager for S&P’s U.S. Structured Credit Group, where he led the team that was responsible for assigning ratings to all newly-issued CLO and CDO transactions. In addition to managing a multiregional team of analysts, Eric served as the face of S&P’s CLO team, leading outreach efforts among arrangers and collateral managers, hosting various investor roundtable events, and serving as a speaker at numerous industry conferences. 

Previously, Eric served as a primary rating analyst on numerous structured credit transactions, including CLOs, timeshare securitizations, and leveraged fund transactions. Before joining S&P, Eric held positions within the assurance and structured finance practices of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in New York. 

Eric holds a B.S. in accounting and an MBA in finance and accounting from Fairfield University. He also earned his CPA license in the state of New York.

Jared Axelrod is a partner in the Structured Finance & Structured Private Credit Practice Group in the New York office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP and leads the Firm’s collateralized loan obligation (CLO) platform. Jared advises clients on negotiating and structuring CLOs and other complex securitizations and has nearly a decade of experience advising clients within the sector. He has advised domestic and international asset managers and issuers across a wide variety of CLO transactions, as well as other complex structured credit financing arrangements, including private credit securitizations, rated note feeders and insurance solution products. Jared has extensive experience in the various regulatory regimes applicable to securitizations, including U.S. and EU Risk Retention Rules, the Volcker Rule and the Investment Advisers Act. He has also leveraged his significant experience in rating agency methodology to assist clients in developing novel rated securitization structures.
 
Jared also works closely will the Firm’s Investment Funds Practice Group where he advises sponsors on the formation of CLO equity funds and other credit funds, as well as continuation credit fund transactions in the private funds secondary market.

Pramit Mukherjee is a Senior Director, Investments, at Legal and General America, and manages US PRT and Protection portfolios. He leads research on new asset classes and executes investment strategies and structuring across multiple regulatory jurisdictions, including RBC and Solvency II. He focuses on deal origination, due diligence, and underwriting in alternative credit, infrastructure, and real estate, globally and cross-divisionally at Legal & General. Previously, he was a Senior Analyst and Portfolio Manager at Converge Re, the reinsurance business of Lightstone Group, where he led investment evaluation, due diligence, and portfolio management. At Converge Re, he focused on alternative credit and real estate investments for insurance portfolios in a capital efficient manner. Prior to Lightstone, he was an analyst and strategist at Goldman Sachs leading thematic equity research and portfolio strategy for major institutional investors. At Credit Suisse, he advised leading global consumer & retail companies on M&A and IPO transactions valued at over $5 billion. He is a member of the FIIN, CREFC, and LSTA. Mr. Mukherjee received his MBA (Beta Gamma Sigma honorary) with distinction from New York University’s Stern School of Business. He graduated magna cum laude from the Indian Institute of Technology with an MS and BS in Industrial Engineering.

Aron Grufstedt is responsible for contributing to the management for the firm’s taxable-fixed income strategies with a focus on Bank Loans and CLOs. Aron joined Lord Abbett in 2022.  His previous experience includes serving in various roles at Carlyle Group including Structuring and Liability Management and Credit Analyst; Private Equity Associate at CCMP Capital; and Analyst at Octagon Credit Investors, LLC. He earned a BS in business management from Babson College. He has worked in the financial services industry since 2005.

Ellen Hefferan is the Executive Vice President of Operations and Accounting of the LSTA.   She is charged with managing key operational strategies and initiatives, including establishing best practices and settlement standards, that facilitate a more efficient and liquid market.  She also reviews proposed regulatory rulemaking for operational challenges.   Ms. Hefferan supports the Liquidity Committee, and chairs the Operations Steering Group, the Settlement Committee, the Buy-side Operations Committee, the Custodian/Trustee/Fund Administrator Committee, the Private Credit Operations Committee, and co-chairs the Product and Technology Committee, assessing current operations while identifying opportunities for improvement, standardization, and system interoperability.   She also chairs the CUSIP and MEI/CEI Working Groups.   She is responsible for the SOFR Calculator and the Directory and Escalation Matrix.

Previously, Ms. Hefferan served as President of ClearPar from the founding of the settlement platform in 2000 until March of 2006, Vice President and Senior Counsel at Citigroup where she provided transactional and advisory support to the loan syndications, trading and sales desks and the corporate banking origination units,  Associate with Winston and Strawn and staff accountant in the Audit Division of Arthur Andersen & Co.

She received both a BS in Public Accounting and Marketing and a JD from Fordham University.   She is a member of the New York State Bar and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Tess has a broad range of responsibilities at the LSTA. She leads the LSTA’s sustainable finance and ESG initiatives which seek to foster the development of sustainable lending as well as to promote greater ESG disclosure in the loan markets. In addition, Tess engages in the LSTA’s policy initiatives, including advocacy, regulatory engagement and developing industry solutions to loan market issues. Tess also focuses on maintaining and augmenting the LSTA’s extensive suite of documentation, which includes templates, market standards, and market and regulatory guidance. Finally, she is involved in the development and presentation of the LSTA’s robust education programs. 

Prior to joining the LSTA, Tess practiced as a finance attorney at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in New York. She received a B.S. in International Politics from the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law. She is admitted as an attorney in New York. She is a Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting Credential Holder and holds a CFA Institute Certificate in ESG Investing.

Ashok Khatri currently leads the Product team for Moody's Asset Manager. He is responsible for developing and managing solutions for the compliance management, monitoring and trade optimization needs of CLO Managers, Structured Finance issuers, trustees, and lenders across the globe. These solutions include off-the-shelf and customized tools such as the Asset Manager for monitoring and surveillance, Capital Markets for advanced data analytics and Funding optimization for Structured Finance Borrowers and Lenders. Ashok has also worked with start-ups, as well as in strategy consulting, bringing his expertise and best practices to the product management and development lifecycle. 

Yu Sun is an Associate Managing Director in Moody’s Structured Credit team, where she focuses on new ratings of BSL/MM CLOs, project finance CLOs, TRuPS CDOs, muni CDOs, and structured notes. Previously, she was a senior analyst for various structured finance transactions, including CLOs, credit derivatives and other esoteric transactions. Before joining Moody’s, Yu worked in the Structured Finance team at Nomura Securities in New York. Prior to that, she held positions in commodity futures trading and equity research at various financial institutions. Yu holds a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry and an MBA from the University of Iowa. She is a CFA charterholder and a member of the CFA Society New York.

Eileen J. Ho advises clients on sophisticated structured finance and securitization transactions, including representing arrangers, managers, and investors in both broadly syndicated and private credit collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), issuers and financial institutions in domestic and cross-border securitizations, and borrowers and lenders in asset-based lending arrangements. She understands the nuances of executing complicated financing transactions involving many types of financial assets and other collateral, including student loans, consumer loans, healthcare, credit card, telecommunications, and other trade receivables. Her asset-backed commercial paper conduit experience extends to representing banks in connection with establishing programs and conduit-funded transactions. She also advises clients on regulatory matters, including those related to the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and related rules and regulations.  

Ed Greenaway is the Head of CLO Portfolio Management for MSIM. His responsibilities include buy and sell decisions, portfolio construction and risk management across the firm’s 20 managed CLOs and third-party CLO tranches. Ed has held a variety of roles within legacy Eaton Vance’s loan platform including work as a structured products specialist and Portfolio Manager focused on the Firm’s CLO tranche investments as well as serving as a credit analyst. Having joined legacy Eaton Vance in 2008, he has been a central figure in the growth and success of the MSEV platform and provides a unique perspective on the business with his experience in both CLO credit and investing. Ed began his career in the investment management industry in 2006. Before joining Eaton Vance, he was a CDO analyst with U.S. Bank. Ed earned a B.A. from St. Anselm’s College and a graduate degree in Finance from Boston College. He is a CFA charterholder.

Batur Bicer is a Portfolio Manager focusing on investment strategies related to structured credit products both in cash and synthetic markets at Napier Park Global Capital (“Napier Park”). Napier Park separated from Citigroup’s alternative investment arm, Citi Capital Advisors (“CCA”), in February 2013. Prior to CCA, Batur served two years as Vice President at Goldman Sachs as a Credit Strategist covering primarily credit derivative products where he was responsible for recommending trade ideas and providing quantitative solutions for both internal and external clients. Prior to Goldman Sachs, Batur worked as a Credit Strategy Research Analyst for five years at Barclays Capital where he published weekly reports on the structured credit market. Batur has also been involved in various industry forums and networks, including investor roundtables for different ratings agencies. He frequently appears as a speaker at multiple industry conferences and panels. Batur has a PhD degree in Operations Research and Financial Engineering from Princeton University and a BS from Bogazici University.

Mr. Insull is the Chief Investment Officer and a member of the U.S. and the European Investment Committees. Mr. Insull joined the team in 2022 and was previously with Crescent Capital Group, where he served in a variety of roles across the firm’s investment platform, including Portfolio Manager, President of Crescent's BDC, and a member of several of the firm's investment and risk management committees. Earlier in his career, Mr. Insull worked at Chase Manhattan Bank where he gained significant experience in restructurings and workouts. Mr. Insull earned an M.B.A., with distinction, in Finance from New York University and a B.A., summa cum laude, in Economics and Mathematics from Hobart College.

Asif Khan is the Co-Head of the Securitized Products Group. Asif joined Natixis in 2023 with a focus on increasing capital markets solutions to existing institutional and corporate client relationships, as well as developing new client relationships. 

Asif joined Natixis from MUFG Securities, where he established and led the Global CLO business at the firm for close to a decade. Prior to that, he was a Partner at DFG Investment Advisers (now Vibrant Capital) and served in senior syndication & origination roles at Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Credit Suisse. 

Asif earned an MBA from the Simon Business School at the University of Rochester and a BBA with distinction from Connecticut State University.

Responsible for managing CLO tranche investments across multiple strategies for the High Yield Credit Group at NYL Investors. 

Previous experience investing in a variety of Asset Backed Securities and Short Term Interest Rate products. 

Began as a Trader and Portfolio Analyst for the Leveraged Loan / High Yield Bond Group at NYLIM. Generated and executed trading strategies and portfolio analytics for the Mainstay Floating Rate Fund and Flatiron CLO platform.

Harpreet S. Anand, Portfolio Manager & Partner, shares portfolio management responsibility for a number of OHA’s portfolios. He serves on various firm committees including the compliance committee, investment strategy committee and several fund investment committees. Mr. Anand also serves on the firm’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council. Previously, he had senior research responsibility for automotive, building products, chemicals, metals & mining, paper & packaging and aerospace & defense industries. Prior to joining OHA in 2006, Mr. Anand worked at Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. in its Leveraged Finance/Financial Sponsors Group. He earned a B.B.A., with honors, from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.

Mr. Macklin is a Managing Director and Head of US Leveraged Finance for Obra Capital. Prior to joining Obra in 2024, Mr. Macklin served as Senior Vice President, Director of Leveraged Loans for AllianceBernstein, where he initiated, structured, and acted as the sole portfolio manager of the firm’s broadly syndicated loan and CLO management business. Prior to AllianceBernstein, Mr. Macklin was the Director of Research for Performing Credit and a Member of the Portfolio Committee for CLO investments at Och-Ziff Capital Management. Earlier in his career, Mr. Macklin held senior roles in credit research at Scoggin Capital Management and Marathon Asset Management. He began his career at Lehman Brothers, where he ultimately headed the Liability Management Group. Mr. Macklin holds a Bachelor of Arts double major in Economics and Philosophy from Middlebury College, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude.

Vitaliy Kozak is Octaura’s Chief Product Officer, leading product development for the syndicated loan & CLO electronic trading platform. As the platform’s co-creator, he played a central role in the design, development and build-out of what was then known as Project Octopus (now Octaura). Vitaliy was formerly at Citi as a Managing Director and Global Co-head of the CLO, ABS, TRUPS and CDO trading desk. His work on CLO Citi Velocity was recognized by CreditFlux’s annual CLO Census as the best Secondary CLO Analytics in 2021 and 2022. 
  
He earned a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Computer Science from the Imperial College London and currently resides in New York with his family. 

Mark Fischer is the Head of Americas Credit Research at Octus and is based in New York. Mark oversees a team of financial analysts and helps develop new ideas across Americas content covering all sub investment grade credit. His team covers all credit lifecycles including primary, performing, stressed, distressed and post reorganization. Mark joined Octus in 2017. Prior to joining Octus, Mark was head of research at special situations and distressed securities firm Pericles Capital Advisors. He has an M.B.A. from Northwestern University and a B.S. in business administration from Cornell University.

John Murphy is a New York-based partner in the Structured Credit practice of Paul Hastings. He has a broad securities practice with an emphasis on structured finance, private credit and securitization.
 
John advises underwriters, issuers, collateral managers and sponsors in a wide range of complex matters involving the securitization and repackaging of traditional and nontraditional assets and related warehouse lending, with an emphasis on acting as deal counsel and collateral manager counsel on U.S. collateralized loan obligations (CLOs).

Experienced Portfolio Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the investment management industry. Strong finance professional skilled in Asset Management, Institutional Investments and Securitized Credit.

Jake Wentworth is a Vice President and Corporate Counsel for PGIM Fixed Income.  Mr. Wentworth advises PGIM’s U.S. CLO management business and its U.S. securitized products and U.S. bank loan groups.  Prior to joining PGIM, Mr. Wentworth spent nine years at Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP in the Structured Finance and Derivatives practice group in New York where he advised CLO managers and other alternative investment managers and investors.  He received his B.A. from Cornell University and his J.D. from Cardozo School of Law.

Ms. Shen is a senior vice president and portfolio manager on the leveraged loan team in the New York office. Previously, she was a portfolio manager on the high yield and distressed credit teams. Prior to joining PIMCO in 2014, she worked in asset advisory and securitized products investing at ZAIS Group and securitized products trading for Barclays / Lehman Brothers. She has 16 years of investment experience and holds an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where she was awarded the Toigo Fellowship. She received an undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Mr. Sherry joined PineBridge in 2007 and is a Portfolio Manager on PineBridge Investments’ Leveraged Finance team, where he is responsible for managing US CLO portfolios. His responsibilities also include serving as a member of the Leveraged Loan Credit Committee and the CLO Tranche Credit Committee. Prior to his current role, Mr. Sherry was a Credit Research Analyst covering a number of industries including electric utilities, auto and equipment rental, airlines, and GDS.  Before joining PineBridge, Mr. Sherry worked in structured finance at Assured Guaranty Corp., credit research at PIMCO, and equity research at Prudential Securities. Mr. Sherry received a BS with honors from Cornell University and an MBA with a concentration in Finance from UCLA Anderson School of Management. He is a CFA charterholder.

Glen Fest is a senior reporter for Pitchbook LCD covering the CLO market. He joined LCD in 2021 from Arizent (formerly Sourcemedia) where he was a long-time editor and reporter for publications such as Asset Securitization Report, American Banker Magazine, US Banker and Bank Technology News. He is also a former managing editor for Adweek Magazine. Fest is a journalism graduate of the University of Oklahoma.

Jim Stehli is Co-Lead of the CLO Platform at Polen Capital. Prior to that, Mr. Stehli was Managing Director and Head of CLOs at Mizuho Securities USA from April 2014. He was a Partner & M.D. of CRT Capital's CDO/CLO team from 2011 to 2014. During 2009-2010, Mr. Stehli was a Founding & Managing Partner at Sirona Advisors in NYC. Mr. Stehli was M.D. and Head of the Global CDO/CLO business at UBS from 2005 to 2007. Mr. Stehli was a member of the UBS Investment Bank Board from March 2007. He was Vice Chairman of the Bond Market Association's CDO Committee in 2007. Mr. Stehli started his career with Morgan Guaranty Trust and JP Morgan Securities from 1988 through 1992. He worked at Kidder Peabody from 1992 to 1994 before joining PaineWebber in 1995, which was purchased by UBS in 2000. Mr. Stehli has a BS in Finance from Binghamton University School of Management with a Minor in East Asian Studies & Japanese. A former Rotary International Exchange student, he lived and worked in Tokyo and Singapore from 1991 through 1998 and is conversational in Japanese. He served as Treasurer and Board Member of the Binghamton University Alumni Association and was a Founding Member and Treasurer of the Noho-Bowery Stakeholder's Alliance.

Neil Leshinsky is a Director in PwC's Financial Markets & Real Estate practice with 11 years of financial services experience, providing securitization transaction advisory services and financial instruments valuation and governance.

Craig Stein is co-head of the Finance & Derivatives Group. His practice focuses on structured finance and asset-backed transactions and swaps and other derivative products, including prime brokerage and customer trading agreements. He represents issuers, underwriters, collateral managers and portfolio purchasers in public and private structured financings, including collateralized loan obligations (CLOs). Craig has been recognized in this area by the prestigious legal directory Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, which noted that satisfied clients praised him for his “very broad knowledge of the markets” and for being “incredibly responsive and helpful in thinking through issues” and “very thoughtful about the market.” Chambers also stated: “He is known for his work in derivative products, representing issuers, underwriters and portfolio purchasers in CLOs. Peers find his work in structured products and derivatives impressive.” The Legal 500 US has noted that Craig is “recognized for his thought leadership on regulatory issues affecting both the securitization and derivatives markets.”

Craig is a member of the American Bar Association, the New York City Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, the Loan Syndications and Trading Association, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association and the Structured Finance Association. He is a much sought-after speaker for structured finance and hedge fund industry conferences and webinars and the author of numerous articles on advanced financial products. He is the author of “U.S. CLOs: Past and Present” in The Journal of Structured Finance. Craig also co-authored “U.S. and EU CLOs: Market Trends and Recent Regulatory Developments” for the International Comparative Legal Guide to Securitisation 2022, “CLOs and the Changing Landscape after COVID-19” for the International Comparative Legal Guide to Securitisation 2021, “CLOs and LIBOR Transition” for the International Comparative Legal Guide to Securitisation 2020 and “Collateralized Loan Obligations” for Securitizations: Legal and Regulatory Issues.

Steve Wilkinson is a Senior Director with S&P Global Ratings in the Corporate Ratings group in New York. As a Sector Lead for the Leveraged Credit and Recovery team, Steve is involved with leveraged credit research, criteria development, and analyzing recovery prospects for debt issued by speculative grade companies. 

Before joining the recovery analytics group in 2005, Steve was a credit analyst in S&P’s Media & Entertainment team with primary analytical responsibility for a diverse list of media companies including movie exhibitors, broadcasters, business-to-business firms, and leisure companies. 

Steve has over 25 years in of experience in credit and finance and held various analytical and managerial positions in commercial banking and finance before joining Standard & Poor’s in 2000. 

Steve earned his MBA in finance and management from New York University’s Stern School of Business and a bachelor of science degree in finance from Villanova University. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst and a member of the New York Society of Securities Analysts. 

Managing Director, Head of Structured Credit

John Wu is the head of structured credit at Seix Advisors. He is responsible for Seix Advisors’ structured credit investments and CLO issuances. From 2012 to 2015, he was a Head of Structured Products and SeniorPortfolio Manager at CIFC Asset Management, where he oversaw the firm’s structured product investments. On the sell side, John has led CLO structuring at both Deutsche Bank and UBS. 

He started his career in structured credit at Goldman Sachs in 2001, and worked in various roles at Deutsche Bank, including CLO new issue, trading and financing. John started his investment career at Sanford Bernstein in 1995.

John has an MBA from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2000 and a Bachelor of Science from Yale University in 1994. He is also a CFA Charter holder.

Mussie Tizazu is a Managing Director, Head of CLO Originations and Structuring within the Americas Division at SMBC. Mussie and his team are responsible for originating and structuring Broadly Syndicated Loan (“BSL”) and Private Credit CLOs in the primary market. Mussie also oversees the lending and financing
functions at SMBC for CLO warehouses and BSL / Private Credit financing facilities.

Mussie joined SMBC in December 2023 from JP Morgan, where he spent over 7 years, most recently as the Head of US CLO Structuring. In this capacity, Mussie was responsible for overseeing a team of CLO bankers / structurers based in New York and Buenos Aires and managing the origination and structuring of CLO
transactions.

Prior to his time at JP Morgan, Mussie worked in structured credit investment banking at Nomura Securities. Mussie holds B.A. Degrees in Economics and Political Science from Franklin & Marshall College.

Nicholas Nolan is Managing Director, Solutions Management and R&D at SS&C. He primarily works with Hedge Funds, Assets Managers, and Fund Administrators as they evaluate new operating models for middle and back office technology and services.  Areas of expertise include complex derivatives, bank loans, Bank Loan, Credit and Debt processing, Reconciliation and Asset Servicing. Prior to that he worked at Fidelity Investments in Collateral Risk Management. He is a graduate of Columbia University and currently lives in NYC with his wife and two children.

Allan Fan is an Executive Director of UBS Asset Management. Mr. Fan is an Associate Portfolio Manager for the Credit Investments Group. His responsibilities include managing portfolios of structured products. He joined CIG in 2019 as an analyst for structured products. Prior to joining CIG, Mr. Fan was a co-founder and head CLO strategist at Kanerai. Before Kanerai, he worked in the structured products group at both Goldentree Asset Management and Morgan Stanley. He earned his B.E. in Computer Engineering from the University of Hong Kong and M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Michigan. Mr. Fan is a CFA Charterholder.

Cynthia Sachs joined Versana as Founding CEO in 2021 following decades of experience in the syndicated loan market, financial technology space and across various start-up ventures. Cynthia spent her early career as a TMT leveraged finance banker at Bank of America, and thereafter held senior portfolio manager and trader positions at Natixis CIB andwithin Morgan Stanley’s global proprietary trading group covering all industries. Post-2009, she spearheaded the creation of Bloomberg’s fixed income pricing business BVAL, now the global leader in the bond and loan valuation space. Most recently, she served as CEO and Chief Investment Officer of a boutique specialty finance company founded by Carlyle, Athena Art Finance, that was subsequently acquired by Yieldstreet in 2019. Cynthia holds an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business.

Mr. Raymond is a Managing Director and co-heads portfolio management for the Syndicated Credit team. He has 14 years of experience in portfolio management and credit investing. Prior to joining Vibrant Capital, he was Director of Investments at Delaware Life Insurance Company, managing $12bn of assets comprised of high-yield loans and bonds, commercial real estate financing, and other structured assets (CLOs, CDOs, etc.). Before that, he worked at Guggenheim Investments as a credit analyst covering various sectors including Gaming, Leisure, Lodging, Business Services, and REITs/Real Estate. Mr. Raymond holds a B.A. in Economics from Bowdoin College.