Swami Venkataraman, CFA Associate Managing Director, Sustainable Finance, Global Head of Assessments Moody's Ratings

Swami Venkataraman, CFA, is an Associate Managing Director in the Sustainable Finance group at Moody's Ratings. He manages a global team of analysts responsible for producing assessments and thematic research on the credentials of sustainability debt instruments and financing frameworks (Second Party Opinions) and the strength of entities carbon transition plans (Net Zero Assessments). He also leads related outreach efforts for Moody's with regulators, standard setters, investors, corporates and other market participants.

Swami regularly participates in high-profile working groups, conferences and media engagements. He is a member of the International Energy Agency's Finance Industry Advisory Board, the Institute for International Finance's (IIF) Sustainable Finance Working Group, the Executive Committee of the ESG Integrated Disclosure Project (IDP) for private capital markets and manages key external relationships for Moody's such as the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) and Ceres. He has presented on climate finance topics at the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) and at various initiatives of the World Bank.

Prior to this role, Swami led the team responsible for the systematic integration of ESG considerations - including climate - into all Moody's credit ratings and the launch of the Moody's Issuer Profile Scores (IPS) and Credit Impact Scores (CIS). Earlier, he was a Senior Vice President in the North American utilities and infrastructure team, with rating committee chair responsibilities. Before Joining Moody's in 2013, Swami was a Director of Project and Export finance with Standard Chartered bank in Asia. He has broad credit and banking expertise in power, clean energy, infrastructure and sustainable finance for over 25 years. He has worked in New York, San Francisco, London, Mumbai and Mexico City.

Swami is a CFA charter holder, with a B.Tech in Electronics Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT),  Madras and an M.B.A. in Finance and Information systems from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM),Calcutta.

Atsi Sheth Managing Director, Chief Credit Officer and Global Head of Credit Strategy & Standards Moody's Ratings

Atsi Sheth is Managing Director and Global Head, Credit Strategy and Research.

Moody’s Credit Strategy & Research group includes global teams focused on Macroeconomic Research, Default & Ratings Analytics and Global Emerging Markets as well as regional credit strategy teams each focused on Asia-Pacific, the Americas, and EMEA.

Together these teams establish and articulate Moody’s house views on the trends that drive risk across countries, sectors and asset classes. They undertake in depth data driven analysis and leverage the expertise of ratings and research analysts across Moody’s to generate global, regional and sector insights on macro-economic, political, policy, technology and environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks.

In her capacity leading the group, Atsi also serves as a spokesperson on Moody’s analytic views, engaging with investors, the media and a wide range of public and private sector stakeholders.

Atsi is a long-time champion of Moody’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) as well as our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. She serves as co-chair of the CSR Thought Leadership & Solutions working group and the Senior Advisor to Moody’s Asian Leadership Initiative - a Multicultural Business Resource Group.

Prior to her current role, Atsi was Moody’s Chief Credit Officer for the Americas and before that Managing Director in Moody’s Sovereign Risk Group. She has also served as Chief Economist at Reliance Capital and taught courses on International Political Economy and Emerging Markets at Columbia University and Northwestern University. Atsi has a PhD from Northwestern University and a B.A. from Bombay University.

Alice Hill Senior Fellow for Energy and the Environment Council on Foreign Relations

Alice C. Hill is an expert on building resilience to catastrophic risks. She previously served as Special Assistant to President Barack Obama and Senior Director for Resilience Policy on the National Security Council staff where she led the development of national policy, including executive orders related to natural disasters, national security, and climate change. Prior to this, Hill served as senior counselor to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). At DHS, she led the formulation of the department’s first-ever climate adaptation plan and the development of strategic plans regarding catastrophic biological and chemical threats, including pandemics. Hill currently serves as the David M. Rubenstein Senior Fellow for Energy and the Environment at the Council on Foreign Relations and was a Research Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. She is the author of The Fight for Climate After COVID-19 and co-author of Building a Resilient Tomorrow. She currently serves on the boards of the Environmental Defense Fund and Munich Re Group’s U.S.-based companies. In 2020, Yale University and the Op-Ed Project awarded her the Public Voices Fellowship on the Climate Crisis. Earlier in her career, Hill was a supervising judge on both the Los Angeles Municipal and Superior Courts as well as a federal prosecutor and chief of the white-collar crime unit at the United States Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, California.

Swami Venkataraman, CFA Associate Managing Director, Sustainable Finance, Global Head of Assessments Moody's Ratings

Swami Venkataraman, CFA, is an Associate Managing Director in the Sustainable Finance group at Moody's Ratings. He manages a global team of analysts responsible for producing assessments and thematic research on the credentials of sustainability debt instruments and financing frameworks (Second Party Opinions) and the strength of entities carbon transition plans (Net Zero Assessments). He also leads related outreach efforts for Moody's with regulators, standard setters, investors, corporates and other market participants.

Swami regularly participates in high-profile working groups, conferences and media engagements. He is a member of the International Energy Agency's Finance Industry Advisory Board, the Institute for International Finance's (IIF) Sustainable Finance Working Group, the Executive Committee of the ESG Integrated Disclosure Project (IDP) for private capital markets and manages key external relationships for Moody's such as the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) and Ceres. He has presented on climate finance topics at the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) and at various initiatives of the World Bank.

Prior to this role, Swami led the team responsible for the systematic integration of ESG considerations - including climate - into all Moody's credit ratings and the launch of the Moody's Issuer Profile Scores (IPS) and Credit Impact Scores (CIS). Earlier, he was a Senior Vice President in the North American utilities and infrastructure team, with rating committee chair responsibilities. Before Joining Moody's in 2013, Swami was a Director of Project and Export finance with Standard Chartered bank in Asia. He has broad credit and banking expertise in power, clean energy, infrastructure and sustainable finance for over 25 years. He has worked in New York, San Francisco, London, Mumbai and Mexico City.

Swami is a CFA charter holder, with a B.Tech in Electronics Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT),  Madras and an M.B.A. in Finance and Information systems from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM),Calcutta.

Jennifer Chang Vice President – Senior Credit Officer, Sustainable Finance Moody’s Ratings

Jennifer Chang is a Vice President – Senior Credit Officer in Moody’s Sustainable Finance Group, with a primary focus in physical climate risks and materiality as it pertains to credit risks across various industries.

Prior to this group, Jennifer was the Public Power Sector Lead in the Global Project and Infrastructure Finance Group, and covered a range of infrastructure sectors including transportation, social infrastructure and power projects in the Americas. She also led new power project finance and public-private partnership rating assignments.

Jennifer launched the Infrastructure in Emerging Markets’ series, and is the author of several reports on PPPs, power and drillship transactions including special comments on airport concessions, express tolled lanes, credit enhancements and power project carbon transition. She recently published climate-related reports on physical climate risk assessments and credit impact of urban floods.

She is the receiver of three Moody’s Research Awards, including the report on Hydrogen – Electric Utilities and Power Projects. She is a frequent speaker and presenter at various industry conferences, including the US Department of Energy – Hydrogen Shot Summit in 2021. Prior to joining Moody’s, Jennifer worked at the World Bank as an energy finance specialist in the Latin American and Caribbean and Africa regions where she helped co-author the Brazil Low Carbon Case Study report, and worked on large scale electricity distribution rehabilitation projects in Brazil, Honduras and Malawi. Prior to the World Bank, Jennifer worked at BNP Paribas covering North American utilities, and at the Royal Bank of Scotland and at Credit Agricole covering media and telecom. She has a Bachelor of Science and Business Administration in Finance and Accounting from Drexel University and a Masters from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University (SIPA) with a concentration in International Energy Management and Policy. She is currently pursuing a Certification in Sustainable Water Management from Columbia University.

Armelle de Vienne Principal and Co-Head of ESG Research PGIM Fixed Income

Armelle de Vienne is a Principal and Co-Head of ESG Research for PGIM Fixed Income, based in Newark, NJ. Ms. de Vienne is responsible for the strategic integration of ESG research across all elements of the firm, including investment decision-making, and internal and external education and engagement. She also serves as a member of the ESG Policy and ESG Ratings Sub-Committees. Prior to joining the Firm in 2021, she worked at Rockefeller Capital Management as a Senior Vice President and Thematic Equities Analyst within the Asset Management Division. In that role, Ms. de Vienne was responsible for equity and ESG research, stock selection, and ESG engagement for Rockefeller’s environmental impact strategies. In addition to her role as an analyst, she also held the role of ESG Integration Lead. Her responsibilities included working across the global equity team to assist equity analysts in appropriately integrating material ESG risks and opportunities into their investment theses and approving stocks for ESG-designated strategies. Prior to Rockefeller, Ms. de Vienne spent five years at Schlange, Zamostny & Co., a consultancy specialized in Corporate Responsibility. As a consultant, she advised global corporations on sustainability strategy development, supply chain management, ESG reporting and software implementation. Ms. de Vienne received her BA degree in Political Science from Colgate University and her M.Sc. in Sustainability Management from Columbia University.

For purposes of the biographies, the “Firm” is defined as Prudential Financial, Inc. ("PFI"). All PGIM and Prudential named entities are subsidiaries or affiliates of PFI. PFI. of the United States is not affiliated in any manner with Prudential plc, incorporated in the United Kingdom or with Prudential Assurance Company, a subsidiary of M&G plc, incorporated in the United Kingdom.

John Rogers Senior Vice President, Corporate Finance Group Moody's Ratings

John Rogers currently serves as Senior Vice President in Moody’s Corporate Finance Group. Since joining Moody’s in 1998, John has been responsible for assigning ratings to and monitoring domestic and international companies in the chemical, fertilizer and industrial gas industries. John has over 15 years experience in the chemical industry working for both petrochemical and specialty chemical companies. John also has taken the lead on providing investors with detailed research on private equity backed transactions and documenting their behavior overtime. 

Before coming to Moody’s, John worked at Cytec Industries Inc., a Fortune 500 specialty chemical company, in the areas of business development, initially focused on divesting non-core businesses and then transitioning to acquisitions to accelerate the growth of existing businesses or broaden their technology portfolios. Prior to this, John worked for American Cyanamid Company, a large US conglomerate, focusing on the restructuring of its chemicals portfolio and the divestiture of numerous businesses. John began his career as a chemical engineer working for ExxonMobil supervising plant start-ups and implementing process improvements around the world. John holds an M.B.A. in finance from New York University Stern School of Business and a B.E. in chemical engineering from Manhattan College.

Nick Samuels Senior Vice President, States Ratings Team Moody's Ratings

Nick Samuels is a Senior Vice President for the States and High Profile Ratings Team covering credits for the state of Texas, New York City, and the District of Columbia.

Prior to joining Moody’s, Nick worked for the National Association of State Budget Officers analyzing state fiscal and expenditure trends. Nick holds a BA degree in government from Skidmore College and a Master’s in Public Administration from the George Washington University.

Swami Venkataraman, CFA Associate Managing Director, Sustainable Finance, Global Head of Assessments Moody's Ratings

Swami Venkataraman, CFA, is an Associate Managing Director in the Sustainable Finance group at Moody's Ratings. He manages a global team of analysts responsible for producing assessments and thematic research on the credentials of sustainability debt instruments and financing frameworks (Second Party Opinions) and the strength of entities carbon transition plans (Net Zero Assessments). He also leads related outreach efforts for Moody's with regulators, standard setters, investors, corporates and other market participants.

Swami regularly participates in high-profile working groups, conferences and media engagements. He is a member of the International Energy Agency's Finance Industry Advisory Board, the Institute for International Finance's (IIF) Sustainable Finance Working Group, the Executive Committee of the ESG Integrated Disclosure Project (IDP) for private capital markets and manages key external relationships for Moody's such as the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) and Ceres. He has presented on climate finance topics at the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) and at various initiatives of the World Bank.

Prior to this role, Swami led the team responsible for the systematic integration of ESG considerations - including climate - into all Moody's credit ratings and the launch of the Moody's Issuer Profile Scores (IPS) and Credit Impact Scores (CIS). Earlier, he was a Senior Vice President in the North American utilities and infrastructure team, with rating committee chair responsibilities. Before Joining Moody's in 2013, Swami was a Director of Project and Export finance with Standard Chartered bank in Asia. He has broad credit and banking expertise in power, clean energy, infrastructure and sustainable finance for over 25 years. He has worked in New York, San Francisco, London, Mumbai and Mexico City.

Swami is a CFA charter holder, with a B.Tech in Electronics Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT),  Madras and an M.B.A. in Finance and Information systems from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM),Calcutta.

Jennifer Chang Vice President – Senior Credit Officer, Sustainable Finance Moody’s Ratings

Jennifer Chang is a Vice President – Senior Credit Officer in Moody’s Sustainable Finance Group, with a primary focus in physical climate risks and materiality as it pertains to credit risks across various industries.

Prior to this group, Jennifer was the Public Power Sector Lead in the Global Project and Infrastructure Finance Group, and covered a range of infrastructure sectors including transportation, social infrastructure and power projects in the Americas. She also led new power project finance and public-private partnership rating assignments.

Jennifer launched the Infrastructure in Emerging Markets’ series, and is the author of several reports on PPPs, power and drillship transactions including special comments on airport concessions, express tolled lanes, credit enhancements and power project carbon transition. She recently published climate-related reports on physical climate risk assessments and credit impact of urban floods.

She is the receiver of three Moody’s Research Awards, including the report on Hydrogen – Electric Utilities and Power Projects. She is a frequent speaker and presenter at various industry conferences, including the US Department of Energy – Hydrogen Shot Summit in 2021. Prior to joining Moody’s, Jennifer worked at the World Bank as an energy finance specialist in the Latin American and Caribbean and Africa regions where she helped co-author the Brazil Low Carbon Case Study report, and worked on large scale electricity distribution rehabilitation projects in Brazil, Honduras and Malawi. Prior to the World Bank, Jennifer worked at BNP Paribas covering North American utilities, and at the Royal Bank of Scotland and at Credit Agricole covering media and telecom. She has a Bachelor of Science and Business Administration in Finance and Accounting from Drexel University and a Masters from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University (SIPA) with a concentration in International Energy Management and Policy. She is currently pursuing a Certification in Sustainable Water Management from Columbia University.

Armelle de Vienne Principal and Co-Head of ESG Research PGIM Fixed Income

Armelle de Vienne is a Principal and Co-Head of ESG Research for PGIM Fixed Income, based in Newark, NJ. Ms. de Vienne is responsible for the strategic integration of ESG research across all elements of the firm, including investment decision-making, and internal and external education and engagement. She also serves as a member of the ESG Policy and ESG Ratings Sub-Committees. Prior to joining the Firm in 2021, she worked at Rockefeller Capital Management as a Senior Vice President and Thematic Equities Analyst within the Asset Management Division. In that role, Ms. de Vienne was responsible for equity and ESG research, stock selection, and ESG engagement for Rockefeller’s environmental impact strategies. In addition to her role as an analyst, she also held the role of ESG Integration Lead. Her responsibilities included working across the global equity team to assist equity analysts in appropriately integrating material ESG risks and opportunities into their investment theses and approving stocks for ESG-designated strategies. Prior to Rockefeller, Ms. de Vienne spent five years at Schlange, Zamostny & Co., a consultancy specialized in Corporate Responsibility. As a consultant, she advised global corporations on sustainability strategy development, supply chain management, ESG reporting and software implementation. Ms. de Vienne received her BA degree in Political Science from Colgate University and her M.Sc. in Sustainability Management from Columbia University.

For purposes of the biographies, the “Firm” is defined as Prudential Financial, Inc. ("PFI"). All PGIM and Prudential named entities are subsidiaries or affiliates of PFI. PFI. of the United States is not affiliated in any manner with Prudential plc, incorporated in the United Kingdom or with Prudential Assurance Company, a subsidiary of M&G plc, incorporated in the United Kingdom.

Alice Hill Senior Fellow for Energy and the Environment Council on Foreign Relations

Alice C. Hill is an expert on building resilience to catastrophic risks. She previously served as Special Assistant to President Barack Obama and Senior Director for Resilience Policy on the National Security Council staff where she led the development of national policy, including executive orders related to natural disasters, national security, and climate change. Prior to this, Hill served as senior counselor to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). At DHS, she led the formulation of the department’s first-ever climate adaptation plan and the development of strategic plans regarding catastrophic biological and chemical threats, including pandemics. Hill currently serves as the David M. Rubenstein Senior Fellow for Energy and the Environment at the Council on Foreign Relations and was a Research Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. She is the author of The Fight for Climate After COVID-19 and co-author of Building a Resilient Tomorrow. She currently serves on the boards of the Environmental Defense Fund and Munich Re Group’s U.S.-based companies. In 2020, Yale University and the Op-Ed Project awarded her the Public Voices Fellowship on the Climate Crisis. Earlier in her career, Hill was a supervising judge on both the Los Angeles Municipal and Superior Courts as well as a federal prosecutor and chief of the white-collar crime unit at the United States Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, California.

John Rogers Senior Vice President, Corporate Finance Group Moody's Ratings

John Rogers currently serves as Senior Vice President in Moody’s Corporate Finance Group. Since joining Moody’s in 1998, John has been responsible for assigning ratings to and monitoring domestic and international companies in the chemical, fertilizer and industrial gas industries. John has over 15 years experience in the chemical industry working for both petrochemical and specialty chemical companies. John also has taken the lead on providing investors with detailed research on private equity backed transactions and documenting their behavior overtime. 

Before coming to Moody’s, John worked at Cytec Industries Inc., a Fortune 500 specialty chemical company, in the areas of business development, initially focused on divesting non-core businesses and then transitioning to acquisitions to accelerate the growth of existing businesses or broaden their technology portfolios. Prior to this, John worked for American Cyanamid Company, a large US conglomerate, focusing on the restructuring of its chemicals portfolio and the divestiture of numerous businesses. John began his career as a chemical engineer working for ExxonMobil supervising plant start-ups and implementing process improvements around the world. John holds an M.B.A. in finance from New York University Stern School of Business and a B.E. in chemical engineering from Manhattan College.

Nick Samuels Senior Vice President, States Ratings Team Moody's Ratings

Nick Samuels is a Senior Vice President for the States and High Profile Ratings Team covering credits for the state of Texas, New York City, and the District of Columbia.

Prior to joining Moody’s, Nick worked for the National Association of State Budget Officers analyzing state fiscal and expenditure trends. Nick holds a BA degree in government from Skidmore College and a Master’s in Public Administration from the George Washington University.

Atsi Sheth Managing Director, Chief Credit Officer and Global Head of Credit Strategy & Standards Moody's Ratings

Atsi Sheth is Managing Director and Global Head, Credit Strategy and Research.

Moody’s Credit Strategy & Research group includes global teams focused on Macroeconomic Research, Default & Ratings Analytics and Global Emerging Markets as well as regional credit strategy teams each focused on Asia-Pacific, the Americas, and EMEA.

Together these teams establish and articulate Moody’s house views on the trends that drive risk across countries, sectors and asset classes. They undertake in depth data driven analysis and leverage the expertise of ratings and research analysts across Moody’s to generate global, regional and sector insights on macro-economic, political, policy, technology and environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks.

In her capacity leading the group, Atsi also serves as a spokesperson on Moody’s analytic views, engaging with investors, the media and a wide range of public and private sector stakeholders.

Atsi is a long-time champion of Moody’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) as well as our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. She serves as co-chair of the CSR Thought Leadership & Solutions working group and the Senior Advisor to Moody’s Asian Leadership Initiative - a Multicultural Business Resource Group.

Prior to her current role, Atsi was Moody’s Chief Credit Officer for the Americas and before that Managing Director in Moody’s Sovereign Risk Group. She has also served as Chief Economist at Reliance Capital and taught courses on International Political Economy and Emerging Markets at Columbia University and Northwestern University. Atsi has a PhD from Northwestern University and a B.A. from Bombay University.

Swami Venkataraman, CFA Associate Managing Director, Sustainable Finance, Global Head of Assessments Moody's Ratings

Swami Venkataraman, CFA, is an Associate Managing Director in the Sustainable Finance group at Moody's Ratings. He manages a global team of analysts responsible for producing assessments and thematic research on the credentials of sustainability debt instruments and financing frameworks (Second Party Opinions) and the strength of entities carbon transition plans (Net Zero Assessments). He also leads related outreach efforts for Moody's with regulators, standard setters, investors, corporates and other market participants.

Swami regularly participates in high-profile working groups, conferences and media engagements. He is a member of the International Energy Agency's Finance Industry Advisory Board, the Institute for International Finance's (IIF) Sustainable Finance Working Group, the Executive Committee of the ESG Integrated Disclosure Project (IDP) for private capital markets and manages key external relationships for Moody's such as the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) and Ceres. He has presented on climate finance topics at the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) and at various initiatives of the World Bank.

Prior to this role, Swami led the team responsible for the systematic integration of ESG considerations - including climate - into all Moody's credit ratings and the launch of the Moody's Issuer Profile Scores (IPS) and Credit Impact Scores (CIS). Earlier, he was a Senior Vice President in the North American utilities and infrastructure team, with rating committee chair responsibilities. Before Joining Moody's in 2013, Swami was a Director of Project and Export finance with Standard Chartered bank in Asia. He has broad credit and banking expertise in power, clean energy, infrastructure and sustainable finance for over 25 years. He has worked in New York, San Francisco, London, Mumbai and Mexico City.

Swami is a CFA charter holder, with a B.Tech in Electronics Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT),  Madras and an M.B.A. in Finance and Information systems from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM),Calcutta.