Jim Hempstead Managing Director, Global Project & Infrastructure Finance Moody's Investors Service

Jim Hempstead is a Managing Director in Moody’s Global Project & Infrastructure Finance Group, where he heads both the North American Regulated Utility & Power Team and the North American Public Infrastructure Team. Jim acts as a rating chair across all segments of Moody’s Global Infrastructure & Project Finance franchise, and is a member of both the firm’s Infrastructure Finance Franchise Committee and Global Infrastructure Focus Editorial Board. Jim also manages the Moody’s Cyber Risk Team, which looks to incorporate cyber security risk into global credit analyses. Jim helped manage the firm’s global Environmental, Social and Governance efforts between 2017 – 2020.Prior to joining Moody’s in 2002, Jim was an investment banker with Merrill Lynch &Co., working in the Global Energy & Power Group, providing financial and advisory services to electric, natural gas distribution, interstate pipeline, energy merchant, water and energy technology companies. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, Jim worked with Salomon Smith Barney Corporate Finance, working in their Global Energy &Power Group. Jim graduated with a B.S.B.A. from Villanova University and an M.B.A. from Fordham University. From 2011 - 2013, Jim served as the Director of Emergency Management for his hometown in New Jersey, and is a registered EMT for his local, volunteer first aid squad. Jim is a member of the Wall Street Utility Group and served as a Trustee with the Society of Utility and Regulatory Financial Analysts (SURFA) between 2012 -2020. He served on the Advisory Council for the Electric Power Research Institute(EPRI) from 2014-2019.

Angelo J. Sabatelle Associate Managing Director, Global Project & Infrastructure Finance Moody's Ratings

A.J. Sabatelle is an Associate Managing Director in Moody’s Global Project & Infrastructure Finance Group where he manages the Project Finance Team for the Americas, including Latin America and Canada. A.J. also acts as a rating chair across all segments of the Global Infrastructure and Project Finance franchise, is a member of the Infrastructure Finance Franchise Committee and a member of the Global Infrastructure Focus Editorial Board.

A.J. joined Moody’s in 1997. For most of tenure at Moody’s, A.J. has been responsible for assigning ratings to and monitoring issuers across the electric power industry, including electric and gas utilities, independent power companies, and project finance transactions throughout North and South America. He has authored numerous research and rating methodology pieces covering the infrastructure and project finance sectors.

Prior to joining Moody’s, A.J. was a First Vice President and Manager of Mellon Bank’s Utilities and Project Finance Group. Before that, he was a Relationship Manager at Mellon Bank; and previously at Irving Trust Company, where in both cases he handled a portfolio of U.S. utility and energy companies.

A.J. holds an MBA in Finance from Stern School of Business at New York University and a AB in Economics from Columbia College, Columbia University.

Jeffrey Cassella Vice President - Senior Credit Officer Moody's Ratings

Jeffrey Cassella is a Vice President - Senior Credit Officer in Moody’s Global Infrastructure Finance Group, joining the Utilities team at the beginning of 2013. He Is responsible for a portfolio consisting of electric and gas utilities. Prior to joining the Utilities Group, Jeff worked in the Corporate Finance Group’s Credit Policy department as well as the Technology, Media and Telecommunications team covering transaction processors and other IT services companies. Prior to joining Moody’s in 2006, Jeff was a manager in PriceWaterhouseCooperstrans action services group. In that capacity he managed multidisciplinary teams that conducted financial due diligence on mergers & acquisitions and financial statement analysis for clients across a number of different industry sectors. Jeff holds a B.S. in Accounting from The College of New Jersey and an M.B.A. in Finance from New York University’s Stern School of Business. Jeff is a Certified Public Accountant.

Clifford Kim Vice President-Senior Credit Officer, Global Project & Infrastructure Finance Moody's Investors Service

Clifford Kim is a Vice President-Senior Credit Officer in the Global Infrastructure Finance Group. His responsibilities include assigning new ratings to power and infrastructure projects. He also serves as the lead analyst for project issuers including both fossil and renewable based power plants and a portfolio of public power issuers located in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. He has also authored Moody’s US Joint Action Agencies methodology and the ‘Breezing Past P50’ special comment on wind projects. 

Prior to joining Moody’s, he was an Associate Director in the Credit Risk Management group at WestLB AG responsible for the infrastructure, metals & mining, and hospitality sectors.

He holds a B.S. in economics from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania with a dual concentration in finance and management and is a CFA charterholder.

Gayle Podurgiel Vice President – Senior Analyst, Global Project and Infrastructure Finance Moody's Investors Service

Gayle Podurgiel is a Vice President – Senior Analyst in Moody’s Global Project and Infrastructure Finance team based in New York. Gayle serves as lead credit rating analyst for a portfolio of debt issuers including public power utilities, community choice aggregators and joint action agencies. She also covers project issuers including fossil and renewable power generation plants, liquified natural gas projects and other commodity-linked generic project finance debt financings. Prior to joining Moody’s in 2018, Gayle was a vice president in equity research at Credit Suisse covering metals & mining stocks. She also held research roles at Standard and Poor’s covering natural resources corporate debt and at T. Rowe Price supporting coverage of investment grade utility and pipeline bonds. Gayle earned her MBA and Finance MS at the University of Maryland and her BBA at James Madison University in Virginia. She is a CFA charter holder.

Sanjeeva Senanayake Vice President - Senior Analyst, Global Project & Infrastructure Finance Moody's Investors Service

Sanjeeva Senanayake is a Vice President - Senior Analyst in the Global Project & Infrastructure Finance Group where he covers power generation projects, waste related renewable energy projects and public power utilities.

Sanjeeva has over two decades of energy and infrastructure sector experience covering power generation projects including renewables, investor-owned utilities, social and transportation infrastructure including public power partnerships (P3), oil & natural gas sector, and experience with emerging new energy sectors including hydrogen and fuel cells. Sanjeeva has experience in structuring, arranging and executing debt financing for energy and infrastructure projects, and has previously held positions at CIBC World Markets, Credit Suisse, HSH Nordbank, Wellford Capital Markets and at JPMorgan Chase, where he completed his formal credit-training.

Sanjeeva holds a MS in Engineering & Applied Geophysics from Columbia University and a BS in Physics from the University of the South (Sewanee).

Knut Slatten Vice President – Senior Credit Officer, Infrastructure Finance Moody's Ratings

Knut Slatten is a Vice President – Senior Credit Officer at Moody’s working in the Moody's EMEA Project and Infrastructure Finance team. He currently covers a portfolio of companies that essentially comprises unregulated European utilities names. In his capacity as lead analyst, Knut has written numerous research publications and has spoken at several conferences. Prior to joining the Infrastructure Finance team, Knut spent 13 years in corporate finance at Moody's has covered a wide range of different industries, including pharmaceuticals. 

Moody’s has a leading global Infrastructure Finance franchise, rating some US$2 trillion of corporate and project finance securities, representing more than 90% of all public bonds issued globally in the sector. 180 analytical sector staff cover more than 1,700 infrastructure issuers globally. Moody’s EMEA team of 46 specialists is responsible for rating around 430 issuers. The rating agency covers more than39,000 issuers and transactions. He joined Moody’s in 2007. Prior to joining Moody’s, Knut worked as a credit analyst for Société Générale in Paris, covering oil and gas companies. Knut holds an MSc. (Econ.) degree from the Norwegian School of Economics and business Administration.

Kurt Krummenacker Associate Managing Director, Global Project and Infrastructure Finance Moody's Ratings

Kurt Krummenacker is an Associate Managing Director in the Americas Project Finance and Infrastructureteam, which covers a portfolio of transportation, public power, and project finance inNorth and Latin America. Prior to joining Moody’s in March 2006, Kurt worked inseveral departments of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Kurt is aretired U.S. Army Captain who served as a Blackhawk Helicopter pilot andcommanding officer of several aviation, logistics, and administrative units primarily inthe 101st Airborne Division. Kurt holds a BS in Economics from the United StatesMilitary Academy at West Point, a Master of Aeronautical Science from Embry-RiddleUniversity, and an MBA in Finance from the Columbia University Business School.

Earl Heffintrayer Vice President-Senior Credit Officer, Global Project and Infrastructure Finance Moody's Ratings

Earl Heffintrayer is the U.S. airport sector lead analyst and covers a diversified portfolio concentrated in transportation. In addition to Earl’s work in the airport sector, he actively leads new ratings on bids in the US public private partnership market. Prior to joining Moody’s in June, 2011, Earl worked at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey where he primarily analyzed alternative capital project delivery methods. Earl began his career as a civil engineer on large infrastructure projects in the New York City region. Earl is a CFA charter holder. Earl holds a BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Rhode Island and an MBA from Stern School of Business at New York University.

Kathrin Heitmann Associate Managing Director - Homebuilding, Corporate Finance Group Moody’s Ratings

Kathrin Heitmann is an Associate Managing Director in the Corporate Finance Group (CFG) and heads the US Homebuilding Team. 

Immediately prior to her current role, Kathrin was a VP-Senior Creditor Officer in the Project and Infrastructure Finance Group, with responsibility for a portfolio of US infrastructure projects across the power, energy, and transportation sectors and the lead of Moody’s Project Finance Bank Loan default research.

Kathrin joined Moody’s in 2007 and has held various roles during her tenure, such as lead analyst for regional and local governments in Canada as well as for European heavy industrial corporations out of the Corporate Finance team in Germany. 

Kathrin is a certified Financial Risk Manager and a CFA charterholder. Kathrin is a Country Champion for Moody’s Network of CFA Charterholders (MNCC), a Mentor for Young Women in Finance, and Co-Treasurer of Dance/NYC, a NY non-profit. 

She studied business administration at UAM University in Madrid, Spain, and holds a Master’s degree in business administration from Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany.

Moses Kopmar Vice President - Senior Analyst, Public, Project and Infrastructure Finance Moody's Ratings

Moses Kopmar covers credits for the US airports, seaports, social infrastructure, and toll roads, as well as related project finance issuers. Prior to joining the Project and Infrastructure Finance Team, Moses was on the Public Finance Local Governments Ratings Team covering cities, counties, municipal utilities, schools, special districts, and related issuers throughout the US.

Prior to joining Moody’s, Moses worked in economic development in the San Francisco Bay Area where he engaged in economic development, government affairs and policy research on behalf of private and public sector members. Moses holds an MPA in Public Finance from the Maxwell School of Syracuse University and a BA in English from Stanford University.

John Medina Senior Vice President, Global Project and Infrastructure Finance Moody's Ratings

John is a Senior Vice President in Moody’s Global Project and Infrastructure Finance Team covering a diverse portfolio of project financings, public private partnerships (PPPs), and municipal infrastructure issuers in the transportation, energy and social infrastructure sectors. John chairs Moody’s Global PPP Task Force and is the sector lead for US toll roads, PPPs and generic project financings. John authors research across multiple sectors and annually leads several new rating assignments for new PPPs and project financings in the US and Canada. John was selected as one of the Bond Buyer’s 2017 Rising Stars. Before joining the Infrastructure and Project Finance Team in 2010, John spent two and a half years as a lead analyst for local governments and enterprises in the Eastern Regional Local Government Ratings Team where he was the lead for municipal issuers in Pennsylvania and New York while also covering New Jersey, Virginia, and Florida. Prior to joining Moody’s, John worked as a risk management analyst, a property and casualty insurance account manager, and a health care claims auditor. John is a founding member and was the first co-chair of Moody’s NY Multicultural Employee Resource Group and is a founding steering committee member of Moody’s NY LGBTA Employee Resource Group. John earned his BA degree in Health Care Economics and Policy from Stanford University and his MPA in Health Care Public Finance from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.

Cintia Nazima Vice President – Senior Analyst Moody's Ratings

Cintia Nazima is a Vice President - Senior Analyst in the Global Project and Infrastructure Finance team in Moody’s Ratings (MIS), based in New York. Cintia’s portfolio includes US toll roads, airports, public power issuers, project finance and power projects. Cintia joined the team in New York in 2019 having previously worked as an associate analyst in the Public, Project and Infrastructure Finance team based in Sao Paulo office from 2014 to 2017. During her time in Sao Paulo Cintia worked on the portfolio monitoring, research and outreach activities related to a broad portfolio consisting of toll roads, utilities, water and sanitation, project finance and power projects and was the back-up analyst for the entire sub-sovereign portfolio in Brazil.

Being passionate about diversity and inclusion, Cintia has been actively involved as a member of the NY Multicultural ERG since 2019. She is the co-lead of the Professional Development Subcommittee where she manages the Active Language Studio, a program that offers Moody’s employees the opportunity to learn or improve their skills to communicate in a particular language, and other training focused on providing employees with continued development opportunities.

Prior to joining Moody’s in New York, Cintia was a senior credit analyst at XP Investimentos where she was responsible for the coverage of the entire Brazilian infrastructure portfolio.

Ranjini Venkatesan Vice President - Senior Credit Officer, US REITs, CFG Moody's Ratings

Ranjini Venkatesan is a VP Senior Credit Officer in the CRE-REIT team at Moody’s covering a portfolio of real estate investment trust (REIT) and real estate operating company (REOC) issuers. In addition, she is the sector specialist for office and data center REITs. Prior to joining the real estate finance team, Ranjini was a lead analyst in the Financial Institutions group at Moody’s focusing on financial guaranty and mortgage insurance companies. Before that, she was sellside equity research analyst at ABN Amro Asia.

Ranjini received her BSc. (Hons.) from University of Delhi, an MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and a Master’s in International Affairs from Columbia University.

Mark Zandi Chief Economist Moody's Analytics

Mark M. Zandi is chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, where he directs economic research. Moody’s Analytics, a subsidiary of Moody’s Corp., is a leading provider of economic research, data and analytical tools. Dr. Zandi is a co founder of the company Economy.com, which Moody’s purchased in 2005.

Dr. Zandi’s broad research interests encompass macroeconomics, financial market sand public policy. His recent research has focused on mortgage finance reform and the determinants of mortgage foreclosure and personal bankruptcy. He has analyzed the economic impact of various tax and government spending policies and assessed the appropriate monetary policy response to bubbles in asset markets.

A trusted adviser to policymakers and an influential source of economic analysis for businesses, journalists and the public, Dr. Zandi frequently testifies before Congress on topics including the economic outlook, the nation’s daunting fiscal challenges, the merits of fiscal stimulus, financial regulatory reform, and foreclosure mitigation.

Dr. Zandi conducts regular briefings on the economy for corporate boards, trade associations and policymakers at all levels. He is on the board of directors of MGIC, the nation’s largest private mortgage insurance company, and The Reinvestment Fund, a large CDFI that makes investments in disadvantaged neighborhoods. He is often quoted in national and global publications and interviewed by major news media outlets, and is a frequent guest on CNBC, NPR, Meet the Press, CNN, and various other national networks and news programs.

Dr. Zandi is the author of Paying the Price: Ending the Great Recession and Beginning a New American Century, which provides an assessment of the monetary and fiscal policy response to the Great Recession. His other book, Financial Shock: A 360º Look at the Subprime Mortgage Implosion, and How to Avoid the Next Financial Crisis, is described by the New York Times as the “clearest guide” to the financial crisis.

Dr. Zandi earned his B.S. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and his PhD at the University of Pennsylvania. He lives with his wife and three children in the suburbs of Philadelphia.