2023 Moody’s CMBS/CRE CLO Fall Briefing and Networking Event
How CRE fundamentals & high rates impact performance and shape issuance
* IN-PERSON ONLY EVENT
7 World Trade Center - 52nd Floor
Agenda
13.30
EDT
Registration
14.05
EDT
14.40
EDT
15.25
EDT
Break
15.35
EDT
17.00
EDT
Networking reception
18.00
EDT
Event concludes
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Navneet Agarwal is a Managing Director and heads Moody’s Structured Finance Primary Ratings for the Americas and Other Permissible Services for structured finance globally.
Navneet’s previous roles at Moody’s include leading the company’s US RMBS New Ratings, the surveillance function for Moody’s US Asset Finance Group and a CLO surveillance team. In past, he has also headed methodology development for structured finance in addition to setting up an analytical technology group. Navneet has published and presented extensively on behalf of Moody’s.
Prior to joining Moody’s, Navneet spent seven years as the Head of Debt Syndication with a boutique investment bank in India, where he also managed a proprietary book. Navneet has worked with Unit Trust of India (T. Rowe Price’s India affiliate) as an Investment Manager, as well as with Banc of America Securities. Navneet served as a member of the Board of Directors of ICRA, a publicly listed rating and analytics company in India.
Navneet received an M.B.A. with Honors from The University of Chicago, Booth School of Business. He also holds master’s from the University of Mumbai and a B.S. from the University of Delhi. Navneet is also a CFA charter holder.
Darrell Wheeler manages CMBS and CRE CLO research for Moody’s Ratings. He is renowned for developing mortgage-backed securities analysis and models that provide unique fundamental credit insights.
His structured finance experience is extensive, previously managing the structured finance research of S&P Global Ratings, Citigroup Global Markets and Cantor Fitzgerald. He is a past member of CREFC’s Board of Governors and currently participates in CREFC’s editorial board. He has contributed research to numerous publications, including CREFC’s E-primer.
EJ is a Vice President/ Senior Credit Officer for Moody’s Investors Service. She has been with the Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities group since 1998, and has rated transactions in the US and in Japan. She currently oversees the Large Loan/Single Asset Single Borrower segment of CMBS Surveillance. EJ was with Arthur Andersen Hospitality Consulting Group in New York City prior to joining Moody’s, and she also has international hotel operation experience.
EJ has a BA from Ewha Womans University, and a Master of Management in Hospitality from the Hotel School, Cornell University.
Matthew Halpern is an Associate Managing Director within the Structured Finance Group at Moody’s Investors Service. He is a team leader within the CMBS Surveillance group focusing on U.S. Conduit/Fusion and Large Loan/Single Borrower transactions. In addition, Matthew is involved in managing the surveillance review of credit assessments for commercial real estate assets within CRE CDO’s and CLO’s as well as Structured Credit transactions. Matthew also has experience rating new CMBS and CRE CDO transactions, and is a contributor to various commercial real estate research initiatives. Prior to joining Moody’s, Matthew worked in the Structured Finance group at Ernst &Young. Matthew graduated from the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science.
Deryk Meherik joined Moody’s Structured Finance Group in 2003 and is currently an Associate Managing Director within the CMBS & CRE CDO Surveillance team. He also oversees the review of primary US CRE CDO/CLO transactions. In addition, he contributes to CRE
CDO/CLO research.
Deryk has authored or co-authored three global rating methodologies including SF CDOs, SF resecuritizations, and SF interest-only securities. Prior to being appointed to his current position, he was a lead analyst within the CMBS & CRE CDO primary team, where he rated various fixed and floating rate CMBS and CRE CDOs transactions. Additionally, Deryk has rated primary Structured Credit transactions. Prior to joining Moody’s, Deryk was a CRE acquisition and research analyst for a private New York based real estate firm. Deryk holds a dual M.S. in civil engineering and real estate development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a B.A. from the University of Calgary.
Joe Baksic manages new issuance for the Commercial Real Estate Finance (CREF) team at Moody’s Investors Service, where he holds the title of Associate Managing Director. His responsibilities encompass all private-label and agency Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (CMBS) issuance within the United States and Canada.
Joe has over 20 years of professional experience within the industry and has overseen the analysis of CRE issuance across the Conduit, Large Loan/Single Asset Single-Borrower, CLO/CDO, and Non-Performing Loan sectors. He has developed multiple rating methodologies, models, and analytical tools. He has contributed toward research initiatives and authored several publications. He frequently engages with the media to communicate credit views and developments within the sector. Baksic also regularly liaises in the analysis and ratings of other lines of business within Moody’s as a commercial real estate and structured products specialist.
Joe holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Virginia.
Robb holds the position of Associate Managing Director at Moody's Investors Service, where he has been part of the Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (CMBS) New Issuance group since 2006. With a career spanning over 25 years in commercial real estate Robb has developed a deep understanding in commercial real estate, credit analysis, and ratings theory.
In his current position, he co-leads the CMBS New Issuance team, where he has a particular focus on the retail and large loan sectors. This role has allowed him to leverage his knowledge in commercial real estate and structured finance.
Before his tenure at Moody's Investors Service, Robb worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers within the Real Estate Advisory Services Group. Additionally, he also was part of the Real Estate and Lodging Investment Banking Group at JP Morgan.
Robb's gained a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University, and a Master's degree in Real Estate Finance from New York University.
Shaishav has been with CRE, Deutsche Bank for over 18 years and currently heads the capital markets globally. He manages securitization and syndication of CRE whole loans, CRE CLOs, SFR, Agency CMBS and other CRE related transactions. His experience ranges from Underwriting & Rating Agency analysis to Structuring, Pricing and Distribution of CRE loans, CDOs and Correlation trades. Prior to joining Deutsche Bank, Shaishav worked for 3 years at Banc of America Securities in the CMBS group as a structuring resource.
Prior to that Shaishav worked at Merrill Lynch in Debt Capital Markets.
Shaishav has a BE in Civil Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering and an MBA from IIM Bangalore, India.
Marshall Glick is a Senior Vice President and head of the commercial real estate investment team within AllianceBernstein’s Securitized Asset Management Group, He oversees investments in both public and private commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBSs), as well as real estate investment trusts (REITs). He first worked at the firm from 1996 to 2002. From 2002 to 2009, Glick was a managing director and senior credit officer at Fortress Investment Group, where he sourced, underwrote and managed the assets in a multibillion-dollar investment portfolio that included credit-sensitive CMBSs, B-notes, mezzanine debt and whole loans, along with REIT debt and leveraged bank loans. He previously served as vice president, Structured Products, at Alliance Capital Management, where he focused on primary and secondary offerings of CMBSs and covered the REIT debt sector.
Prior to joining Alliance, he was associate director in the Structured Finance Ratings division at Standard & Poor’s Rating Services.
Meena Pursnani, Director, heads CMBS credit within structured products for MetLife Investment Management (MIM) Public Fixed Income.
Meena has been with MIM since 2014 and she is responsible for managing the CMBS portfolio including underwriting of new investments and surveillance of the existing portfolio. Prior to joining MIM, for five years Meena was a research analyst/portfolio manager at Capital Research and Management Company (American Funds) where her responsibilities included CMBS and European Covered Bonds. From 2002 to 2007, she was with Deutsche Bank Asset Management where she was a Managing Director/Head of Structured Research and senior CMBS analyst. From 1997 to 2002 she was a Vice President/Senior Analyst in the CMBS group at Moody’s Investors Service. Prior to joining Moody’s Meena also held roles as a Loan Originator and Loan Workout Specialist in the Commercial Real Estate divisions of UBS and BNY Mellon. Meena has over 30 years of industry experience.
Meena earned a B.A. in Biochemistry from Rutgers University and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business.
George Voumvourakis heads the rating agency team responsible for all things rating agency within the CMBS group at Morgan Stanley since 2015. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, George headed a similar team at Citi from 2006, inclusive of several years of workouts during the great recession and a return to securitization in 2011. His CMBS career began rating CMBS transactions for Moody’s in 2000. His more than 25 year real estate history began in 1998 and include time at a small real estate developer, Bank Leumi, and MONY Life.
Today, George focuses most of his time on SASB and large loan transactions.
Darrell Wheeler manages CMBS and CRE CLO research for Moody’s Ratings. He is renowned for developing mortgage-backed securities analysis and models that provide unique fundamental credit insights.
His structured finance experience is extensive, previously managing the structured finance research of S&P Global Ratings, Citigroup Global Markets and Cantor Fitzgerald. He is a past member of CREFC’s Board of Governors and currently participates in CREFC’s editorial board. He has contributed research to numerous publications, including CREFC’s E-primer.
Mr. Dann is Prime Finance’s Head of CMBS Investments. Mr. Dann began his career in CMBS at LNR Property Corp in November 1997. LNR is one of the largest and oldest CMBS investors and special servicer. At LNR, he oversaw all facets of credit, investing, and loan origination. Prior to joining LNR, Mr. Dann worked in investment banking for Citigroup in New York City for three years.
Mr. Dann received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government from Dartmouth College and a Master’s in Business Administration degree from the University of Miami.
Mr. Hayden is a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager for CMBS and structured CRE debt and a member of the Mortgage Loan Credit Committee at New York Life Real Estate Investors. Prior to joining NYL REI, Mr. Hayden was a Vice President of new issue CMBS and CRE CDO ratings at Moody’s Investors Service. Before Moody’s, he held positions in the MBS and CRE groups at Greenwich Capital Markets and began his career in fixed income sales at Lehman Brothers. He holds a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) designation and a B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from University of Massachusetts at Lowell.
Alex Killick is Managing Director of CWCapital Asset Management (CWCAM), a third-party special servicing and investment management firm with over $220 of named assignments. Drawing on more than 18 years of experience, Alex leads CWCAM’s special servicing practice, managing a team of loan-workout and REO-operations experts through the resolution of non-performing loans. For each asset in his portfolio, Alex applies a comprehensive approach that involves following CMBS compliance standards while coordinating with project teams including legal counsel, expert vendors, property managers, and leasing brokers, as well as master servicers and other market participants, all to deliver successful outcomes for CMBS bondholders and other third party lender clients.
Outside of his immediate role, Alex serves on the firm’s Credit Committee, reviewing business plans each week to quantify recovery projects and review and approve proposed workout or disposition strategies.
Prior to joining CWCapital, Alex was an origination analyst with J.P. Morgan’s CMBS group in Atlanta, GA. Alex earned a M.A. in Management/Finance from the University of St. Andrews.
Ms. Lee serves as Partner and Deputy Chief Investment Officer of Bridge Debt Strategies Fund Manager LLC. She has more than 19 years of experience in real estate, securitization and financial services.
Prior to Bridge Ms. Lee was an Executive Director at Morgan Stanley where she worked from 2004 to April 2014. From 2013 to April 2014, Ms. Lee was the senior manager responsible for loan pricing, hedging, and structuring for the Commercial Real Estate Lending group within the Fixed Income Division. During her tenure at Morgan Stanley, she was a voting member of the U.S. credit committee and was deeply involved in creating loan pricing models, managing the securitization pipeline, interfacing with rating agencies and investors, and originating loans for securitization. From 2009 to 2013, Ms. Lee was a key contributor in the Commercial Real Estate Lending group at Morgan Stanley where she managed significant portions of the securitization process and helped create new lending procedures for the group. From 2004 to 2009, Ms. Lee was involved in loan acquisitions, underwriting and restructuring of loans, as well as risk management and risk reporting.
Ms. Lee serves as the senior sponsor for both the Bridge Women's Network and Bridge's AAPI (Allies for Asian Americans). She is also a governor of CREFC’s Board of Governors and is a member of CREFC’s Women’s Network and CREFC’s Sustainability Steering Committee.
Ms. Lee received her Bachelor of Arts from Brown University and her Master of Business Administration from Columbia University.
Lindsey Wright joined KKR in 2022 as Managing Director and Head of Investment Services for the firm’s Real Estate Credit business. She is President and CEO of K-Star Asset Management, a wholly owned subsidiary of KKR Corp, which performs due diligence, underwriting, closing, primary servicing oversight, credit asset management, special servicing, and surveillance activities. Prior to joining KKR, she was a senior managing director and head of special servicing at Greystone, where she managed the loan and REO workout teams, as well as the surveillance, investor reporting and due diligence teams. She joined Greystone as part of the company’s acquisition of the C-III asset management team at the end of 2019. Ms. Wright joined ARCap (acquired by C-III Capital Partners’ predecessor company) in 2001 to be part of the newly formed special servicing platform. During her tenure at the legacy company, she managed the CMBS investor reporting, surveillance and transactions teams. Prior to that, Ms. Wright worked for the Bank of New York in their Irving, Texas asset management shop.
Lindsey received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance, summa cum laude, from the University of Texas at Arlington.
Keith Banhazl is a Managing Director and Head of Commercial Real Estate Finance for Americas within the Structured Finance Group and leads the team responsible for CMBS & CRE CLO new ratings and surveillance at Moody’s Investors Service. The team is responsible for reviewing Conduit/Fusion, Large Loan/Single Borrower, Agency CMBS, Credit Tenant Lease, Small Balance Commercial, CRE CLO, CRE CDO and other structured products at Moody’s Investors Service. He is also Moody’s Global Structured Finance Outreach Coordinator. He has been involved in various research initiatives and outreach activities related to the CRE securitization space, publishing and speaking on Moody’s behalf. Prior to being appointed to his current position, Mr. Banhazl was a Managing Director within the Structured Finance Group leading the US CMBS and CRE CLO/CDO Surveillance team and the review of primary US CRE CLO/CDO transactions, including the credit assessment team for commercial real estate assets within CRE CDO’s and CLO’s as well as Structured Credit transactions. Previously at Moody’s, he rated various fixed and floating-rate Conduit/Fusion and Large Loan CMBS transactions. Mr. Banhazl has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brown University in Economics and History
Andrew (Andy) Power is the Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Digital Realty. Andy also has served as Digital Realty’s President since 2021 and as Chief Financial Officer since 2015 with responsibility for global portfolio operations, technology development and innovation, service provider and enterprise customer solutions, asset management and information technology, as well as the company’s financial functions across its global platform.
Prior to joining Digital Realty, Andy held positions of increasing responsibility at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he most recently served as Managing Director of Real Estate, Gaming and Lodging Investment Banking and was responsible for relationships with over 40 public and private companies, including Digital Realty.
Prior to Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Andy was employed by Citigroup, where he held similar positions. During his career, he has managed the execution of over $30 billion of public and private capital raises, including the largest REIT IPO to date, and more than $19 billion of merger and acquisition transactions. Andy was part of the lead underwriting team that advised Digital Realty on its initial public offering in 2004 and served as a lead manager on nearly every subsequent public capital raise.
Andy also serves on the Board of Directors of Americold Realty Trust (NYSE: COLD), where he is a member of the audit committee and investment committee. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Analytical Finance from Wake Forest University.
Andrew (Andy) Power is the Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Digital Realty. Andy also has served as Digital Realty’s President since 2021 and as Chief Financial Officer since 2015 with responsibility for global portfolio operations, technology development and innovation, service provider and enterprise customer solutions, asset management and information technology, as well as the company’s financial functions across its global platform.
Prior to joining Digital Realty, Andy held positions of increasing responsibility at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he most recently served as Managing Director of Real Estate, Gaming and Lodging Investment Banking and was responsible for relationships with over 40 public and private companies, including Digital Realty.
Prior to Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Andy was employed by Citigroup, where he held similar positions. During his career, he has managed the execution of over $30 billion of public and private capital raises, including the largest REIT IPO to date, and more than $19 billion of merger and acquisition transactions. Andy was part of the lead underwriting team that advised Digital Realty on its initial public offering in 2004 and served as a lead manager on nearly every subsequent public capital raise.
Andy also serves on the Board of Directors of Americold Realty Trust (NYSE: COLD), where he is a member of the audit committee and investment committee. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Analytical Finance from Wake Forest University.
Navneet Agarwal is a Managing Director and heads Moody’s Structured Finance Primary Ratings for the Americas and Other Permissible Services for structured finance globally.
Navneet’s previous roles at Moody’s include leading the company’s US RMBS New Ratings, the surveillance function for Moody’s US Asset Finance Group and a CLO surveillance team. In past, he has also headed methodology development for structured finance in addition to setting up an analytical technology group. Navneet has published and presented extensively on behalf of Moody’s.
Prior to joining Moody’s, Navneet spent seven years as the Head of Debt Syndication with a boutique investment bank in India, where he also managed a proprietary book. Navneet has worked with Unit Trust of India (T. Rowe Price’s India affiliate) as an Investment Manager, as well as with Banc of America Securities. Navneet served as a member of the Board of Directors of ICRA, a publicly listed rating and analytics company in India.
Navneet received an M.B.A. with Honors from The University of Chicago, Booth School of Business. He also holds master’s from the University of Mumbai and a B.S. from the University of Delhi. Navneet is also a CFA charter holder.
Shaishav has been with CRE, Deutsche Bank for over 18 years and currently heads the capital markets globally. He manages securitization and syndication of CRE whole loans, CRE CLOs, SFR, Agency CMBS and other CRE related transactions. His experience ranges from Underwriting & Rating Agency analysis to Structuring, Pricing and Distribution of CRE loans, CDOs and Correlation trades. Prior to joining Deutsche Bank, Shaishav worked for 3 years at Banc of America Securities in the CMBS group as a structuring resource.
Prior to that Shaishav worked at Merrill Lynch in Debt Capital Markets.
Shaishav has a BE in Civil Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering and an MBA from IIM Bangalore, India.
Keith Banhazl is a Managing Director and Head of Commercial Real Estate Finance for Americas within the Structured Finance Group and leads the team responsible for CMBS & CRE CLO new ratings and surveillance at Moody’s Investors Service. The team is responsible for reviewing Conduit/Fusion, Large Loan/Single Borrower, Agency CMBS, Credit Tenant Lease, Small Balance Commercial, CRE CLO, CRE CDO and other structured products at Moody’s Investors Service. He is also Moody’s Global Structured Finance Outreach Coordinator. He has been involved in various research initiatives and outreach activities related to the CRE securitization space, publishing and speaking on Moody’s behalf. Prior to being appointed to his current position, Mr. Banhazl was a Managing Director within the Structured Finance Group leading the US CMBS and CRE CLO/CDO Surveillance team and the review of primary US CRE CLO/CDO transactions, including the credit assessment team for commercial real estate assets within CRE CDO’s and CLO’s as well as Structured Credit transactions. Previously at Moody’s, he rated various fixed and floating-rate Conduit/Fusion and Large Loan CMBS transactions. Mr. Banhazl has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brown University in Economics and History
Joe Baksic manages new issuance for the Commercial Real Estate Finance (CREF) team at Moody’s Investors Service, where he holds the title of Associate Managing Director. His responsibilities encompass all private-label and agency Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (CMBS) issuance within the United States and Canada.
Joe has over 20 years of professional experience within the industry and has overseen the analysis of CRE issuance across the Conduit, Large Loan/Single Asset Single-Borrower, CLO/CDO, and Non-Performing Loan sectors. He has developed multiple rating methodologies, models, and analytical tools. He has contributed toward research initiatives and authored several publications. He frequently engages with the media to communicate credit views and developments within the sector. Baksic also regularly liaises in the analysis and ratings of other lines of business within Moody’s as a commercial real estate and structured products specialist.
Joe holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Virginia.
Mr. Dann is Prime Finance’s Head of CMBS Investments. Mr. Dann began his career in CMBS at LNR Property Corp in November 1997. LNR is one of the largest and oldest CMBS investors and special servicer. At LNR, he oversaw all facets of credit, investing, and loan origination. Prior to joining LNR, Mr. Dann worked in investment banking for Citigroup in New York City for three years.
Mr. Dann received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government from Dartmouth College and a Master’s in Business Administration degree from the University of Miami.
Marshall Glick is a Senior Vice President and head of the commercial real estate investment team within AllianceBernstein’s Securitized Asset Management Group, He oversees investments in both public and private commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBSs), as well as real estate investment trusts (REITs). He first worked at the firm from 1996 to 2002. From 2002 to 2009, Glick was a managing director and senior credit officer at Fortress Investment Group, where he sourced, underwrote and managed the assets in a multibillion-dollar investment portfolio that included credit-sensitive CMBSs, B-notes, mezzanine debt and whole loans, along with REIT debt and leveraged bank loans. He previously served as vice president, Structured Products, at Alliance Capital Management, where he focused on primary and secondary offerings of CMBSs and covered the REIT debt sector.
Prior to joining Alliance, he was associate director in the Structured Finance Ratings division at Standard & Poor’s Rating Services.
Mr. Hayden is a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager for CMBS and structured CRE debt and a member of the Mortgage Loan Credit Committee at New York Life Real Estate Investors. Prior to joining NYL REI, Mr. Hayden was a Vice President of new issue CMBS and CRE CDO ratings at Moody’s Investors Service. Before Moody’s, he held positions in the MBS and CRE groups at Greenwich Capital Markets and began his career in fixed income sales at Lehman Brothers. He holds a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) designation and a B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from University of Massachusetts at Lowell.
Alex Killick is Managing Director of CWCapital Asset Management (CWCAM), a third-party special servicing and investment management firm with over $220 of named assignments. Drawing on more than 18 years of experience, Alex leads CWCAM’s special servicing practice, managing a team of loan-workout and REO-operations experts through the resolution of non-performing loans. For each asset in his portfolio, Alex applies a comprehensive approach that involves following CMBS compliance standards while coordinating with project teams including legal counsel, expert vendors, property managers, and leasing brokers, as well as master servicers and other market participants, all to deliver successful outcomes for CMBS bondholders and other third party lender clients.
Outside of his immediate role, Alex serves on the firm’s Credit Committee, reviewing business plans each week to quantify recovery projects and review and approve proposed workout or disposition strategies.
Prior to joining CWCapital, Alex was an origination analyst with J.P. Morgan’s CMBS group in Atlanta, GA. Alex earned a M.A. in Management/Finance from the University of St. Andrews.
Ms. Lee serves as Partner and Deputy Chief Investment Officer of Bridge Debt Strategies Fund Manager LLC. She has more than 19 years of experience in real estate, securitization and financial services.
Prior to Bridge Ms. Lee was an Executive Director at Morgan Stanley where she worked from 2004 to April 2014. From 2013 to April 2014, Ms. Lee was the senior manager responsible for loan pricing, hedging, and structuring for the Commercial Real Estate Lending group within the Fixed Income Division. During her tenure at Morgan Stanley, she was a voting member of the U.S. credit committee and was deeply involved in creating loan pricing models, managing the securitization pipeline, interfacing with rating agencies and investors, and originating loans for securitization. From 2009 to 2013, Ms. Lee was a key contributor in the Commercial Real Estate Lending group at Morgan Stanley where she managed significant portions of the securitization process and helped create new lending procedures for the group. From 2004 to 2009, Ms. Lee was involved in loan acquisitions, underwriting and restructuring of loans, as well as risk management and risk reporting.
Ms. Lee serves as the senior sponsor for both the Bridge Women's Network and Bridge's AAPI (Allies for Asian Americans). She is also a governor of CREFC’s Board of Governors and is a member of CREFC’s Women’s Network and CREFC’s Sustainability Steering Committee.
Ms. Lee received her Bachelor of Arts from Brown University and her Master of Business Administration from Columbia University.
Matthew Halpern is an Associate Managing Director within the Structured Finance Group at Moody’s Investors Service. He is a team leader within the CMBS Surveillance group focusing on U.S. Conduit/Fusion and Large Loan/Single Borrower transactions. In addition, Matthew is involved in managing the surveillance review of credit assessments for commercial real estate assets within CRE CDO’s and CLO’s as well as Structured Credit transactions. Matthew also has experience rating new CMBS and CRE CDO transactions, and is a contributor to various commercial real estate research initiatives. Prior to joining Moody’s, Matthew worked in the Structured Finance group at Ernst &Young. Matthew graduated from the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science.
Deryk Meherik joined Moody’s Structured Finance Group in 2003 and is currently an Associate Managing Director within the CMBS & CRE CDO Surveillance team. He also oversees the review of primary US CRE CDO/CLO transactions. In addition, he contributes to CRE
CDO/CLO research.
Deryk has authored or co-authored three global rating methodologies including SF CDOs, SF resecuritizations, and SF interest-only securities. Prior to being appointed to his current position, he was a lead analyst within the CMBS & CRE CDO primary team, where he rated various fixed and floating rate CMBS and CRE CDOs transactions. Additionally, Deryk has rated primary Structured Credit transactions. Prior to joining Moody’s, Deryk was a CRE acquisition and research analyst for a private New York based real estate firm. Deryk holds a dual M.S. in civil engineering and real estate development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a B.A. from the University of Calgary.
Robb holds the position of Associate Managing Director at Moody's Investors Service, where he has been part of the Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (CMBS) New Issuance group since 2006. With a career spanning over 25 years in commercial real estate Robb has developed a deep understanding in commercial real estate, credit analysis, and ratings theory.
In his current position, he co-leads the CMBS New Issuance team, where he has a particular focus on the retail and large loan sectors. This role has allowed him to leverage his knowledge in commercial real estate and structured finance.
Before his tenure at Moody's Investors Service, Robb worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers within the Real Estate Advisory Services Group. Additionally, he also was part of the Real Estate and Lodging Investment Banking Group at JP Morgan.
Robb's gained a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University, and a Master's degree in Real Estate Finance from New York University.
EJ is a Vice President/ Senior Credit Officer for Moody’s Investors Service. She has been with the Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities group since 1998, and has rated transactions in the US and in Japan. She currently oversees the Large Loan/Single Asset Single Borrower segment of CMBS Surveillance. EJ was with Arthur Andersen Hospitality Consulting Group in New York City prior to joining Moody’s, and she also has international hotel operation experience.
EJ has a BA from Ewha Womans University, and a Master of Management in Hospitality from the Hotel School, Cornell University.
Meena Pursnani, Director, heads CMBS credit within structured products for MetLife Investment Management (MIM) Public Fixed Income.
Meena has been with MIM since 2014 and she is responsible for managing the CMBS portfolio including underwriting of new investments and surveillance of the existing portfolio. Prior to joining MIM, for five years Meena was a research analyst/portfolio manager at Capital Research and Management Company (American Funds) where her responsibilities included CMBS and European Covered Bonds. From 2002 to 2007, she was with Deutsche Bank Asset Management where she was a Managing Director/Head of Structured Research and senior CMBS analyst. From 1997 to 2002 she was a Vice President/Senior Analyst in the CMBS group at Moody’s Investors Service. Prior to joining Moody’s Meena also held roles as a Loan Originator and Loan Workout Specialist in the Commercial Real Estate divisions of UBS and BNY Mellon. Meena has over 30 years of industry experience.
Meena earned a B.A. in Biochemistry from Rutgers University and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business.
George Voumvourakis heads the rating agency team responsible for all things rating agency within the CMBS group at Morgan Stanley since 2015. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, George headed a similar team at Citi from 2006, inclusive of several years of workouts during the great recession and a return to securitization in 2011. His CMBS career began rating CMBS transactions for Moody’s in 2000. His more than 25 year real estate history began in 1998 and include time at a small real estate developer, Bank Leumi, and MONY Life.
Today, George focuses most of his time on SASB and large loan transactions.
Darrell Wheeler manages CMBS and CRE CLO research for Moody’s Ratings. He is renowned for developing mortgage-backed securities analysis and models that provide unique fundamental credit insights.
His structured finance experience is extensive, previously managing the structured finance research of S&P Global Ratings, Citigroup Global Markets and Cantor Fitzgerald. He is a past member of CREFC’s Board of Governors and currently participates in CREFC’s editorial board. He has contributed research to numerous publications, including CREFC’s E-primer.
Lindsey Wright joined KKR in 2022 as Managing Director and Head of Investment Services for the firm’s Real Estate Credit business. She is President and CEO of K-Star Asset Management, a wholly owned subsidiary of KKR Corp, which performs due diligence, underwriting, closing, primary servicing oversight, credit asset management, special servicing, and surveillance activities. Prior to joining KKR, she was a senior managing director and head of special servicing at Greystone, where she managed the loan and REO workout teams, as well as the surveillance, investor reporting and due diligence teams. She joined Greystone as part of the company’s acquisition of the C-III asset management team at the end of 2019. Ms. Wright joined ARCap (acquired by C-III Capital Partners’ predecessor company) in 2001 to be part of the newly formed special servicing platform. During her tenure at the legacy company, she managed the CMBS investor reporting, surveillance and transactions teams. Prior to that, Ms. Wright worked for the Bank of New York in their Irving, Texas asset management shop.
Lindsey received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance, summa cum laude, from the University of Texas at Arlington.