Please note that this event is exclusively in-person. As seating is limited, we encourage you to register promptly to ensure you can engage in direct discussions with senior analysts from Moody's, industry leaders, and your peers. This event is NOT open to media. |
2024 Moody's US CLO & Leveraged Loan Conference
Agenda
Pre-event registration and workshop: Navigating Leveraged Finance & CLO Market Trends Using Advanced Analytics
Join us for breakfast and a short presentation on our latest innovations in Lev Fin and Structured Finance on Moody’s CreditView, our flagship credit analysis platform, and Moody’s Structured Finance Portal, our advanced analytics platform.
- See how AI can make your workflow more efficient using our new Gen AI: Research Assistant
- Discover our latest coverage expansion into unrated corporates
- Access our new CLO price/yield analytics and more!
Record issuance wave, mostly refinancing, with underlying cross currents
- Loan recoveries expected to be lower, but market may be exaggerating lows
- Positive Developments: Recent litigation suggests challenging LMTs may work; Cooperation agreements an emerging tool for investors
- Negative Developments: Dual path for leveraged loans provides sponsors opportunity to continue to achieve document flexibility and other borrower-friendly options
2021 CLO Redux? How rest of 2024-25 will differ…
- How will the CLO market evolve for the remainder of 2024 leading into 2025?
- Will international and domestic Aaa investor demand continue to remain robust?
- What are potential implications of global central bank policy and upcoming U.S. elections?
- How CLO structures will evolve to accommodate weakened asset portfolios and its impact on future CLO performance?
Break
Convergence of leveraged loan markets: Implications for CLOs and Private Credit
- Convergence of syndicated loan market and direct lending has benefitted sponsored-backed LBOs in the “upper middle market”. Are we seeing weakening in credit quality and contractual protections as a consequence?
- Private credit CLOs are adding to the growth of middle market loans. How do private credit CLOs address the weaker credit quality in the middle markets?
- Is the syndicated loan market and private credit competitive or complementary?
- Has the additional liquidity from the private credit market ameliorated the speculative grade default cycle?
- Will private credit and BSL loans and CLOs perform similarly going forward? What are your expectations for the 2025 markets?
Keynote speech: The US presidential election, the Federal Reserve, and the economy
Networking lunch: Meet Moody's sector analysts and specialists of CLO, Leveraged Loan, Covenant
Close of the event
Venue Details:
Venue Name: 7 World Trade Center - 20th Floor
Address: 250 Greenwich Street, New York, NY 10007, USA
If you have any questions about the event, please contact Jun Li at Jun.Li@moodys.com.
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Arlene Kearns is a Senior Director in the Structured Finance business of Moody’s Analytics. She is responsible for driving business and product initiatives that will grow the Structured Finance Product Suite globally.
Prior to joining Moody’s in 2010, Arlene held Structured Finance positions at Banc of America Securities, Lehman Brothers and Standard & Poor’s. Her experience spans banking, credit analysis, proprietary trading, and M&A.
Arlene earned a BA in Economics and International Relations from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Nicole Lawrence is a Senior Director – Strategist for the Moody’s Analytics. She is responsible for strategy, management and marketing in Moody’s Analytics Structured Solutions group. Her expertise spans across several ABS and CLO markets. In addition, she is responsible for the Structured Solutions Research team.
Prior to joining Moody’s Analytics, Nicole held various roles with T-REX and B Asset Manager (BAM), focusing on analyzing and investing in esoteric and consumer ABS markets. Before BAM, she spent 11 years at PPM America, most notably as a Vice President, where she was responsible for investments across several ABS and CLO asset classes. Nicole began her career as an ABS ratings analyst for Moody’s Investors Service. Nicole has a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Notre Dame and a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the University of Chicago.
Annabel Schaafsma is a Managing Director and Global Head of the Structured Finance Group within Ratings and Research. She is responsible for a global team that both assign primary ratings as well as the surveillance of existing ratings covering all asset types including Asset Backed Securities, Corporate and Residential Mortgage Backed Securities, Structured Credit and Covered Bonds.
Annabel has many years of experience in credit analysis, as well as managing credit professionals. Annabel first joined Moody’s in 2001 in the Structured Finance Group where she went onto leading teams assigning Primary ratings to Residential Mortgage Backed securities and the surveillance of Consumer Asset Backed Securities in EMEA. Prior to her current role she worked in Credit Strategy and Standards Group responsible for the Methodology Development Group. Prior to joining Moody’s Annabel worked for Credit Suisse in the Credit Risk Management department in various roles in London and New York. In 2006 Annabel joined Standard Chartered Bank as Head of Credit Research for the Structured Credit Investment team that invested in structured finance instruments. Before re-joining Moody’s in 2010, Annabel was head of Traded Credit Risk Management for Standard Chartered Bank in London responsible for the identification and analysis of credit risks within the firm’s trading business.
Annabel is passionate about diversity and inclusion; she is the executive sponsor of the Moody’s UK Women’s Business Resource Group. Annabel holds an undergraduate degree in Economics focused in finance and accountancy from Manchester University
Evan M. Friedman is a Senior Vice President – Head of Covenant Research in Moody’s Ratings Corporate Finance Group. Evan specializes in covenant analysis and research, with particular focus on leveraged loans and high yield bonds.
Prior to joining Moody’s in September 2013, Evan was of counsel in the banking and finance practice group at Otterbourg P.C. and was previously an associate in the banking and finance practice group at Bryan Cave LLP and Emmet, Marvin & Martin, LLP. His practice focused primarily on representing agents and lenders in asset-based lending and other commercial transactions.
Evan holds a BA summa cum laude from S.U.N.Y. Stony Brook and a JD from New York University School of Law.
Julia Chursin is an Vice President - Senior Analyst in Moody’s Corporate Finance Group (CFG) that produces research on corporate defaults and recoveries and trends in high-yield/ leveraged finance space. She is also responsible for collecting, maintaining and analyzing data in Moody's Ultimate Recovery Database used to support Moody’s LGD Assessments (LGDAs), as well as other products/services at Moody’s Analytics.
Julia has both co-authored and published her own special comments/research on default-recovery trends across various sectors and involving various types of debt facilities. Notably, her own publications and other special comments she co–wrote with Moody’s senior analysts have been featured among Moody’s high-profile research in top-tier media outlets. Julia has directly contributed to greater visibility of Moody’s B3 Negative and Lower Ratings List among investors and the media by publishing quarterly special comments, monthly newsletters and creating comprehensive data visualizations.
Julia joined Moody’s CFG in January 2013 from Moody’s Public Finance Commercial group, where she handled various aspects of business and pricing relationships with rated issuers and their bankers/financial advisors.
Prior to joining Moody’s in September 2010, Julia worked as an investment associate at UBS Financial Services, where she supported a wealth management team in various aspects of the business involving execution of investment strategies and development of asset allocation models for portfolios of high- net-worth clients, in addition to researching and analyzing performance of various investment vehicles/products.
Julia received her MBA in Finance from Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College (CUNY).
Joyce Jiang is a Vice President on Morgan Stanley’s Corporate Credit Strategy. She primarily covers HY and Leveraged Loans in the US, publishing the team’s views on the leveraged finance space including private credit. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, she worked at Moody’s in Credit Strategy and Research.
Joyce has a PhD in Economics from Boston University with her thesis focus on macroeconomics, and a BA in Economics and Finance from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
John Toronto serves as an investment professional focused on private credit transactions. Prior to joining OHA, Mr. Toronto was Managing Director & Head of Corporate Lending for the Americas at Credit Suisse. Previously, he served as Vice President & Co-Head of the Loan Execution Team at Goldman Sachs & Co. and as an Associate at Ropes & Gray LLP in the private equity and debt financing groups. Mr. Toronto began his career as an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps and currently serves as a board member for the Children of Fallen Patriots. He is a founder of Veterans on Wall Street and was previously a board member for Worldwide Orphans.
Mr. Toronto earned a B.A. in American Studies & English from Cornell University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Aniket Deshpande is a Senior Credit Officer and Manager for the US Structured Credit team, which covers over 1300 US CLOs. In his current role at Moody’s, Aniket has extensively contributed to multiple thematic CLO research and newsletters, many of which have been featured by top-tier media outlets. He also speaks frequently on Moody’s behalf at industry events and serves as chair for CLO rating committees. In his previous role at Moody’s, Aniket has served as lead rating analyst for securitizations backed by multiple asset types.
Prior to joining Moody’s in 2010, Aniket held positions as an investment analyst at Dynamic Credit Partners, LLC., a fund manager investing in a wide range of CLO and structured finance securities, and as a trader for government-issued bonds at a boutique investment bank in Mumbai, India.
Aniket holds a Master of Business Administration in Finance from the Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College. He also holds master’s and bachelor’s degree from the University of Mumbai, India. Aniket is also a CFA charter holder.
Connor Byrnes is a Senior Portfolio Manager on PGIM Fixed Income’s Securitized Products team. He is a focused on CLO tranche investing across the US and Europe. Mr. Byrnes is responsible for CLO security selection in dedicated separate accounts as well as the firm’s multi-sector, investment grade, high yield, LDI, money market, and general account strategies. Prior to assuming his current responsibilities, Mr. Byrnes was responsible for supporting PGIM's Dryden CLO platform in structuring, business development, client management, and analysis functions. Mr. Byrnes joined the Firm in 2012. He received a BS in Finance and Economics from Susquehanna University and an MBA from Indiana University
Lana Lee Deharveng is a Vice President-Senior Analyst in Moody’s Investors Service’s
US CLO and Structured Credit Primary Ratings team. Lana performs legal and credit
risk analysis on US CLOs and other structured credit products.
Prior to joining Moody’s in 2012, Lana was assistant general counsel at a residential
mortgage analytics firm. Prior to that, she practiced law at Thacher Proffit & Wood
LLP in the firm’s structured finance group and at Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP in their
corporate and securities group. Lana is a graduate of Barnard College, Columbia
University and Tulane Law School, and is a member of both the New York and New
Jersey Bars.
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, Housing 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 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 the past 4 years in Non-Agency RMBS since 2020. He has been ranked #1 in CLOs for the past 3 years since 2021. His team was ranked as the ‘Best US CLO Research’ in the 2021, 2022 and 2023 Creditflux survey. He has been awarded with the ‘Best Research’ award by the LSTA and Deal Catalyst in 2023 and 2024.
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.
Karen Lau is a Managing Director, a member of the firm’s Executive Committee, and a member of Marathon’s Performing Credit Investment Committee. Ms. Lau joined Marathon in 2022 from Onex Credit, where she served as a Managing Director, Head of U.S. CLOs, managing over $10 billion of AUM across 20 vehicles, and member of the Par Loans & High Yield Investment Committee. Prior to Onex, Ms. Lau spent six years at TPG Institutional Credit Partners as Co-Head of Portfolio Strategy focused on the CLO portfolios. Similar to TPG, Karen joined Blackstone Credit at the inception of its CLO business in the early 2000s, serving over ten years as Senior Investment Analyst covering a wide range of sectors.
Ms. Lau received a B.S. in Finance from the Leonard Stern School of Business at New York University.
Mimi Eng is a Vice President-Senior Analyst in Moody’s Structured Finance Group and is responsible for rating U.S. primary CLO transactions and structured notes. Prior to joining Moody’s, Mimi worked at New York Life Investments, where she was a product manager focused on CLOs and, before that, she worked at JP Morgan Securities in the CLO/CDO structuring team. Mimi has also previously held positions in derivatives marketing with JP Morgan Securities and with Bankers Trust Company.
Mimi holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School, an M.B.A from Harvard Business School and a B.A. in Economics and Psychology from Amherst College. She is also a CFA charterholder.
Christina Padgett is an Associate Managing Director in Moody’s Corporate Finance Group and leads the Leveraged Finance Research and Analytics team and Private Credit research. She spearheads in-depth, cross-team research on credit trends in the leveraged finance market and private equity. Christina also remains very focused on facilitating global private credit research. She brings an established multi-cycle expertise in credit markets to her research role, which is regularly informed by meetings with investors, regulators, alternative asset managers, bankers, media and others. In addition, as rating chair for speculative grade rating committees, she participates in key credit discussions spanning a broad range of industries within Moody’s rated universe.
Before joining Moody’s, Christina was a vice president at JPMorgan Chase in the Mergers and Acquisitions Group. Prior to her investment banking role, Christina completed the bank’s Credit Training program and worked in Europe Corporate Finance and Credit Audit. She received a Master in International Political Economy from Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs and a B.A. in History from William Smith College.
Rony Ma (New York) joined KKR in 2011 and is a Managing Director on the Credit team. He serves as a portfolio manager for the firm’s private credit funds and portfolios. Mr. Ma is a member of the Global Corporate Private Credit Investment Committee and the Investment Committee for the FS/KKR BDC platform. Mr. Ma also serves as an Officer of FS KKR Capital Corp. (FSK), which trades on the NYSE. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Ma was with Deutsche Bank where he was involved in leveraged loan and high yield transactions for private equity and corporate issuers.
Mr. Ma holds a B.S. and B.A.S. from the University of Pennsylvania.
Maggie Wang is a Managing Director and the Global Head of CLO and Private Credit Research at Citigroup. Maggie started her financial career at J.P. Morgan as a research analyst in 2007 and headed US CLO & CDO research at J.P. Morgan before joining Citigroup in 2014. Maggie advises over 900 global institutional clients on fixed-income investments, including banks, insurers, hedge funds, private equity, and family offices.
Maggie has been a top-ranked analyst in the All-American Institutional Investors survey since 2007, and she is frequently featured on Bloomberg, the Financial Times, the WSJ, and Barron's. She regularly speaks at global conferences and publishes research on relative value, trade ideas, and CLO manager evaluations. Maggie holds a Master's Degree in Computer System Engineering from Boston University, where she was a Ph.D. fellow, and a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from HUST in China.
Alex Zilberman is a Managing Director at Blue Owl and member of the
Structured Products and Fund Finance Team.
Prior to Blue Owl, Alex served as Co-head of Structured Credit and Credit
Trading at Natixis, where he oversaw the global CLO, Structured Credit
Financing, Structured Credit Trading, ABS and Subscription line businesses.
Prior to this role, Alex was Global Head of CLO and Structured Credit at
Natixis since 2015. Prior to Natixis, Alex was a structured credit professional
and joined Credit Suisse in 2000 after it acquired Donaldson, Lufkin &
Jenrette, where he began his career. Prior to attending business school, Alex
worked as an Engineer in the Israeli Aircraft !ndl!Jstries and served in the
Israeli Airforce.
Alex holds an MBA from the University of Michigan and a B.Sc. in Industrial
Engineering and Management from the Technion-Israel Institute of
Technology.
Mark M. Zandi is chief economist of Moody’s, 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.
Julia Chursin is an Vice President - Senior Analyst in Moody’s Corporate Finance Group (CFG) that produces research on corporate defaults and recoveries and trends in high-yield/ leveraged finance space. She is also responsible for collecting, maintaining and analyzing data in Moody's Ultimate Recovery Database used to support Moody’s LGD Assessments (LGDAs), as well as other products/services at Moody’s Analytics.
Julia has both co-authored and published her own special comments/research on default-recovery trends across various sectors and involving various types of debt facilities. Notably, her own publications and other special comments she co–wrote with Moody’s senior analysts have been featured among Moody’s high-profile research in top-tier media outlets. Julia has directly contributed to greater visibility of Moody’s B3 Negative and Lower Ratings List among investors and the media by publishing quarterly special comments, monthly newsletters and creating comprehensive data visualizations.
Julia joined Moody’s CFG in January 2013 from Moody’s Public Finance Commercial group, where she handled various aspects of business and pricing relationships with rated issuers and their bankers/financial advisors.
Prior to joining Moody’s in September 2010, Julia worked as an investment associate at UBS Financial Services, where she supported a wealth management team in various aspects of the business involving execution of investment strategies and development of asset allocation models for portfolios of high- net-worth clients, in addition to researching and analyzing performance of various investment vehicles/products.
Julia received her MBA in Finance from Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College (CUNY).
Connor Byrnes is a Senior Portfolio Manager on PGIM Fixed Income’s Securitized Products team. He is a focused on CLO tranche investing across the US and Europe. Mr. Byrnes is responsible for CLO security selection in dedicated separate accounts as well as the firm’s multi-sector, investment grade, high yield, LDI, money market, and general account strategies. Prior to assuming his current responsibilities, Mr. Byrnes was responsible for supporting PGIM's Dryden CLO platform in structuring, business development, client management, and analysis functions. Mr. Byrnes joined the Firm in 2012. He received a BS in Finance and Economics from Susquehanna University and an MBA from Indiana University
Alex Zilberman is a Managing Director at Blue Owl and member of the
Structured Products and Fund Finance Team.
Prior to Blue Owl, Alex served as Co-head of Structured Credit and Credit
Trading at Natixis, where he oversaw the global CLO, Structured Credit
Financing, Structured Credit Trading, ABS and Subscription line businesses.
Prior to this role, Alex was Global Head of CLO and Structured Credit at
Natixis since 2015. Prior to Natixis, Alex was a structured credit professional
and joined Credit Suisse in 2000 after it acquired Donaldson, Lufkin &
Jenrette, where he began his career. Prior to attending business school, Alex
worked as an Engineer in the Israeli Aircraft !ndl!Jstries and served in the
Israeli Airforce.
Alex holds an MBA from the University of Michigan and a B.Sc. in Industrial
Engineering and Management from the Technion-Israel Institute of
Technology.
Maggie Wang is a Managing Director and the Global Head of CLO and Private Credit Research at Citigroup. Maggie started her financial career at J.P. Morgan as a research analyst in 2007 and headed US CLO & CDO research at J.P. Morgan before joining Citigroup in 2014. Maggie advises over 900 global institutional clients on fixed-income investments, including banks, insurers, hedge funds, private equity, and family offices.
Maggie has been a top-ranked analyst in the All-American Institutional Investors survey since 2007, and she is frequently featured on Bloomberg, the Financial Times, the WSJ, and Barron's. She regularly speaks at global conferences and publishes research on relative value, trade ideas, and CLO manager evaluations. Maggie holds a Master's Degree in Computer System Engineering from Boston University, where she was a Ph.D. fellow, and a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from HUST in China.
Joyce Jiang is a Vice President on Morgan Stanley’s Corporate Credit Strategy. She primarily covers HY and Leveraged Loans in the US, publishing the team’s views on the leveraged finance space including private credit. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, she worked at Moody’s in Credit Strategy and Research.
Joyce has a PhD in Economics from Boston University with her thesis focus on macroeconomics, and a BA in Economics and Finance from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
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, Housing 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 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 the past 4 years in Non-Agency RMBS since 2020. He has been ranked #1 in CLOs for the past 3 years since 2021. His team was ranked as the ‘Best US CLO Research’ in the 2021, 2022 and 2023 Creditflux survey. He has been awarded with the ‘Best Research’ award by the LSTA and Deal Catalyst in 2023 and 2024.
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.
John Toronto serves as an investment professional focused on private credit transactions. Prior to joining OHA, Mr. Toronto was Managing Director & Head of Corporate Lending for the Americas at Credit Suisse. Previously, he served as Vice President & Co-Head of the Loan Execution Team at Goldman Sachs & Co. and as an Associate at Ropes & Gray LLP in the private equity and debt financing groups. Mr. Toronto began his career as an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps and currently serves as a board member for the Children of Fallen Patriots. He is a founder of Veterans on Wall Street and was previously a board member for Worldwide Orphans.
Mr. Toronto earned a B.A. in American Studies & English from Cornell University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Rony Ma (New York) joined KKR in 2011 and is a Managing Director on the Credit team. He serves as a portfolio manager for the firm’s private credit funds and portfolios. Mr. Ma is a member of the Global Corporate Private Credit Investment Committee and the Investment Committee for the FS/KKR BDC platform. Mr. Ma also serves as an Officer of FS KKR Capital Corp. (FSK), which trades on the NYSE. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Ma was with Deutsche Bank where he was involved in leveraged loan and high yield transactions for private equity and corporate issuers.
Mr. Ma holds a B.S. and B.A.S. from the University of Pennsylvania.
Karen Lau is a Managing Director, a member of the firm’s Executive Committee, and a member of Marathon’s Performing Credit Investment Committee. Ms. Lau joined Marathon in 2022 from Onex Credit, where she served as a Managing Director, Head of U.S. CLOs, managing over $10 billion of AUM across 20 vehicles, and member of the Par Loans & High Yield Investment Committee. Prior to Onex, Ms. Lau spent six years at TPG Institutional Credit Partners as Co-Head of Portfolio Strategy focused on the CLO portfolios. Similar to TPG, Karen joined Blackstone Credit at the inception of its CLO business in the early 2000s, serving over ten years as Senior Investment Analyst covering a wide range of sectors.
Ms. Lau received a B.S. in Finance from the Leonard Stern School of Business at New York University.
Nicole Lawrence is a Senior Director – Strategist for the Moody’s Analytics. She is responsible for strategy, management and marketing in Moody’s Analytics Structured Solutions group. Her expertise spans across several ABS and CLO markets. In addition, she is responsible for the Structured Solutions Research team.
Prior to joining Moody’s Analytics, Nicole held various roles with T-REX and B Asset Manager (BAM), focusing on analyzing and investing in esoteric and consumer ABS markets. Before BAM, she spent 11 years at PPM America, most notably as a Vice President, where she was responsible for investments across several ABS and CLO asset classes. Nicole began her career as an ABS ratings analyst for Moody’s Investors Service. Nicole has a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Notre Dame and a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the University of Chicago.
Arlene Kearns is a Senior Director in the Structured Finance business of Moody’s Analytics. She is responsible for driving business and product initiatives that will grow the Structured Finance Product Suite globally.
Prior to joining Moody’s in 2010, Arlene held Structured Finance positions at Banc of America Securities, Lehman Brothers and Standard & Poor’s. Her experience spans banking, credit analysis, proprietary trading, and M&A.
Arlene earned a BA in Economics and International Relations from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Annabel Schaafsma is a Managing Director and Global Head of the Structured Finance Group within Ratings and Research. She is responsible for a global team that both assign primary ratings as well as the surveillance of existing ratings covering all asset types including Asset Backed Securities, Corporate and Residential Mortgage Backed Securities, Structured Credit and Covered Bonds.
Annabel has many years of experience in credit analysis, as well as managing credit professionals. Annabel first joined Moody’s in 2001 in the Structured Finance Group where she went onto leading teams assigning Primary ratings to Residential Mortgage Backed securities and the surveillance of Consumer Asset Backed Securities in EMEA. Prior to her current role she worked in Credit Strategy and Standards Group responsible for the Methodology Development Group. Prior to joining Moody’s Annabel worked for Credit Suisse in the Credit Risk Management department in various roles in London and New York. In 2006 Annabel joined Standard Chartered Bank as Head of Credit Research for the Structured Credit Investment team that invested in structured finance instruments. Before re-joining Moody’s in 2010, Annabel was head of Traded Credit Risk Management for Standard Chartered Bank in London responsible for the identification and analysis of credit risks within the firm’s trading business.
Annabel is passionate about diversity and inclusion; she is the executive sponsor of the Moody’s UK Women’s Business Resource Group. Annabel holds an undergraduate degree in Economics focused in finance and accountancy from Manchester University
Evan M. Friedman is a Senior Vice President – Head of Covenant Research in Moody’s Ratings Corporate Finance Group. Evan specializes in covenant analysis and research, with particular focus on leveraged loans and high yield bonds.
Prior to joining Moody’s in September 2013, Evan was of counsel in the banking and finance practice group at Otterbourg P.C. and was previously an associate in the banking and finance practice group at Bryan Cave LLP and Emmet, Marvin & Martin, LLP. His practice focused primarily on representing agents and lenders in asset-based lending and other commercial transactions.
Evan holds a BA summa cum laude from S.U.N.Y. Stony Brook and a JD from New York University School of Law.
Mark M. Zandi is chief economist of Moody’s, 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.
Lana Lee Deharveng is a Vice President-Senior Analyst in Moody’s Investors Service’s
US CLO and Structured Credit Primary Ratings team. Lana performs legal and credit
risk analysis on US CLOs and other structured credit products.
Prior to joining Moody’s in 2012, Lana was assistant general counsel at a residential
mortgage analytics firm. Prior to that, she practiced law at Thacher Proffit & Wood
LLP in the firm’s structured finance group and at Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP in their
corporate and securities group. Lana is a graduate of Barnard College, Columbia
University and Tulane Law School, and is a member of both the New York and New
Jersey Bars.
Christina Padgett is an Associate Managing Director in Moody’s Corporate Finance Group and leads the Leveraged Finance Research and Analytics team and Private Credit research. She spearheads in-depth, cross-team research on credit trends in the leveraged finance market and private equity. Christina also remains very focused on facilitating global private credit research. She brings an established multi-cycle expertise in credit markets to her research role, which is regularly informed by meetings with investors, regulators, alternative asset managers, bankers, media and others. In addition, as rating chair for speculative grade rating committees, she participates in key credit discussions spanning a broad range of industries within Moody’s rated universe.
Before joining Moody’s, Christina was a vice president at JPMorgan Chase in the Mergers and Acquisitions Group. Prior to her investment banking role, Christina completed the bank’s Credit Training program and worked in Europe Corporate Finance and Credit Audit. She received a Master in International Political Economy from Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs and a B.A. in History from William Smith College.
Aniket Deshpande is a Senior Credit Officer and Manager for the US Structured Credit team, which covers over 1300 US CLOs. In his current role at Moody’s, Aniket has extensively contributed to multiple thematic CLO research and newsletters, many of which have been featured by top-tier media outlets. He also speaks frequently on Moody’s behalf at industry events and serves as chair for CLO rating committees. In his previous role at Moody’s, Aniket has served as lead rating analyst for securitizations backed by multiple asset types.
Prior to joining Moody’s in 2010, Aniket held positions as an investment analyst at Dynamic Credit Partners, LLC., a fund manager investing in a wide range of CLO and structured finance securities, and as a trader for government-issued bonds at a boutique investment bank in Mumbai, India.
Aniket holds a Master of Business Administration in Finance from the Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College. He also holds master’s and bachelor’s degree from the University of Mumbai, India. Aniket is also a CFA charter holder.
Mimi Eng is a Vice President-Senior Analyst in Moody’s Structured Finance Group and is responsible for rating U.S. primary CLO transactions and structured notes. Prior to joining Moody’s, Mimi worked at New York Life Investments, where she was a product manager focused on CLOs and, before that, she worked at JP Morgan Securities in the CLO/CDO structuring team. Mimi has also previously held positions in derivatives marketing with JP Morgan Securities and with Bankers Trust Company.
Mimi holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School, an M.B.A from Harvard Business School and a B.A. in Economics and Psychology from Amherst College. She is also a CFA charterholder.