Rachael Royal McDonald is an Executive Director leading the Housing Finance, State Revolving Funds and Municipal Supported Products Teams. Prior to this role, Rachael spent 16 years as a lead analyst covering the State Housing Finance Agency, State Revolving Fund and Military Housing sectors. Prior to joining Moody’s, Rachael worked for Deloitte Consulting and The Advisory Board Company. Rachael holds an MBA and a Masters in Social Work from Columbia University and a BA from Brown University.

Lori Marks is a Senior Vice President in Moody’s Ratings’ Corporate Finance Group responsible for a portfolio of real estate investment trusts (REITs) and other real estate companies across a variety of property types. Lori has extensive commercial real estate experience and has been with Moody’s REITs team for the entire duration of her career at Moody’s, which began in 2003. Prior to Moody’s, Lori was a sell-side equity research associate covering REITs at Deutsche Bank and, prior to that, Prudential Securities. Lori received a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and holds an MBA in Finance and Accounting from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Deryk Meherik is an Executive Director in Moody’s Structured Finance Group. Deryk is the team lead overseeing the review of primary US CRE CDO/CLO transactions and also contributes to research and methodology development for CRE CDO/CLO products.

 He has authored or co-authored three global rating methodologies, including those for structured finance CDOs, SF resecuritizations, and SF interest-only securities. Prior to his current position, Deryk was a lead analyst in the primary CRE team, rating a variety of fixed and floating rate CMBS and CRE CDO transactions, as well as assisting with primary SC MM and BSL CLO deals.

 Before joining Moody’s, Deryk was a CRE acquisition and research analyst for a private New York-based real estate firm. He 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.

Omar Ouzidane is a Vice President in Moody’s Public Finance Housing & State Revolving Funds Team. He serves as a rating committee member and chair. He is also a lead analyst for a wide range of credits that span across all sectors covered by the team. These include state and local housing finance agency bond programs, state revolving funds programs, and project finance credits. Prior to moving into his current role, Omar was a member of the U.S. Public Infrastructure Team where he was responsible for the assessment and rating of a portfolio of U.S. toll road, airport, mass transit, state revolving funds and solid waste sectors. Omar holds a B.A. from Baruch College and a M.S. from Pace University.

Darrell Wheeler leads CMBS and CRE CLO research at Moody’s Ratings, with over 30 years in commercial real estate and securitization research. He has developed innovative mortgage models, managed structured finance research at top firms including Cantor Fitzgerald, S&P Global Ratings, and Citigroup, and received multiple accolades, such as repeated Institutional Investors poll rankings. Darrell is also an active contributor and editorial board member for CREFC’s E-primer.