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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rebecca is a Vice President – Senior Credit Officer in Moody’s Sustainable Finance group, where she leads thought leadership on the impact of environmental, social and governance factors on credit and capital markets. In her role, Rebecca is responsible for the coordination and execution of the Sustainable Finance group’s thematic research program and market outreach activities. She also serves as a visible subject matter expert to internal and external stakeholders and supports outreach and engagement with strategic partners.

Prior to joining the ESG team, Rebecca was a member of the Strategy and Research team at MIS, where she led cross-sector research and analytics on the credit implications of key macroeconomic and policy developments in North America. Rebecca first joined Moody’s in 2011 as an associate analyst in the Sovereign Risk Group.

She holds a dual Master’s Degree in International Affairs from Columbia University (SIPA), in New York, and Institut d’Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po), in Paris, as well as a BA in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania.

Matt Kuchtyakis Senior Vice President –Sustainable Finance for Moody’s Ratings. In this capacity, Matt heads the Sustainable Finance Assessments team in the Americas, leading a team of analysts primarily responsible for the publication of Second Party Opinions (SPOs) –which provide an opinion on the overall sustainability quality of financial instruments or financing frameworks –and Net Zero Assessments (NZAs) –which provide an independent and comparable view on the strength of an entity’s carbon emissions reduction plans compared to a global net zero pathway.

In his role, Matt is also responsible for the origination and publication of thematic research related to the global sustainable finance markets. He also leads outreach and engagement on sustainable finance issues, cultivating relationships with investors, intermediaries, issuers and other market participants. He frequently participates in high-profile outreach including investor briefings, webinars, third-party conferences and media engagements. Matt also represents
Moody’s Ratings on a variety of industry initiatives, such as the International Capital Market Association’s sustainable finance working groups.

Before his current role, Matt was an analyst on the ESG team at Moody’s Ratings, where he advanced the rating agency’s efforts to incorporate ESG considerations systematically and transparently into its credit ratings. He was a key contributor to the development of the cross-sector ESG methodology, launch of the ESG Issuer Profile Scores and Credit Impact Scores and the development of the Carbon Transition Assessments. He was also the lead analyst for the Moody’s Ratings Green Bond Assessments. Previously, Matt was a credit analyst in the US Public Finance Group, where he served as a lead analyst for a diverse portfolio of hospitals, public and private universities and other not-for-profits.

Matt holds a B.A. in Economics and Political Science summa cum laude from Rutgers University-New Brunswick and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa