Marc Pinto is the Global Head of Private Credit. In this role, he coordinates across the financial institutions, corporate, structured, and public and infrastructure finance rating groups to provide thought leadership, and ratings oversight in growth areas of the private credit market, including fund finance, private asset-backed securities, and privately placed investment-grade corporate assets. For over a decade, Marc has held a series of leadership roles of increasing scope and responsibility at Moody’s, including Global Co-Head of Insurance and Global Head of Funds & Asset Management.

Marc is deeply committed to educational and empowerment initiatives, acting as an Executive Sponsor for Moody's CFA and Global Administrative Professionals Networks, a Mentor Advisor in the Women’s Business Resource Group, and a frequent participant in career development seminars.

Marc’s extensive career in the fixed income credit markets, in New York and London, has included leadership roles at sell-side and buy-side firms including Merrill Lynch, Keefe Bruyette & Woods, and Susquehanna International. At Merrill Lynch, Marc was also a top-ranked financial institutions analyst.

Marc is a Chartered Financial Analyst and an alumnus of Columbia Business School and Trinity College (Connecticut).

John Zito is Co-President of Apollo Asset Management, co-leading all investing activity and day-to-day management of the Firm’s asset management business. John is also the Head of Credit and a member of Apollo’s Leadership Team.

Prior to joining Apollo in 2012, John served as a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at Brencourt Advisors and previously spent five years as a Portfolio Manager at Veritas Fund Group. John is a Chartered Financial Analyst charter holder and he graduated cum laude from Amherst College with an AB in economics.

Marc Pinto is the Global Head of Private Credit. In this role, he coordinates across the financial institutions, corporate, structured, and public and infrastructure finance rating groups to provide thought leadership, and ratings oversight in growth areas of the private credit market, including fund finance, private asset-backed securities, and privately placed investment-grade corporate assets. For over a decade, Marc has held a series of leadership roles of increasing scope and responsibility at Moody’s, including Global Co-Head of Insurance and Global Head of Funds & Asset Management.

Marc is deeply committed to educational and empowerment initiatives, acting as an Executive Sponsor for Moody's CFA and Global Administrative Professionals Networks, a Mentor Advisor in the Women’s Business Resource Group, and a frequent participant in career development seminars.

Marc’s extensive career in the fixed income credit markets, in New York and London, has included leadership roles at sell-side and buy-side firms including Merrill Lynch, Keefe Bruyette & Woods, and Susquehanna International. At Merrill Lynch, Marc was also a top-ranked financial institutions analyst.

Marc is a Chartered Financial Analyst and an alumnus of Columbia Business School and Trinity College (Connecticut).

Brad Colman is a Senior Managing Director, the Global Head of Healthcare investing and Global Head of Sponsor Coverage for Private Credit Strategies in Blackstone Credit and Insurance (BXCI) based in New York. Mr. Colman has been with Blackstone since 2012, focusing on originating, analyzing, executing and monitoring credit investments.

Before joining Blackstone in 2012, Mr. Colman worked as a Director in the Strategic Investments group at PartnerRe, a Senior Associate in the sponsor finance team at American Capital, and an Analyst in Merrill Lynch’s investment banking group.

Mr. Colman graduated magna cum laude from New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business with a BS in Finance, Accounting, and Operations.

Ms. Parekh is a Managing Director at HPS Investment Partners and Co-Head of North American Core Senior Lending.  Prior to joining HPS in 2020, Ms. Parekh spent over twelve years as a Partner and Managing Director at The Carlyle Group.  During her tenure at The Carlyle Group, Ms. Parekh was a founding member of the Direct Lending platform, served as Head of Origination for Illiquid Credit, and was a member of the Investment Committee for the Direct Lending business. Prior to joining The Carlyle Group in 2007, Ms. Parekh was an Investment Banking Associate at JPMorgan where she was responsible for originating, structuring and executing high yield bond and leveraged loan transactions. Ms. Parekh holds a BS in Finance and Information Systems from the Stern School of Business at New York University.

Jeb Bentley is vice president and co-chief investment officer (CIO) of Northwestern Mutual. In this role, he oversees the institutional investment teams responsible for the company's more than $316 billion1 general account portfolio, which contributes significantly to the company’s exceptional financial strength and industry-leading product value.

After joining Northwestern Mutual in 2004, Bentley held several leadership and investment roles for the company’s general account, including leading the Investment Strategy team responsible for asset allocation and leading the Public Investments team managing investment-grade and high-yield fixed income assets. In 2022, he moved to the company’s retail investments side to head the wealth management business, which today has over $330 billion in client assets. He also served as president and CEO of Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company (NMWMC).

Prior to Northwestern Mutual, Bentley held investment roles at Chicago-based private equity firm Wind Point Partners and was an investment banking analyst at Lehman Brothers in New York. He received his bachelor's degree in economics from Williams College and an M.B.A. in finance from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA®) charterholder.

In his local Milwaukee community, Bentley is a board member at Next Door Foundation, which provides early childhood education and related services to families, and a member of the Advisory Board for SecureFutures, a nonprofit leader in teen financial literacy.

Bentley lives in Whitefish Bay with his wife Maija and their four children. They enjoy traveling, ice hockey, skiing and reading.

Sarah Hibler is an Associate Managing Director in the Property and Casualty Group at Moody’s Ratings. She is responsible for managing analysts who cover a broad array of P&C insurers, reinsurers and insurance brokers. Prior to joining Moody’s in 1997, Ms. Hibler was a senior manager in the mergers & acquisitions practice of Deloitte & Touche LLP in New York City. At Deloitte & Touche, she also worked for a number of years in both the New York and London offices providing auditing and consulting services to insurance companies.

Ms. Hibler holds a degree in business administration from the University of Michigan and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Kevin J. O’Donnell is the President and Chief Executive Officer of RenaissanceRe, a leading global property and casualty reinsurer. He joined RenaissanceRe in 1996, with roles over that time including: Executive Vice President and Global Chief Underwriter, President of Renaissance Reinsurance Ltd., and Chief Underwriting Officer for the Company’s joint ventures, Top Layer Re and DaVinci Re. 

Mr. O’Donnell is actively involved with many industry and educational organizations and is the Chair of The ClimateWise Insurance Advisory Council, a member of the U.S. Department of the Treasury Federal Advisory Committee on Insurance, a member of the Sustainable Markets Initiative Insurance Task Force, Trustee of The Institutes, and a Member of the Board of Overseers for St. John’s University School of Risk Management. He previously served as Chair of the Global Reinsurance Forum, Chair of the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers, and Director of the Reinsurance Association of America. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Hamilton College and an M.B.A. from New York University’s Stern School of Business.

Marc Pinto is the Global Head of Private Credit. In this role, he coordinates across the financial institutions, corporate, structured, and public and infrastructure finance rating groups to provide thought leadership, and ratings oversight in growth areas of the private credit market, including fund finance, private asset-backed securities, and privately placed investment-grade corporate assets. For over a decade, Marc has held a series of leadership roles of increasing scope and responsibility at Moody’s, including Global Co-Head of Insurance and Global Head of Funds & Asset Management.

Marc is deeply committed to educational and empowerment initiatives, acting as an Executive Sponsor for Moody's CFA and Global Administrative Professionals Networks, a Mentor Advisor in the Women’s Business Resource Group, and a frequent participant in career development seminars.

Marc’s extensive career in the fixed income credit markets, in New York and London, has included leadership roles at sell-side and buy-side firms including Merrill Lynch, Keefe Bruyette & Woods, and Susquehanna International. At Merrill Lynch, Marc was also a top-ranked financial institutions analyst.

Marc is a Chartered Financial Analyst and an alumnus of Columbia Business School and Trinity College (Connecticut).

Caroline Feeney leads Prudential’s international and U.S. retirement and insurance businesses. These businesses provide financial advice and develop, distribute and service income and protection solutions for individuals and institutional clients.

Feeney oversees retirement and insurance businesses in 12 countries, including the U.S., Japan, and Emerging Markets in Asia and Latin America. The U.S. businesses include Group Insurance, Individual Life Insurance, Retirement Strategies, and Prudential Advisors.

Prudential is the largest life insurer in the U.S. (life and health combined) with 38,000 employees worldwide, annual revenue of $68 billion and after-tax earnings of $4.6 billion in 2024, both on an adjusted operating income basis.

Feeney has extensive leadership roles in the financial services industry. She is board chair of LL Global, the nonprofit parent company of financial services industry groups LIMRA (Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association) and LOMA (Life Office Management Association). She also is board chair of the Alliance for Lifetime Income and a member of the American Council of Life Insurers’ Executive Committee and its Policy and Regulatory Steering Committees.

As a trustee of Prudential’s Corporate Social Responsibility Oversight Committee, Feeney helps guide the company’s foundation and its investments to strengthen communities and realize Prudential’s belief that financial security should be within reach for everyone. She is also board co-chair of PruVen Capital, an independently managed venture fund backed by Prudential.

Feeney was recognized by the Geneva Association with the Women in Insurance Award in 2023 for her commitment to inclusion and her efforts to expand access to financial security. She has also been recognized by Executive Women of New Jersey as Prudential’s Policy Maker and was a recipient of the Women of Excellence P&L Award from the National Association of Female Executives. In 2018, she became the first woman to receive the Round Table of New York’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

During her career with Prudential, Feeney has held several field leadership positions and home office executive roles. This included serving as president of Prudential Advisors, which is Prudential’s national sales organization comprising more than 3,000 financial professionals, advisors and fee-based financial planners.

Feeney earned her MBA from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree from Bucknell University. She holds the Chartered Life Underwriter® and Chartered Financial Consultant® designations.

Mark 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 cofounded Economy.com, which Moody’s purchased in 2005.

Dr. Zandi is on the board of directors of MGIC, the nation’s largest private mortgage insurance company, is the lead director of PolicyMap, a data visualization and analytics company used by policymakers and commercial businesses, and is a director of the Coleridge Initiative, a nonprofit that facilitates the exchange of data across governments. 

He is a trusted adviser to policymakers and an influential source of economic analysis for businesses, journalists and the public. Dr. Zandi frequently testifies before Congress and conducts regular briefings on the economy for corporate boards, trade associations and policymakers at all levels. 

Dr. Zandi is the author of Paying the Price: Ending the Great Recession and Beginning a New American Century, which assesses 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 is host of the Inside Economics podcast. 

Dr. Zandi earned his BS from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and his PhD at the University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Robinson is an Associate Managing Director in the Life Insurance Group at Moody’s Ratings. He is responsible for managing analysts who cover a broad array of life and health insurance companies. Prior to joining Moody’s in 1999, Mr. Robinson worked in the Investment Policy and Strategy Group of the Trust Company of the West. Previously he had been with AXA Financial. Mr. Robinson holds a degree in economics from Duke University and a Masters Degree in Actuarial Science from Georgia State University. He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a CFA charterholder.

Allan Levine is Co-Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Global Atlantic.

Global Atlantic is a U.S. insurance company focused on meeting the retirement and life insurance needs of individuals and institutions. As of June 30, 2024, Global Atlantic has more than $180 billion of assets under management, more than 1,660 employees, and serves millions of American policyholders.

Over nearly two decades, his vision and strategic direction have influenced all phases of Global Atlantic’s progress since its founding as the Goldman Sachs Reinsurance Group (2004), separation from Goldman Sachs as an independent company (2013), and sale as a wholly-owned subsidiary of KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR). His leadership has been instrumental in shaping Global Atlantic’s culture and core values, focusing on integrity, teamwork, and the importance of building long-term client relationships.

Prior to Global Atlantic, Allan was Co-Head of Firmwide Strategy at Goldman Sachs, where he became a Partner in 2006. Allan serves on the Board of the American Council of Life Insurers, Essent Group Ltd (NYSE: ESNT), and the Partnership for New York City. He is also a member of the Geneva Association, an international think tank of insurance and reinsurance CEOs. Allan co-founded the Global Atlantic Foundation, a donor-advised fund, to provide opportunities to small businesses tackling ongoing dynamic community needs. He is also a member of several organizations focused on educational opportunities, including the Advisory Board for the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise at Columbia Business School and the Board of the Nantucket Boys & Girls Club. Allan was previously a Trustee of the Hun School of Princeton. Allan earned a B.S. from Miami University and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.

Daniel Pietrzak (New York) joined KKR in 2016 and is a Partner and serves as the Global Head of Private Credit and a portfolio manager for KKR’s private credit funds and portfolios. Mr. Pietrzak is Chief Investment Officer of the KKR / FS Investments joint venture and Co-President and Chief Investment Officer for FS KKR Capital Corp. (FSK), which trades on the NYSE. He also serves of the board of directors of FSK and several KKR Credit portfolio companies, including Oodle Car Finance, Pepper and Toorak Capital Partners. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Pietrzak was a managing director and the co-head of Deutsche Bank’s structured finance business across the Americas and Europe. Previously, Mr. Pietrzak held various roles in the credit businesses of Societe Generale and CIBC World Markets. Mr. Pietrzak started his career at Price Waterhouse in New York. Mr. Pietrzak holds an M.B.A. in Finance from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in Accounting from Lehigh University. Mr. Pietrzak serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council for the Lehigh University College of Business, is a member of the Advisory Board of the Scholars of Finance and serves on the Board of Directors of First Tee – Metropolitan New York.

Jay Hu leads the structured finance teams responsible for new ratings, surveillance and research on CLOs, Corporate and Novel ABS, structured credit, and ABCP in the Americas. Additionally, he is a key member of the Private Credit Group, overseeing all structured deals related to private assets. Jay is a member of Moody’s Decentralized Finance and Digital Assets leadership team and also chairs Moody’s global structured finance surveillance council. At Moody’s for over two decades, Jay has held a series of leadership roles of increasing scope and responsibility.

Prior to joining Moody’s, Jay was a senior economist at FannieMae, where he researched mortgage portfolio risk. He also authored academic research on the relationship between job markets and capital markets which appeared in the Journal of Finance.

Jay holds a Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, and a bachelor’s degree from Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management.

Karen Ramallo heads the U.S. Corporate ABS team in the Structured Finance Group at Moody’s Investors Service. The U.S. Corporate ABS team assigns new ratings to commercial and esoteric ABS transactions, covering over twenty sectors including

equipment, wireless towers, fleet leasing, rental car, stranded utilities, tax liens, and aircraft lease, among others.

Previously, Karen acted as a Rating Committee Chair and senior lead analyst for the U.S. Commercial Real Estate Finance group, where she covered conduit and large loan transactions. She also previously held lead analyst positions within the Latin America

ABS and the U.S. RMBS New Ratings teams.

Prior to joining Moody’s in 2005, Karen worked at NorthFork Bank Corp. (acquired by Capital One Financial) as a credit risk officer, where she prepared risk analytics for senior management and determined the quarterly Allowance for Loan Loss Reserves

for the bank’s owned residential mortgage and small commercial loan portfolios.

Karen holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. She is natively fluent in English and Spanish and conversant in French and Portuguese

• Marc has been working at Moody’s since 2024 with a focus on Fund Finance and Private Credit solutions;
• Prior to Moody’s, Marc spent 12 years in various positions mostly focused on Fund Finance;
• Marc holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Rutgers University.

Bruce Ballentine is a Vice President – Senior Credit Officer in the insurance rating group at Moody’s Ratings. He is the lead analyst for several major property & casualty insurers as well as insurance brokers and service companies. He also writes and speaks on various insurance industry themes. Bruce has worked at Moody’s since 2005 and in 1991-1995, and has done insurance related work at ABN AMRO Bank and The Bank of New York. Bruce holds a BA in geology from Harvard College and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Evelyn Ocas Salazar is an Assistant Vice President in the Insurance team, with lead responsibilities for P&C and Brokers across the United States. Evelyn started her career at Moody’s as an Associate in the Banking team in 2017 and transitioned to an Associate Analyst role in the UK Insurance team in 2018.

In 2019, Evelyn moved to the US as an Associate Analyst where she supported the Life insurance team, contributing to numerous research pieces. In 2022, Evelyn became the manager for the junior associate analysts in the US insurance, and funds & asset management team, and was later promoted to Lead Analyst in August.

Evelyn is a member of Moody’s NYC Pride BRG steering committee and actively participates in recruiting and mentoring events. She has a master’s degree in finance from University Carlos III of Madrid and is a CFA charterholder.

James has lead coverage responsibility for a portfolio of U.S. and Bermuda-based insurance and reinsurance companies.

Prior to joining Moody’s in 2001, James was an Associate Director at Aon Capital Markets where he was involved in the structuring and placement of catastrophe bonds, alternative risk transfer programs and contingent event capital for corporate and insurance company clients. Before to joining Aon Capital Markets, James was as an independent floor trader at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and a corporate legal assistant in the Asset Securitization Group at the law firm of Hunton & Williams.

James received an A.B. in History magna cum laude from Bowdoin College and an M.B.A. in Finance and Accounting from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Jasper is a Vice President of property/casualty insurers in the Financial Institutions Group. In addition to following a portfolio of P&C insurers, Jasper has published research on the impacts of inflation, reserves, autonomous vehicles and catastrophes on the insurance industry. Jasper has a B.A. from Columbia University, where he majored in Mathematics-Statistics and an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business. He is also an Associate in the Casualty Actuarial Society and a CFA charterholder.

Joseph Engelhard is the Head of Private Credit and Asset Management Policy, Americas for AIMA, a trade association representing the global alternative investment industry. Prior to that, he was a Senior Vice President at MetLife, where he led their Global Regulatory Policy Group, and at Capital Alpha Partners, where he advised investors on macro and financial regulatory policy developments. Mr. Engelhard is a veteran of financial regulatory policy issues, having held a wide variety of senior-level positions in the U.S. government, including General Counsel of the Joint Economic Committee, Senior Counsel at the House Financial Services Committee, and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Trade and Investment Policy at the U.S. Treasury. Mr. Engelhard is a graduate of St. Louis University and Fordham Law School and an adjunct fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Natasha Kaden is a Senior Vice President in Moody’s Corporation’s Government, Public and Regulatory Affairs Group where she is responsible for Moody’s U.S. regulatory policy engagements and initiatives, including in the areas of private credit and insurance. Prior to joining Moody’s, Natasha was a Senior Special Counsel in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Office of International Affairs (OIA), where she facilitated international cooperation on a variety of cross-border supervisory issues. Natasha joined OIA from the SEC’s Office of Credit Ratings where she served as a Branch Chief overseeing examinations of SEC-registered credit rating agencies. Previously, Natasha worked in the capital markets and corporate finance group of Hogan Lovells, where she represented companies in initial public offerings, follow on equity and debt offerings, mergers and acquisitions, and joint ventures.

Amnon Levy founded Bridgeway Analytics to support the investment and regulatory community in navigating capital markets. With a passion for best-in-class analytics, in his prior role at Moody’s, Amnon Levy led the development of award-winning quantitative solutions actively used by the investment, lending, risk, ALM, treasury, and financial reporting functions at 200+ banks, insurance companies, pension funds, and asset managers. Amnon has led numerous initiatives that improve industry best practices and regulations, including 2021 redesigned NAIC regulatory guidelines for life insurance ~$3 trillion credit holdings. This was an important milestone, with consensus formed across the NAIC, ACLI, the insurance industry, and regulators, and a testament to his collaborative style.

Ms. Remeza is the head of Insurance Strategies Americas and a member of the Insurance Investment Solutions team at PineBridge Investments. She is responsible for creating regulatory and rating agency friendly solutions and structuring investment vehicles for a broad range of insurance clients. She also publishes thought leadership research. She has extensive experience across insurance industry, asset management, rating agency, and investment banking. Prior to joining PineBridge, she worked at AIG, Moody’s, CSFB, and Fosun Group. Ms. Remeza holds a PhD from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Stephen Smith, CFA,FSA, Managing Director, joined Neuberger Berman in 2016. Steve is the Global Head of Insurance Analytics, responsible for strategic and quantitative analysis for insurance clients, especially strategic asset allocation, capital management, and asset-liability management. Steve also chairs the American Academy of Actuaries C-1 Subcommittee, which provides public policy analysis, covering insurance capital charges for life insurers' investments. Previously, Steve held positions in Insurance Strategy at Goldman Sachs and in Asset- Liability Management, Annuity Modeling, and Corporate Tax at MassMutual. Steve earned his BS in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of South Carolina.

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.

Ryan Wobbrock is a Vice President - Senior Credit Officer in the Global Infrastructure Finance Group at Moody’s Investors Service. His responsibilities include conducting industry research and supporting the credit analysis of various U.S. electric utility companies. Prior to joining the Utilities Group as a Senior Associate in December 2004, Ryan worked at Moody’s in the Public Finance Group and spent time in Investment Accounting at Ambac Financial Group. Ryan graduated as an Honors Program Participant and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in finance and a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Colorado State University.

Raj Joshi is a Senior Vice President on the Corporate Finance Team. He is the lead analyst responsible for a portfolio of enterprise software, hardware and technology-enabled services companies. Raj has covered a portfolio of technology and business services companies since 2010. From 2005 to 2010, he was part of the Telecommunications and Media team. Before joining Moody’s in 2005, Raj was an International Banker at Union Bank of California (now part of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group).

Raj has an MBA from Syracuse University and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Mumbai. Raj is a CFA charterholder and a member of the CFA Institute and the New York Society of Security Analysts, Inc.

Tracy Rice is a VP – Senior Credit Officer, US Corporate ABS New Ratings in Moody's Ratings. Tracy joined Moody’s in 2005, and is currently part of a team that assigns new ratings to securities backed by esoteric assets. She is a committee chairperson and covers a variety of asset classes including solar, PACE, aircraft, container, whole business, utility cost recovery and more. She has written numerous reports covering these sectors. Tracy continues to be actively involved in methodology development and many analytical projects. Previously, Tracy covered various other ABS sectors, including student loans and equipment leases and loans. She also authored Moody’s approaches to rating private (non-guaranteed) student loan securitizations. Prior to Moody’s, Tracy occupied positions at Citigroup and J.P. Morgan Chase in risk and decision management. Tracy holds a M.S. in Statistics and a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook

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.

Christina Padgett leads the Leveraged Finance Research and Analytics Team and Private Credit Research. Her remit includes facilitating in-depth, cross-disciplinary research on credit trends in the US leveraged finance, US private equity and global private markets. Ms. Padgett brings multi-cycle expertise in the credit markets to her role, which is informed by frequent meetings with issuers, investors, regulators, alternative asset managers, and bankers. She presents often at industry conferences and is regularly quoted in the financial media.

Before joining Moody’s, Ms. Padgett was an M&A investment banker at JPMorgan Chase. At the bank, she also worked in Europe Corporate Finance and Credit Audit following the completion of the bank’s credit training program.

Ms. Padgett received a M.A. in International Political Economy from Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs, and a B.A. in History from William Smith College.

Rory is currently responsible for Moody’s Funds & Asset Management ratings practice in the Americas. This includes ratings on over 60 asset managers and 400 investment funds across 5 countries. He joined Moody’s Global Managed Investments Group in1998, working on analysis of investment funds. Rory regularly speaks at industry conferences on trends and developments in the asset management sector. He holds a BA in Government from Georgetown University

Joseph Pucella is an Associate Managing Director based in New York who oversees the North American team covering specialty finance companies. From 2007 to 2022, Joseph was a lead analyst for various US financial institutions, including regional and community banks, credit unions, Federal Home Loan Banks, commercial real estate lenders and business development companies. He joined Moody’s in 2004 as an accounting specialist. Prior to joining Moody’s, Joseph held positions at Credit Suisse, Deloitte, and Arthur Andersen. Joseph is a Certified Public Accountant and graduated cum laude from Villanova University with a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy.

Bob is a Vice President- Senior Credit Officer on the Financial Institutions Group of Moody's Ratings. He is responsible for a portfolio of U.S. ratings within the Life Insurance Group.

Prior to joining Moody's in 2016, Bob worked for over ten years at Swiss Re where he held various roles including Senior Vice President and Head of Business Development for Swiss Re Life & Health North America. In addition, he served as a Vice President, Head of Origination in Admin Re US covering the US and Canadian markets.

Bob also worked for AM Best as a Managing Senior Financial Analyst, where he rated emerging and complex financial institutions and provided credit analysis coverage on life insurance-based financial services organizations and retirement savings companies. In addition, Bob worked at Mutual of New York in various roles including Corporate Actuarial and Reinsurance

Bob has an MBA Corporate Finance from Fairleigh Dickinson University and a BA in Economics from the University of South Florida. Bob also has the Fellow of Life Management Institute (FLMI) designation from LOMA.

Manoj Jethani is a Vice President – Senior Credit Officer in the US life insurance team within the Financial Institutions Group at Moody’s Ratings where he is a lead analyst and has responsibility for a portfolio of North American life insurers. 

Prior to joining Moody’s in 2006, he worked as an actuary at a private actuarial consulting firm in Stamford, CT and as a credit analyst at Mashreq Bank in Dubai, UAE. 

Manoj holds a Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems and Finance from the University of Connecticut and holds a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) with a specialization in Banking, Strategy and Finance from New York University’s Stern School of Business.

Evelyn Ocas Salazar is an Assistant Vice President in the Insurance team, with lead responsibilities for P&C and Brokers across the United States. Evelyn started her career at Moody’s as an Associate in the Banking team in 2017 and transitioned to an Associate Analyst role in the UK Insurance team in 2018.

In 2019, Evelyn moved to the US as an Associate Analyst where she supported the Life insurance team, contributing to numerous research pieces. In 2022, Evelyn became the manager for the junior associate analysts in the US insurance, and funds & asset management team, and was later promoted to Lead Analyst in August.

Evelyn is a member of Moody’s NYC Pride BRG steering committee and actively participates in recruiting and mentoring events. She has a master’s degree in finance from University Carlos III of Madrid and is a CFA charterholder.