ROBERT D. KAPLAN is the bestselling author of twenty books on foreign affairs and travel translated into many languages, including Adriatic, The Good American, The Revenge of Geography, Asia’s Cauldron, Monsoon, The Coming Anarchy, and Balkan Ghosts. He holds the Robert Strausz-Hupé Chair in Geopolitics at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. For three decades he reported on foreign affairs for The Atlantic. He was a member of the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board and the U. S. Navy's Executive Panel. Foreign Policy magazine twice named him one of the world’s “Top 100 Global Thinkers.”

Sean Marion heads up Moody’s EMEA Structured Finance Group, based in London. He is responsible for overseeing both primary issuance and surveillance functions for Consumer Assets, Corporate Assets and Covered Bonds, with teams based in London, Frankfurt, Paris, Madrid and Milan.

Prior to joining the Structured Finance Group he was a London-based Managing Director in the Financial Institutions Group, responsible for ratings coverage in the Nordics, Baltics, South-Eastern Europe and emerging markets in the Middle East and Africa.

Before relocating to London in 2011, Mr. Marion held various positions of progressive responsibility in Moody’s, including working in the firm’s offices in Mexico City and Toronto. Before joining Moody’s, Mr. Marion worked for The Economist Intelligence Unit, conducting research on macroeconomic and country risk. Mr. Marion holds graduate degrees in economics from the Université Paris I (Sorbonne) and the London School of Economics. He also holds an undergraduate degree from Bishop’s University, Canada. Mr. Marion is fluent in French and Spanish.

Kay is co-head of the Emerging Markets Debt team within Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s (GSAM) Global Fixed Income team. Prior to joining the firm, Kay was an emerging markets portfolio manager at StoneMilliner Asset Management. Before that, he was global head of Emerging Markets in London at Morgan Stanley. Kay spent 17 years at Deutsche Bank focused on emerging markets, before founding Avantium Investment Management, an emerging markets dedicated hedge fund based in London and New York. Kay earned a MPhil in Economics from Oxford University and a BSc in Economics and Politics from the University of Bristol.

Omotunde Lawal is the Head of Emerging Markets Corporate Debt and the lead portfolio manager for the Emerging Markets Corporate Debt and Emerging Markets Short Duration strategies. She chairs the Emerging Markets Corporate Investment Committee, and is also a member of the Global High Yield Allocation Committee and Global Investment Grade Allocation Committee. Prior to her current role, Tunde was the Head of Barings EM Corporate Credit Research, with research coverage responsibilities for various sectors such as Real Estate, LATAM Energy, and LATAM Infrastructure. Tunde has worked in the industry since 2000. Prior to joining the firm in 2014, she was a portfolio manager at Cosford Capital Management, focusing on high yield and distressed LATAM and CEEMEA corporates. Prior to this, she was at Standard Bank, where she traded and invested in distressed and stressed emerging markets corporates in LATAM and CEEMEA for the Principal Trading Team. Earlier, Tunde worked at Barclays Capital and Deloitte & Touche/Arthur Andersen. Tunde holds a B.Sc. in Accounting & Finance from University of Warwick, is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Accountants in England and Wales, and is a member of the CFA Institute.

ROBERT D. KAPLAN is the bestselling author of twenty books on foreign affairs and travel translated into many languages, including Adriatic, The Good American, The Revenge of Geography, Asia’s Cauldron, Monsoon, The Coming Anarchy, and Balkan Ghosts. He holds the Robert Strausz-Hupé Chair in Geopolitics at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. For three decades he reported on foreign affairs for The Atlantic. He was a member of the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board and the U. S. Navy's Executive Panel. Foreign Policy magazine twice named him one of the world’s “Top 100 Global Thinkers.”

Marie Diron heads the Sovereign Risk Group for Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, and Sub-Sovereign Risk Group for Asia Pacific and EMEA. She is responsible for analytical teams covering more than 70 sovereign ratings, 15 Multilateral Development Banks and around 400 sub-sovereign ratings in about 30 countries. Marie is also a project owner of Moody’s Investors Service’s ESG scores, which were launched in early 2021.

Marie has worked as Moody’s lead sovereign analyst for a number of Asia Pacific credits, including China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Sri Lanka and Australia. Marie has also worked in Moody’s Credit Policy, leading a number of macroeconomic analyses, including our regular Global Macro Outlook and other credit research work. Marie was previously Director at Oxford Economics, leading the company’s forecasting and scenario analysis service to financial sector and corporate clients, after a number of years at the European Central Bank and Brevan Howard LLP. Marie received a MPhil in Economics from the University of Cambridge and graduated from the Ecole Centrale Paris. 

Rahul Ghosh is Managing Director and Global Head of Sustainable Finance & Emerging Markets at Moody's Ratings. In this role, Rahul is responsible for Moody's Ratings' strategy to systematically integrate material sustainability and climate considerations into credit ratings. He also leads analytical teams that produce assessments on the credentials of sustainable debt (Second Party Opinions) and the strength of companies' carbon transition plans (Net Zero Assessments), as well as the credit rating agency’s thought leadership and market engagement on global emerging market credit.

Rahul regularly takes part in high-profile industry working groups, market briefings, external conferences and media engagements. He represents Moody's as a member of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures and the Transition Finance Council. He also represents Moody's on the Principles for Responsible Investment's advisory committee on credit ratings and the International Capital Market Association's Green and Social Bond Principles advisory council. He has presented on the impact of climate change on global credit markets at the 2025 and 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conferences in Belém (COP30) and Glasgow (COP26), and on sustainable finance trends at the International Finance Corporation's Global Debt Mobilization Conference.

Before his current position, Rahul previously worked in Moody's Credit Strategy & Research team where he was responsible for regional credit oversight and though leadership. Prior to joining Moody's in 2013, Rahul was the Head of Asia at BMI Research (Fitch Solutions) in Singapore, leading a team of macroeconomists and industry specialists in analysing sovereign risk, sector performance and capital markets.

Rahul is the executive sponsor of Moody's UK Multicultural Business Resource Group. He holds a master's degree in economics from the University of Edinburgh and a Certificate in ESG Investing from the CFA Society of the UK.

Anne Van Praagh serves as Global Head of the Corporate Finance Group (CFG) for Moody's Ratings, overseeing credit ratings, research, and market engagement on corporates across the globe. She transitioned to this role from Global Head of Public, Project & Infrastructure Finance (PPIF). 

Anne brings extensive leadership experience in Ratings & Research, including roles as Global Head of Sovereign Ratings (2021–2022) and Head of MIS Research (2019–2022), where she drove content and engagement strategy for 20,000 annual research publications. In 2016, she launched the Credit Strategy & Standards Group (CSS), setting Moody’s macroeconomic “house views” and coordinating the firm’s credit response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

She has led global teams with a focus on analytical rigor and digital transformation through AI and advanced analytics. As Global Head of PPIF, Anne directed major rating actions on high-profile sovereigns and related ratings, ensuring robust analytics and operational excellence. 

Anne also serves on the MIS Inc. Board of Directors. Previously, she spent three years as Vice President in Morgan Stanley’s public finance investment banking team, advising on $25 billion in financings. 

Anne holds a Master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a Bachelor’s degree from George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. She is married with two daughters

David Staples is a Senior Advisor for Moody's Corporation focusing on identifying and developing opportunities across Moody's Ratings and Analytics for deepening Moody's engagement in the KSA and broader GCC markets.  He was integrally involved over the past year in establishing Moody's Corporation's Regional Headquarters and broader strategy in KSA.  David spent over 20 years as a Managing Director in Moody's Ratings with responsibility for Corporates and over 15 years covering Emerging Markets from Russia through Turkey, the GCC and Africa, having been based out of the Dubai office since 2011. 

 David has a Masters degree from The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. (1984) and a Bachelors degree from the University of Cincinnati (1982).

Laura Acres is Managing Director for the Corporate Finance Group for Asia Pacific. Based in Singapore, she has overall responsibility for Moody’s corporate ratings and research for the region, managing teams of analysts in Sydney, Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Tokyo.

Laura joined the company in 2006 taking a number of Lead Analyst roles for a variety of corporates around the region. She also created Moody’s aggregated high-yield research and outreach initiatives for the Asia Pacific region as well as Moody’s global Emerging Markets data-led research suite. She was appointed Managing Director in 2015 and led the Singapore based South & South-East Asia corporate rating teams and was then appointed to her current role in 2020.

Before joining Moody’s, Laura worked for Schroders PLC in London and Singapore, and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in Singapore, where she specialized in corporate restructuring and recovery throughout Southeast Asia.

Laura holds a BSc (Econ) from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Marianna Waltz is a Managing Director at Moody’s Ratings and has joined the company in 2011.

In her current role, Marianna leads the EMEA Project Infrastructure Finance ratings and research franchise, with responsibility for performance, execution and strategic direction across the region.

Previously, Marianna had run Moody’s ratings teams in Latin America, including the Corporate Finance, Infrastructure, and Financial Institutions groups across more than 15 countries.

She’s a member WeConnect International Advisory Board, a global non-profit organization that supports women-owned business around the world.

Marianna is a former Board Member of Moody’s Local, Moody’s affiliate for domestic capital markets in LatAm.

Prior to joining Moody’s, she developed a career as an equity sell side analyst and, from 2008 to 2011, she was the head of sell-side equity research at Banco do Brasil.

Marianna is a CFA charter holder and holds three Master’s degrees, including an MBA in Finance from IBMEC Business School; an MBA in Marketing from FundaçãoGetúlio Vargas –FGV; and a Master in Semiology from UFRJ.

Mauro has been with Moody’s Sovereign Risk Group since 1996. He is currently Associate Managing Director for the Americas responsible for sovereign ratings in Latin America, the Caribbean, US and Canada. Mauro is also responsible for ratings of multilateral banks in the region. Prior to joining Moody’s, he was Managing Director for Latin America at Wharton Econometrics (WEFA) in Philadelphia. Mauro completed graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin in the areas of International Finance and Econometrics. He did his undergraduate studies -- major in Economics -- at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (I.T.E.S.M.) in Mexico.

Terry has over 30 years of experience in credit ratings and bank credit risk management. As a Managing Director, he leads Moody’s Public, Project & Infrastructure Finance in Asia Pacific. He assumed his position in February 2015.

In this role, Terry oversees ratings teams in Hong Kong, China, Singapore. Australia and Japan which are responsible for Moody’s extensive coverage across the public and infrastructure sectors, including transport infrastructure, regulated utilities, power and social infrastructure.

Prior to this role, Terry spent seven years as an Associate Managing Director and Head of Corporate, Project and Infrastructure Finance ratings for Australiasia, based in Sydney. During that period, Moody’s ratings coverage for this region grew substantially to more than 100 rated issuers.

Ariane leads a team of New York-based analysts covering a portfolio of sovereign and Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) credits across the Americas. She is tasked with delivering on timely and accurate ratings, impactful content, and high-quality stakeholder engagement, as well as Moody’s digital strategy and incremental growth areas.

Before leading the Americas’ Sovereign Risk Group team, Ariane was part of the Credit Strategy and Guidance team, where she led cross-sector analytic initiatives, research and outreach covering Latin America. She chaired the Latin America Credit Council and ensured global analytical consistency, fostering collaboration across analytical teams.

From 2021 to 2023, Ariane was part of the Global Emerging Markets team, responsible for generating house views and research, and hosted Moody’s Emerging Markets Decoded podcast.

Prior to that, Ariane spent a decade as a sovereign analyst, managing a portfolio of sovereigns and multilateral development banks in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Mexico, Chile and the International Finance Corporation, leading the internal rating committee discussions for her portfolio of credits, country and region-specific publications, and meetings with government officials.

Before joining Moody’s in 2011, Ariane was a research analyst at the Initiative for Policy Dialogue at Columbia University, prior to which she was a corporate credit analyst in Citi-Banamex in Mexico.

Ariane graduated with Honors in Economics from the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) and has a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University.

William Coley manages the Rating & Process Oversight team for global corporate finance and infrastructure, a portfolio of more than 7,000 issuers with approximately $18 trillion of debt, covered by a team of 300 analysts and 50managers. In 2013 he was appointed Group Credit Officer for the EMEA CorporateFinance portfolio covering the full range of industry sectors and methodologies. From 2009-2013 he was Group Credit Officer for Global Infrastructure covering project finance, infrastructure and utility ratings globally. He has been a member of Moodys Fundamental Credit Committee, Public Sector Credit Committee, Infrastructure Finance Franchise Committee and Public Finance FranchiseCommittee, and also chairs the National Scale Ratings Committee. Prior to joining Credit Strategy & Standards, he was a senior analyst within the EMEA project finance team based in London where he was lead analyst for more than 30 issuers across a range of sectors including transport, defence, power, oil &gas, health and education. He has helped develop many rating methodologies including co-authoring those for Construction Risk and Operating Risk in PFI/ PPP/P3 projects, and the methodology updates for Government Related Issuers in2010, 2014 and 2017. Prior to joining Moody’s William was a Director in HSBC’s project finance teamwhere he spent over 10 years advising and arranging on project finance, PFI and PPP projects. He specialised in large and complex transactions across a wide range of sectors including road and rail transport, infrastructure, power, defence and education.William qualified as a chartered accountant with PwC in 1994 where he worked in their international privatizations, project finance and computer assurance teams.He holds an MA in Classics from Cambridge University.

Brett Diment is the Head of Global Emerging Markets Debt. Brett joined abrdn via the acquisition of Deutsche Asset Management's London and Philadelphia fixed income businesses in 2005, where he held the same role since 1999. Brett joined Deutsche Asset Management in 1991 as a graduate and began researching emerging markets in 1995. Brett graduated with a BSc from the London School of Economics.

Gustavo Medeiros, Deputy Head of Research at Ashmore Group, is responsible for researching macroeconomic and political developments across Emerging Markets. Before joining Ashmore, Gustavo worked for ten years at HSBC in São Paulo and London, where he focused on Latin American local rates and currencies. After joining Ashmore in 2011, Gustavo worked for six years as a portfolio manager on the local currency team covering Latin America before joining the external debt team as portfolio manager responsible for Eastern European and African markets. Gustavo was appointed to his current role in October 2019. He holds a degree in Business Administration from Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado in São Paulo and is a CFA charterholder.

Colin Ellis is Moody’s first Global Credit Strategist, and a Managing Director in the Credit Strategy team. 

In his current role, Colin provides thought leadership for the rating agency that deepens the understanding of ratings and debt capital markets through rigorous and quantitative research. He leads Moody’s teams working on default and ratings analytics and on global financial analysis, including bank projections and stress testing. Colin is also a member of Moody’s Macroeconomic Board, which sets the global forecasts that underpin Moody’s universe of ratings.

Colin joined Moody’s in February 2012, initially leading the work of the Macroeconomic Board and authoring the quarterly Global Macro Outlook. He subsequently worked in the Financial Institutions Group, developing quantitative forward-looking analyses. For 8 years he was the Chief Credit Officer for EMEA, leading analysis and coordination of credit and ratings across all rating franchises in the region. He was also the ‘Head of UK’ for Moody's Ratings, responsible for the running of Moody’s UK operations, from 2019-2022 including the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Prior to joining Moody’s, Colin held roles at the Bank of England, Daiwa Capital Markets, the BVCA and at Birmingham University. He has published papers on a range of topics including corporate investment and pricing, credit risk, private equity, data uncertainty, stress testing, financial contagion and monetary policy. Colin holds degrees from York University, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Middlesex University. He is a Visiting Professor at Hult International Business School and LSBU, and is also a Fellow of the RSA.

Ms. Rahman is an executive vice president and portfolio manager in the New York office. She is PIMCO's head of sovereign credit on the emerging markets (EM) portfolio management team and responsible for ESG (environmental, social, and governance) integration across PIMCO's investment strategies. Prior to joining PIMCO in 2008, she spent five years at the International Monetary Fund as an emerging markets macroeconomist. Before joining the IMF, she worked for the World Bank, the Centre for Economic Performance, and STICERD (the Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines). She has 24 years of investment experience and holds a Ph.D. in economics from the London School of Economics.

Martin Petch is a Vice President with Moody’s Sovereign Risk Group. Based in Singapore, he covers a portfolio of sovereign credits in the Asia Pacific region – including Japan, Indonesia and Mongolia - as well as credits in Oceania and the South Pacific. 

Martin joined Moody’s in 2017, after working as the Chief Economist and Manager of Economic Analysis and Research with BHP Billiton covering its key commodity markets, China, Japan and India, economies in the South East Asian region, and the major advanced economies. Martin also held various positions with the Australian Commonwealth Treasury, the Commonwealth Bank and the Australian Industry Group. Martin was a graduate in Economics from the University of Western Australia.

Chen Huang is an Executive Director - Ratings within Moody’s Financial Institutions Group. Based in Hong Kong, she manages teams of analysts covering the ratings and research of Asia ex-Japan insurers, Chinese and Mongolian banks. Chen joined Moody's in December 2020 as a Senior Vice President from Autonomous Research/Sanford C. Bernstein, where she primarily covered Chinese banks as a partner before moving to her most recent position as a consultant in China macrofinancial research. Previously, she worked at CLSA (now CITIC CLSA) as a senior analyst covering Chinese banks and non-bank financial institutions. Earlier in her career, she worked as a senior auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers and had a brief stint at Caijing Magazine (now Caixin).Chen received her Master of Public Administration from Syracuse University in the U.S and Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of International Business and Economics in China. 

Jerome Cheng has worked at Moody’s for more than 20 years. Based in Hong Kong, Jerome is an Associate Managing Director in the Structured Finance Group.

Jerome is responsible for covered bonds and structured finance transactions in Asia(ex-Japan). His analysis of structured finance deals includes CDOs, CMBS, RMBS, consumer loans and equipment leases. He has worked on a number of first-time landmark securitization transactions across Asia. 

Jerome holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from The University of Hong Kong, and Bachelor of Law degree from Manchester Metropolitan University.

Alexander Perjéssy is Senior Vice President at the Moody’s Sovereign Risk Group.

Based in Dubai, he has lead analyst responsibilities for a number of sovereigns in the Middle East, including most of the Gulf Cooperation Council member states and several regional multilateral institutions.

Prior to joining Moody’s in November 2017, Alex worked for two years as economist at the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Before relocating to the Middle East, Alex spent more than 12 years covering macroeconomic developments and sovereign risk assessment in the emerging markets of the EMEA region for AllianceBernstein and The Rohatyn Group, both US-based asset management firms in New York, as well as for Goldman Sachs in London.

Alex holds an MA in Economics from the University of Maryland and a BA in Economics from Middlebury College.

Rehan Akbar is an Executive Director in Moody’s EMEA Corporate Finance Group, based in Dubai. He currently manages the corporate team responsible for rating coverage of companies in the Middle East, Africa, Turkiye, and the CIS region. Prior to joining Moody’s in 2011, Rehan worked as a credit analyst at Mashreq Capital, focusing on emerging market corporates. He began his career as a software engineer and technology consultant.

Rehan holds a Master’s degree in Management Sciences and Engineering from Stanford University and a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Lahore University of Management Sciences. He is also a CFA charterholder.

Raffaella Altamura is a Vice President - Senior Credit Officer in the EMEAInfrastructure Finance team, based in London. She is currently responsible for a portfolio of transport infrastructure operators in Europe, including toll roads, airports and ports, as well as a number of project finance issuers, mostly active in the healthcare and education sectors. Raffaella is one of the most experienced analysts within the infrastructure team, with a wealth of experience across a range of sectors, jurisdictions and financing arrangements. Raffaella has authored a series of publications focused on transport infrastructure trends and operators and has been a speaker at various Moody’sconferences. Moody’s has a leading global Infrastructure Finance franchise, rating some US$2trillion of corporate and project finance securities, representing more than 90% of allpublic bonds issued globally in the sector. 180 analytical sector staff cover more than1,700 infrastructure issuers globally. Moody’s EMEA team of 46 specialists is responsible for rating around 430 issuers. The rating agency covers more than 39,000issuers and transactions. Prior to joining Moody’s, Raffaella worked in the internal credit department ofMediobanca in Milan. She holds a degree in law and business administration from Bocconi University in Milan.

Vikash Halan is a Managing Director and team leader for Moody’s Corporate Finance Group, based in Singapore. In this role, he manages a team of rating analysts covering non-financial corporates in Asia Pacific excluding greater China.

Vikash joined Moody’s in 2011 and, prior to becoming a team leader, spent almost a decade as a lead analyst covering a range of sectors, including oil and gas, chemicals, shipping, conglomerates, real estate and investment holding companies.

 Before joining Moody’s, Vikash worked for J.P. Morgan in Hong Kong as a capital markets and ratings advisor for clients in the Asia-Pacific region. He started his career as a chartered accountant with the Indian firm, BDO Lodha.

Vikash holds post graduate diploma in Business management form Xavier Institute of Management.

Yaroslav Sovgyra is an Associate Managing Director in the Financial Institutions team, responsible for coverage of financial institutions in the CIS region. Yaroslav also coordinates a number of Emerging Market and ESG initiatives in the FIG franchise. Previously, Yaroslav has been the lead analyst on largest Russian and Ukrainian banks (since August 2007), the lead analyst on a number of banks in Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic (since 2005) and Senior Accounting Analyst (since2003).Before joining Moody’s, Yaroslav worked in PricewaterhouseCoopers (UK)Accounting Consulting Services since 2001, where he was a member of the team which advised on complex accounting matters to internal and external clients. Yaroslav also worked in PWC (Ukraine) as Audit Manager on banking audits since1996.Yaroslav holds Master’s degree from the National University of Economics in Kyiv. He is also US Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA),and a holder of CFA Certificate in ESG Investing

Cristiane is a Senior Vice President/Manager, based in Sao Paulo with management responsibility for the rating agency coverage of project finance, infrastructure and sub sovereign credits across Latin America. In her role, she oversees a team of analysts covering those sectors, developing research on sector trends and conducting outreach activities with key market participants. Cristiane has over fifteen years of experience in the financial services industry. Since she joined the firm in January 2007, Cristiane covered several infrastructure credits in the transportation, sanitation and electricity sectors and project finance transactions. Cristiane has also worked as a senior analyst with Moody's corporate finance team covering high yield and financially distressed issuers in the real estate, construction and transportation sectors until 2016.Before joining Moody's, Cristiane developed credit analysis at West lB and fixed income portfolio management activities at Bank Boston. Cristiane holds a Master's degree in Finance from the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College, a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and a MBA in Real Estate from the University of Sao Paulo.

Mik Kabeya is a Senior Vice President - Ratings in the Financial Institutions Group, based in London. Mik covers financial institutions across the African continent. Prior to relocating to London, Mik was based in Dubai where he covered financial institutions based in the Middle East. Before joining Moody’s, Mik worked at Fullerton Financial Holdings and at BNP Paribas.

Joanna Fic is a Senior Vice President in Moody’s EMEA Infrastructure Finance team, based in London. She is currently responsible for a portfolio of utilities and transport infrastructure companies in the United Kingdom and Africa, in addition to certain transport infrastructure companies in Norway and Turkey. With extensive credit experience across both the utility and infrastructure sectors, Joanna has a deep understanding of both conventional and complex structured financing arrangements.

Over the course of her career at Moody’s, Joanna has written extensively on transport infrastructure credit, covering airports, ports and toll roads. She has contributed to the development of a number of transport infrastructure methodologies and was the author of Moody’s Rating Methodology for Privately Managed Toll Roads, published in October 2017. Joanna has also published widely on European utilities, including in Germany, United Kingdom and Central and Eastern Europe. A highly regarded analyst and respected commentator, Joanna is a frequent speaker at conferences, investor roundtables and other events.

Prior to joining Moody’s in 2007, Joanna was a credit risk manager at Citigroup in Warsaw, where she was responsible for a diversified portfolio of corporates. Joanna holds a master’s degree in Finance and Banking from Warsaw School of Economics.

Aurélien Mali is currently Vice President - Ratings.  He acts as the firm’s expert in Africa. His position is a combined lead analyst and analytical outreach/credit ambassador role. As a member of the Sovereign Risk Group since August 2002, he was involved in Moody’s sovereign ratings in Europe and the Middle East at the beginning of his career. Over the last 8 years, he has been at the forefront of Moody’s growing footprint in Africa. He has been sovereign lead or backup analyst for almost all sovereign issuers and multilateral development banks we rate in Africa. Aurelien was relocated to our Dubai office early 2013 from our London office. Aurelien manages a research programme that supports the development of Moody’s reputation for analytical insight and excellence. He also assumes a greater role in participating in regular Moody’s and third-party conferences on the continent, Africa-related investor briefings, and undertaking analytical outreach to inform and explain Moody’s credit judgments. Aurelien also supports other Moody’s franchises using his unique experience and visibility across multiple sectors and asset classes in the region. Finally, he remains the lead/backup sovereign analyst for few countries including Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola and South Africa. Aurélien holds a BSc in Economics and a postgraduate degree (DEA) in Money, Finance and Banking from the Panthéon-Sorbonne University in Paris.

Gary Lau is the Managing Director for the Corporate Finance Group in Hong Kong. Gary manages analytical teams in Hong Kong, covering corporate ratings in North Asia (ex-Japan). He has extensive experience with Moody’s in analytical and management positions with responsibilities across different industries and geographies. He has been with Moody’s since 1998.

Before joining Moody’s, Gary worked for Barclays Bank Plc and Bank of America in the Financial Institutions and Corporate Banking Divisions.

He holds an MBA and a Bachelor of Social Science, both from The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Ada is the Head of North Asia Project & Infrastructure Finance (PIF) team, based in Hong Kong, managing the PIF team covering Mainland China and Hong Kong. She oversees the ratings of publicly and privately owned utilities, ports, rail transit, toll roads, Chinese local governments and local government financing vehicles (LGFV).

Ada has been with Moody's since 2014 and has extensive experience in infrastructure credit. She has served as the lead analyst for large scale central and local state-owned enterprises and is one of the original authors of Moody's Chinese LGFV methodology.

Before joining Moody's, Ada worked as a Vice President at Deutsche Bank, where she oversaw Greater China corporates and financial institutions. Ada has also worked at Barclays Capital, where she covered Chinese financial institutions and commodity companies.

Ada holds a BBA in Accounting & Finance from The University of Hong Kong. She is also a CFA Charterholder and a certified FRM holder.

Kathrin joined Moody’s Ratings in April 2010 as a member of the Sovereign Risk Group. She is the lead analyst for a number of European sovereigns including Turkey and Israel as well as several MDBs such as the IFC, EBRD and AIIB among others. She is also Moody’s global coordinator for all of Moody’s MDB ratings.

Prior to joining Moody’s Kathrin was a Director with Merrill Lynch, working as Sovereign Ratings Advisor to governments and banks in emerging markets. Prior to that, she was Chief Economist for Deutsche Bank in Spain.

She holds a M.Sc. in Economics, Latin American Politics, Spanish and Portuguese languages from the University of Tuebingen as well as a post-graduate economics degree from the College of Europe, Bruges.

Henry MacNevin, who is based in London, is currently an Executive Director - Ratings, Financial Institutions Group responsible for bank ratings in the Middle-East, South-Eastern Europe and Turkey, and is also responsible for Moody’s global Islamic Finance initiatives. Mr MacNevin joined Moody’s London-based banking team in October 1996, initially as lead analyst for bank in Italy, the United Kingdom, the Nordic region, Belgium, Luxembourg and Hungary, and has also worked as a backup analyst for other banking systems, principally in Europe. He was also previously responsible Associate Managing Director for Moody’s bank ratings in Italy and the CEE region and was the Country Manager for Moody’s in Italy for several years. 

Mr. MacNevin’s previous banking experience includes seven years with the Barclaysgroup, where he held positions in strategic planning, corporate banking, and credit risk management.Mr. MacNevin earned a B.A. (Hons) in Business Studies from PortsmouthPolytechnic in the United Kingdom

Christian de Guzman is an Executive Director in Moody’s Ratings Credit Strategy & Guidance Team based in Singapore. As Chief Credit Officer for Asia Pacific, he works with rating groups throughout the region to develop Moody’s perspectives and research regarding macroeconomic, policy, and thematic trends that affect credit risk.

Christian previously served as a lead analyst with Moody’s Sovereign and Sub-Sovereign Risk Group, covering a portfolio of sovereigns and multilateral financial institutions in Asia Pacific, while also managing the team responsible for sub-sovereign ratings in Asia ex-China.

Christian joined Moody’s in 2009, after working as a Senior Economist for the Monetary Authority of Singapore, covering ASEAN economies. He has also held various positions with the Research Department at the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC, and Procter & Gamble in Singapore.

Christian graduated from the University of Georgia and holds a postgraduate degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

Ray Tay is an Executive Director and team leader for Moody’s Project and Infrastructure Finance team for South and South-East Asia. In this role, based in Singapore, he oversees the ratings team responsible for Moody’s extensive coverage across the project finance and infrastructure sectors, including transport infrastructure, power & utilities, and credit enhanced issuances.

Ray is also the Franchise Lead for Digital Infrastructure in the Asia Pacific region. This role sits across various rating groups and oversees our growing portfolio in this fast-moving infrastructure sector. Ray serves as a single point of contact for our analytical coverage of Data centers and other Digital Infrastructure in this region.

Ray is passionate about topics such as project bonds and the role of funding diversity and credit enhancement in bridging the infrastructure gap, particularly in emerging markets.

Before joining Moody’s in 2012, Ray was a Director with the Global Infrastructure & Projects Group in KPMG. Ray has also worked as a Senior Business Analyst with the Singapore Power Group.

Alka Anbarasu is an Executive Director - Ratings in the Financial Institutions Group in Asia. Based in Singapore, Alka is responsible for Moody's analytical teams covering ratings and research on banks, insurance companies, and non-bank financial institutions in Japan, ASEAN and Indian Sub-continent. Alka also coordinates the Global Financial Institution Group's efforts on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) scoring and research. Alka is a regular speaker at Moody's market briefings, external conferences podcasts and broadcast media. She is very active in promoting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) initiatives and is a passionate impact leader for Moody's Community Impact initiatives in Asia.

Alka joined Moody's in 2013 and over the years has led the ratings of several high profile Asian financial institutions. Prior to joining Moody's, she worked in the investment banking division of J.P. Morgan in London and Mumbai and ING Vysya Bank in India. She has close to 20 years of experience in the financial industry. Alka holds an MBA from the Xavier Institute of Management in India.

Evan is a Vice President working on sovereign ratings focused on Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa as well as a range of Multilateral Financial Institutions. He has been the lead analyst on the sovereign rating for South Africa, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Iceland, Israel, Portugal, Malta, Hungary, Serbia, the Baltics, Russia, Ukraine and Moldova, as well as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Evan joined Moody’s in 2015 after a varied career in the UK public and private sector. Prior to starting at Moody’s, he spent five and half years working as an economist at the Bank of England, where his last role was an economic adviser in the External Monetary Policy Committee unit.

Ceres joined Moody’s in 2006 and is the Associate Managing Director - Latin American Banking.

Ceres came from Standard Bank - Brazil, where she was the RegionalCredit Officer for Latin American Financial Institutions. Ceres, a long-time Brazilian bank industry specialist, was also a credit analyst withBank of America’s Trading Group for over six years, and prior to that she worked for ABN AMRO (Brazil) and BankBoston (Brazil) as a credit analyst for the middle market sector. She holds a B.A. degree from Pontificia Universidade Católica - São Paulo and an MBA in Banking from Fundação Getúlio Vargas, Brazil.

Steffen Dyck is a Senior Vice President in Moody’s Sovereign Risk Group.

Based in Frankfurt, he is the lead analyst for a portfolio of European sovereigns including Italy and, until recently, Germany.

Steffen is also co-heading the Sovereign group’s ESG work.

Up until early 2018, Steffen was the lead analyst for number of sovereigns and multilaterals in the Middle East, including Egypt and most of the Gulf Cooperation Council members.

Before relocating to Frankfurt in June 2015, Steffen was based in Moody’s Singapore office, where he covered sovereigns in the Asia-Pacific region as well as in the Middle East.

Prior to joining Moody’s in 2012, Steffen worked for more than six years with Deutsche Bank’s Risk Analysis team in Frankfurt and Singapore, covering macroeconomic and sovereign risk analysis across Asia (ex-Japan), Latin America, and Sub-Saharan Africa. He also helped manage the bank’s sovereign rating processes.

Paul Marty is a Associate Managing Director in Moody’s EMEA Infrastructure Finance team, based in Paris. He oversees a team of analysts covering regulated and unregulated utilities across EMEA and is also responsible for a portfolio of utilities in Portugal. Over the course of a long career at Moody’s, Paul has covered a broad range of sectors including oil & gas and real estate and is experienced in rating both conventional and complex structured financing arrangements. Paul is an authority on the European utility sector and the lead author of Moody’srating methodology for regulated electric and gas networks. He has published extensively on the utility sector, authored well-received reports on environmental risks and developments, and frequently presents Moody’s views at investor roundtables and other events. Moody’s has a leading global Infrastructure Finance franchise, rating some US$2trillion of corporate and project finance securities, representing more than 90% of all public bonds issued globally in the sector. 180 analytical sector staff cover more than 1,700 infrastructure issuers globally. Moody’s EMEA team of 46 specialists is responsible for rating around 430 issuers. The rating agency covers more than39,000 issuers and transactions. Paul’s prior work experience includes 3 years in an independent credit research boutique, covering high-yield corporate issuers. Paul started his career in Mergers& Acquisitions at BNP Paribas where he worked on a number of transactions in the oil & gas sector. Paul graduated from the ESSEC Business School in Paris, France. He is fluent in English and French.