Sean Marion Managing Director, Structured Finance Moody’s Ratings

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.

John Gapper FT Weekend Business Columnist Financial Times

John Gapper writes an award-winning column on business, with a focus on finance, media and technology, and also contributes editorials and features, including regular Lunch with the FT interviews. He is one of the FT’s most senior and influential writers, having covered the financial and media industries, as well as employment issues, before taking up his current role in 2003.

He was based in the FT’s New York office 2005-2012, where he helped to lead its successful expansion in the US. Gapper was formerly comment editor of the FT, and in that role was in charge of introducing and editing the paper’s awardwinning comment page. As a columnist, he has written on topics including Wall Street and the aftermath of the financial crisis; management and corporate strategy, the future of digital news and entertainment; innovation and venture capital; how should companies handle crises, and the disruptive impact of technology.

Gapper has written two novels, The Ghost Shift and A Fatal Debt, both published by Random House in the US. He is also the author of the non-fiction works How to be a Rogue Trader and All That Glitters, an account of the collapse of Barings. He often appears on television and radio, including on the BBC, CNBC and CNN.

The winner of the 2013 Gerald Loeb award for commentary, he has received three annual Best in Business citations for his column from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. In the UK, he was named best business columnist in the 2014 Comment Awards and gained the technology writer and best communicator awards in the Business Journalist of the Year awards. He was named one of the 100 most influential men in Britain by GQ magazine.

Gapper won an open scholarship to Exeter College, Oxford University, where he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics. He was awarded a Harkness Fellowship to study at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Before joining the FT in 1987, he trained as a journalist with Mirror Group Newspapers, working on papers including the Daily Mirror, Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph. He lives in east London with his wife, the novelist Rosie Dastgir, and their two daughters.

Marie Diron Managing Director, Sovereign Risk Moody's Ratings

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. 

Evan Wohlmann Vice President - Senior Credit Officer, Sovereign Risk Moody's Ratings

Evan is a Vice President - Senior Credit Officer working on sovereign ratings focused on Northern and Eastern Europe as well as the CIS. His portfolio has included the UK, Switzerland, Iceland, Hungary, Serbia, the Baltics, Ukraine and Moldova. 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. 

He also worked as a financial economist in the Monetary Analysis division as well as in the bank resolution area working with other UK authorities to monitor and resolve financial institutions as part of the UK’s Resolution Regime. Before joining the Bank of England, he worked in corporate finance at KPMG focusing on debt advisory and mergers and acquisitions. He holds an MSc in Finance from Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Spain as well as an MComm in Economics from the University of Cape Town in South Africa.

Jorge Valez Senior Vice President, Sovereign Risk Moody’s Ratings

Jorge R. Valez is a Senior Vice President at Moody’s Sovereign Risk Group based in London. He serves as lead analyst for a portfolio of sovereigns and multilateral development banks in the EMEA region. He is also a global lead in analytical projects aimed at supporting rating accuracy and thought leadership across sovereign credit risks.

Jorge joined Moody’s in 2014 in the Financial Institutions Group. He also worked at Credit Strategy and Research leading the team responsible for banking projections and stress tests globally, as well as foundational research on ratings and capital markets.

Prior to joining Moody’s, Jorge worked for a bank as a macroeconomist responsible for forecasting and scenario analysis, and as a university lecturer in Macroeconomics and Econometrics.

Jorge is a PhD in Econometrics and holds degrees in Economics and in Business Administration.

Sean Marion Managing Director, Structured Finance Moody’s Ratings

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.

Sandra Veseli Managing Director, Head of EU and Country Manager Germany Moody's Ratings

Sandra Veseli is a Managing Director and Head of the EU for Moody’s Ratings, currently based in Frankfurt. She is also the Country Manager for Germany. Sandra is responsible for coordinating the strategic, operational and business engagement with internal and external stakeholders across the region.

Before joining the regional management team, Sandra was a Managing Director in the Corporate Finance Group in London, leading the UK corporate and the global leveraged finance franchise.

Sandra joined Moody’s in 2013, bringing 20 years of banking experience. Prior to Moody’s, Sandra worked at Credit Suisse, where she was the Head of Rating Advisory for EMEA since 2010, after holding senior positions in the rating advisory teams at Morgan Stanley and Citi.

Sandra began her career at Dresdner Bank in Germany.

Sandra holds a Diploma from the Frankfurt Business School of Finance & Management.

Laurie Mayers Associate Managing Director, European Banks Moody’s Investors Service

Laurie Mayers is an Associate Managing Director in Moody’s European Banking team. Laurie has responsibility for the analytical teams covering bank and non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) in the UK and Ireland as well as for the global investment banks located in EMEA and for NBFIs in Western Europe. Leveraging her risk and regulatory background, she has provided leadership within the Financial Institutions business unit on the cross jurisdictional regulatory matters such as the implementation of Basel III, the BRRD and TLAC/MREL requirements, UK ring fencing and Brexit.

Prior to Moody’s, Laurie’s most recent role was Manager of the Capital Management Team at the UK Financial Services Authority (now the Prudential Regulation Authority), where she had responsibility for Pillar 2 capital assessments and firm-wide stress testing for the largest UK banks and building societies.

Laurie’s previous roles include Partner, Risk and Regulatory Advisory, Ernst & Young, Group Head of Basel 2 and a member of the Group Risk Executive Team at RBS, Global Head of Counterparty Credit Risk at RBS and previously, Principal and EMEA Head of Credit for Morgan Stanley International. Laurie began her career at as a staff economist at the New York Mercantile Exchange , and subsequently worked as a lending officer in the Commodity Finance Division at Chase Manhattan Bank following completion of their credit analyst training programme.

Laurie holds a Master’s Degree in International Affairs (with a specialisation in International Economics) from Columbia University SIPA and a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Economy from Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts.

Christophe de Noaillat Managing Director, Structured Finance Moody's Investors Service

Christophe de Noaillat is a Managing Director in the Moody’s Structured Finance Group and is based in London. He is responsible for the monitoring of corporate asset-backed transactions in EMEA such as CLO’s and SME’s, as well as the new ratings and monitoring of commercial real estate securitisations (CMBS) in EMEA.  Prior to assuming this position, Christophe was responsible for the monitoring of consumer asset-backed transactions, such as ABS and RMBS. From 2000, when he joined Moody’s, to 2009, Christophe worked as an analyst and rated a wide range of transaction types in most European markets. During this period, he also focused on emerging markets and the impact of country risk on securitisation.  Before joining Moody’s, Christophe was focusing on Credit Risk Management within the consulting arm of KPMG.  Christophe holds a diploma in Aeronautical Engineering from Ecole de l’Air and graduated from Sciences Po in Paris with a post-master’s qualification in finance and capital markets.

Sean Marion Managing Director, Structured Finance Moody’s Ratings

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.

Sean Marion Managing Director, Structured Finance Moody’s Ratings

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.

Laurie Mayers Associate Managing Director, European Banks Moody’s Investors Service

Laurie Mayers is an Associate Managing Director in Moody’s European Banking team. Laurie has responsibility for the analytical teams covering bank and non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) in the UK and Ireland as well as for the global investment banks located in EMEA and for NBFIs in Western Europe. Leveraging her risk and regulatory background, she has provided leadership within the Financial Institutions business unit on the cross jurisdictional regulatory matters such as the implementation of Basel III, the BRRD and TLAC/MREL requirements, UK ring fencing and Brexit.

Prior to Moody’s, Laurie’s most recent role was Manager of the Capital Management Team at the UK Financial Services Authority (now the Prudential Regulation Authority), where she had responsibility for Pillar 2 capital assessments and firm-wide stress testing for the largest UK banks and building societies.

Laurie’s previous roles include Partner, Risk and Regulatory Advisory, Ernst & Young, Group Head of Basel 2 and a member of the Group Risk Executive Team at RBS, Global Head of Counterparty Credit Risk at RBS and previously, Principal and EMEA Head of Credit for Morgan Stanley International. Laurie began her career at as a staff economist at the New York Mercantile Exchange , and subsequently worked as a lending officer in the Commodity Finance Division at Chase Manhattan Bank following completion of their credit analyst training programme.

Laurie holds a Master’s Degree in International Affairs (with a specialisation in International Economics) from Columbia University SIPA and a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Economy from Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts.

John Gapper FT Weekend Business Columnist Financial Times

John Gapper writes an award-winning column on business, with a focus on finance, media and technology, and also contributes editorials and features, including regular Lunch with the FT interviews. He is one of the FT’s most senior and influential writers, having covered the financial and media industries, as well as employment issues, before taking up his current role in 2003.

He was based in the FT’s New York office 2005-2012, where he helped to lead its successful expansion in the US. Gapper was formerly comment editor of the FT, and in that role was in charge of introducing and editing the paper’s awardwinning comment page. As a columnist, he has written on topics including Wall Street and the aftermath of the financial crisis; management and corporate strategy, the future of digital news and entertainment; innovation and venture capital; how should companies handle crises, and the disruptive impact of technology.

Gapper has written two novels, The Ghost Shift and A Fatal Debt, both published by Random House in the US. He is also the author of the non-fiction works How to be a Rogue Trader and All That Glitters, an account of the collapse of Barings. He often appears on television and radio, including on the BBC, CNBC and CNN.

The winner of the 2013 Gerald Loeb award for commentary, he has received three annual Best in Business citations for his column from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. In the UK, he was named best business columnist in the 2014 Comment Awards and gained the technology writer and best communicator awards in the Business Journalist of the Year awards. He was named one of the 100 most influential men in Britain by GQ magazine.

Gapper won an open scholarship to Exeter College, Oxford University, where he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics. He was awarded a Harkness Fellowship to study at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Before joining the FT in 1987, he trained as a journalist with Mirror Group Newspapers, working on papers including the Daily Mirror, Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph. He lives in east London with his wife, the novelist Rosie Dastgir, and their two daughters.

Jorge Valez Senior Vice President, Sovereign Risk Moody’s Ratings

Jorge R. Valez is a Senior Vice President at Moody’s Sovereign Risk Group based in London. He serves as lead analyst for a portfolio of sovereigns and multilateral development banks in the EMEA region. He is also a global lead in analytical projects aimed at supporting rating accuracy and thought leadership across sovereign credit risks.

Jorge joined Moody’s in 2014 in the Financial Institutions Group. He also worked at Credit Strategy and Research leading the team responsible for banking projections and stress tests globally, as well as foundational research on ratings and capital markets.

Prior to joining Moody’s, Jorge worked for a bank as a macroeconomist responsible for forecasting and scenario analysis, and as a university lecturer in Macroeconomics and Econometrics.

Jorge is a PhD in Econometrics and holds degrees in Economics and in Business Administration.

Christophe de Noaillat Managing Director, Structured Finance Moody's Investors Service

Christophe de Noaillat is a Managing Director in the Moody’s Structured Finance Group and is based in London. He is responsible for the monitoring of corporate asset-backed transactions in EMEA such as CLO’s and SME’s, as well as the new ratings and monitoring of commercial real estate securitisations (CMBS) in EMEA.  Prior to assuming this position, Christophe was responsible for the monitoring of consumer asset-backed transactions, such as ABS and RMBS. From 2000, when he joined Moody’s, to 2009, Christophe worked as an analyst and rated a wide range of transaction types in most European markets. During this period, he also focused on emerging markets and the impact of country risk on securitisation.  Before joining Moody’s, Christophe was focusing on Credit Risk Management within the consulting arm of KPMG.  Christophe holds a diploma in Aeronautical Engineering from Ecole de l’Air and graduated from Sciences Po in Paris with a post-master’s qualification in finance and capital markets.

Sandra Veseli Managing Director, Head of EU and Country Manager Germany Moody's Ratings

Sandra Veseli is a Managing Director and Head of the EU for Moody’s Ratings, currently based in Frankfurt. She is also the Country Manager for Germany. Sandra is responsible for coordinating the strategic, operational and business engagement with internal and external stakeholders across the region.

Before joining the regional management team, Sandra was a Managing Director in the Corporate Finance Group in London, leading the UK corporate and the global leveraged finance franchise.

Sandra joined Moody’s in 2013, bringing 20 years of banking experience. Prior to Moody’s, Sandra worked at Credit Suisse, where she was the Head of Rating Advisory for EMEA since 2010, after holding senior positions in the rating advisory teams at Morgan Stanley and Citi.

Sandra began her career at Dresdner Bank in Germany.

Sandra holds a Diploma from the Frankfurt Business School of Finance & Management.

Marie Diron Managing Director, Sovereign Risk Moody's Ratings

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 Managing Director – Global Head of Sustainable Finance Moody’s Ratings

Rahul Ghosh is Managing Director – Global Head of Sustainable Finance for Moody's Ratings.

Rahul leads global oversight for the credit rating agency’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) research and outreach strategy. In this capacity, he is responsible for co-ordinating high quality and impactful research exploring the credit implications of ESG, as well as digital and in-person outreach to meet the growing market needs of investors, issuers and other important stakeholders.

Rahul is a regular participant at high-profile industry working groups, market briefings, external conferences and media engagements. He is a member of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures, a market-led initiative to develop a risk management and disclosure framework for nature-related risks. He has also represented Moody’s on the UN Principles for Responsible Investment's advisory committee on credit ratings and the Green and Social Bond Principles working groups. He has presented on the impact of climate change on emerging market sovereigns at the G20 Green Finance Study Group and on sustainable finance trends at the International Finance Corporation’s Global Debt Mobilization Conference.

Before his current role, Rahul oversaw Moody’s ESG Solutions Group outreach and engagement activities globally with the sustainability stakeholder community. He also previously worked in Moody’s Credit Strategy & Research team where he was responsible for thematic research and outreach on global emerging market (EM) credit trends. 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 the capital markets.

Rahul is a passionate impact leader for Moody’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in London, chairing the pillar on “activating an environmentally sustainable future”. He holds a Masters degree in Economics from the University of Edinburgh and a Certificate in ESG Investing from the CFA Society of the UK.

Evan Wohlmann Vice President - Senior Credit Officer, Sovereign Risk Moody's Ratings

Evan is a Vice President - Senior Credit Officer working on sovereign ratings focused on Northern and Eastern Europe as well as the CIS. His portfolio has included the UK, Switzerland, Iceland, Hungary, Serbia, the Baltics, Ukraine and Moldova. 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. 

He also worked as a financial economist in the Monetary Analysis division as well as in the bank resolution area working with other UK authorities to monitor and resolve financial institutions as part of the UK’s Resolution Regime. Before joining the Bank of England, he worked in corporate finance at KPMG focusing on debt advisory and mergers and acquisitions. He holds an MSc in Finance from Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Spain as well as an MComm in Economics from the University of Cape Town in South Africa.