Atsi Sheth Managing Director, Global Head of Strategy & Research Moody's Investors Service

Atsi Sheth is Managing Director and Global Head, Credit Strategy and Research.

Moody’s Credit Strategy & Research group includes global teams focused on Macroeconomic Research, Default & Ratings Analytics and Global Emerging Markets as well as regional credit strategy teams each focused on Asia-Pacific, the Americas, and EMEA.

Together these teams establish and articulate Moody’s house views on the trends that drive risk across countries, sectors and asset classes. They undertake in depth data driven analysis and leverage the expertise of ratings and research analysts across Moody’s to generate global, regional and sector insights on macro-economic, political, policy, technology and environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks.

In her capacity leading the group, Atsi also serves as a spokesperson on Moody’s analytic views, engaging with investors, the media and a wide range of public and private sector stakeholders.

Atsi is a long-time champion of Moody’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) as well as our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. She serves as co-chair of the CSR Thought Leadership & Solutions working group and the Senior Advisor to Moody’s Asian Leadership Initiative - a Multicultural Business Resource Group.

Prior to her current role, Atsi was Moody’s Chief Credit Officer for the Americas and before that Managing Director in Moody’s Sovereign Risk Group. She has also served as Chief Economist at Reliance Capital and taught courses on International Political Economy and Emerging Markets at Columbia University and Northwestern University. Atsi has a PhD from Northwestern University and a B.A. from Bombay University.

Anne Van Praagh Managing Director – Global Head of Public, Project and Infrastructure Finance Moody’s Investors Service

Anne Van Praagh is Global Head of the Public, Project & Infrastructure Finance Group for Moody’s Investors Service (MIS), overseeing credit ratings and research on public sector entities worldwide.

Prior to this role, Anne led the Sovereign Risk Group in 2021 and 2022. Anne was head of MIS Research from 2019 to early 2022, driving the content and engagement strategy for 20,000 research publications published annually. In 2016, Anne launched the Credit Strategy & Research group, setting Moody’s macroeconomic and “house views” on emerging risk trends and coordinating Moody’s credit response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Previously she held roles as MD for Sovereign Risk in the Americas, Middle East and APAC, Chief Credit Officer for Public Sector Ratings, and lead analyst for US infrastructure, states and local governments. She also spent three years as vice president in Morgan Stanley’s public finance investment banking team advising on $25 billion in financings. 

Anne began her career as a speechwriter at the US Department of Defense in the Clinton Administration. She has 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.

Robert D. Kaplan Bestselling Author and Senior Adviser Eurasia Group

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 Managing Director, Structured Finance Moody's Investors Service

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 Haigh Co-head of Emerging Markets Debt Goldman Sachs

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 Head of Emerging Markets Corporate Debt Barings

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.

Colin Ellis Managing Director, Global Credit Strategist Moody's Investors Service

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 MIS, 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.

Gustavo Medeiros Deputy Head of Research Ashmore Group

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.

Rahul Ghosh Managing Director – Sustainable Finance Moody’s Investors Service

Rahul Ghosh is Managing Director, ESG Outreach & Research for Moody’s Investors Service.

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.

Lupin Rahman Head of EM Sovereign Credit PIMCO

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.

Marie Diron Managing Director, Sovereign Risk Moody's Investors Service

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. 

David Staples Managing Director, Corporate Finance Group Moody's Investors Service

David Staples is a Managing Director at Moody’s in the EMEA Corporate Finance Group based in Dubai. His responsibilities include managing the analytical teams that oversee the ratings of companies based in the Middle East, Turkey, South Africa as well as Russia and the CIS. 

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).

Brett Diment Head of Global Emerging Markets Debt abrdn

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.

Laura Acres Managing Director, Corporate Finance Moody’s Investors Service

Laura Acres is Managing Director for the Corporate Finance Group for Asia. Based in Singapore, she has overall responsibility for Moody’s corporate ratings and research for the region, managing teams in Sydney, Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Tokyo. Laura also spearheads our global Emerging Markets initiative, leading many of our aggregated research based publications in this space and helping to coordinate Moody’s approach to this large and growing area of focus. 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. 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. 

Gary Lau Managing Director, Corporate Finance Moody's Investors Service

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.

Chen Huang Associate Managing Director, Financial Institutions Moody's Investors Service

Chen Huang is an Associate Managing Director within Moody’s Financial Institutions Group. Based in Hong Kong, she manages teams of analysts covering the ratings and research of Asian insurers and Chinese 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. 

Ada Li Vice President – Senior Credit Officer, Project & Infrastructure Finance Moody's Investors Service

Ada Li is a Vice President - Senior Credit Officer with the Project & Infrastructure Finance Group, covering a portfolio of Chinese infrastructure companies across state-owned or privately-owned utilities, ports, railways, toll roads, and local government finance vehicles.

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.

Martin Petch Vice President - Senior Credit Officer Moody's Investors Service

Martin Petch is a Vice President – Senior Credit Officer with Moody’s SovereignRisk Group. Based in Singapore, he covers a portfolio of sovereign credits in the Asia Pacific region – including China, Australia, Hong Kong - as well as credits in Central Asia and the Caucasus. 

Martin joined Moody’s in 2017, after working as the 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

Jerome Cheng Associate Managing Director, Structured Finance Group Moody's Investors Service

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.

David Staples Managing Director, Corporate Finance Group Moody's Investors Service

David Staples is a Managing Director at Moody’s in the EMEA Corporate Finance Group based in Dubai. His responsibilities include managing the analytical teams that oversee the ratings of companies based in the Middle East, Turkey, South Africa as well as Russia and the CIS. 

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).

Kathrin Muehlbronner Senior Vice President, Global MDB Lead, Sovereign & Sub Sovereign Risk Moody's Investors Service

Kathrin joined Moody’s Investors Service 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.

Alexander Perjéssy Vice President - Senior Credit Officer, Sovereign Risk Moody's Investors Service

Alexander Perjéssy is Vice President – Senior Credit Officer 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.

Henry MacNevin Associate Managing Director, EMEA Banking Moody's Investors Service

Henry MacNevin, who is based in London, is currently an Associate Managing Director 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

Rehan Akbar Senior Vice President, Corporate Finance Moody's Investors Service

Rehan Akbar is a Senior Vice President – Senior Credit Officer in Moody’s EMEA Corporate Finance Group based in Dubai. He covers a diversified portfolio including Oil & Gas, petrochemicals, transport and mining companies situated in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa. Prior to joining Moody’s in 2011, Rehan worked as a credit analyst at Mashreq Capital where he covered emerging market corporates. He started his career as a software engineer and technology consultant.

Rehan has a Masters degree in Management Sciences and Engineering from Stanford University and a Bachelors degree in Computer Science from Lahore University of Management Sciences. He is a CFA charterholder.

Raffaella Altamura Vice President – Senior Credit Officer Moody's Investors Service

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.

Terry Fanous Managing Director, Project & Infrastructure Finance Moody's Investors Service

Terry has over 25 years of experience in credit ratings and bank credit risk management. As a Managing Director, based in Singapore, 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 Australasia, based in Sydney. During that period, Moody’s rating coverage for this region grew substantially to more than 100 rated issuers. In the corporate sector, the analytical team monitored ratings in a wide range of non-financial sectors, such as consumer and retail, industrial, mining, oil and gas, and property, while the infrastructure team covered power, transport, utilities and social infrastructure.

Terry was also previously responsible for Moody’s coverage of the oil and gas as well as mining sectors in Asia Pacific.

Before joining Moody’s in 2000, Terry worked for around 12 years in various risk management and credit origination roles at Westpac Institutional Bank in Sydney. His last position at Westpac was Senior Manager, Credit and Divisional Credit Officer, responsible for approving credit exposures to institutional clients.

Christian de Guzman Senior Vice President, Sovereign Risk Moody's Investors Service

Christian de Guzman is a Senior Vice President with Moody’s Sovereign and Sub-Sovereign Risk Group. Based in Singapore, he covers a portfolio of sovereigns and multilateral development banks in Asia Pacific, including Japan, India and a number of Southeast Asian credits, 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 was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate in Economics and Political Science at the University of Georgia and received his M.A. in International Economics and Southeast Asian Studies from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

Vikash Halan Associate Managing Director, Corporate Finance Moody's Investors Service

Vikash Halan is an Associate Managing Director and team leader for Moody’s Corporate Finance Group, based in Singapore. In this role, Vikash manages a team of rating analysts, with a focus on key South and Southeast Asian sectors, including REITS, oil & gas, chemicals, property developers, gaming and IT services. 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 a post-graduate diploma in Business Management from Xavier Institute of Management. 

Ray Tay Senior Vice President / Manager, Project and Infrastructure Finance Moody's Investors Service

Ray Tay is a Senior Vice President / Manager in Moody’s Project and Infrastructure Finance Group. Based in Singapore, Ray covers project finance, transport, utilities and other infrastructure credits in Southeast Asia and India. Ray also authors research and conducts outreach focused on topics such as project bonds and the role of funding diversity and credit enhancement in bridging the infrastructure gap, particularly in emerging markets. Ray is also a member of Moody’s APAC ESG Working Group.

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, focusing on regulatory economics in each of its principal local operating subsidiaries.

Ray holds a Bachelor’s in Economics with honors from the National University of Singapore.

Alka Anbarasu Associate Managing Director, Financial Institutions Moody's Investors Service

Alka Anbarasu is an Associate Managing Director in the Financial Institutions Group in Asia. Based in Singapore, she oversees the ratings team that is responsible for the credit ratings of banks and non-bank financial institutions in Japan, South and South East Asia. She is closely involved in the integration of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors into bank ratings as well as research and outreach on ESG.

Alka is a regular speaker at Moody’s market briefings, external conferences, podcasts and media engagements. She is very active in promoting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) initiatives via her role as the co-chair of the APAC Women’s Business Resource Group. She is also a passionate impact leader for Moody’s CSR initiatives in Asia.

Alka joined Moody’s in 2013 after several years 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 completed her undergraduate degree from University of Mumbai and holds an MBA from the Xavier Institute of Management in India.

William Coley Associate Managing Director – Credit Officer Moody’s Investors Service

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.

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

Evan is responsible for a portfolio of credits in Europe and the CIS that includes the United Kingdom, Russia and Ukraine; he has previously worked on European countries including Portugal, Hungary, Iceland and Israel. 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.

Yaroslav Sovgyra Associate Managing Director, Financial Institutions Group Moody's Investors Service

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

Paul Marty Senior Vice President/Manager, Infrastructure Finance Moody's Investors Service

Paul Marty is a Senior Vice President 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.

Dietmar Hornung Associate Managing Director, Sovereign Risk Group Moody's Investors Service

Dietmar Hornung, Associate Managing Director, leads the Sovereign Risk Group’s European team, covering the European countries and the European supranationals. Prior to his appointment as team leader, Dietmar was Moody’s lead analyst on a number of European sovereign credits, including Germany, France, Italy, Ireland, Russia, EU, EFSF and ESM.

Before joining Moody’s in 2007, Dietmar was Head of Emerging Market Research for DekaBank in Frankfurt.

Dietmar holds a Doctorate summa cum laude in Economics from Otto-von-Guericke University in Magdeburg. He received a Masters degree from Christian-Albrechts University in Kiel after studies in Kiel, at the University of Miami, and at the Eberhard-Karls University in Tübingen.

Dietmar is a Certified EFFAS Financial Analyst (CEFA).

Marianna Waltz Managing Director - Head of LatAm Ratings and Research Moody's Investors Service

Marianna Waltz is a Managing Director at Moody’s Investors Service and has joined the company in 2011. She currently runs Moody’s ratings teams in Latin America, including the Corporate Finance, Infrastructure, Banking and Sub-Sovereign groups across more than 15 countries. She is responsible for the development of MIS ratings and research opinions for the region’s fundamental ratings groups, and the delivery of services to issuers and market participants. Prior to assuming this role in January 2021, Marianna was the Managing Director responsible for Moody’s Corporate Finance team in Latin America. Marianna is also a member of the Board of Directors of Moody’s Local, an affiliate of Moody’s in Peru, Panamá, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil. Prior to joining Moody’s, Marianna developed a career as an equity sell side analyst covering mostly the Brazilian Consumer and Protein sectors. From 2008 to 2011, she was the head of sell-side equity research in the investment arm of Banco do Brasil in Sao Paulo. Marianna is a CFA charter holder and holds three master’s degrees, including an MBA in Finance from IBMEC Business School and an MBA in Marketing from Fundação Getúlio Vargas - FGV.

Cristiane Spercel Senior Vice President, Project & Infrastructure Finance Moody's Investors Service

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.

Marcos Schmidt Associate Managing Director, Corporate Finance Moody's Investors Service

Marcos Schmidt is a Vice President – Senior Credit Officer in Moody’s Corporate Finance Group in São Paulo, Brazil, leading the credit analysis and rating process for a diversified portfolio of media & telecommunication, airlines, and building materials companies in South America. Prior to joining Moody’s in 2014, Marcos worked at Morgan Stanley, Citibank and Deutsche Bank. Marcos received his bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Escola de Engenharia Maua in Brazil. He also holds an MBA from FIA - Fundacao Instituto de Administracao.

Ceres Lisboa Associate Managing Director, Financial Institutions Moody's Investors Service

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.

Ariane Ortiz-Bollin Vice President – Senior Credit Officer, Global Emerging Markets - CS&R Moody's Investors Service

Ariane Ortiz-Bollin is a Vice President – Senior Credit Officer in the Global Emerging Markets Team, part of the Credit Strategy and Research group at Moody’s Investors Service. As part of the Global Emerging Markets team, Ariane is responsible for generating house views, decision enabling insights and research that leverage the thought leadership of Moody’s emerging market analysts around the world. Ariane leads the implementation of Moody’s emerging markets outreach and thought leadership strategy, collaborating closely with multiple teams across the company to employ the latest content delivery solutions and ensuring that Moody’s research serves the analytic needs of our customers and stakeholders.

Before this, 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. A sought after spokesperson for Moody’s, Ariane’s expertise nurtures internal and external stakeholder relationships, ensuring our views are heard and add value. Ariane has also led several high impact analytic and data systems projects for the Sovereign group, partnering with several teams across Moody’s.

Before joining Moody’s Sovereign Risk Group 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.

Rehan Akbar Senior Vice President, Corporate Finance Moody's Investors Service

Rehan Akbar is a Senior Vice President – Senior Credit Officer in Moody’s EMEA Corporate Finance Group based in Dubai. He covers a diversified portfolio including Oil & Gas, petrochemicals, transport and mining companies situated in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa. Prior to joining Moody’s in 2011, Rehan worked as a credit analyst at Mashreq Capital where he covered emerging market corporates. He started his career as a software engineer and technology consultant.

Rehan has a Masters degree in Management Sciences and Engineering from Stanford University and a Bachelors degree in Computer Science from Lahore University of Management Sciences. He is a CFA charterholder.

Mik Kabeya Vice President - Senior Analyst, Financial Institutions Group Moody's Investors Service

Mik Kabeya is a Vice President - Senior Analyst in the Financial Institutions Group, based in London. Mik primarily covers financial institutions based across the African continent. Prior to relocating to London in 2021, 

Mik was based in Dubai where he covered financial institutions based in the Middle East. Before joining Moody’s, Mik worked in capital markets at BNP Paribas and in credit risk at Fullerton Financial Holdings. Mik graduated from ICHEC BrusselsManagement School. He is fluent in English, French and Dutch.

Joanna Fic Senior Vice President, Infrastructure Finance Moody's Investors Service

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.

Aurelien Mali Vice President - Senior Credit Officer, Sovereign Risk Moody's Investors Service

Aurélien Mali is currently Vice President Senior Credit Officer. 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.

Matt Robinson Associate Managing Director, Sovereign Risk Group Moody's Investors Service

Matt Robinson manages the Sovereign Risk Group’s Middle East and Africa team producing ratings and research regarding sovereign and supranational creditworthiness in Sub-Saharan Africa and Middle East/North Africa. He is responsible for managing staff located in London, Frankfurt, Dubai and New York.

Matt joined Moody’s in 2007 after a decade of macroeconomic and public policy experience. Prior to managing the Middle East and Africa sovereign ratings team, Matt was the Director of Sovereign Research, responsible for coordinating and contributing to the research produced by Moody’s global team of sovereign risk analysts. Matt previously managed the affairs of the Moody’s Economy.com Sydney office, providing independent economic analysis, data and forecasting and credit risk services to Moody’s Analytics’ worldwide client base. Before joining Moody’s, Matt worked as an economist and policy adviser in a number of public and private sector organisations, including Commonwealth Treasury and the Economic Division of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet in Australia.

Matt received his bachelor of economics from the University of Newcastle(Australia) and his graduate degree from the Australian National University.