Home

  • Register

Officers:

President:

MONICA AGGARWAL, CFA is a Managing Director within Fitch’s U.S. Corporate Ratings group and Team Head of Retail and Consumer. She is responsible for the sector team covering retail, consumer products, packaged foods, restaurants, and beverages across the investment grade and high yield space. Prior to joining Fitch in September 2007, Monica spent almost ten years in equity research at Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and Chapdelaine Institutional Equities covering various retail segments. Monica earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in economics from Delhi University and an MBA with majors in finance and international business from Fordham Gabelli School of Business. She is a CFA® charterholder and a member of the CFA Institute and CFA Society New York. Monica serves on the Board of Streetwise Partners, a non-profit in New York City.

 

Vice-President:

MARK HOWARD, CFA, has worked at BNP Paribas for the last 10 years as a Senior Multi-Asset Specialist. His analysis and work with investors cuts across the global markets, with a particular emphasis on Fixed Income. Previously, Mark spent 5 years at Barclays Capital, where he was a Managing Director and held the roles of Co-Head of Global Research and Head of Credit Analysis. Prior to joining Barclays in April 2004, Mr. Howard was at Lehman Brothers for 18 years, where he was a Managing Director and Global Credit Strategist. As an active researcher, Mr. Howard has been recognized as a fixed income ‘All American’ by Institutional Investor magazine 11 times, including first place rankings in 7 of those years. Mr. Howard received his MBA in Finance from New York University and his bachelor’s degree in Economics from Colby College. Mark formerly chaired the Board of the University College Friends and Alumni Association, is on the Boards of the Friends of IHES and the Maine Community Foundation. He was president of FIASI in the fiscal years 2011—2012 and 2014—2015.

 

Treasurer:

PAWEL MOSAKOWSKI is an accomplished fixed income PM, trader and an expert risk manager. He spent 20 years in the institutional fixed income business currently leading Summit Place Advisers, LLC an advisory practice helping insurance companies and asset managers with investment process and risk management solutions. Prior to that Pawel was managing a multi-billion dollar corporate credit portfolio as a senior leader of Deutsche Bank’s Credit Portfolio Strategies Group. An expert in fixed income, derivatives and complex risk, Pawel led a proprietary platform managing portfolio of corporate loans, bonds, derivatives and structured products. He developed comprehensive investment and risk management process and delivered industry leading results during the credit crisis and beyond. Under his leadership DB CPSG was awarded Risk Magazine’s Credit Portfolio Manager of the Year distinction three times. Prior to this Pawel was at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein where he traded Corporate Credit, Emerging Markets and built Credit Derivatives business in North America. Pawel earned his MBA in Finance from New York University’s Stern School of Business and previously studied Mechanical Engineering at the Warsaw University of Technology.

 

Secretary:

ERIN LYONS co-head US Investment Grade Research and the US Credit Strategist at CreditSights, an independent credit research firm. With two decades of experience analyzing credit markets, Erin directs CreditSights’ IG research and publishes on a wide range of market and macroeconomic themes, as well as leading the firm’s client engagement. She is a frequent panelist and commentator for industry events, and media like the WSJ, Barron’s and Bloomberg. Prior to joining CreditSights Ms. Lyons was a publishing credit strategist at Citigroup and a portfolio manager at Brigadier Capital Management, a long/short credit hedge fund. In addition, she covered the high yield technology sector at both JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank. Erin holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. 

 

Members-at-large:

RALPH DECESARE, CFA, CAIA is a Managing Director and Head of Credit Research for TD Asset Management. As part of the Toronto-based TD Bank Financial Group, one of the largest banks in North America, TDAM manages over $300 billion in assets under management on behalf of pension, insurance, endowment/foundation and corporate clients, as well as for high-net worth individuals and retail mutual funds. Prior to joining TDAM, Ralph was a director of fixed income research at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers for 16 years. Responsibilities included leading a team of fixed income analysts that helped manage over $150 billion in fixed income assets including mutual funds, money market and institutional accounts. Ralph also has had two separate terms at Standard & Poor’s Corp. as a debt ratings analyst, covering multiple industries including electric utilities, natural gas and financial institutions. Ralph earned an MBA in finance from Fordham University, and a B.S. in finance from the University of Arizona. Ralph served as President of FIASI in the fiscal years 2012—2014. Ralph is a member of the CFA Society of New York, The Credit Roundtable and the Canadian Bond Investors Association. He is a CFA® charterholder and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst.

 

GREGG LEMOS-STEIN, CFA is a Chief Analytical Officer, Corporate Ratings for the global ratings practices. He is responsible for analytical excellence and ratings consistency across all asset classes, quality and timeliness of credit opinions, and the creation and coordination of high-value sector and thematic research.

Gregg joined S&P Global Ratings in 2002 and has had a wide range or analytical and managerial roles in New York and London. Immediately prior to his current position, Gregg was head of Analytics & Research for Corporate Ratings. He was previously Analytical Manager for the EMEA real estate sector and also led a team of analysts covering a diversified group of corporate issuers in Israel. Prior to that, he was analytical manager for the U.S. Telecommunications and Cable ratings team. He was a senior analyst in the U.S. autos and auto suppliers team from 2006 to 2010, where he served as a primary analyst on the U.S.-based automakers and several U.S.-based auto suppliers and truck manufacturers.

Before joining S&P Global Ratings, Gregg worked for The Dreyfus Corporation and its parent Mellon Financial Corp. Gregg was also a business reporter for The Associated Press for several years.

Gregg holds a Masters of Business Administration from Columbia University in New York and a bachelor of arts from The University of Chicago. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

 

HENRY SHILLING, Founder and Director of Research, Sustainable Research and Analysis LLC, a NYC-based source for sustainable investment management information, research, opinions and fund disclosure assessments.

Previously with Moody’s Investors, Henry in more recent years initiated and coordinated Moody’s efforts to expand disclosure and add transparency in research, ratings and analysis to the reflection of environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks. He also led the firm’s effort to launch and implement a methodology for assessing green bonds world-wide.

Henry is the author of The International Guide to Securities Market Indices which was published in 1996 by International Publishing Corp., Chicago, Illinois. He is a contributor to Money Market Funds in the EU and the US, published in 2014 by Oxford University Press.

He earned a B.A. in economics from Lehman College, City University of New York in 1971.

 

ROBERT SLOWKO, CAIA is an ESG Business Development Manager at MSCI. Robert is a senior member of the MSCI ESG coverage organization and has been with the firm since 2014. Prior to MSCI Robert worked as a Business Development Manager for the Hedge Funds group of Thomson Reuters and was involved in multiple projects including launching an Emerging Markets group or developing company’s North American Hedge Funds product, marketing and sales strategy. He held a number of positions in the financial industry including Emerging Markets research and trading at Galleon International, senior roles in global funds custody at RBC Dexia Investor Services, foreign exchange trading or economic research. Robert has been actively involved with FIASI since 2010 and served as FIASI's President 2017 through 2019. He participated in and was responsible for a number of projects critical to the organization and is currently leading FIASI's Marketing Committee. Robert holds a Master’s of Arts degree in Economics from Cracow University of Economics and a Master’s of Business Administration in Finance from Fordham University.

 

DIANE VAZZA serves on the Boards of Directors for two firms specializing in private equity and financial services/asset management. She leads Finance and Audit & Risk Control Committees.

Diane has broad and deep experience across banking, credit, corporate finance, operational risk, financial regulation, restructuring, sales & trading, and product development. Her career spans leadership roles at S&P Global, Drexel Burnham Lambert, Citibank, Comptroller of the Currency and Chase. Credit named Diane one of the top women globally in credit and fixed income.

She volunteers on Fixed Income Analysts’ Society’s Board of Directors, is a former president, and chaired inaugural Women in Fixed Income conferences in New York City and Boston.

She is a licensed Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and volunteers in her community.

 

MARIAROSA VERDE is a Senior Vice President and Group Credit Officer for the Americas Corporate Finance team at Moody’s Investors Service. She is responsible for maintaining and promoting high quality ratings and works closely with senior analysts and managers to identify emerging credit risks and initiate timely action.

Prior to joining Moody’s in June 2015, Mariarosa was a Managing Director and Head of Credit Market Research at Fitch Ratings. Her responsibilities included examining rating and credit quality trends, conducting in-depth default and recovery studies, and providing insight on key developments in the bond and loan markets. Earlier in her career, Mariarosa was a high yield analyst at the Chase Manhattan Bank.

Mariarosa has published articles on default risk and other credit topics in professional magazines and books. Mariarosa holds a BS and an MBA in finance and economics from New York University’s Stern School of Business. Mariarosa was elected an NYU scholar. Mariarosa was the president of FIASI in 2007-2008.

 

Immediate Past-President:

LARRY WHITE is a Managing Director of Business Development at DBRS Morningstar where he has worked since 2006. His responsibilities include managing and growing relationships with financial institutions, sovereign related issuers and other constituents of DBRS, such as investors and bankers.

Before joining DBRS, Larry spent more than 8 years at Moody’s Investors Service, where he was responsible for product development related to global financial institutions and Latin America. In addition, he has held positions at several banks including The Bank of New York and First Horizon. Larry received his MBA from Columbia University and his BS in Finance/Economics from Christian Brothers University.

Corporate Sustaining Members

Newsletter Sign-up

Sign up to receive periodic updates by email.

Moody's Credit Outlook

Moody's Credit Outlook report is available here. Published Monday and Thursday mornings, Moody's Credit Outlook provides you with the credit implications of current events.