Speakers

Gaurav Shukla is a Managing Director of Morgan Stanley and currently leads the Regulatory Affairs Strategy Implementation team which overseas capital, liquidity, and markets related industry reforms as well as regulations; the current list of key programs is as follows:

• IBOR Transition
• Uncleared Margin Rule
• SEC Securities-based Swap Dealer Rule
• Qualified Financial Contract Remediation
• Single Counterparty Credit Limit

Gaurav joined Morgan Stanley in June 2008 and has been in a number of different positions over the last 10 years:

• During 2014-16, Gaurav had relocated to Tokyo to join the Board and Management Committee of “Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley PB Securities”, a Wealth Management joint venture between Morgan Stanley and MUFG for high net worth clients. 
• During 2010-14, Gaurav ran strategy for International Wealth Management (“IWM”) and his key contributions were negotiating and executing four different sale processes for sub-scale IWM businesses across the UK, UAE, Italy, Switzerland, and India.
• During 2008-10, Gaurav ran global Private Wealth Management (“PWM”) strategy and led creation of banking capabilities for PWM Asia (PWM Asia business has been retained under Institutional Equities as of Jan 2013).

Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Gaurav has worked in corporate strategy and execution roles across McKinsey, Merrill Lynch, and Citi Private Bank.  Gaurav earned a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, graduating in 2001 from MIT.

Senior Executive practiced in leveraging internal Assets & Liabilities structure/management and product skills to drive productivity and revenue across diverse platforms. Optimize internal assets and liabilities to deliver maximum client return/value. 

Gary Horbacz, CFA,is a Principal on PGIM Fixed Income’s Structured Product Team. His area of credit research specialization is Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities (CMBS). Mr. Horbacz joined the team in 2000 following five years in the Firm’s Portfolio Management Group. Mr. Horbacz currently serves as a member of the Alternative Reference Rates Committee and is also a member of the Structured Finance Association’s Board of Directors. Mr. Horbacz earned a BS in Management Information Systems and an MBA in Finance from Seton Hall University. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

Alice has been with the Firm for 34 years, working across trading and sales businesses within the CIB, focusing on risk, operations, technology, business development, business strategy, sales, and structuring. 

She is currently in the CIB Strategy Group, working on crypto and blockchain initiatives, digital initiatives, and benchmark reform.  Alice is a member of the Alternative Reference Rate Committee and sits on the Firm’s internal steering committee overseeing Libor transition.   Until recently, she was also the Chair of the North American Reputation Risk Committee in the CIB, a role she held for over a decade.

Prior to her strategy role, Alice originated and ran the Operational Risk Management function for the global CIB for 4 years. Before that she was a senior sales manager in Global Fixed Income, where she specialized in strategic and special situations across sales, trading, and coverage banking.  Alice also globally managed structural risks associated with many of the Firm’s flow derivatives clients and activities.  

She is on the executive committee of the CIB women’s diversity network, and is the senior sponsor for several junior women initiatives.    She was the head of Diversity and Inclusion for CIB Risk, and was the Culture and Conduct Head for Firm Wide Risk.   She is also part of the Asian Executive Forum.

Alice has won numerous awards, and has been profiled in publications ranging from Top Women in Retail and Finance to The New York Times to Elle Magazine.  She has also been active in the industry, having served on a number private and public sector working committees and task forces, focused on structural changes to capital markets.   She has also spoken on numerous industry panels.
 

Ann M. Battle is Head of Benchmark Reform at ISDA where she leads ISDA’s global efforts related to the transition away from LIBOR and other benchmark reform initiatives. 

Ann represents ISDA on the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC) and the Interest Rate Benchmark Reform Subcommittee of the CFTC Market Risk Advisory Committee.  She also leads ISDA’s global work with the FSB Official Sector Steering Group (OSSG) to implement more robust fallbacks for derivative contracts.  At ISDA Ann also covers derivatives clearing and CCP-related issues, bank resolution, and netting and collateral opinions for cleared and uncleared derivatives.  Prior to joining ISDA, she was a counsel in the Legal Division, Complex Financial Institutions Section of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Her work at the FDIC focused on resolution of systemically important financial institutions and, specifically, on domestic and cross-border issues related to derivatives and financial market infrastructures. Prior to joining the FDIC, Ms. Battle was an attorney with the law firm of Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP in Washington, DC, where her practice focused on derivatives and structured products (including regulation of such products), secured and unsecured lending, and capital markets transactions. Ms. Battle received her undergraduate B.S. Business Management from Georgia Tech and her J.D. from William & Mary Law School.

Chris is Managing Director, Global Head of Derivatives Trading for Prudential Financial.  His responsibilities include global fixed income and equity derivatives as well as foreign exchange.  Chris began his career with Prudential in 1989, and has worked within Prudential’s derivatives subsidiary since 1993.  He has been in his current role since 2002. 

Chris holds a BA in Economics from Macalester College and an MBA with Distinction in Finance with an International Concentration from NYU.  Chris has earned both the CFA and CLU designations.

Dr. Sun, PhD is Senior Vice President, Financial Engineering at Numerix. He is also product manager of the Numerix CrossAsset analytics platform. During his career at Numerix, Dr. Sun’s work has appeared in number of publications and academic journals, and he has been showcased as a lecturer at a range of academic events and industry conferences. Dr. Sun served as a consultant to Lehman Brothers as a FX / EQ Desk Quant, and his is extensive experience includes working to develop the Numerix cross-currency Economic Scenario Generator. He earned a Doctorate Degree in Physics from City College of New York, and a Master’s Degree and Undergraduate Degree in Physics from Fudan University in Shanghai, China.

Chris manages for SIFMA's securitization and corporate credit advocacy and other activities. 

SIFMA has a special focus on agency MBS markets and maintains a collection of market standards and trading practices governing the TBA market. For the last few years, primary mandates in this area have been regulatory reform, the implementation of a single security for TBA trading, FINRA 4210 margin requirements, securitization capital requirements, and the world of GSE/housing finance reform. 

In the fall of 2018 Chris took over SIFMA’s corporate credit activities in addition to the securitization responsibilities.  This includes issues such as fixed income market structure, TRACE, and execution of SIFMA’s Insurance and Risk-Linked Securities Conference.  

He is also the primary staffer for SIFMA's activities related to LIBOR and the transition to alternative reference rates in the US and participates on the Federal Reserve’s Alternative Reference Rates Committee along with a number of subcommittees.

He also helps to coordinate SIFMA's activities related to fintech. 

Chris joined the Bond Market Association (predecessor to SIFMA) in 2005 as the analyst for the MBS and Securitized Products Division. He became head of the securitization group in 2013.  Prior to joining SIFMA, he was an accountant in the Retail Securitization Accounting and Investor Reporting group at JPMorgan Chase & Co., and was responsible for investor reporting and other administration of auto, student loan, and mortgage securitization transactions.

Chris holds Bachelor’s Degrees in Economics and Government from Franklin and Marshall College.
 
 

Sairah Burki is Managing Director, Regulatory Policy at CREFC, where she focuses on regulatory issues with a significant impact on the commercial and multifamily real estate finance industry.  

Prior to joining CREFC, Sairah was a Managing Director and Head of Policy at the Structured Finance Association (SFA). Over the course of her six years at SFA, Sairah built the organization’s asset-backed policy function—developing its strategic response to new policy initiatives and regulatory requirements across a wide range of topics in the structured finance industry. Areas she covered included the Volcker Rule, risk retention, capital and liquidity requirements, Reg AB II disclosure requirements, and derivatives rulemakings. Most recently, Sairah worked extensively on the LIBOR transition, representing SFA on the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC) and co-chairing with Lisa Pendergast the ARRC’s Securitization Working Group. 

While at SFA, Sairah established and served as the first Executive Director of the Structured Finance Foundation, ensuring it fulfilled its mandate to enhance educational opportunities for underserved young people through scholarship funding.

Before joining SFA, Sairah spent seven years at Capital One where she was a Director on the securitization team, working on deal execution, feasibility studies across new trust structures, and compliance requirements. During the 2008 financial crisis, as Director of Treasury Policy, Sairah pivoted from a securitization role to one focused on developing Capital One’s response to the myriad Dodd-Frank and Basel proposals that had significant corporate finance and capital markets implications. Prior to Capital One, Sairah spent three years on the capital markets team at Xerox Corporation where she worked on unsecured issuance, ran the share repurchase program, and helped manage the derivatives portfolio.

Sairah graduated cum laude from Princeton University with a BA in Public Policy and received her MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

Chris is a Partner in KPMG in the US’ Capital Markets group serving financial services companies both as a risk practitioner and strategic advisor. Chris is an accomplished professional with 25 years of international experience in financial markets. Chris has extensive hands-on trading and risk management experience in foreign exchange and fixed income products. He also has cross-functional experience dealing with capital, liquidity and regulatory issues. Chris has been able to help banks and other financial services firms prepare and adapt to changing regulation and market challenges. Chris has focused his most recent efforts helping financial institutions think through the strategic implications on their business and operating models as they relate to regulatory change from a governance, efficiency and optimization perspective.

Rachel Bryant leads the enterprise-wide LIBOR Transition at Regions Bank, directing all work streams, communications, and activities related to the transition. Prior to this role, she was Head of Market, Liquidity, Capital, and Strategic Risk Management managing several risk teams. During her four years with Regions, she has led capital planning (CCAR), Resolution Planning, and Regions’ Volcker Program. Before joining Regions, Rachel held several roles with the Federal Reserve Bank, including leadership and examiner roles at the Richmond Fed and Atlanta Fed. She began her career in trading and corporate finance. 
Rachel is active in the industry and was recently honored as one of the fifteen Most Powerful Women in Banking under 40 by the American Bankers Association. She serves as a board member with the Professional Risk Managers’ International Association (PRMIA) and volunteers with the Financial Services Roundtable where she lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. Last year, she founded the Quantitative Women’s Networking Group at Regions Bank to mentor women in quantitative roles. 
Rachel holds a Bachelor’s in Business Management from Georgia Tech, and is currently pursuing an Executive MBA with Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC Chapel Hill. She also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Professional Risk Manager (PRM) designations. Rachel has been published on several financial topics, including authoring a book on how to pass the CFA Program titled Direct Path to the CFA Charter. 

Ralph Axel is a Director in US Rates Research. Regular Research publications include the Global Rates Weekly, Liquid Insight, and World at a Glance. Previously, he worked as a Rates Strategist at Lehman Brothers, HSBC and Deutsche Bank. He has a BS in mathematics from University of Massachusetts Amherst and an M.S and PhD in mathematics from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Professor Berner served as the first director of the Office of Financial Research (OFR) from 2013 until 2017. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 established the OFR to support the Financial Stability Oversight Council, the Council’s member organizations and the public. The OFR’s mission is to promote financial stability by delivering high-quality financial data, standards and analysis.

He was counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury from April 2011 to 2013. His principal responsibilities included advising the Secretary on financial and regulatory issues and starting up the Office of Financial Research.

Professor Berner was a managing director, chief US economist at Morgan Stanley from 1999 to 2011 and co-head of Global Economics from 2008 to 2011.

He was executive vice president and chief economist at Mellon Bank, and a member of Mellon's Senior Management Committee (1992-99). Previously, he served as a principal and senior economist for Morgan Stanley, as a director and senior economist for Salomon Brothers (1985-91), as economist for Morgan Guaranty Trust Company (1982-85) and as director of the Washington, DC, office of Wharton Econometrics (1980-82).

Professor Berner served on the research staff of the Federal Reserve in Washington, where he co-directed the Fed’s model-based forecast and was a member of the team that developed the Fed’s first multi-country model used for international policy analysis (1972-80). He has been an adjunct professor of economics at Carnegie-Mellon University and at George Washington University.

He is an advisor to FinRegLab, an innovation center that tests new technologies and data to inform public policy and promote a responsible and inclusive financial marketplace. He is a member of the Milken Fintech initiative, led by former OCC head Tom Curry and former Treasury official Melissa Koide. He is a senior advisor to MacroPolicy Perspectives, an economic consulting firm. He is a member of the Board of Advisors of HData, which helps data companies involved in RegTech and Legal Tech solutions. He is a member of the IMF panel of experts for financial stability.

Professor Berner has been a member of the Economic Advisory Panel of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, a member of the Panel of Economic Advisers of the Congressional Budget Office, a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the National Bureau of Economic Research, a member of the Advisory Committee of the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce, a member of the Board of Directors of the Penn Institute for Economic Research and a member of the Board of Advisors of Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC. He served as an associate for the Counterparty Risk Management Policy Group II. He is a Past President and Fellow of the National Association for Business Economics and is the past chair of the Economic Advisory Panel of the Bond Market Association. He is the winner of forecasting awards from Market News and the National Association for Business Economics, the 2007 recipient of the William Butler Award for Excellence in Business Economics and has been a member of Time’s Board of Economists.

He received his bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in Economics from Harvard College in 1968, and his PhD in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1976. He researched his dissertation under the supervision of Professor Lawrence Klein, and was funded by SSRC-Ford Foundation grants at both the University of Louvain, Belgium, and at the University of Bologna, Italy, from 1971-72.

Henry has over 20 years of experience leading data and technology-based business transformation. His passion and expertise is to apply integrated solutions to business challenges that are often multi-layered and cross-functional. His experience is rooted in repeated success in the document management space where he has provided customers with models and answers to complex questions regarding their data, as it pertains to risks and opportunities.  Risk mitigation and business transformation in the context of enterprise initiatives is a key competence.
Major Projects

• Oversaw research, development and rollout of a comprehensive initiative for improving customer communication, business efficiency that achieved a strategic positive shift in stakeholder relations.  Net result was formation of a new centralized call centre, closing of 3 regional offices and roll-out of new CRM with automated documentation data capture – complete with OCR, event tracking and automated communications.

• Conducted intensive data analysis in support of actuarial projections, enhanced data capture and model generation for forecast analysis for claims.  Conducted analysis of data regarding securitization of risks in support of policy reviews.

• Prepared Enterprise Risk Management model to expand tracking and initiatives review at Corporate level.

• Directed planning of ERP, CRM and Business Reporting systems

• Oversaw deployment of Agile software development methodologies.

• Initiated design and launch of Quality Management Systems for software development, professional services and technical support in support in order to meet requirements of highly regulated industries.

• Directed the implement of an Electronic Learning Management System

• Launched initiatives to deploy Content Management Systems. • Executive sponsor for major customer project that included review of 500,000+ contracts and analytics to meet requirements for Dodd-Frank regulations.

• Extraction of content from automated documentation logs 

Robert leads a team of around twenty front office professionals and fund managers responsible for the design, modelling, and management of more sophisticated investment portfolios and products. As well as on-going portfolio management responsibility for ASI's Liability Aware mandates (c. £50bn), the team's remit spans the asset classes in both funded and derivative instruments to deliver client-focused investment solutions. Accordingly, as the place where investment solution design meets portfolio management, the team plays an important role in connecting and enabling broader business capabilities, as well as influencing and directing innovative product design across the firm.

Robert holds a B.Sc. in Physics from the University of Edinburgh, an M.Sc. in Financial Mathematics from Kings College London, and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cambridge. After completing his Ph.D., Robert was recruited directly from university into ABN AMRO's derivatives structuring group.  During his time at ABN, he helped establish the Relative Value (prop) Trading desk, and spent time as a market maker in Danish mortgage-backed bonds. Robert then moved to J.P. Morgan to join a Credit Derivatives Structuring team in New York, where he focused on the more technical side of credit derivative pricing and trading.  Upon his return to London, Robert worked in the Rates and Inflation Structuring team at Lloyds Banking Group, where he gained experience in inflation derivative pricing.  In January, 2010, Robert joined Standard Life Investments where he subsequently became Head of the Structured Solutions Team.