Andrew Berlin is Vice President, Director of Policy Research at the LSTA. In this role, he strategizes with the Policy team on the LSTA’s initiatives, develops thought leadership, policy-related research, and presentations, and engages loan and CLO market participants, press, regulators, lawmakers, and other stakeholders on market developments and the LSTA’s policy positions.

Previously, Andrew was the Director of Global Financial Services Industry Thought Leadership and Content Strategy at Protiviti, a global consulting firm and wholly owned subsidiary of Robert Half. He has over a decade of experience covering leveraged finance capital markets through the credit lifecycle as a journalist and in editorial leadership roles at Debtwire, Reuters, and Reorg.

He received an MBA in finance from Boston University and a BFA in drama from New York University.

David Chmiel is the Managing Director of Global Torchlight, a geopolitical research and analysis firm. He advises companies in a broad range of industries on the effects of international events on their business strategies and operations. He has a particular interest in issues related to the use of cross-border trade and investment for broader national security and foreign policy purposes.

Prior to co-founding Global Torchlight, David practiced for a decade as a cross-border mergers & acquisitions lawyer in the London and Chicago offices of a leading global law firm, acting primarily for Fortune 500 companies.

David comments on geopolitical events for media in Canada, the UK, and the US and he speaks frequently on these topics at conferences and seminars around the world. He holds an MA in Intelligence and International Security from the War Studies Department of King’s College London, an LL.B (Hons) degree from University College London and a BA in Economics and History from the University of Victoria, British Columbia.

Fil is a market leading lender-side leveraged finance partner. He joined A&O Shearman in 2024 from Barclays Investment Bank, where he was a Managing Director in the front office Leveraged Finance execution team, overseeing the origination, structuring and execution of leveraged finance transactions for financial sponsors across EMEA and the US.

Prior to joining Barclays, he spent 10 years working at Clifford Chance, both in their London and Milan office.

Fil combines a very robust magic circle background with the commercial acumen, industry awareness, deep market knowledge as well as a proactive and solution-driven attitude developed in the context of a top 3 EMEA Leveraged Finance franchise.

Such a holistic skillset, coupled with a credible, mature and calm demeanour, ideally position Fil to be the partner of choice, trusted adviser and solution provider for large and highly complex leveraged, acquisition and corporate finance transactions.

Aaron Ferner is a London-based partner in Davis Polk’s market-leading Finance practice.

With nearly two decades of financing experience, Aaron has advised on many of the most significant trans-Atlantic leveraged, investment-grade and private credit deals in the market.

Aaron represents major financial institutions and alternative credit providers alike on a full range of financial products, from large-cap syndicated loans to smaller direct lending transactions.

Aaron also has extensive experience advising on the financing of UK and international public company takeovers.

Ian Gilbertson is Managing Director, Co-Head of US CLOs, and Senior Portfolio Manager for Invesco’s Global Private Credit team. In this role, he is responsible for the structuring and

management of CLO (collateralized loan obligation) funds, as well as trading and investing in CLO securities of third-party managers. Additionally, Mr. Gilbertson is Co-Lead Portfolio Manager for Invesco’s US CLO franchise.

Mr. Gilbertson joined Invesco in 2008 as a credit analyst for the Senior Secured Management group and was promoted to junior portfolio manager in 2016. In 2019, he took on portfolio management responsibilities for CLOs, as well as management of Invesco’s CLO note strategies. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Gilbertson worked in market data at Fidelity Investments.

Mr. Gilbertson earned a BBA degree in finance and accounting from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.

Sean Griffin is the CEO & Executive Director of the LSTA, the trade association for the multi-trillion dollar corporate loan market in the United States.

Prior to joining the LSTA in April 2024, Mr. Griffin spent 23 years at JPMorgan where he was a Managing Director and held various roles within its global markets division, including deputy head and co-head of JPMorgan’s Global Primary CLO business.  Mr. Griffin’s experience covers cash flow and market value securitization products and spans multiple asset classes focusing on corporate credit and bank loans.

While at JPMorgan, Mr. Griffin worked with various issuers and investors, including private equity, hedge funds, asset & money managers, banks and insurance companies.  Mr. Griffin utilized CLO/CDO technology to provide clients with access to capital and address their business goals, whether it be the growth of AUM via traditional CLO/CDO issuance, balance sheet relief and more specialized bespoke financing solutions.

Mr. Griffin received a BA in Mathematical Economics from Brown University.  He resides in Westport, CT with his family where he is actively involved with youth sports, including football, soccer and rugby.

Based in Melbourne, Australia, Lewis Grimm has over two decades of leveraged finance experience working on marquee deals in New York, Europe, and Australia. He represents financial institutions, private credit and institutional lenders, and corporate borrowers on cutting-edge domestic and cross-border leveraged and investment-grade lending as well as high-profile restructuring and bankruptcy matters.

Lewis was recognized by New York Metro Super Lawyers as a “Rising Star” for four consecutive years, designated by M&A Advisor as one of 40 leading lawyers under the age of 40, and was named by The Legal 500 US as a “Next Generation Lawyer.

Michael S. Hanson is an Executive Director and Senior Economist at J.P. Morgan. Mr. Hanson conducts current, quantitative, and thematic economic research, co-authors the U.S. Weekly Prospects and contributes to the Global Data Watch publications. In his first five years at the firm, Mr. Hanson worked as a Global Economist. Prior to joining J.P. Morgan, Mr. Hanson was the Head of Global Macro Strategy at TD Securities. He previously held senior economist positions at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers, has worked at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the New York Fed, and has taught at Wesleyan University and Yale School of Management. Mr. Hanson earned a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan and an M.S. in Mathematics from New York University. He graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania with degrees from both the Wharton School and the College of Arts and Sciences.

Emma is Chief of Staff at the LMA, a role in which she wears many hats. Her remit includes strategic, executive and operational matters, and she works alongside the CEO to ensure that the LMA is working effectively for its members and the EMEA loan markets.

Prior to joining the LMA, Emma spent 16 years as a lawyer; first specialising in Restructuring & Insolvency at Freshfields, then moving to an in-house role supporting the fixed income and private credit teams at Invesco. Throughout her career, she has also designed and led graduate legal training and development programmes, and implemented process and technology improvements.

Emma graduated from The London School of Economics and Political Science with a degree in Law with French Law, having spent one year studying in Strasbourg.

Ilona specializes in representing lenders, financial institutions and borrowers in connection with a wide range of financing transactions, including private credit and broadly syndicated leveraged and investment-grade financings, acquisition financings, spinoffs, cross-border financings, debt restructurings, and other secured and unsecured financings.

Ilona regularly speaks at industry conferences and has authored many recent thought leadership articles on the market’s latest developments and trends. She is head of the US Women’s Committee which has won awards for affinity group impact for educational and awareness raising as well as affinity group impact award for mentoring and training.

Jessica Reiss graduated from Brandeis University magna cum laude in 1999 and from University of Pennsylvania Law School in 2002. Jessica practiced law at Shearman & Sterling LLP, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, and Goodwin Procter LLP. She has extensive experience representing borrowers, lenders, arrangers, agent banks, and sponsors on complex commercial syndicated revolving and term loans; senior, junior and mezzanine financings; leveraged buyouts; and offerings of debt securities. Prior to joining Covenant Review, Jessica was the head of loan covenant research for Moody’s. Jessica joined Covenant Review in 2015, where she serves as the Head of US Leveraged Loan Research, covering the broadly syndicated and private credit leveraged loan markets.

Sabrina Rusnak-Carlson is general counsel for First Eagle Alternative Credit, responsible for legal and compliance review of business operations, investing transactions, regulatory filings and strategic initiatives. Sabrina became part of First Eagle in 2020 upon the firm’s acquisition of THL Credit, which she had joined in 2015. Previously, Sabrina was a partner in the corporate department and a member of the finance, multi-tranche finance and distressed debt groups of Proskauer Rose LLP; there she represented alternative lenders in a variety of complex financings. Before that, she was an associate at Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP and a financial consultant at Triage Consulting Group. Sabrina earned a BS in business administration from Georgetown University and a JD from the Boston University School of Law.

Matthew Edward Schernecke advises direct lenders, mezzanine investment funds, and venture capital investors in a variety of debt and investment transactions with borrowers of all sizes, types, and structures. He also counsels private equity clients and corporate borrowers on domestic and cross-border acquisition financings, out-of-court restructurings and workouts, bankruptcy matters, ESG and impact investment financings, and real estate financings. Matthew leads transactions spanning diverse industries, including financial services, real estate, retail, life sciences, health care, technology, food and beverage, hospitality, film and music entertainment, media, and telecommunications.

Nicole Skalla is a partner in the Structured Credit practice at Paul Hastings and is based in the New York office. Her practice focuses on securitization and structured finance, with a particular emphasis on structured credit products and collateralized loan obligation transactions. Nicole represents investment banks, financial institutions, investment advisors, issuers, investors, and end-users in collateralized loan obligation transactions, cash, hybrid, and synthetic CDOs, and other asset-backed securities transactions. She has also represented investment banks and others in connection with credit derivative and other swap transactions and asset repackaging programs.

Amelia is a Managing Director of the Loan Market Association leading on a variety of key sectoral and documentation projects including those relating to Africa, CRI, SRT and LMA.Automate. She also heads up the Association’s legal team.

Tess Virmani is Deputy General Counsel, EVP – Head of Policy at the LSTA.

As a member of the senior leadership team, Tess heads the LSTA’s policy initiatives and serves as lead on all ESG initiatives. In this broad role, Tess has the opportunity to further the Association’s mission of promoting a fair, orderly, and efficient loan market. She and the Policy team engage with market participants, press and regulators on issues and developments in the global loan market. The LSTA’s Policy team offers thought-leadership through publications, conferences, and webcasts.  On ESG developments, the Association has been significantly involved in sustainable lending and ESG reporting in private markets since the emergence of this trend. On behalf of the Association, Tess founded and serves as Co-Secretariat on the ESG Integrated Disclosure Project and maintains global sustainable loan frameworks, such as the Green Loan Principles and Sustainability-Linked Loan Principles.

Prior to joining the LSTA, Tess practiced as a finance attorney at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in New York. She received a B.S. in International Politics from the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law. She is admitted as an attorney in New York. She is a Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting Credential Holder and holds a CFA Institute Certificate in ESG Investing.

Patrick represents private credit providers in transactions spanning the full range of the middle market, including unitranche, recurring revenue, second lien, mezzanine, holdco and preferred equity. He has broad experience representing a diverse group of specialty finance companies, private debt funds, business development companies, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies and other private sources of capital. Patrick has represented lenders across a wide range of industries, including technology, healthcare, retail, professional services, business services, aerospace, and education, to support transactions that include acquisitions, growth capital investments, refinancings, recapitalizations, restructurings and special situations.  Patrick has expertise in liability management exercises and has represented individual creditors and ad hoc groups of lenders in a variety of LME situations.

Sanders advises clients on a broad array of financing products, including leveraged loans, project financings, asset-based lending, bankruptcy and restructuring financings, investment-grade financings, unsecured lending and structured credits. His clients include numerous leading private credit funds, bulge-bracket financial institutions and public and closely held companies in the retail, media, technology and energy sectors. In 2024, Law360 named Sanders a “Rising Star” in banking.”