Events

Mencía Bobo Aritio, with more than 14 years’ experience in the financial sector, has held several positions in Global Debt Finance (GDF), Risk Division and Global Transaction Banking (GTB) since she joined Santander Corporate & Investment Banking in 2006. She joined Santander in 2006 as a member of the Global Project Finance Group, where she led complex structured transactions across different geographies and industries. In 2010, she moved to the Risk division, as Director of Structured Finance, becoming responsible, at a global level, for the Infrastructure and Natural Resources sector.

Mr. Mike Avidon is a partner in Moses & Singer LLP, a New York City law firm, where he is Co-Chair of the Banking and Finance Practice Group. He is widely recognized for his knowledge of letters of credit (LCs), lending, and secured transactions. Mr. Avidon practice emphasizes secured and unsecured lending transactions, LC transactions, trade finance, supply chain finance, electronic contracting, outsourcing and white labeling agreements, and LC litigation. His LC work involves standby, direct pay, and commercial LCs as well as demand guarantees. His clients include money center banks (often acting as administrative agent for a syndicate of lenders) and other financial institutions.

Buddy Baker is entering his 44th year of working with letters of credit and with people who work with letters of credit.  This time has mainly been spent in employment with banks that actively finance international trade, like ABN AMRO, The First National Bank of Chicago, and 5 more banks that no longer exist, but he also spent 3 years with Atradius Trade Credit Insurance, and a couple of years working as a freelance consultant to banks and exporters.  In late 2016, he returned to banking to join Goldman Sachs, where he serves as an internal expert on deals and problems involving letters of credit, based in Chicago. Mr. Baker has written numerous magazine articles and several books on how letters of credit work, including the Users’ Handbook to Documentary Credits under UCP600 (ICC Publication No.694); designed online training and certification programs for credit managers and bankers, including the standby letter of credit modules for the ICC Academy; and frequently speaks at national meetings of bankers, credit managers, and lawyers, like this one.  He recently replaced Don Smith as US delegate to the ICC Banking Commission.

Mr. John Baranello is the North American Head of Trade Finance Product Management at Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets whose responsibilities include the design, creation and implementation of local and global Supply Chain & traditional Trade Finance products, associated training and marketing, and related technical and regulatory compliance. He is the Chair of BAFT’s Supply Chain Finance Committee and former Chair of the New York/Metropolitan Division of the BAFT Documentary Letter of Credit Committee. He has been involved in the review and advisory stages of the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCP), the International Standard Banking Practices (ISBP 745), International Standby Practices (ISP98), & the Uniform Rules for Demand Guarantees (URDG 758) – being the first to commercialize these rules in the United States. Recognized by the FBI for his work in Trade Finance, Mr. Baranello has assumed numerous trade advocacy roles most recently with the Global Supply Chain Finance Forum.

As director of cargo marketing for the Port of Los Angeles, Eric Caris is responsible for marketing, sales, and promotional programs designed to attract and retain shipping business to the Port. A significant activity involves the negotiation of container terminal leases in collaboration with the Cargo and Industrial Real Estate Division. On the efficiency side, Cargo Marketing plays an integral part of implementing the Port Optimizer™ program, which provides supply chain stakeholders with added visibility to the supply chain.

Merlin Dowse is an Executive Director and the Global Product Manager within the Core Product team. In this capacity, Merlin leads a global team that manages all forms of Digital Channels available to the clients of J.P. Morgan. The team is responsible for the end to end product development and delivery for J.P. Morgan’s proprietary platforms to 3rd party that support the bank’s wide array of Traditional Trade products and services. Merlin previously held the position of Global Product Manager for the Portfolio Management Group within Global Trade at JP Morgan. In this role he was the lead for all digitization efforts of both the internal and external processes supporting the distribution of trade assets. Prior to this he was based in London where he focused on the products supporting the Corporate client segment. Merlin worked on various initiatives ranging from the Bank Payment Obligation, SWIFT for Corporates whilst also helping expand JP Morgan’s global footprint.

Mr. Frank Fortes is the Senior Trade Finance Expert, responsible to provide legal advice on complex trade finance transactions and training on Trade-based money laundering & sanctions. Mr. Fortes has over 10 years of experience in Trade Finance and International Business Law which he mainly built in one of the Trade Finance leading banks, the HSBC Group. Prior to joining the Toronto-Dominion Bank, he held various senior positions as Legal Counsel at HSBC France or Manager of the International Guarantees Unit of HSBC Canada. He is also CITF (Certificate in International Trade and Finance) and CSDG (Certificate for Specialists in Demand Guarantees) certified.

Mr. Normand Girard is Director, Global Trade Operations for BMO Financial Group. He is responsible for the Bank’s processing of all trade finance products in North America as well as process oversight in Europe and Asia. Mr. Girard has over 30 years of experience in Global Trade Operations at BMO Financial Group. During his career with the Bank, he has covered every role in Import, Export, Standby Letters of Credit and Collections as well as integral operations leadership roles throughout the evolution of BMO’s trade finance business. He has been Chair of the BAFT Southeast Committee from 2011 to 2017. He is a Certified Documentary Credit Specialist and currently Chair of the BAFT National Commercial Letter of Credit Committee since 2017.

Mr. Jeremiah Glock comes to us with over 50 years of experience in Global Trade Operations, with 25 years at Citi in various positions. For the last 14 years he has been one of Citi’s Global Trade Advisors, assisting with providing guidance in all functions of Letters of Credit (Advising Commercial / Standby L/C’s and Examination of Documents), Import and Export Collections, Reimbursements and Compliance and Potential Risk items. Mr. Glock is CDCS (Certified Documentary Credit Specialist) certified and also represents Citi as the Vice Chair on the Southeast Letter of Credit Committee which includes the Collection Committee.

Raja Hafeez is Vice President, Global Trade Services Division of Frost Bank, San Antonio, Texas. Raja has been with Frost for the last 11 years and is a key person for GTS initiatives and expansion.   Raja brings more than 25 years of banking experience in different roles and levels from multiple banks and countries. He has a solid network with other bankers in the region, Asia and Europe.  Raja holds the Certified Documentary Credit Specialist (CDCS) designation from BAFT. He earned a Bachelor degree in Business & Finance and MBA in Global Management & Entrepreneurship University of Houston. In addition Raja is Chairperson of BAFT (Bankers Association for Finance & Trade) Trade Finance West Coast Regional Committee and member of BAFT Trade Finance Central Committee.

Mr. Sam Jebamony, based in Chicago is the Manager for Standby LC Operations at JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A.
Prior to joining JPMorgan Chase in June 2009, Mr. Jebamony has headed International Trade Operations departments at various major domestic and international banks. With 30+ years trade product and operations experience, Mr. Jebamony has been an active participant in national and regional Standby LC Committees and is a member of the Council on International Standby Practices (CISP).

Adam Klauder is a senior director in Guidehouse’s Global Investigations and Compliance practice. He is a seasoned compliance executive, attorney, and senior leader with a proven track record of guiding financial institutions and corporations through complex compliance investigations and structural reorganization. Adam has an extensive background in developing overall compliance strategy, directing high-profile global sanctions, export controls, and anti-corruption investigations, and providing strategic guidance on the build-out of corporate compliance functions.

Mr. Kim Manchester brings his extensive background in international banking to the global financial services industry. While based in both Hong Kong and Singapore, Mr. Manchester held senior regional and global positions in corporate banking, institutional banking and capital markets for one of the world’s largest emerging markets financial institutions. Mr. Manchester returned to Canada in 2003 and founded ManchesterCF. Based in Toronto, the practice provides financial crime risk management training programs and advisory services to financial institutions and public-sector agencies. The most successful training programs from ManchesterCF include the Financial Crime Training series for international banking and the FINTEL series for financial intelligence units.

Patrick J. McArdle, a Partner in the Financial Crimes practice, has more than twenty years of experience in regulatory compliance, consulting and law enforcement. He specializes in Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and anti-money laundering (AML) compliance, fraud prevention and forensic accounting investigations. Patrick was a regulatory enforcement investigator which required him to conduct highly sensitive and complex specialized investigations involving violations of bank regulations, illegal activities and suspicious transactions. This work necessitated Patrick to develop and test numerous BSA/AML compliance programs. 

Ms. Mary Ann McCarty is with PNC Bank and has over 38 years of experience with trade products. She currently manages the Standby Operations for PNC which includes management of all aspects of syndications. Mary Ann’s expertise is with Standby Letters of Credit and is very involved with risk management issues. She is currently an active member of the BAFT National Standby Letter of Credit Committee.

Ukamaka Okpara is a Senior Trade Finance Analyst with eleven years of experience in Trade Finance Operations. Her experience in this market includes product coverage on Documentary Collections, Export Letters of Credit and extensive knowledge in Standby Letters of Credit and Guarantees. Ukamaka is a graduate of Federal Polytechnic Oko, Nigeria with Distinction and has attained the following accreditations: Certified Anti Money Laundering Specialist, Certified Documentary Credit Specialist and Certified Specialist in Demand Guarantee

Mr. Glenn Ransier is the SVP Head of Documentary Trade and SBLCs with Wells Fargo Bank. He is currently a Technical Advisor assisting the production of official Banking Commission Opinions for the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris, France. He also has delegation experience at the ICC and at the International Organization for Standardization. Mr. Ransier has been an involved member of BAFT for decades and was most recently the Chair of the Oil and Commodity LC Working Group in 2015.

Ms. Cathleen Ryan is the Director of Enforcement in the Office of Antiboycott Compliance (Bureau of Industry and Security, U.S. Department of Commerce) (OAC), responsible for investigations and administrative enforcement actions. Ms. Ryan joined OAC in 1993, after several years in various financial, administrative and legal functions with a U.S. multinational, both in New York and Paris.

=Ms. Lelia Savory is Senior Vice President, Product and Servicing Manager for the International Department at First Tennessee Bank. She has performed various roles in trade services over the past 22 years and is now responsible for the team that processes trade finance and foreign exchange related transactions. She is a Certified Documentary Credit Specialist and the incoming Chair of the BAFT Southeast Letter of Credit Committee.

Ms. Kristine Siebel is currently at Societe Generale in their Trade Finance Group, previously she had been a Senior Credit Officer for Royal Bank of Canada responsible for their Captive Reinsurance Business in New York. Prior to joining RBC, Ms. Siebel was Assistant Vice President and Standby Letter of Credit Risk Officer for JPMorgan Chase Bank in New York. Ms. Siebel has been in Trade Services for over 35 years beginning with JPMorgan Chase’s predecessor bank Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company. Ms. Siebel has extensive experience in both the issuance and the risk aspects of Standby Letters of Credit. She has been a member of the BAFT National Standby Letter of Credit Committee since its inception in 1994 and is currently the Chair.

Having started my career as a document examiner under Commercial Letters of Credit with the then ABN Amro (back office unit in India) to now working as a Senior Trade Expert (International Guarantees) with the Trade Expertise Desk of BNP Paribas, Brussels, Belgium, over the past (10+) years of my exciting journey in traditional Trade Finance I have had the opportunity to don several hats. Some of my previous positions include Senior LC officer at BNP Paribas Montreal, Canada, Trade Finance Trainer for both SBLCs and Commercial LCs related topics, Client Service Manager- Trade finance CIBC, Montreal, Canada. I am also a proud holder of the title "ICC Belgium Registered Trainer of the Incoterms® rules 2020".

Mr. Donald Smith has over 43 years of experience in letters of credit starting with the UCP 222. He is retired from Citibank New York and is currently President of Global Trade Advisory, a Charlotte NC based consulting firm focused on training in the traditional trade products, regulatory compliance and dispute resolution. He has been a member of the US delegation to the ICC Banking Commission since 1998, chaired the ICC’s Uniform Rules for Forfaiting drafting group, co-chaired the International Standard Banking Practices drafting group, was a member of the group which produced the International Standby Practices ISP98. He has been a member of BAFT and its predecessor organizations since 1982, a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee, and chaired the national Letter of Credit Committee and the Annual Conference several times.

Subha Srinivas is a project management and Documentary Credit Specialist with 10+ years of overall experience in International trade finance operations, Compliance, AML, Quality Assurance, Business Analysis in Banking Operations and technology related projects. Proven experience in managing multiple teams and handling complex trade process functions (Issuance, Advising, Negotiation- Document examination, Payment, Collections) across different geographical regions and time zones. Subha proficiently manage operations teams and has gained international experience through extensive travel for training and migration projects. She leads the AML, sanctions and compliance team who scrutinize the documents as per the norms of OFAC, AU and EU rules.

Ms. Marilyn Williams is a graduate of Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec with a Bachelor of Arts Degree and Graduates Studies in Instructional Administration. She has over 25 years of experience with Trade Finance Operations in a number of leadership roles. Over her tenure with the organization she has worked as a Business Consultant where she was accountable for business controls, procedures, and other compliance activities. She has also supported Operational Risk Management for Business Banking. With her passion coupled with her dedication for Trade, she was most recently the Senior Manager responsible for Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver Trade Finance Operations and is currently working on Special Projects supporting Trade Finance.