GARP 2024 Financial Risk Symposium

Sai Teja Akula is Senior Director of Data Science at LTX Trading. With over a decade of dedicated experience in the field of Artificial Intelligence, he stands at the forefront of implementing and leveraging data science within organizations. A respected figure in the AI community, he has played an instrumental role in transforming traditional business models by seamlessly integrating advanced data-driven solutions. His expertise extends from developing sophisticated machine learning algorithms to strategizing the holistic implementation of AI within organizational infrastructures. 

Monty Bedi is Executive Vice President in charge of asset and liability management, capital markets, finance, retail lending analytics, and risk technology (ACFR) at PNC Financial Services. In this role, he oversees technology development in support of critical functions of the bank, including comprehensive capital analysis, current expected credit losses, balance sheet management, AML/BSA, risk, and finance reporting. Bedi has 25 years of international leadership experience and previously served in a leadership role at CBIC Bank. He holds a master’s degree in computer science from Rutgers University. 

Oliver Bevan is a Partner at McKinsey’s Chicago office, with extensive experience serving clients in non-financial risks relating to data and operations across financial services and consumer technology. He co-leads McKinsey’s approach to the responsible development and deployment of generative AI, covering both client-facing advisory and internal efforts. He has supported multiple global clients in establishing their governance framework and approach.

Aaron Brown worked on Wall Street beginning in the early 1980s as a trader, portfolio manager, head of mortgage securities, and risk manager for several global financial institutions. Most recently he served for ten years as Chief Risk Officer of the major hedge fund AQR Capital Management. He was named the 2011 GARP Risk Manager of the Year. Aaron’s books on risk management include The Poker Face of Wall Street, Red-Blooded Risk, Financial Risk Management for Dummies, and A World of Chance (with Reuven and Gabriel Brenner). He currently teaches finance and mathematics as an adjunct and writes columns for Bloomberg.

Andy Cadel is the Chief Privacy Officer and head of Technology Data and Privacy Compliance at Morgan Stanley.

Prior to joining Morgan Stanley Andy was the Global Head of the Technology and Information Security Compliance Risk Management group at Citigroup where he developed and ran the compliance programs for technology cybersecurity and privacy.  

Andy spent over 18 years at JPMorgan Chase where he served in a number of positions in Legal Compliance and Technology: Global Head of Cybersecurity Governance Risk and Controls; General Counsel Technology IP Data Protection and Antitrust law; and Global Head of Technology and Privacy Compliance. 

His prior experience includes IBM and the law firms of Brobeck Phleger & Harrison and Weil Gotschal & Manges.  

He has a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law and an English Literature Degree from Columbia University. Andy served as a Board member of “My Sister’s Place” a domestic violence shelter and legal aid clinic in Westchester NY and represents asylum seekers pro bono.

He currently lives in New York City with his wife and Australian Terrier and enjoys cycling and bird watching.

Jen Capasso is currently the U.S. Head of Embedded Banking and Platforms at HSBC with over 19 years in the financial services industry dedicated to customer-first, future-focused wholesale banking transformation. Capasso is focused on creating seamless customer experiences, scaling and digitizing operations, unlocking growth through data, and empowering people with the tools to gain future skills. She has held various positions within HSBC’s retail and wholesale banking units, most recently serving as wholesale chief operating officer. 

Mr. Sid Dastidar is Oaktree Capital Management’s Head of Portfolio Construction & Risk Management, and is also responsible for leading risk modeling at the firm. He joined Oaktree in 2021 from Brigade Capital, where he was a senior quantitative analyst and risk officer focused on long/short high yield structured credit, distressed credit, capital structure arbitrage, equities, special situations, and illiquid strategies. Before that, Mr. Dastidar was the director and head of market strategy, equity derivatives at Newedge, a Société Générale-owned firm. He began his career at ICICI Bank in Mumbai as an investment manager focused on project finance, venture capital, and private equity before moving to Lehman Brothers/Barclays Capital as a vice president for quantitative portfolio strategy focused on bespoke assignments with buy side clients on portfolio construction, risk modeling, and index replication. He also devised a methodology for calculating liquidity scores for fixed income instruments, which was subsequently patented.

Mr. Dastidar earned a Ph.D. in Finance and Economics from Columbia Business School. His dissertation chapter was published in the Journal of Financial Economics, and he was chosen as the Best Ph.D. Student by Financial Research Association in 2007. Mr. Dastidar completed the PDGM degree (an MBA equivalent) at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, India, and a B.Sc. (honors) in Economics from the Presidency College in Calcutta, India. He is an adjunct professor at Columbia University teaching a graduate-level course on global capital markets, a textbook author, a member of the Economic Club of New York, and a CFA charterholder.

ChristopherDonohue is the Managing Director of the GARP Benchmarking Initiative, a datautility for financial services companies to compare sensitive data. Previously,he led GARP’s Educational and Research Programs, with oversight including the FinancialRisk Manager (FRM®) and Energy Risk Professional (ERP®).

Prior tojoining GARP, Donohue’s roles include hedge fund partner responsible for thedevelopment of asset allocation tools for pension funds and automated tradingsystems; director in the Global Research Center at Deutsche Asset Management, leadingproduct research and development; and Director of Optimization Technology atAlphatech, a technology and research defense contractor, where he led algorithmdevelopment for intelligence aircraft path planning and sensor scheduling systems.

Madiha Fatima is an Executive Director, Operational and Outsourcing Risk Management at JP Morgan, where she leads the second line of defense function for operational and outsourcing risk overseeing third party risk management, sourcing, procurement and inter-affiliate management. Previously, Fatima was the head of the Third Party Risk Management Department at Angelo Gordon where she was responsible for enabling businesses to achieve their strategic objectives from utilizing vendors. Prior to joining Angelo Gordon, she served as the head of third party risk governance and oversight at DTCC. Fatima is also a Certified Third Party Risk Professional (CTPRP), with a Bachelor’s of Science in Financial and Capital Markets from Rutgers Business School. 

Ludger Hentschel joined Versor Investments as a Founding Partner and is based in New York. Ludger has over 20 years of experience in quantitative research and investing. Prior to joining Versor Investments he was Managing Director of Analytical Research at MSCI where he led research in global multi-asset class risk models. This included alternative investments asset allocation and macroeconomic risk and liquidity risk. Before joining MSCI Ludger was Head of Quantitative Research and Asset Allocation for the Hedge Fund Group at Investcorp. Previously he was the Director of Equity Research at New York Life Investment Management was an Associate Professor of Finance at the University of Rochester and served as an Economist for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Ludger earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Yale and a PhD in Economics from Princeton. He has published articles in leading academic finance journals served as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Financial Economics and is a frequent speaker at financial seminars and conferences. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific US Foundation.

Sri Krishnamurthy, CFA, is the founder of QuantUniversity, a pioneering data and quantitative analysis firm. With a robust career spanning over two decades, Krishnamurthy has carved a niche in analytics, quantitative analysis, statistical modeling, machine learning, and the development of large-scale applications. His professional journey includes significant roles at Citigroup, Endeca, and MathWorks, further enriched by consulting engagements with over 25 clients across the financial services and energy sectors.  

A dedicated educator, he has imparted his extensive knowledge in quantitative methods, analytics, and big data at prestigious institutions such as Babson College, Northeastern University, and Hult International Business School, nurturing a new generation of data science professionals predominantly serving in financial services. 

Krishnamurthy holds an MS in Computer Systems Engineering and an MS in Computer Science from Northeastern University, alongside an MBA specializing in investments from Babson College. Lastly, he is a Chartered Financial Analyst, serves on the Board of CFA Society in Boston, and is on the steerage committee of QWAFAFEW. 

Shelly is a Managing Director in BMO BMO Wealth Management where she leads a global team responsible for the first line of defense including AML, Compliance, Operational Risk, and Crisis Management. The mandate includes preventing loss due to failure in process, people and systems and ensuring the execution of trading and investment banking businesses in compliance with applicable regulations. 

In addition, she is focused on integrating data with machine learning and AI to enhance the way we work and make decisions and to focus on real versus perceived risk. She leverages similar technology applied in a different way to design process and organizational efficiencies, influencing across the organization. 

Previously, she was the Head of Business Risk & Solutions for Capital Markets where she led 1st line non-financial risk and built ESG Risk and Algorithm risk capabilities. Shelly was also the COO for BMO’s US Trading business. She has over 25 years of experience across industries. Prior to joining BMO, she was a global COO at Barclays. She has a unique blend of experience in sell-side M&A, corporate infrastructure, risk and in leading large scale regulatory and business transformations. 

Shelly earned an MBA from Columbia Business School, an MS from Johns Hopkins University, and a BS from Penn State University. She holds FINRA Series 7 and 63 licenses. She has regulated and non-profit board experience and currently sits on the board of BMO Europe PLC and BMO Harris Investment Co.

Center for Ethics and Policy, and Chief Ethicist at the Block Center for Technology and Society at Carnegie Mellon University. An elected Fellow of the Hastings Center, Professor London’s work involves ethical and policy issues surrounding the development and deployment of novel technologies in medicine, biotechnology, and AI. He has authored For the Common Good: Philosophical Foundations of Research Ethics (Oxford University Press, 2022) and over 100 papers appearing in Mind, The Philosopher’s Imprint, Science, JAMA, The Lancet, The BMJ, PLoS Medicine, Statistics In Medicine, The Hastings Center Report, and other journals. 

Professor London is a member of the World Health Organization Expert Group on Ethics and Governance of AI, whose report “Ethics and governance of artificial intelligence for health” was published in 2021. He was on the U.S. National Academy of Medicine Committee on Creating a Framework for Emerging Science, Technology, and Innovation in Health and Medicine. Their report "Toward Equitable Innovation in Health and Medicine: A Framework” was published in 2023. He is currently co-leader of the ethics core for the NSF AI Institute for Collaborative Assistance and Responsive Interaction for Networked Groups.

Anthony Mancuso is Head of Risk Modeling and Decisioning in the RQS division of SAS. In that capacity, he has ultimate responsibility for market strategy, product requirements, project implementation, and advisory consulting for all Risk solutions relating to model development, deployment, monitoring, and governance. In addition, he works closely with internal and external colleagues to develop product pipeline, support presales activities, and provide training and knowledge transfer.

Anthony has worked at SAS since 2003, in a variety of roles. Initially an educator for Risk and econometrics, he then moved to R&D, where he became a technical lead and development manager. After transferring to SAS’ consulting group, Anthony participated in and led multiple projects around the globe, including model development and calibration, stress testing, market risk, IFRS9/CECL, and IFRS17. In general, his experience spans credit risk, stress testing, ALM, regulatory capital, and general risk analytics. He is the holder of two provisional patents. 

Anthony has a Masters in Statistics and PhD in Economics (econometrics concentration), both from North Carolina State University. 

William (Bill) May is the Managing Director of Global Head of Certifications and Educational Programs at GARP, and is responsible for the FRM, SCR, and other risk-relevant educational programs. Prior to joining GARP, William had over 20 years of market experience including serving as a Senior Director in Fitch Ratings’ credit market research group and as a Senior Research Officer at UBS Wealth Management. He has worked for several buy-side and sell-side firms including Bank of America and Federated Investors as well as specialty firms like Andrew Kalotay Associates and Law and Economic Consulting Group. He began his career in the research function of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and has worked on the Open Market Trading Desk and as a bank examiner. William holds a BS in applied mathematics and economics from Stony Brook University; an MBA, MA in economics, and Advanced Certificate in financial econometrics and data analysis from Fordham University; an MS in financial engineering from the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, an MS in applied statistics and an EdM in measurement and evaluation from Columbia University’s Teachers College where he is currently pursuing an MS in neuroscience and education.

Pedro Morales is a Director at Google where he currently leads the global AML/sanctions, KYC, and verification program. Before Google, Morales served as an officer of supervision and was a commissioned bank examiner at the Federal Reserve System. He’s also headed the data and analytics team at the Large and Foreign Banking Organizations (LFBO) portfolio of the New York Federal Reserve and led multiple cross-functional risk examinations, specializing in assessing financial institutions' independent risk management frameworks and compliance programs. Morales’ diverse background also includes roles in corporate banking (first and second lines) and consulting.

He is a graduate from Deusto University in Spain, holds a master’s of science in finance from Georgetown University, and is both a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS).

Art Mueller has more than 20 years of experience working in financial crimes programs across several global financial institutions including Rabobank, Commerzbank, UBS, and American Express. Drawing upon his prior experience as head of AML and sanctions for Rabobank, North America, Mueller is now Vice President of Financial Crime, Banking, and Financial Services at WorkFusion, where he helps customers streamline, simplify, and optimize these functions to effectively and efficiently fight financial crime. He has a law degree from Albany Law School and bachelor’s of science in business management from St. John's University. 

David Palmer is a Lead Supervisory Financial Analyst in the Division of Banking Supervision and Regulation at the Federal Reserve Board. He focuses on several primary topic areas, including bank model risk management practices, bank and supervisor stress testing activities, bank capital planning practices, validation of supervisory stress testing models, and bank usage of new financial technologies. He engages in both policy-related projects as well as on-site examinations. Palmer is a primary author of the Federal Reserve’s Supervisory Guidance on Model Risk Management (SR 11-7), issued in April 2011 jointly with the OCC (and more recently with FDIC), and continues to lead the implementation of that guidance within the Federal Reserve. More recently, he has been involved in evaluating supervised firms’ use of fintech, including AI/ML.

Anand Rao is Adjunct Professor in BITS Pilani’s APPCAIR AI Center. He also serves on the Advisory Board of Oxford University’s Institute for Ethics in AI, World Economic Forum’s Global AI Council, OECD’s Network of Experts on AI, OECD’s AI Compute initiative, Advisory Board of Northwestern’s MBAi program, Responsible AI Institute, Nordic AI Institute, and International Congress for the Governance of AI.

Anand focuses on research, innovation, applications, and adoption of data, analytics, and AI. He was Global Artificial Intelligence Leader for PwC. Before consulting Anand was Chief Research Scientist at the Australian Artificial Intelligence Institute.

He earned his Ph.D from University of Sydney and an MBA from Melbourne Business School. Anand has co-edited four books on Intelligent Agents and has published over fifty papers on Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence in major journals, conferences, and workshops. In addition, he has authored over 100 articles in the business and trade press. Among Anand’s awards include Most Influential Paper Award for the Decade in 2007 from the Autonomous Agents & Multi-Agent Systems organization. He was listed among the Top 50 Data & Analytics professionals in USA and Canada, Top 50 professionals in InsureTech, and Top 25 Technology Leaders in Consulting.

Karamjit Singh is a distinguished professional in the field of AI, currently serving as a Director of Artificial Intelligence at Mastercard. In his role, he is responsible for spearheading Mastercard's AI-driven products within the payment sector, with a particular focus on fraud prevention and risk management. Singh  

has made significant contributions to the advancement of AI across diverse domains, authoring more than 30 research papers and holding multiple patents in AI and machine learning. He serves as member of the organizing committee for the "Modelling Uncertainty in the Financial World" workshop held at prestigious venues such as AAAI and CIKM. Karamjit holds two master’s degrees in computer applications and mathematics. 

Erin Stanton is a leader in the field of data science and big data with over 15 years in the industry. She serves as the head of Virtu’s Analytics Global Client Support team. Erin is a fervent advocate for automation, AI, machine learning, and data visualization. Beyond her daily duties, Erin actively supports the inclusion of women in data science and leads Virtu's annual Women in Data Science conference. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Economics from Lehigh University and holds a master's degree in Information and Data Science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Agus Sudjianto is executive vice president and Head of Model Risk for Wells Fargo, where he is responsible for enterprise model risk management and serves as Chair of the Model Risk Committee.

Prior to his current position, Agus was the modeling and analytics director and chief model risk officer at Lloyds Banking Group in the U.K. Before joining Lloyds, he was a senior credit risk executive and head of Quantitative Risk at Bank of America. Prior to his career in banking, he was a product design manager in the Powertrain Division of Ford Motor Company.

Agus holds several U.S. patents in both finance and engineering. He has published numerous technical papers and is a co-author of the book Design and Modeling for Computer Experiments (Chapman & Hall, 2022). His technical expertise and interests include quantitative risk (particularly credit risk modeling), machine learning, and computational statistics. He holds masters and doctorate degrees in engineering and management from Wayne State University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr. Rodanthy Tzani joined New York Life Insurance Company in 2018 as a Vice President and Head of Model Risk Management in the Risk Management department to build out the firm’s model risk management function.

From 2009 to 2017 she was a Supervising Examiner and Risk Analytics Manager in the Model and Methodologies Department in the Supervision Group of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. During her tenure at the Fed she led many examinations evaluating various types of models and approaches used by large domestic and foreign banks (Systemically Important Financial Institutions.) Dr. Tzani also led the supervision of model risk across Systemically Important Insurance Companies and established supervisory standards for their model risk framework. 

Before joining the Fed, Dr. Tzani was the Head of Structured Finance Risk Management at ACA Capital, where she oversaw the restructuring and winding down of the company during the 2008 crisis. Prior to that she was a Vice President with the Derivatives Group of Moody’s Investors Service.

Dr. Tzani holds a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from the City College of New York and spent several years in academia conducting research in theoretical physics at universities in Europe and the U.S. before moving to finance in 2001. She has published numerous papers in refereed journals in both physics and finance.

Bruce W. Weber became Willem Kooyker Dean and Professor at the Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, City University of New York in July 2023. Previously he served as Dean of the Lerner College of Business and Economics at the University of Delaware. Weber is a member of the Advisory Council of the SWIFT Institute, part of the worldwide financial messaging operator. At Baruch he is responsible for direction and development of the Zicklin School, its faculty, students, and alumni.

Before his time at Delaware, Weber was a professor and founding department chair for Management Science & Operations at London Business School. Previously he was on the faculties of the Stern School of Business at New York University and Baruch College, where he led the Subotnick Financial Services Center. Weber has co-authored three books and published widely on information systems, trading, and financial technology. He is co-developer (with Bob Schwartz and Andy Novocin of TraderEx) of a computer simulation platform for trading and market education. Weber earned a Ph.D in Decision Sciences from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s in Applied Math from Harvard University. 

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