Professor Edward I. Altman, Professor of Finance, NYU Stern School of Business. Dr. Altman is also Co-Founder and Senior Advisor to the SME Credit Analytic Firm, Wiserfunding, Ltd.

Edward I. Altman is the Max L. Heine Professor of Finance at the Stern School of Business, New York University. He is the Director of Research in Credit and Debt Markets at the NYU Salomon Center for the Study of Financial Institutions. Prior to serving in his present position, Professor Altman chaired the Stern School's MBA Program for 12 years. He has been a visiting Professor at the Hautes Etudes Commerciales and Universite de Paris-Dauphine in France, at the Pontificia Catolica Universidade in Rio de Janeiro, at the Australian Graduate School of Management and MacQuarie in Sydney, University of Western Australia in Perth, Luigi Bocconi University in Milan and CEMFI in Madrid. Dr. Altman was named to the Max L. Heine endowed professorship at Stern in 1988.

Dr. Altman has an international reputation as an expert on corporate bankruptcy, high yield bonds, distressed debt and credit risk analysis. He was named Laureate 1984 by the Hautes Etudes Commerciales Foundation in Paris for his accumulated works on corporate distress prediction models and procedures for firm financial rehabilitation and awarded the Graham & Dodd Scroll for 1985 by the Financial Analysts Federation for his work on Default Rates on High Yield Corporate Debt and was named "Profesor Honorario" by the University of Buenos Aires in 1996. He is currently an advisor to the Centrale dei Bilanci in Italy and to several foreign central banks. Professor Altman is also the Chairman of the Academic Advisory Council of the Turnaround Management Association. He received his MBA and Ph.D. in Finance from the University of California, Los Angeles. He was inducted into the Fixed Income Analysts Society Hall of Fame in 2001, President of the Financial Management Association (2003) and a FMA Fellow in 2004 and was amongst the inaugural inductees into the Turnaround Management Association’s Hall of Fame in 2008. In 2005, Prof. Altman was named one of the “100 Most Influential People in Finance” by the Treasury & Risk Management magazine. He also received an Honorary Doctorate from Lund University, Sweden in May 2011.

Professor Altman was one of the founders and an Executive Editor of the international publication, the Journal of Banking and Finance and Advisory Editor of a publisher series, the John Wiley Frontiers in Finance Series. He has published or edited two-dozen books and over 150 articles in scholarly finance, accounting and economic journals. He was the editor of the Handbook of Corporate Finance and the Handbook of Financial Markets and Institutions and the author of a number of recent books, including his most recent works on Bankruptcy, Credit Risk and High Yield Junk Bonds (2002), Recovery Risk (2005), Corporate Financial Distress & Bankruptcy (3rd ed., 2006) and Managing Credit Risk (2nd ed. 2008). His work has appeared in
many languages including French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish.

Dr. Altman's primary areas of research include bankruptcy analysis and prediction, credit and lending policies, risk management and regulation in banking, corporate finance and capital markets. He has been a consultant to several government agencies, major financial and accounting institutions and industrial companies and has lectured to executives in North America, South America, Europe, Australia-New Zealand, Asia and Africa. He has testified before the U.S. Congress, the New York State Senate and several other government and regulatory organizations and is a Director and a member of the Advisory Board of a number of corporate, publishing, academic and financial institutions. He has been Chairman of the Academic Council of the Turnaround Management Association since 2002.

Dr. Altman is Chairman Emeritus and a member of the Board of Trustees of the InterSchool Orchestras of New York and a founding member of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of American Finance.

Dr. Robert Benhenni, CEO of QFA, Inc. He is also a lecturer at the University of Bergamo, (Italy) and Portfolio Advisor to Classis Capital, SpA. (Milan)

Robert Benhenni holds a PhD in Applied Mathematics (Statistical Probability) from UCLA (University of California Los Angeles), and an MBA in Finance from the University Of Chicago Booth School Of Business.

CORE COMPETENCIES:

• Deep knowledge of High Yield and Distressed credit investment strategies (e.g., QFA, NYU Stern Salomon Center for the Credit Markets, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, Nicomachean Partners, Natixis)
• Thorough knowledge of valuation of credit securities including structured credit, full capital structure debt claims and credit derivatives (Credit Suisse, Nicomachean Partners, Natixis)
• Strong background in the application of statistical techniques to the financial markets such as the application of statistical survival analysis to default prediction (e.g., Morgan Stanley) and the successful application of Bayesian dynamic multifactor econometric models to systematic investments strategies in Futures (e.g., QFA)
• Thorough knowledge of portfolio construction analytics and asset allocation techniques (e.g., QFA, Natixis)
• High competence in risk management analytics such as Value-at-Risk, Credit Risk and Stress Testing (e.g., QFA, Morgan Stanley, Nicomachean Partners, Natixis)
• Strong background in the valuation of derivatives products, cash instruments and corporate firm valuation (e.g., Credit Suisse, Nicomachean Partners, Natixis, JP Morgan)
• Excellent capacity to explain complex issues clearly and succinctly no matter the professional or academic audience (e.g., Morgan Stanley, NYU Stern School of Business)

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

• Robert Benhenni created the first-ever Middle-Market company performance index providing early investment insights into major stock indexes: S&P 500, S&P SmallCap 600 and Russell 2000, that the media (WSJ, CNBC) have discussed (NYU Stern School of Business, QFA)
• Built a unique quantitative credit investment strategy in High Yield corporate bonds incorporating the business risk of the firm, the capital structure of the firm and earnings growth forecasts, and managed the fund resulting in superior performance (Natixis)
• Actively developed the CLO/CBO business: an instigator of the investment strategy to identify CLOs/CBOs relative value trades by quantifying the risk / return profiles of those products (Natixis)
• Built state-of-the-art credit default models for both non-financial firms and financial firms covering the full U.S. market that showed very high prediction power (Morgan Stanley)
• Developed a novel capital structure valuation model based on balance sheet simulation valuing senior/junior/secured debt and CDS; plus developed investment strategy applications such as capital structure arbitrage and optimal firm recapitalization models (Nicomachean Partners, Credit Suisse)
• Built systematic investment strategies in grain and soft commodity futures based on a state-of-the-art Bayesian dynamic multifactor econometric model resulting in stellar fund performance significantly outperforming most of the hedge funds (QFA)
• Chaired the portfolio risk management committee and successfully managed risk during turbulent times for all funds such as long/short Macro-Fund, long/short Equity, long Credit, and long/short Emerging Market debt (Natixis)

Gabriele is an experienced risk manager, currently leading a London-based fintech, Wiserfunding, specialized in assessing the credit risk of SMEs.

Deep knowledge of current Regulatory context (Basel III, G-Sifi, IFRS, SREP, SSM and EBA stress testing and PRA requirements) with extensive past experience in consumer and SME lending.
Combines significant knowledge of quantitative risk models and portfolio management techniques with proven track record in managing large cross-cultural teams across different geographies for a successful delivery of multiple large and highly complex projects in challenging cross-border regulatory environment and under ambitious deadlines.

Outstanding academic records and highly sophisticated research activity published in the most important academic journals have helped to build a strong profile and credibility with investors and regulators.
He received his M.S.c. and Ph.D. in Finance from University of Rome “La Sapienza” – Faculty of Economics.

Some of his publications include:

• “Effects of the New Basel Capital Accord on the Bank Capital Requirement for SMEs”, co-authored with Edward I. Altman – Journal of Financial Services Research, October 2005.
• “Modeling credit risk for SMEs. Evidence from the US market”, co-authored with Edward I. Altman – ABACUS, Vol.43, Issue 3, September 2007.
• “Downturn Loss Given Default: how and when to add the required conservatism”, Credit Technology, SERASA, April 2008.
• “Managing Credit Risk for Retail Low Default Portfolios”, Wagner N. (ed.), Credit Risk: Models, Derivatives and Management, Chapman & Hall / CRC, Financial Mathematics Series Vol. 6, May 2008.
• “Credit Scoring Models”, Rama Cont (ed.), Encyclopedia of Quantitative Finance, Wiley and Sons, July 2010.
• “The Value of Non-Financial Information in SME Risk Management”, co-authored with Edward I. Altman and Nicholas Wilson, Journal of Credit Risk, Vol. 6, Number 2, Summer 2010.
• “Financial Crisis: Where Did Risk Management Fail?” International Review of Applied Financial Issues and Economics, 2009.
• “Solving Sample Selection Bias in Credit Scoring”, Credit Technology, SERASA, Number 71, March 2010.
• "Setting Acquisition Strategy for Retail Customers", Credit Technology, SERASA, Number 73, August 2010.
• "Risk Management, Corporate Governance and Bank Performance in the Financial Crisis", Co-authored with Aaebi V. and Schmid M., Journal of Banking and Finance, Vol. 36, Number 12, December 2012.
• "Measuring and Managing Credit and Other Risks" in Portfolio Theory and Management, Baker K. and Filbeck G. Editors, Oxford University Press, June 2013.
• “Risk Management and Financial Disasters” in Investment Risk Management, Baker K. and Filbeck G. Editors, Oxford University Press, January 2015
• “Assessing the credit worthiness of Italian SME and mini-bond issuers”, Co-authored with E. Altman and M. Esentato, Global Finance Journal, forthcoming.