As a Director of Analysis at Refinitiv LPC, Ioana Barza writes and presents frequently on corporate credit markets with a special focus on loan capital markets to the banking, regulatory, corporate borrower, institutional investor, and private equity communities. In addition, Ms. Barza conducts interviews with market leaders for Reuters Insider.

Ms. Barza has been with Refinitiv LPC since 1999. She provides insight and analysis related to the global credit markets and co-moderates roundtable discussions among leading buyside and sellside representatives focused in the U.S. on investment grade lending, leveraged finance, CLOs, middle market lending, and the broader European loan market.

Prior to joining Refinitiv LPC, Ms. Barza focused on environmental finance initiatives with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of International Activities. She has also worked at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) in Washington, DC, evaluating the economic and environmental impacts of proposed overseas investments. Ms. Barza has a BA in environmental sciences and international relations from Northwestern University and a graduate degree in economics from the George Washington University.

Mr. Casillas is a Managing Director of an H.I.G. Capital-affiliated investment advisor. Mr. Casillas has over seventeen years of experience in credit, private equity and mergers and acquisitions. As an original member of H.I.G.’s direct lending team, Mr. Casillas is involved in all aspects of the investment process, including sourcing, structuring, and portfolio management. Mr. Casillas is also active in the recruitment and development of the credit team for H.I.G. WhiteHorse.

Mr. Casillas joined H.I.G. in 2006 and has led credit investments across a broad range of sectors, including healthcare, business services, and specialty finance. Prior to joining H.I.G. Capital, Mr. Casillas was with ING Americas and with JP Morgan.

Mr. Casillas received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and his M.B.A. from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.

With decades of experience, Peter Knight represents individual creditors and lender groups at all levels of the capital structure — in out-of-court restructurings, bankruptcy proceedings and various special situations transactions. Peter has built a strong market reputation for representing senior secured agents and lenders in middle market workouts and restructurings.

Peter has substantial experience developing and implementing non-bankruptcy restructuring strategies that help clients achieve their business objectives while minimizing cost, delay and risk. Such strategies include Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) foreclosure transactions, receivership proceedings, assignments for the benefit of creditors, exchange offers, rights offerings and various rescue financing transactions.

Peter also has a strong commitment to pro bono service and has worked with organizations such as the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, Ascend Justice (formerly the Domestic Violence Legal Clinic), the Texas DNA Mixture Review Project and the National Veterans Legal Services Program.

For more than two decades, private debt providers and banks have turned to Derek Ladgenski to advise on their most complicated and challenging debt financing deals. Derek helps his clients close complex financings quickly and efficiently, without surprises or delays, and builds their relationships and market presence along the way.

Derek counsels lead arrangers, administrative agents and lenders on cash-flow acquisition and recapitalization financings, "take private" transactions and debt financings. Thanks to his vast experience and deep roots in the financing community, Derek helps his clients understand current market conditions, avoid getting bogged down in legal minutiae and get their deals done. His high volume of transactional work — from multibillion-dollar syndicated loans to smaller bilateral deals — allows him to advise clients on current market conditions, the effects of decisions through different credit cycles and positioning for future success.

In all of his engagements, Derek strives to exceed expectations and ensure that all parties walk away from the negotiating table as happy with the process as possible, helping his clients to build relationships and grow their own standing with their customers. He has particularly extensive experience in retail, restaurant and franchise financings, where he facilitates the expansion of national and international franchisors, franchisees and restaurant operators through a variety of deal sizes and types, from financings of smaller franchisees and young restaurant concepts to credit facilities of more than $1 billion.

David Miller is a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal in Atlanta. He specializes in solving complex business and financial matters typically involving companies, or their significant stakeholders (including secured creditors, unsecured creditors and equity holders), by using his significant expertise in the areas of accounting, corporate finance, insolvency and valuation.

With over 35 years of professional experience, Mr. Miller has served as an adviser to both large and mid-size companies. Mr. Miller has worked on over 150 transactions during his career, primarily involving informal workouts and/or formal reorganizations, and including M&A and corporate finance transactions. In addition, Mr. Miller has also served in the role of debt and /or equity principal on behalf of a major global financial services institution and for whom He led informal workout and formal restructuring transactions. Mr. Miller has helped to advise Boards of Directors through formal and informal restructurings, and currently serves as a member of a Board of Directors, of which He is also a member of the compensation committee.

Mr. Miller has advised on transactions in a wide range of industries, including aerospace and airlines, automotive, broadcast media, building products, business services, capital equipment, consumer products, distribution, financial services, infrastructure, metals, oil and natural gas, oilfield services, paper and packaging, plastics, real estate, retail and transportation.

Prior to joining Alvarez & Marsal, Mr. Miller spent 9 years in Atlanta and New York City with Macquarie Capital (USA) where he was a managing director in the Restructuring and Special Situations Group. Prior thereto, He was a founding member of Giuliani Capital Advisors and previously ran the Atlanta office of Ernst & Young Corporate Finance.

Mr. Miller earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Emory University, and He started his career as an accountant and CPA with Ernst & Young. He is a current member of the American Bankruptcy Institute and the Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors. He is a Certified Insolvency and Restructuring Advisor (CIRA) and holds a Certification in Distressed Business Valuation (CDBV).

Dan is a Partner and serves as a member of the firm’s Executive Committee and the Investment Committee for Comvest’s direct lending strategy. He is responsible for originating, structuring, and managing investments.

Prior to joining Comvest, Dan was a Senior Director with Dymas Capital Management, where he served on the Investment Committee and was instrumental in the formation and growth of the firm from its start-up phase to an established middle-market finance company. Prior to getting his MBA, Dan began his career with Arthur Andersen and Heller Financial’s Corporate Finance Group.

Dan received an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan and a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame.

Sean P. Colvin joined Louis Dreyfus Company in 2011 as an Assistant Treasurer and was promoted to Treasurer of North America in 2013. He began his career in finance at GE and held a variety of corporate finance roles in GE Energy and GE Capital over 8 years before moving to LDC.

Mr. Colvin holds a B.A. in Mathematics from the College of the Holy Cross and an M.B.A. from New York University’s Stern School of Business.

Mr. Herzog is the Head of the Debt Optimization & Distribution team for the Americas. In his role, Gary leads the activities of Loan Syndications, Acquisition and Leveraged Finance, Ratings Advisory and is responsible for Portfolio Management for the corporate loan book for the Americas. Gary has been Head of Loan Syndications for the Americas for Crédit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank since March 2007. In this capacity, Gary is a member of Management Committee for the Americas as well as the Global Management Committee of CA-CIB.

Gary joined CACIB in 2007 from BNY Securities, Inc. where he was Co-Head of Syndicated Finance and Head of Sponsor Leveraged Lending and a member of the Board of Directors. At BNY he held a number of increasingly important executive assignments, including Head of New York Investment Banking and Co-Head of Structured Finance, where he directed groups responsible for global origination and distribution of syndicated loans and private placements, as well as origination of fixed income securities. Previously, Gary was an Associate with the Financial Institutions practice at McKinsey & Company, Inc. where he provided strategy advice to multi-national financial firms.

Gary has a BA in economics and an MBA with distinction in finance from the University of Michigan.

Josh Lederman joined KKR in 2011 and is a member of KKR Capital Markets. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Lederman was with Morgan Stanley in the mergers and acquisitions group. He holds a B.A., with distinction, from Yale University.

Eric is recognized by numerous industry publications as a leading lawyer for Banking & Finance, including the 2020 and 2021 editions of Chambers Global and the 2018–2021 editions of Chambers USA. In Chambers USA clients noted that “Eric is known to be one of the best sponsors’ counsels on the street.” In the 2018 edition of Chambers USA, another “highly impressed client report[ed] that ‘he is an absolute all-star and has done an outstanding job for us.’" Eric was further recommended in the 2020 and 2021 editions of The Legal 500 U.S. in the area of Commercial Lending and selected as a “Notable Practitioner” in the 2019–2021 editions of IFLR1000. Since 2016, Eric has also been recognized annually by Super Lawyers. Over the course of his career, Eric has advised on more than 150 completed financings with a value of more than $60 billion.

In addition to frequently speaking at Refinitiv’s annual leveraged finance & loan market conferences, Eric is a recurring guest speaker and panelist at Columbia and Wharton Business Schools’ private equity conferences and at the University of Arizona Law School. Eric is an active leader in the Firm and serves on the Firmwide Finance, Business Development, New York Operations and Recruiting Committees. He is also an event chair of the 2021 Leveraged Finance Fights Melanoma fundraiser in support of the Melanoma Research Alliance.

Gregory R. Maxon is a managing director and head of capital markets at Thomas H. Lee Partners. Mr. Maxon leads capital markets related activities across THL’s growing portfolio.

Mr. Maxon joins THL from J.P. Morgan Securities, where he served in the Leveraged Finance group since 2007. He was responsible for structuring and executing high yield bond and leveraged loan transactions for J.P. Morgan’s financial sponsor and corporate clients. Mr. Maxon began his career at J.P. Morgan in 2004 in the Credit Risk group, where he focused primarily on financings for financial sponsor-backed transactions.

Mr. Maxon holds a B.A. in Economics from New York University.

Fanny Charrier is a Vice President in the Loan Syndications and Originations group, primarily covering the Chicago portfolio including U.S. automotive, healthcare, agricultural, semi-conductor, engineering & construction, and telecom sectors. In addition, she manages the origination and syndication of sustainable financings within the U.S., liaising with the global sustainable banking team to facilitate the structuring and placement of ESG-related loans & HY instruments.

Fanny joined CA-CIB NY in 2012 as part of the Portfolio and Balance Sheet Management team and prior to that worked for Dexia NY in the Project Finance group. She was previously located in Paris, France, where she held various roles in export and structured finance.

Fanny holds a Masters in finance from ESSCA (Ecole Supérieur des Sciences Commerciales d’Angers) and a Masters in project and structured finance from Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées.

Jim Bingham serves as Senior Executive Credit Officer, Head of Credit Risk Management for Commercial and Specialty Banking. His team covers Middle Market & Asset Based Lending, Equipment Finance and Institutional Non-Profit Organizations.

Prior to joining TD, Jim was with a global New York banking institution in various roles including commercial and private client relationship management and middle market banking team lead.

Andy Bregenzer is the Regional President for TD Bank's Metro New York Region. He oversees retail distribution and all facets of commercial lending for the Region, which consists of a network of over 300 stores and numerous commercial lending teams across multiple markets including New York City, Long Island, Upstate NY, Northern New Jersey and Fairfield County, CT.

A native New Yorker, Andy has over 26 years of banking experience and has been in TD Bank leadership roles for over 16 years.

Andy has held numerous management and business development roles throughout his tenure at TD including retail, credit management and commercial leadership positions. He has been TD's Regional President for Metro NY since late 2016 and is responsible for all consumer and commercial banking including small business, community, middle market and government banking activities. Andy has worked with many charitable organizations and currently serves on the Board of Directors for American Cancer Society and the United Way of NYC, along with his organizational roles as a board member of TD Private Client Wealth, TD Charitable Foundation and TD's Political Action Committee. Andy also serves as a member of the ESG executive team, Commercial Sponsor for TD Black Employee Network. Commercial Executive on the Social Impact Investment Council, Sustainable Finance Executive Committee, and Commercial Banking Risk Advisory Committee. He is also formerly the Chair of TD's Regional Diversity Council.

Andy is a graduate of the University of Rochester with a bachelor's degree in Economics. He also earned an M.B.A from the William E. Simon School of Business Administration.

James V. Bruno is a Managing Director with the Investment Solutions Group within Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. James is Co-Head of Product Origination and Development for Alternative Investments, which includes private equity, private credit, real estate, hedge funds, customized solutions and pre-IPO offerings. Prior to his current role James held other roles within Alternative Investments, including Head of Product Development for all illiquid offerings and Head of Product Development for all liquid offerings. James serves as a Director of various General Partner entities, investment advisors and investment committees. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, James was employed at HSBC where he was a member of the senior management team responsible for the delivery of alternative fund services to hedge funds and private equity funds. Prior to HSBC, James was with Merrill Lynch & Co., where he held numerous roles within the various alternative investment businesses within Merrill Lynch.

James has an M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University, a B.S. in Accounting from Long Island University and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of New York.

Beata Caranci is the Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for TD Bank Group. Having joined TD in 2003, she leads two economic teams. One is tasked with delivering forecasts, presentations, and research publications for TD clients, and another team oversees Canadian and U.S. economic risk and regulatory stress test requirements. Beata is the Chair of the Economic Council at the American Bankers Association, which meets with the Federal Reserve twice annually to discuss economic and policy views. She's also the Chair of TD's Expected Credit Loss Economic Scenario Committee.

Beata is a passionate supporter of TD’s diversity initiatives and has dedicated more than a decade to researching and driving awareness among policymakers on the labour market friction experienced by women. Her research report, “Get on Board Corporate Canada,” helped influence the Ontario Securities Commission’s rule amendments on disclosure of women on boards. A separate report detailing the obstacles faced by women in STEM fields, lead to an invitation to appear at the Senate Open Caucus to discuss policy prescriptions to counter systemic biases.

Beata's distinguished evidenced-based research combined with the breadth of her role as Chief Economist for TD Bank earned the Professional category award by WXN's Canada's Most Powerful Women.

Beata holds a Master’s Degree in Business Economics. Prior to joining TD, she worked nearly four years on a trading floor providing economic analysis to foreign exchange, money market and bond desks.

Marshall Chase is the Director of Sustainability at Micron Technology, responsible for driving the integration of environmental and social issues into Micron’s business strategy and operations. He leads the company’s engagement with investors, customers, and others on many of these issues.

Prior to joining Micron in 2018, Marshall served as manufacturing industry practice leader at global sustainability consultancy BSR, where he worked closely with Micron and other companies to advance sustainability strategy and implementation.

Bill serves as Executive Vice President and Head of US Middle Market Banking. In this role, Bill directs Asset Based Lending, Supply Chain Finance and Middle Market lending for private equity sponsors, publicly held corporations and family-owned businesses with revenues from $75 million to $1 billion. His responsibilities include strategy formulation, product development and implementation, client fulfillment, revenue growth and portfolio quality.

Previously, Bill served as Head of Credit Management for TD Bank's Commercial Bank where he supervised the structuring and underwriting, ongoing monitoring and control of the Bank's Commercial, Real Estate, Wealth Management, Specialty and Small Business loan portfolios. Bill has 30 years of financial services experience, beginning his career at Continental Bank in Philadelphia, and has held senior lending, credit risk and senior management positions in Business Banking, Middle Market and Corporate lending.

Bill is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Global Management Accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Turnaround Management Association. He serves as a guest lecturer on Private Equity at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and teaches four continuing professional education programs at Penn State University – Abington Campus. Bill provides community leadership and serves as a board member of the Advancement Committee for Mercy Vocational High School and previously served as a consultant to the Wharton Small Business Development Center.

Bill earned a Master's Degree in Business Administration, with concentrations in finance and management, and a Bachelor's of Science degree in marketing from St. Joseph's University. He completed the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School's Advanced Finance Program, continuing education in the Master of Taxation Program at Villanova University School of Law, and is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business' Executive Leadership Certificate Program and the Enterprise Risk Management Program at Stanford University.

Robert Lambert joined Micron Technology as the Assistant Treasurer in 2018 and has over twenty years of corporate treasury experience. His responsibilities include overseeing financial risk management, investment strategy, and global cash management for the company.

Before Micron Technology, he spent 15 years working at Coca-Cola European Partners, formally Coca-Cola Enterprises, with progressing responsibilities culminating in being the Assistant Treasurer overseeing capital structure and financial risk management.

Joseph Nemia is Head of Asset Based Lending (ABL) at TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank. As Head of ABL, Joe is a key member of the Commercial Banking leadership team. He oversees a team of ABL lenders with experience in developing strong customer relationships by delivering solutions to meet our customers' financial needs. ABL offers clients a flexible cost-effective financing solution by leveraging assets and maximizing liquidity.

Joe has more than 40 years of experience in Corporate Finance. He joined the bank in 2011 from RBS Citizens Financial Group where he served as President of RBS Commercial Finance. Prior to RBS, Joe was at CIT where he served as President, Commercial and Industrial. He was also a Senior Managing Director at GE Commercial Finance where he held a number of leadership positions during his 14 years with the company. He was a founding member of GE Commercial Finance and was instrumental in the middle market build out of the ABL business. He completed GE Company’s Global Business Management training in Tokyo and received Black Belt certification in Six Sigma.

Joe is on the Board of Trustees of Loyola School in New York City and a member of Loyola School’s Finance and Audit Committees. He is a Trustee of National Jewish Medical and Research Center and has served on the Board of Director’s for Junior Achievement in Stamford/Greenwich CT. He is a former Commercial Finance Association Chairman and President and currently serves as a Director for the Secured Finance Network. Joe serves as the Chairman of the Audit Committee of Audax Credit BDC Inc.

He is a graduate from Pace University – Lubin School of Business, BBA, MBA.

Steven Ruh, CFA, Managing Director. Steven is Co-Director of Non-Investment Grade Credit Research and a Senior Research Analyst. In addition, he is a member of the Credit Committee for Non-Investment Grade Credit.

Prior to joining the firm, he worked as an investment banking analyst at RBC Capital Markets.

Steven earned a BA from the University of Chicago and has been awarded the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Eugenia Unanyants-Jackson is a Principal and the Head of Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) research at PGIM Fixed Income, based in London. Ms. Unanyants-Jackson is responsible for managing the strategic integration of ESG research across all elements of the firm, including investment decision-making, and internal and external education and engagement. She also co-chairs the ESG Committee that is tasked with governing PGIM Fixed income’s ESG approach.

Previously Ms. Unanyants-Jackson was with Allianz Global Investors where she was the Global Head of ESG Research since 2016, leading the implementation of ESG integration across fundamental equity and fixed income strategies. Prior to this she was a Director of Governance and Sustainable Investment at BMO GAM (formerly F&C Investments).

Ms. Unanyants-Jackson received a diploma in Teaching English and German from the Tbilisi I. Chavchavadze State Institute of Western Languages and Cultures in Georgia, and a MA in Public Administration from the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs. She is also a co-chair of the Corporate Governance and Stewardship Council for The Conference Board, a co-chair of the Shareholder Rights Committee for the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN), and served on the Market Integrity and ESG Investing Steering Committee at the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) and the Stewardship Committee at The Investment Association, (IA) UK.

Patrick Wolfe, Managing Director, is a member of Blackrock's Global Credit Platform. He is a portfolio manager responsible for US Direct Lending funds, BlackRock Credit Strategies Fund (CREDX), and Middle-Market CLOs in the US. Patrick joined BlackRock through the acquisition of Tennenbaum Capital Partners ("TCP").

At TCP, Patrick launched the Middle-Market CLO platform taking the business to over $1 billion of assets. He also co-led led the development of the firm's proprietary private credit software platform (Symbeo) and was one of the creators of the Direct Lending Insurance Solutions fund.

Prior to TCP, Mr. Wolfe was in structured credit at Deutsche Bank for six years focusing on the structuring, issuance, and management of CLOs and other credit strategies. He began his career in 2006 as an accountant at KSJG LLP focused on mortgage banking.

Mr. Wolfe earned a B.S. in Accounting from San Diego State University in 2006.

Julianne R. Woodson, CFA, Managing Director, is a senior member of the Product Strategy team supporting BlackRock's Global Credit platform. As a product strategist, Ms. Woodson focuses on developing solutions for clients across BlackRock's traditional and alternative credit platform. In this role, she is responsible for product development, marketing and investor relations, acting as a link between portfolio management teams and investors. She focuses on liquid and private credit strategies, including Multi-Strategy Credit offerings as well as Aviation.

Ms. Woodson's service with the firm dates back to 2008, when she joined the Fixed Income Product Specialist team as part of BlackRock's Analyst Program. Prior to her current role she was a Product Specialist covering core bond funds, mortgage and inflation protected products.

Ms. Woodson earned a BS degree, cum laude, in finance, and a minor in International Studies from The University of Maryland in 2008.

Joey Kieffer is Global Co-Head of Leveraged Finance Capital Markets at Jefferies.

Prior to joining Jefferies in 2017, Mr. Kieffer was a Managing Director at Credit Suisse where he worked in Syndicated Loan Capital Markets. Prior to joining Credit Suisse in 2000, Mr. Kieffer was an analyst in the Investment Banking Division of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.

Mr. Kieffer received his BA in Economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Dhruv is a Managing Director and a member of the Capital Markets team at Stone Point Capital, and is a Managing Director at SPC Capital Markets, a registered broker-dealer with the SEC, and a member of FINRA and SIPC.

Dhruv joined Stone Point in 2017 and has more than 10 years of experience in the financial services industry.

Former Experience: RBC Capital Markets – Vice President, Leveraged Finance Group

Education: University of Michigan – Ross School of Business – B.B.A.

Frances Beyers is a Managing Director and Head of Capital Markets of Cliffwater’s Private Debt Group. In her role, Fran is responsible for market research to support Cliffwater’s rapidly growing multi-manager private debt asset management business. Cliffwater is an alternatives advisory and asset management firm with over $77 billion in assets under advisement.

Fran joins Cliffwater from Refinitiv, where she was Head of Middle Market Loan Analysis. Most notably Fran has been a fixture in the middle market for over a decade providing research and market analysis to both managers and investors alike. While at Refinitiv and its predecessor, Fran frequently authored middle market commentaries and surveys that have been cited industry-wide and made her a sought-after speaker at private debt conferences. Fran also built out many of LPC’s middle market product offerings including BDC Collateral and MM Sponsored Private Deal Analysis.

Fran is based in Cliffwater’s New York City office. Her previous roles include underwriting and portfolio management at Churchill Asset Management, and she began her career in Corporate Finance Advisory at JPMorgan. Fran earned her bachelor’s degree from the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis.

Kevin Marchetti is a Partner of Varagon Capital Partners and serves as the firm’s Chief Risk Officer. Kevin has been with the firm since its inception and has driven the successful construction of the portfolio. Kevin is responsible for all underwriting and portfolio management functions at the firm. Kevin has extensive experience in risk management and middle market leveraged finance across a range of industries and strategies.

Prior to joining Varagon, he was a Senior Vice President at Antares Capital.

Kevin has also held senior risk positions at TD Bank and CIT Group. He earned a B.A. degree from Springfield College and M.B.A. from The University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Mr. Van Dussen joined Golub Capital in 2010 and is a Managing Director and Head of the Capital Markets business for Middle Market Lending. He is responsible for structuring, pricing, and syndicating transactions for the Firm.

Prior to joining Golub Capital, Mr. Van Dussen was a Managing Director and Head of Loan Sales for CIT Group. Before that, he was a Managing Director and Head of Capital Markets for FirstLight Financial Corporation. Prior to this position, Mr. Van Dussen worked at GE Capital, where he focused on middle market structuring, syndication and loan sales.

Mr. Van Dussen earned his BA degree cum laude in Finance from Michigan State University. He received an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Michael Hoffman heads Skadden’s Investment Management Group. He represents public and private investment funds, business development companies, investment advisers, underwriters and investment banks in connection with the structuring and distribution of financial products in U.S. and cross-border transactions. Mr. Hoffman regularly counsels investment funds and their boards of directors, advisory boards and investment advisers in connection with transactional, regulatory and compliance issues.

In the public investment company area, Mr. Hoffman has advised issuers and underwriters in more than 50 offerings of common and preferred shares of open-end and closed-end investment companies.

Mr. Hoffman earned his B.A. from University of Notre Dame (cum laude) and his J.D. from Duke University.

Gus Atiyah is a Lead Industry Coordinator for Private Capital and a partner in the Finance practice.

He focuses his practice on all aspects of private finance transactions, including leveraged financing transactions ranging from syndicated senior facilities, second-lien facilities, leveraged buyouts and debt restructurings to recapitalizations and debt investments. He also assists equity and debt funds in raising fund-level financings.

Gus represents private equity sponsors, financial institutions, hedge funds, debt funds, sovereign wealth funds, and public and private companies, and his clients include Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division, Marcus by Goldman Sachs, New Mountain Capital, Symphony Technology Group, Vector Capital, Mubadala, Fidelity Investments, CVS Health, CSW Industrials, Quest Diagnostics, Valvoline, Blue Yonder, Tudor Investment Corporation, Maverick Capital, and certain Middle Eastern family offices.

Michael is a partner in the Finance practice. Michael has over 25 years of experience in the U.S. leveraged finance market, representing leading investment and commercial banks, alternative capital providers and other financial institutions in bank financing and debt capital markets transactions.

He has extensive experience in public and private leveraged and investment grade acquisition finance (including bridge financings), refinancings and recapitalizations, second-lien and asset-based lending. Michael also advises on securities, capital markets, bank finance, and corporate transactions representing corporations and financial institutions in bank financings, public and private offerings and high-yield debt offerings.

Brad Colman, Senior Managing Director. Mr. Colman focuses on originating, analyzing, executing and monitoring credit investments across a diverse range of industries primarily for the Direct Lending business. Mr. Colman’s responsibilities also include acting as the Portfolio Manager for the GSO Diamond Fund, which focuses on senior and stretch senior loans to middle market issuers in the U.S.

Before joining Blackstone in 2012, Mr. Colman worked as a Director in the Strategic Investments group at PartnerRe, a Senior Associate in the sponsor finance team at American Capital, and an Analyst in Merrill Lynch’s investment banking group.

Mr. Colman graduated magna cum laude from New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business with a BS in Finance, Accounting, and Operations.

Scott Cullerton (San Francisco) joined KKR in 2008 and is a Managing Director of KKR, focusing on both private debt origination and capital markets solutions for financial sponsors and corporate clients.

Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Cullerton was a founding member of Morgan Stanley’s private equity group and was principally responsible for deal execution. Previously, he specialized in leveraged finance for the financial sponsors group at Morgan Stanley. Mr. Cullerton started his career in the US Navy where he was a Special Boat Team Detachment Commander.

Mr. Cullerton holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Economics from Duke University. He is a leader of KKR’s Vets@Work initiative and is a board trustee at Marin Montessori School.

Brian Decker is a Deal Partner with Francisco Partners and focuses on investments in the infrastructure software, and security sectors.

Prior to joining Francisco Partners in 2008, Brian was a Business Analyst with McKinsey & Company where he focused on engagements in the semiconductor, telecommunications and hardware sectors. Earlier in his career he worked at Mindspeed Technologies and Skyworks Solutions in a variety of product and strategic marketing roles.

Brian serves on the board of directors of BeyondTrust, Perforce, Smartbear, SonicWALL, and Quest. He formerly served on the board of directors of Grass Valley, Healthland, K2, Plex Systems, Sandvine, Sectigo, and Watchguard.

Mr. Miller is a Partner in the Ares Credit Group and serves as Co-Head for U.S. direct lending as well as Co-Head of the Sports Media and Entertainment effort. He also serves on the Investment Committee for Ares Credit Group's U.S. Direct Lending and Sports Media & Entertainment funds. Prior to joining Ares in 2006, Mr. Miller was a Vice President at Silver Point Capital, where he focused on building its sponsor finance business, which led the firm's middle market financing and principal investing.

Previously, Mr. Miller was a Vice President at GE Capital, where he was responsible for a variety of investing and investment banking services to private equity funds including high yield, bank debt, mezzanine debt and rescue financing.

Mr. Miller holds a B.A. from Fairfield University in Economics and an M.B.A. from Columbia University's Graduate School of Business.

Steve is a managing director and unitranche credit leader of Antares Capital. He is responsible for managing the ABCS relationship, unitranche underwriting and portfolio management.

Steve began his career at Merrill Lynch and joined Antares in 2008.

Steve graduated with a degree in finance from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and earned his MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Ms. Shah is a member of Houlihan Lokey’s Capital Markets Group. Her primary responsibilities include working with the firm’s clients to raise debt and equity capital to support refinancings, recapitalizations, restructurings, acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, and growth capital initiatives, as well as advising companies on a wide range of capital structure matters.

Prior to joining Houlihan Lokey, Ms. Shah was at BMO Capital Markets where she was a senior member of the Debt Capital Markets Group, focused on sourcing, structuring and executing both public and private leverage loan and high yield transactions in a variety of industries including, but not limited to, Healthcare and Energy. Prior to joining BMO Capital Markets, Ms. Shah was a Vice President at CIBC World Markets/Oppenheimer where she was focused on structuring and executing leverage finance transactions for leading financial sponsors. Previously, Ms. Shah was at Wells Fargo where she focused on providing asset-based loans for middle market companies. Ms. Shah began her career at Deutsche Bank in the Financial Sponsors Group.

Ms. Shah holds a B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance and minors in Economics and Art History from University of Southern California.

Heather Waters Borthwick is a partner in the firm’s Bank Finance group in New York.

Heather’s experience includes advising leading financial institutions, commercial and investment banks, direct lenders, private equity firms and corporate borrowers on a broad range of financing matters. These include syndicated and direct lending leveraged acquisition financings (both domestic and cross-border), asset-based financings and investment grade lending transactions, debtor in possession financings and exit financings.

Mr. du Four is a Managing Director of Crescent Capital Group LP focusing on private capital markets. He is responsible for sourcing middle market lending opportunities and providing capital markets and syndication capabilities across the Crescent platform.

Prior to joining the team, Mr. du Four was Head of Capital Markets and a member of the Operating Committee at NewStar Financial. Mr. du Four has over 30 years of below investment grade experience and has held senior level roles in capital markets and originations at FleetBoston, BMO and Chase. Mr. du Four began his career as a Certified Public Accountant with Coopers and Lybrand.

Mr. du Four received his MBA from the University of Texas at Austin and his BS from Virginia Tech.