Matt Bloomfield Partner and Portfolio Manager PALMER SQUARE

Matt is the head Portfolio Manager for the Firm’s US CLO management platform, serves as President of Palmer Square Capital BDC Inc., a publicly traded business development company (“BDC”) and has lead responsibilities for all of Palmer Square’s private and public lending product offerings. He is a member of both the US and European CLO investment committees, as well as a member of the Firm’s BDC investment committee.

Prior to joining Palmer Square, Matt worked at Golub Capital, most recently as an Associate Portfolio Manager within the Broadly Syndicated Loan Group where he focused on investing in leveraged loans via CLOs and separately managed accounts. Prior to joining Golub Capital, Matt worked at Giuliani Capital Advisors in Chicago as an Analyst and subsequently Associate in the Investment Banking Group where he focused on special situations and restructuring mandates.

Matt earned an MBA in Finance from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, as well as a BS and BGS in Business Administration and Economics, respectively, from the University of Kansas.

Jonathan Horowitz Managing Director & Head of Structured Liabilities FORTRESS INVESTMENT GROUP

Mr. Horowitz is a Managing Director in the Fortress Credit Funds Business and the Head of Structured Liabilities

Prior to joining Fortress in 2022, Mr. Horowitz was a Managing Director and portfolio manager in the Chief Investment Office of J.P. Morgan where we was responsible for $45bn of CLOs and consumer ABS

Prior to joining J.P. Morgan, Mr. Horowitz was a Managing Director in the CDO business at Morgan Stanley as Head of U.S. CDO Capital Markets and co-head of U.S. CDO Structuring and Origination

 Mr. Horowitz received a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business

Gretchen Lam Chief Executive Officer OCTAGON CREDIT INVESTORS

Ms. Lam is Octagon’s Chief Executive Officer, a member of Octagon’s Investment Committee, and a member of the Firm’s Board of Managers. Ms. Lam also serves on the Firm’s Executive Committee and is a member of the Firm’s ESG Committee. Prior to assuming the Chief Executive Officer position in 2024, Ms. Lam served as a Senior Portfolio Manager across various CLOs, separately managed accounts, and commingled funds. She also oversaw the Firm’s Structured Credit (CLO debt and equity) investment strategies. 

Ms. Lam joined Octagon in 1999; prior to becoming a Portfolio Manager in 2013, she oversaw Octagon’s investments in the software, business services, finance & insurance, paper & packaging, gaming & lodging, homebuilding, and real estate industries. She was also responsible for the Structured Credit exposure held in Octagon’s CLO vehicles.

She earned a B.S. in Investments from Babson College, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude. Ms. Lam received her CFA Charter in 2006.

Gunther Stein Head and Chief Investment Officer of US Performing Credit SOUND POINT CAPITAL MANAGEMENT

Mr. Stein joined Sound Point in 2023 and is currently Head and Chief Investment Officer of the U.S. Performing Credit platform. Additionally, Mr. Stein serves on Sound Point’s Management Committee as well as many of the firm’s investment and risk committees. Mr. Stein is a veteran CIO and portfolio manager with over 30 years of credit investing experience. Prior to joining Sound Point, Mr. Stein served as Chairman, CEO, and CIO of Symphony Asset Management, a San Francisco-based alternative asset manager that was active across the credit investing spectrum. Mr. Stein joined Symphony Asset Management in 1999 and as CEO, grew Symphony’s AUM from approximately $7 billion in 2009 to $19.5 billion when he departed in 2018. Prior to Symphony Asset Management, Mr. Stein was a Vice President and Portfolio Manager at Wells Fargo.

Mr. Stein earned a B.A. in Economics from University of California at Berkeley and an M.B.A. from The University of Texas at Austin.

Amir Vardi Managing Director, Portfolio Manager CREDIT SUISSE ASSET MANAGEMENT

Amir Vardi is a Managing Director of Credit Suisse in the Asset Management Division, based in New York. Mr. Vardi is the Head of Structured Credit and a Portfolio Manager for the Credit Investments Group. His responsibilities includes managing portfolios of structured products as well as overseeing the CLO issuance activities for the group.

Mr. Vardi began his career in leveraged finance research - portfolio strategy at Credit Suisse First Boston, which he joined in 2004. Subsequent to his work in that group, Mr. Vardi was a founding member of the Leveraged Finance Strategy and Portfolio Products team at Credit Suisse.

Mr. Vardi received his BS and BA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where he graduated summa cum laude from a dual-degree program.

John Murphy Partner DLA PIPER

John Murphy has a broad securities practice with an emphasis on structured finance and securitization.

John represents underwriters, issuers, collateral managers and sponsors in a wide range of complex matters involving the securitization and re-packaging of traditional and non-traditional assets and related warehouse lending, with an emphasis on acting as deal counsel and collateral manager counsel on US CLOs.

In the asset securitization area, John has represented issuers, arrangers and servicers in a broad range of asset classes including CMBS, RMBS, trade receivables, aircraft securitizations, film financing vehicles, other repackagings, stranded cost transactions for investor-owned utilities and re-REMIC securitizations.

Dinko Angelov Managing Director AUDAX PRIVATE DEBT

Mr. Angelov joined Audax Group in 2008 as one of the early members of the Audax Senior Debt investment team. He helps lead Audax Senior Debt’s origination, underwriting, and portfolio management effort. Mr. Angelov is a co-portfolio manager of all Audax Senior Debt leverage facilities, including all middle market CLOs. Mr. Angelov has over 20 years of experience primarily investing in senior secured debt supporting sponsor-backed LBO transactions of U.S. middle market companies. Previously, he was at FirstLight Financial, a middle market commercial lending company. At FirstLight, Mr. Angelov focused on new business underwriting and managed a portfolio of senior secured loans. Prior to joining FirstLight, Mr. Angelov worked in the investment banking division of the Seabury Group.

Mr. Angelov is a CFA charter holder and received a B.S. in Finance and Management Information Systems from the University of Bridgeport.

Terence Clerkin Partner PENNANTPARK

Terence Clerkin joined PennantPark in September 2012 and is a Partner. Since joining PennantPark, he has been involved in originating, underwriting, executing, and monitoring investments for the Firm.

Before joining PennantPark, Terence was an Associate in the Mezzanine Group at Crescent Capital from 2010 to 2012. Before that, he was an Analyst at Moelis & Company from 2008 to 2010 and an Analyst at Bear, Stearns & Co. from 2007 to 2008.

Terence holds a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan.

Jerry van Koolbergen Managing Director, Structured Credit MORNINGSTAR DBRS

Jerry van Koolbergen is the Managing Director responsible for Structured Credit at Morningstar DBRS. In this role, he oversees US and European teams rating CLOs, CLO warehouses, direct origination funds, leveraged loan funds, CFOs of private equity, SME CLOs, CLNs, ABCP, trade receivables, subscription loans, special projects and surveillance. He also is jointly responsible for middle market corporate ratings, oversees corporate credit estimates and new product development. Mr. van Koolbergen joined Morningstar DBRS in 2008.

Prior to DBRS Morningstar, Mr. van Koolbergen was an Executive Director for Morgan Stanley in 2006, and a Vice President for JPMorgan from 1998-2006 responsible for CLO structuring and origination.

Mr. van Koolbergen holds an MBA in Finance from New York University, a BS in Electrical Engineering and a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from Northwestern University.

Alex Zilberman Managing Director BLUE OWL

Alex Zilberman is a Managing Director at Blue Owl and member of the Structured Products and Fund Finance Team. Prior to Blue Owl, Alex served as Co-head of Structured Credit and Credit Trading at Natixis, where he oversaw the global CLO, Structured Credit Financing, Structured Credit Trading, ABS and Subscription line businesses. Prior to this role, Alex was Global Head of CLO and Structured Credit at Natixis since 2015. Prior to Natixis, Alex was a structured credit professional and joined Credit Suisse in 2000 after it acquired Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, where he began his career. Prior to attending business school, Alex worked as an Engineer in the Israeli Aircraft Industries and served in the Israeli Airforce. Alex holds an MBA from the University of Michigan and a B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering and Management from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.

Karen Lau Head of CLOs and Performing Loans MARATHON ASSET MANAGEMENT

Karen Lau is a Managing Director, a member of the firm’s Executive Committee, and a member of Marathon’s Performing Credit Investment Committee. Ms. Lau joined Marathon from Onex Credit, where she served as a Managing Director, Head of U.S. CLOs, managing over $10 billion of AUM across 20 vehicles, and member of the Par Loans & High Yield Investment Committee.  Prior to Onex, Ms. Lau spent six years at TPG Institutional Credit Partners as Co-Head of Portfolio Strategy focused on the CLO portfolios.  Similar to TPG, Karen joined Blackstone Credit at the inception of its CLO business in the early 2000s, serving over ten years as Senior Investment Analyst covering a wide range of sectors.  Ms. Lau received a B.S. in Finance from the Leonard Stern School of Business at New York University.

Matthew Maxwell Managing Director, Head of US Performing Loans CARLYLE

Matthew Maxwell is a Managing Director and Head of U.S. Loans where he serves as a Portfolio Manager for the U.S. CLO platform.

Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Maxwell was a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at BlackRock, serving as the head of BlackRock's U.S. CLO issuance business and a lead portfolio manager on leveraged loan separately managed accounts. Previously, Mr. Maxwell led leveraged loan desk research at Morgan Stanley from 2011 to 2016. Mr. Maxwell also worked at Deutsche Bank in leveraged & distressed credit research and investment banking from 2004-2011.

Mr. Maxwell earned a BS in Applied Economics & Management from Cornell University.

Dagmara Michalczuk Co-Chief Investment Officer TETRAGON CREDIT PARTNERS

Dagmara Michalczuk

Co-Chief Investment Officer

Dagmara is Co-Chief Investment Officer for Tetragon Credit Partners. She joined the group in early 2007 and prior to that was an Associate in Morgan Stanley’s Securitized Products Group working on the structuring desks in New York and London. At Morgan Stanley, she was involved in the structuring and execution of CDO and CLO transactions across multiple underlying asset classes and structural types. Dagmara holds an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BS in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University. She is based in New York.

Stephanie Walsh Partner and Head of US CLOs BAIN CAPITAL CREDIT

Stephanie Walsh, Partner and Head of US CLOs at Bain Capital Credit 

Ms. Walsh joined Bain Capital in 2007. She is a Partner on the Bain Capital Credit team and Head of US CLOs responsible for the origination and management of the funds. During 2014 through 2016, she was based in the London office responsible for the European CLO platform. Prior to focusing on US CLOs, Ms. Walsh was a Portfolio Manager in our Liquid Credit business helping grow and manage separate accounts and comingled funds from 2011 to 2016. She started her career at Bain Capital as a member of the industry research team focused on the Energy and Utility sectors. Previously, Ms. Walsh was an analyst at Goldman Sachs in the Bank Debt Portfolio Group.

Ms. Walsh received a B.B.A. in Finance from the University of Notre Dame graduating cum laude. She is currently a member of Notre Dame’s Wall Street Leadership Committee.

Andrew Berlin Vice President, Director of Policy Research LSTA

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.

Shiloh Bates Chief Investment Officer FLAT ROCK GLOBAL

Shiloh Bates, CFA joined Flat Rock Global in 2018 and is a Partner and Chief Investment Officer.  Prior to joining Flat Rock Global, Mr. Bates was a Managing Director at Benefit Street Partners where he worked on corporate acquisitions. Prior to that, Mr. Bates was the Head of Structured Products at BDCA Advisor, where he was responsible for investments in CLOs and leveraged loans.

During his 20-year career, Mr. Bates has worked for several CLO managers and is a frequent panelist at CLO conferences. He wrote the book, CLO Investing with a focus on CLO Equity and BB Notes.

A life-long learner, Shiloh has a BA from Virginia Tech in Political Science, an MA in Public Policy from Harvard University, an MA in Financial Mathematics from the University of Chicago, and an MA in Statistics from Columbia University.  He was also a specialist in psychological warfare in the US Army Reserves.

Michael Finnegan Director of Structured Investments ZAIS GROUP

Mr. Finnegan serves as a Director of Structured Investments at ZAIS and is responsible for analyzing and trading CLOs. Since joining ZAIS in July of 2003, Mr. Finnegan has had significant involvement in the investment analysis of both RMBS and corporate backed CDO tranches. Before joining ZAIS, Mr. Finnegan studied at Hartwick College, where he earned a B.A. in History and Religious Studies.