Authors Page - Trade Finance Global

Jeremy Levy is a partner in Baker McKenzie’s Structured Capital Markets Team in London, working in the areas of securitisation, structured finance and derivatives & financial products. Jeremy joined Baker McKenzie as a trainee in 2005 and qualified into the Structured Capital Markets Team in 2007. Jeremy regularly acts for sponsors, originators, arrangers and trustees on securitisation and other structured finance transactions across multiple jurisdictions and involving various asset classes (including trade receivables, residential mortgages, auto loans, consumer loans and equipment leases). Jeremy also regularly advises buyers, suppliers and platform providers on all types of supply chain finance transactions and advises companies listing bonds on the Channel Islands and Cayman Islands Stock Exchanges. Jeremy has considerable experience in establishing new structures and vehicles, and advised PrimeRevenue in establishing a new supply chain finance platform, named a Standout Deal at the FT Innovative Lawyers Awards 2016.

Shailesh Kumar is the Senior Economist at The Hartford’s Credit and Political Rsk division. In this capacity, he oversees the department’s Country, Credit and Economic Research team where he is responsible for providing expert geopolitical, economic and credit research to the underwriting team, oversee the division’s global credit and political risk exposures and keeping the division and senior executives apprised of developing political and economic risks and assessing pending global themes. Before joining The Hartford, Shailesh managed the Asia political risk research and advisory practice at Eurasia Group and concurrently served as the firm’s lead analyst for South Asia. Prior to Eurasia Group, Shailesh was an economist at the US Department of Treasury where he served in various senior functions including developing the US government’s economic policies and engagement strategy with India based upon research he conducted on the region’s politics and economy, managing the “Markets Room,” a unit that monitored and forecasted global political and economic risk events for the President of the United States and senior administration officials, and developing policies for the US Treasury market including issuing government securities to finance the nation’s deficit. Earlier in his career, Shailesh held positions at various investment banks as a global macro investment professional, where he focused on international economics and politics with respect to their implications for fixed income and currency markets. Shailesh holds a master’s degree in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a dual bachelor’s degree in finance and marketing from the Stern School of Business at New York University.

Annabel is a Senior Programme Manager at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainable Leadership 

John Bugeja is a highly experienced trade, supply chain and invoice finance specialist with more than 40 years’ experience in senior leadership roles with HSBC, NatWest, RBS, Barclays and Lloyds Banking Group. John is now Managing Director of Trade Advisory Network Limited, a trade, supply chain and invoice finance advisory network, delivering product development and innovation, operating model design and implementation, training and education and deal structuring and placement solutions to banks, alternative finance providers, fintechs, technology service providers and corporates. John is often called upon to act as expert witness when trade and supply chain finance related disputes go to tribunal or court. Key areas of expertise include origination, risk and governance, product management and development, business development, organisation design, change management, process facilitation, training and management development. John is passionate about promoting the development of supply chain finance in all its forms and was a member of the drafting group that wrote the ICC rules for Uniform Rules for Digital Trade Transactions (URDTT). John is also co-author of LIBF’s Certificate in Supply Chain Finance, FCI’s Supply Chain Finance online learning module and the  ICC Academy’s Advanced Supply Chain Finance online course, a core module of their CTCP programme.

Aysen is Education Director at FCI.

Natasha is the Global Head of Core Trade within J.P. Morgan Payments. She has 15+ years of experience across trade finance and working capital solutions for both corporate and financial institutions. She has extensive experience with providing strategic working capital advisory, risk mitigation, sales growth, and digital efficiencies for the top multinationals in the world. Natasha comes to the firm from Citi, where she was the Global Trade Sales Head. While there, she led five regional teams around the world and provided personal leadership on large strategic deals. Natasha held multiple positions at Citi. Prior to her current role, she held the position of Europe Trade Sales Head and primarily focused on large complex deals requiring coordination across multiple countries. Natasha was also previously the Global Subsidiaries EMEA Trade Sales Head, as well as the UK, Nordics & Netherlands Trade Head, and began as a Trade Sales Consultant. Natasha was in her previous employment a serving member of Citi UK Pride Committee, an active member of Citi Women and Citi Parents affinity organizations and a member of the Global Trade Management Committee. Natasha has a Master of Arts from Oxford University where she studied Philosophy, Politics & Economics (PPE).

Diana Rodriguez leads BAFT’s global government relations strategy, focusing on prudential, regulatory, and global trade policy matters. Her advocacy portfolio includes Libor transition, Basel III implementation and multilateral trade policy. She coordinates joint advocacy with partner trade associations and other global stakeholders to advance BAFT policy priorities. Prior to joining BAFT, Diana served in the Obama Administration as Senior Advisor for International Trade at the U.S. Small Business Administration. There, she advised the SBA Administrator on a global portfolio of trade policy and trade finance matters, and oversaw the Agency’s global entrepreneurship promotion efforts in Asia, Europe and Latin America. Before that, she served as a Director in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s International Affairs Division leading trade policy efforts in Mexico. Earlier in her career she worked at international affairs think tanks, the Woodrow Wilson Center and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Gunnar is the head of sales, trade finance at Enigio, a distributive ledger technology firm. Gunnar Collin is a senior operations professional with extensive experience in the financial sector across various organizations, geographies, and cultural settings. He emphasizes that success in managing and transforming functions within financial companies requires a clear business focus, excellence in daily execution, and the ability to drive significant changes, such as digitization, process re-engineering, automation, offshoring, or outsourcing. He also highlights the importance of full compliance with existing or new regulations. For any transformation to succeed, engaging, trustworthy, and sound leadership is essential—an area where Gunnar excels, whether in supporting leaders or taking on leadership roles for both short and long periods.

Mathieu is a Senior Advisor in Sustainability Standards & Value Chains at the International Trade Centre.

Simon Ring is a seasoned banking and capital markets professional with over 20 years of experience, holding senior roles at institutions like ICAP, Tullett Prebon, and Cedef Capital Markets in Geneva. He brings expertise in derivatives, trade finance, supply chains, and maritime sanctions compliance, with a focus on AI-driven logistics solutions. A frequent industry speaker and published author on financial markets and trade compliance, Simon is also a member of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), serves on the Association of Certified Sanctions Specialists (ACSS) steering committee, and is affiliated with the International Compliance Association (ICA). He has advised government regulators on trade-related sanctions.

Claire Thompson is a financial services expert with over 25 years of experience in executive and board roles. Her executive background includes leading global transaction banking and payments teams at some of the world’s largest financial institutions, including ABN AMRO, RBS, Standard Chartered, and Mastercard. In a non-executive capacity, she has served on risk, audit, and corporate governance committees. A significant portion of her career has been focused on commercial roles within Transaction Banking, where she has led large global teams, driven significant revenue growth, and managed large P&Ls to ensure profitable operations. More recently, she built an embedded finance business unit, delivering financial services through platforms and applications. Claire is passionate about building businesses that solve real customer needs and leveraging technology to create efficient, digital experiences.

David Leung currently works in the BIS Innovation Hub Hong Kong Centre as a visiting advisor. Before joining the BISIH, he worked as an economist in the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, in charge of economic analysis and policy research on global/ regional financial market issues. Prior to the HKMA, he worked in the Hang Seng Bank, responsible for investment research and fund management. He holds a PhD in economics from the University of California, Riverside, and a master of finance from the George Washington University.

Mr. Pavel Andrle is well known international trade and finance consultant and lecturer. He has worked for a number of leading local and international banks in various positions (e.g. trade finance specialist, head of trade finance, trade finance risk manager, in-house trainer). He is a frequent lecturer in documentary credits, guarantees & short term trade finance for many leading organizations and institutes world-wide, such as ICC national committees, chambers of commerce, bank associations and various bank and finance academies and similar educational institutions. He also frequently conducts in-house trainings and consultancy services benefiting banks, exporters, importers, traders, freight forwarders and cargo insurers. Mr. Andrle has conducted seminars held in more than 65 countries of the world.

John W. Miller, TDM’s Chief Economic Analyst, is an award-winning journalist who has reported from 45 countries for “The Wall Street Journal”, “Time Magazine”, and NPR. He co-directed the acclaimed 2020 PBS documentary “Moundsville” and founded Moundsville.org. A contributing writer for “America Magazine”, Miller has covered trade and mining across six continents. He also coaches baseball, having led two Brussels teams to Little League World Series tournaments, and scouted for the Baltimore Orioles.

Hamza Hameed is a Pakistani lawyer working as a Legal Consultant at the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) in Rome, Italy. His primary focus is on secured transactions law and fintech, whereby he works on the Cape Town Convention and its Protocols, as well as leading UNIDROIT’s project on Digital Assets and Private Law. He is closely involved in the activities of the Cape Town Convention Academic Project and is a Manager at the UNIDROIT Foundation. He holds an LLB from the University of London International Programme and an Advanced LLM degree in Air and Space Law from the International Institute for Air and Space Law at Leiden University. He is also the Co-Chair of the Space Generation Advisory Council, and a Member of the International Institute for Space Law (IISL) and INSOL International.

Marc Meyer is SVP Subject Matter Expert at Tinubu. Marc joined Tinubu in 2005. With more than 30 years of experience in the Trade Credit Insurance industry, he plays a major role in the development of the international portfolio. He started his career in 1989 as a credit analyst in NatWest. In 1993, he joined Euler as a senior Risk Underwriter. He then participated in and led projects which resulted in acquisition and opening of 14 subsidiaries in 13 countries (Europe, South America, Asia), and took part in the merger with Hermes. He holds a master’s degree in Public & International Laws and Policies from the Poitiers University and a diploma in public service from Sciences Po Paris.

Rebecca Brace is a freelance financial writer and former editor of Treasury Today magazine. She has 16 years’ experience of writing about corporate treasury, payments, transaction banking, financial crime compliance, risk management, and trade finance. Rebecca has a BA in English Language and Literature from the University of Oxford.

Mr. Kenneth Wong is Head of Product Strategy and Innovation for the Global Transaction Bank at TD Bank that encompasses the Financial Institutions, Cash Management and Trade Finance lines-of-business. He has been in the financial Industry for over 27 years in different business divisions from Consumer Banking to Corporate and Institutional Banking with roles from Front Office Financial Services Sales and Relationship Management to Back Office Operations and Technology. He is a seasoned Treasury, Cash Management and Payments practitioner with extensive experience in the Foreign Exchange integrated Payments and Clearing space. He has extensive international exposure with working assignments in Asia, Europe, Middle East and North America.