Authors Page - Trade Finance Global

Lauren is the founder and Principal of Baker Logistics Consulting, a consultancy providing clients with cost-effective international transportation, logistics and customs compliance services. Lauren’s practice areas include transportation rate negotiations and procurement, transport optimization, 3PL selection, and export and import trade compliance. In addition to consulting, Baker provides logistics project management services and training throughout the Chicagoland area. Prior to starting Baker, Lauren held national and regional roles at leading freight forwarding firms where she managed international freight, customs and contract logistics activities. Lauren is a graduate of Harvard College and a licensed U.S. Customs House Broker. An adjunct Professor, she teaches Global Logistics at the college and graduate level, speaks at industry events and frequently contributes to trade publications such as Industry Week.

Operating across Descartes’ Global Trade Intelligence business, Jackson works collaboratively with Product Management, Global Marketing and Commercial Operations partners to help develop and deliver solutions that address the increasing complexity and volatility of today’s global trade environment. With a keen focus on both the present and emerging needs of Descartes’ customers, Jackson leverages his 15+ years of experience in market research, strategic planning, change management and corporate development to provide meaningful insights that help increase and amplify the value clients realize from Descartes’ solutions. Jackson joined the organization in December 2019 and brings over a decade of trade compliance industry experience to his role.

Oswald Kuyler is the Global Head of Strategy for Monetago, the world’s foremost fraud prevention technology provider to prevent domestic and cross-border duplicate financing. Mr Kuyler currently holds multiple advisory positions on the international stage. Firstly Oswald is the Digital Standards Adviser to the International Chamber of Commerce United Kingdom. Secondly, Mr Kuyler is an Adviser to the International Chamber of Commerce Digital Standards Initiative (DSI) Governance Board. Mr Kuyler has also joined the MineHub Board of Advisors to help accelerate the transition from paper to digital, helping mining companies unlock their ESG potential. Mr Kuyler is the former Managing Director for the International chamber of commerce DSI. He defined strategy, focused on a partnership and convened the global community around digital standards. Before ICC, Mr Kuyler was the Global Head of Data Strategy of BHP, the world’s largest diversified mining company. He has worked on multiple technology initiatives covering blockchain, electronic documentation in trade, data and analytics, and automation.A technologist at heart focused on accelerating the digitisation of trade. Driven by the opportunity for the financial services ecosystem to service more customers as digitisation produces more efficiencies, products and risk mitigations

Kateryna Bovsunovska is a Ukrainian lawyer with an LLM degree in International and European Law from Vilnius University, Lithuania. In 2022, Kateryna completed a six-month internship at the Digital Assets and Private Law Project at the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) in Rome, Italy. Kateryna is active in the youth movement in Internet Governance, particularly the Youth Coalition on Internet Governance and ISOC Youth Standing Group. She has completed the ISOC Youth Ambassador Program 2022 and participated in the Internet Governance Forum in Ethiopia. She is particularly interested in digital sovereignty and Internet Fragmentation, digital assets, digital human rights, and the sustainability of ICT.

Eva Rubio is Managing Director and Head of Global Transaction Banking at BBVA. She has been working in different positions within CIB. She was developing fixed income and interest rates models for 3 years. Later, she was leading the Equity Research Analysts team covering European Banks and Insurance companies for 10 years. From 2006 to 2012 she was leading the Global Markets Strategy and Business development team. From 2011 to 2019 she was leading CIB Finance, Global Planning and Talent and Culture department. She holds a MSc in Economics and Finance from CEMFI (Center of Monetary and Financial Studies, Bank of Spain) and BA in Economics at the University of Zaragoza.

Dani is the Founder & CEO of Cotti Trade & Treasury- and a Trade Finance Fintech and Blockchain expert with 30+ years of Global Corporate Banking and 7+ years of hands-on Fintech experience. Former Managing Director, Centre of Excellence, Banking and Trade at Marco Polo Network (previously known as TradeIX), a start-up trade finance platform provider and network operator which offers Working Capital, Trade Finance and Payments solutions leveraging the distributed ledger technology of Corda by R3. Former Non-executive Chairman of the Board at Bolero, a Digital Trade Finance platform, from 2017 to 2022. Former Non-executive Board member at GLEIF, the Swiss Foundation founded by the FSB post the 2007/2008 financial crises to create Digital Identities, from 2019 to 2022. Driver behind the scenes to set up the Digital Standards Initiative (DSI) of the International Chamber of Commerce to create a new industry body for business and technology standards for the Trade Industry. Dani Cotti has 7+ years of experience in the Trade Finance Fintech space gained while at Marco Polo Network. He has acquired a deep subject matter expertise for Trade Finance digitalisation using new technologies, new business models and new legal frameworks. Daniel has a large network of trade experts around the globe and engages with them to provide organised consultancy services to industry participants in the digital trade space. Dani Cotti has 30+ years of experience working in leading Trade & Treasury Management positions with global P&L responsibilities for Citibank, ABN AMRO, RBS and JPMorgan. Over the years Dani has been actively involved with the major industry associations like ICC, SWIFT, BAFT, WTO, GLEIF etc. to drive the Trade Finance Industry agenda forward and most recently has worked behind the scenes to launch the new Trade Standards Body of the ICC, Digital Standards Initiative.

Daniel Barbosa has been working in physical commodity trading since 2009, with a focus in finance and risk management. Currently, Finance Director and Executive Board Member at Fex Agro, a farm inputs, feed ingredients and agri commodities trading company, based in Mato Grosso – Brazil.

Paul Sebastien is the co-founder and managing director of Carbon Offset Certification, an independent standard for carbon-neutral commodity transactions and services. He has been active in energy and carbon markets as a trader and advisor to the United Nations and various national agencies on energy transition programs. Paul has led energy transition and development initiatives in emerging markets and advises innovative energy companies. He also founded a commodity tech start-up and develops nature-based carbon offset programs in Central America.

Gilles joined Tinubu in September 2022, taking on the mission of tailoring Tinubu’s  US-market-leading digital surety solutions for the EMEA and APAC regions and then  promoting these innovative solutions among Carriers, MGAs, and Brokers in those  markets. Gilles has built up a 20-year career in the surety industry. He started in the telecom sector as a Product Manager and then joined Atradius as a Market Manager, specializing in Surety & Guarantee solutions. He later founded the Surety department of Euler Hermes France (2008), implementing sustainable digital solutions and building numerous partnerships with Banks & Brokers.  Gilles holds a master’s degree in Marketing & Strategy with honours.

Jo is an experienced corporate banker with particular expertise in the fields of trade & export finance, syndication, portfolio management and banks and non-banks FI relationship management. Having started her career in the financial institutions department while on the graduate programme at Barclays in London. She has since worked in various trade and lending roles on both the syndication as well as the origination side. She is strongly interested in technology developments and in seeing trade finance transforming as digitisation moves on. Hence, she bravely swapped the world of banking for a tech start-up for a while and has got first hand fintech experience from having co-founded the European office of LiquidX, a leading trade & working capital finance platform before joining Lloyds Bank in London. Having spent most of her career to date in London Jo spent nearly two years in Singapore looking after FI & NBFI trade for Asia Pacific for Lloyds Bank. Following that she took the exciting opportunity to join the trade syndication team at Credit Suisse and is now based in Zurich. Jo has long been close to ITFA as one of the founding members of the emerging leaders network and the fintech committee and is really excited about her first term as a board member.

Hamsika Gopalan is the General Manager for Corporate Relationships at Rescom Group. A qualified Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), Hamsika has over 17 years of experience in Corporate Finance, with a focus on Trade and Working Capital Products. She has earlier worked in EY & PWC and is currently based in Dubai, UAE.

Kieran Maguire is a Lecturer in football finance at the University of Liverpool and the author of “The Price of Football”, which explores football club finance and valuation. He hosts the podcast “The Price of Football” with Kevin Day and Guy Kilty. A regular on local TV and radio, Kieran discusses the financial impact on football and has been featured in national and local newspapers. He has received accolades for being the best overall lecturer at MMU and the best UK public sector finance lecturer.

Raelene Martin leads the development of the International Chamber of Commerce’s (ICC) sustainability policy, focusing on environmental issues. She excels in managing multicultural teams, policy analysis and advocacy, project management, global consensus building, and communications across diverse work streams. With 14 years of experience at the ICC, the world’s largest business organization representing over 45 million companies in 100+ countries, Raelene is responsible for policy development and ensuring effective engagement with international, regional, and intergovernmental bodies (e.g., OECD, UN, APEC, European Commission, BRITACOM). Her work spans sustainability, international taxation, and consumer protection policy. Raelene also has experience leading the marketing department of a large food manufacturing company, overseeing public relations and managing the full marketing portfolio for the group and its brands. Her sector expertise includes sustainability, environmental policy, international taxation, consumer protection, advertising, food manufacturing, and commercial lawn care.

Pamela Mar Managing Director of the Digital Standards Initiative (DSI) of the International Chamber of Commerce, based in Singapore. The DSI is a public private partnership backed by the ICC, Asian Development Bank, World Trade Organization and the Singapore government, dedicated to accelerating the digitalization of global trade as a key driver of growth, development and inclusion. Prior to joining the DSI, Pamela was Executive Vice President for Supply Chain Futures, and then EVP for Knowledge and Applications for the Fung Group, a Hong Kong based multinational supply chain manager where she was also the first Group head of Sustainability.  She was named one of Asia’s ten A-list sustainability leaders in 2019, and is a recognized industry leader in this area. Prior to moving to Hong Kong, Pamela was based in Shenzhen as a Director of Global Finance for TCL Multimedia Technology, the first major Chinese company to go global by buying a foreign brand. Prior to TCL, Pamela ran Greater China for the World Economic Forum, based in Geneva for five years. Pamela was born in New York and went to university in the USA, but has spent the majority of her life abroad, with stints in Bangkok, London, Geneva and Shenzhen.

Niels Nuyens is the Program Director at Digital Container Shipping Association (DCSA) As Program Director, Niels is responsible for the development of digital standards for DCSA’s Data & Interface and Industry Blueprint initiatives. Niels works with carrier members and other industry stakeholders to align standards with common industry practices and promote adoption. Prior to joining DCSA, Niels served with Deloitte Consulting for 14 years as a digital transformation consultant for companies such as Adidas, Ikea, Dutch Railways and Shell. He was also Operations Director for an Augmented Reality start-up for two years. Niels has an M.Sc. in Information Management from the University of Tilburg and completed an Executive Education program at Nyenrode.

Natalia has recently joined Swiss Re Corporate Solutions as a Senior Trade Finance Product Specialist. She has worked within the trade finance sector for most of her career, advising on trade finance deals at global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, where she qualified as a solicitor in 2010. Her legal training in this area created the perfect opportunity to move in-house to specialise in trade finance roles. Natalia started with a six month secondment to Standard Chartered Bank where she supported the Wholesale Banking team, then moved into Citibank’s Trade Transaction Services EMEA team, where she supported the Supply Chain Finance and Commodity Trade Finance divisions for five years. She gained considerable banking expertise in this role, before moving into the insurance sector when she joined the Trade Finance team at global insurer American International Group (AIG) in 2017. In this role, Natalia sat within the business and advised on all aspects of insurance-backed supply chain finance, payables, receivables and other trade finance deals.

Lynette Thorstensen is a New Zealander living and working in France. She has devoted the whole of her career to social and environmental justice. Lynette has held senior executive positions in international sustainable development for more than 30 years. Her previous roles include as Chief Executive of Greenpeace Australia, as Executive Director, Social Development and Environment with the New South Wales Premiers’ Department in Sydney, Australia, as Managing Director of Communications with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development -WBCSD in Geneva, Switzerland and as Consultant Director of Communications with the Global Green Growth Forum -3GF- housed within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Copenhagen, Denmark.

On February 9, 2022, the U.S. Senate confirmed Reta Jo Lewis as EXIM’s President and Chair of the Board of Directors. Chair Lewis was sworn in by Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris on February 16, 2022. Ms. Lewis is a senior executive with over 25 years of leadership experience in international affairs, legal, public policy, business and regulatory affairs, and subnational diplomacy. Ms. Lewis was most recently a Senior Fellow and Director of Congressional Affairs at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. At GMF, Ms. Lewis led and oversaw initiatives, programs, and bipartisan exchanges for members of the U.S. Congress and their European counterparts, focusing on leadership development and subnational diplomacy efforts. Prior to her time at GMF, she served as the first-ever Special Representative for Global Intergovernmental Affairs under Secretary Hillary Clinton at the U.S. Department of State during the Obama-Biden Administration. As Special Representative, Lewis was the chief diplomat in charge of the international efforts to build and support strategic relationships between the federal government, state and local leaders, and their foreign counterparts. In 2013, she was awarded the Secretary’s Distinguished Service Award. Ms. Lewis was the first Black woman to serve as Vice President and Counselor to the President at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. She led the Chamber’s initiatives focused on fostering strategic alliances between small businesses, especially women- and minority-owned businesses, entrepreneurs, and executives. She is a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and former Member of the Board of the Leadership Council for Women in National Security. Ms. Lewis received a J.D. from Emory University School of Law, an M.S.A.J. from American University, and a B.A. from the University of Georgia. She is a native of Statesboro, Georgia.