Sean J. Egan is founding partner and managing director of Egan-Jones Ratings Company, which was organized for the purpose of providing timely, accurate credit ratings. Previously, he worked in KPMG’s risk-assessment business and in structured finance at Chemical Bank of New York. Mr. Egan has testified before the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. He holds a degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo and an MBA from Harvard University.

Mohamed A. El-Erian is co-CEO and co-CIO of PIMCO. Previously, he served as president and CEO of Harvard Management Company and as managing director at Salomon Smith Barney/Citigroup. Dr. El-Erian has also served as a member of the faculty of Harvard Business School and has written on the topics of international economics and finance. He is currently a board member of the Peterson Institute for International Economics and a member of the U.S. Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee and the IMF’s Capital Markets Consultative Group. Dr. El-Erian holds a BA in economics from Cambridge University and master's and doctoral degrees in economics from Oxford University.

Daniel J. Fuss, CFA, is vice chairman of Loomis, Sayles & Company, L.P. and the co-manager on a number of institutional separate accounts for its fixed-income group. He has 50 years of experience in the investment industry and has been with Loomis, Sayles & Company since 1976. In 2000, Mr. Fuss was named to the Fixed Income Analysts Society’s Hall of Fame in recognition of his contributions and lifetime achievements in the advancement of the analysis of fixed-income securities and portfolios. He is past president of the Boston Security Analysts Society. Mr. Fuss holds a bachelor’s degree and an MBA from Marquette University.

James Grant is the founder of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer and a founding general partner of Nippon Partners, a hedge fund that invests in Japan. He is the author of four books on finance and history and, most recently, John Adams: Party of One. Mr. Grant’s television appearances include “60 Minutes,” “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,” “CBS Evening News,” and a 10-year stint on “Wall $treet Week.” His journalism career began at the Baltimore Sun, and he has since been published in numerous periodicals, including the Financial Times, Harvard Business Review, and the New Republic. Mr. Grant is an alumnus of Indiana University and earned an MA in international relations from Columbia University.

Jeffrey Gundlach is chief investment officer at the TCW Group, Inc. He is a member of the board of directors as well as president of the largest asset management subsidiary of the TCW Group. Previously, Mr. Gundlach was associated with Transamerica Corporation’s Los Angeles-based property/casualty insurance division. He worked in the finance department as a senior loss reserve analyst, responsible for investment discount and funding strategies. Mr. Gundlach holds bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and philosophy from Dartmouth College and attended Yale University as a PhD candidate in mathematics.

Alexander Kozhemiakin, CFA, is the director of emerging market strategies at Standish Mellon Asset Management. Previously, he was senior vice president and portfolio manager for emerging market debt at Putnam Investments and an emerging market sovereign analyst at Citibank. Dr. Kozhemiakin was a post doctoral fellow at Harvard University, and his research on emerging market debt and other areas of fixed income has been published in journals such as The Journal of Portfolio Management, The Journal of Fixed Income and The Journal of Investing. He holds a PhD in international relations from the University of Illinois.

Meridee Moore is the senior managing member and Chief Investment Officer of Watershed Asset Management, LLC, an investment management company. Prior to founding Watershed, she was a managing member of Farallon Capital Management, a global multi-strategy investment manager. Ms. Moore has also worked in the investment banking division of Lehman Brothers and was a corporate law associate for Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. She received her BA in philosophy from the University of Colorado and her JD degree from Yale Law School.

Rick Nicklas, with more than 15 years of experience in the U.S. structured securities market, is a portfolio manager at ZAIS Group, LLC, where he is responsible for trading and managing U.S. residential mortgage risk across various ZAIS-managed funds. Prior to joining ZAIS, Mr. Nicklas spent eight years with Lehman Brothers, where he was a senior vice president trading nonagency mortgage-backed securities with a particular focus on credit. Prior to Lehman, Mr. Nicklas spent seven years at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette trading both the senior and subordinate parts of the capital structure in the residential mortgage space. Mr. Nicklas has an MBA from The Wharton School at The University of Pennsylvania and a BS from the University of Virginia.

Marc P. Seidner, CFA, is vice president and domestic fixed-income portfolio manager at Harvard Management Company, Inc. Previously, he was director of active core strategies at Standish Mellon Asset Management, where he oversaw a team of portfolio managers, analysts, and traders and was responsible for the development and implementation of investment strategy for active core and core plus institutional fixed-income mandates. Mr. Seidner was also a member of the firm’s operating group. Prior to that, he served as a domestic fixed-income derivatives trader and strategist at Fidelity Management and Research Company. Mr. Seidner holds a BA in economics from Boston College. 

Mark P. Snyderman, CFA, leads the high yield real estate debt securities team and is a portfolio manager for Fidelity Investments. He manages the Fidelity Real Estate Opportunistic Income Fund and also manages institutional accounts focused on real estate bond and stock investing. Previously, Mr. Snyderman was a director at Aldrich, Eastman & Waltch serving on their operating committee, and he was also a founder of Commercial Mortgage Corporation. He has published articles on commercial mortgage risk and mortgage investing in The Journal of Portfolio Management. Mr. Snyderman holds a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Stanford University.

Steven A. Tananbaum, CFA, is the senior managing member and founding partner of GoldenTree Asset Management. Prior to forming GoldenTree, he worked at MacKay Shields first as an investment specialist and later as head of their high yield group. During his time at MacKay Shields, Mr. Tananbaum received several Lipper #1 certificates for the products he managed. He has also worked on high yield and merger and acquisition transactions in the corporate finance department of Kidder, Peabody & Co. Mr. Tananbaum serves as a trustee of Vassar College and holds a seat on the Guggenheim Museum Advisory Board. He holds a BA in economics from Vassar College.

Stephen A. Walsh is the deputy Chief Investment Officer of Western Asset Management Company, an institutional investment advisor. He is responsible for the firm-wide development and the coordination of investment strategies. Previously, Mr. Walsh was portfolio manager, president, and Chief Investment Officer of the Intercash Capitol Advisory Division at Security Pacific Investment Managers, and he was a senior portfolio manager in the treasury department of Atlantic Richfield Company. Mr. Walsh holds a BS in finance from the University of Colorado.

Steven Zamsky is a managing director of Pequot Capital Management and portfolio manager of the firm’s credit strategy. Previously, Mr. Zamsky was managing director and head of investment-grade strategy for North America at Morgan Stanley. He has been ranked on Institutional Investor’s All-America Fixed-Income Research Team, ranking first in investment-grade strategy. Prior to his work as a strategist, he was a credit analyst at Morgan Stanley and worked in a similar capacity at Fidelity Investments. Mr. Zamsky graduated with a BS in accounting from Oregon State University and received his MBA from the University of Chicago.