Fitch Ratings has has hired additions to its student loan ABS team. Gary Santo has joined Fitch as a managing director to help spearhead Fitch's efforts in this sector, coming over from The First Marblehead Corp. where he spent over ten years developing and leading First Marblehead's capital markets and subsequently investor relations groups.
'Gary's experience, particularly with regard to the private student loan sector, will be invaluable to Fitch in analyzing student loan ABS and providing investors with the highest quality research,' stated Kevin Duignan, managing director and head of Fitch's ABS group. '
Melvin Zhou has also joined the rating agency as a director on its student loan team, coming from Citigroup where he was the director of financial analysis for the bank's Student Loan Corp. Zhou was very involved in analyzing collateral trends and bond structures for Citi's FFELP and private student loan offerings.
