Kroll Bond Ratings made public the members of its senior management team, which include experts from a range of financial disciplines.
According to the release, Kroll will distinguish itself by performing the deep analysis and emphasize ratings accuracy. It will also adopt the investment community’s perspective in forming its approach to ratings and corporate governance. It expects to publish its first ratings in 3Q10.
“These professionals, with their varied and impressive expertise, have the much-needed judgment to refashion the credit ratings industry,” said CEO and Chairman Jules Kroll. “Together, we will provide investors with a reliable and accurate product. Investment professionals managing retirement accounts and pension funds deserve ratings in which they can have confidence to make smart investment decisions. With this team in place, we will be able to meet these needs.”
The team is as follows:
Kroll is the chairman and CEO and also the founder of Kroll Inc. In 1972, he established Kroll Associates as a consultant to corporate purchasing departments, and in doing so, created the prototype for a new breed of professional services firm dedicated to mitigating risk. His firm, which he sold to Marsh & McLennan Cos. in 2004 and left in 2008, ultimately reached annual revenues of $1 billion.
James Nadler is the president and chief operating officer of Kroll Bond Ratings. Nadler was previously the vice president for corporate development at General Re in the New England Asset Management Division. While at General Re, Nadler helped create a new platform for trading, settlement and reporting. His expertise in research and analytics at General Re was instrumental in maintaining client relationships while generating new revenue. Over the last two decades, James has held several roles in the world of financial analysis, working for mainstays in the ratings industry as well independent research firms. As executive vice president at Fitch Ratings, he was responsible for strategy, budgets, hiring, product development, and credit rating criteria for the structured finance group, a group he led. He started his career as a ratings officer at Standard & Poor’s and as a senior accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Robert Anselmi is the general counsel and chief compliance officer of Kroll Bond Ratings. Anselmi brings nearly four decades of experience in financial services, both as a senior legal and compliance officer and as a valued member of executive management. Before joining Kroll Bond Ratings, Robert held positions with industry leaders, including New York Life Investment Management, initially as general counsel and later as vice chairman, Lehman Brothers and JPMorgan Investment Management, where he served as general counsel and managing director, responsible for the firm’s legal and compliance areas.
Ellen Coleman is the director of underwriting review at Kroll Bond Ratings and is responsible for mortgage originator and servicer reviews. Coleman has 20 years of financial services experience focusing in mortgage investment and risk management. She served five years at Countrywide Financial Corp. in different treasury roles where she helped originate and fund mortgage securitizations. Before Countrywide, Coleman spent ten years as a relationship banker with ABN AMRO Bank in Los Angeles. She started her banking career at Chase Manhattan Bank in New York.
Jerome Fons is the executive vice president of strategy for Kroll Bond Ratings. He is an economist specializing in credit risk and rating agency issues, having spent 17 years at Moody’s Investors Service, leaving the firm in August 2007. Positions he held at Moody’s include managing director in credit policy, member of the firm’s credit policy committee, chair of the fundamental credit committee and chair of Moody’s standing committee on rating symbols and practices. Jerome was also a member of Moody’s country risk committee, which sets sovereign rating practices. Before Moody's, Fons was an economic advisor at Chemical Bank in New York and an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
Ajay Junnarkar is the chief financial and administrative officer of Kroll Bond Ratings. He joins the company from Marsh & McLennan Cos., where he was a senior finance team member. His roles included vice president and assistant treasurer, chief financial officer of its global reinsurance brokerage subsidiary, Guy Carpenter & Co., and director in its corporate development and strategy group. He also worked at Goldman Sachs, where he conducted due diligence investigations for its investment, merchant and private banking operations. He began his career as a forensic accountant at Kroll Inc.
