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S&P Announces Reorg and Jacob's Departure

Standard & Poor's has announced a new organization structure that includes Global Head of Structured Finance David Jacob leaving the rating agency at the end of the year.

Mark Adelson, who most recently served as chief credit officer and was instrumental in strengthening S&P's criteria process, has been named senior research fellow. In this new role, he will lead new key research projects as part of an expanded thought leadership initiative by the firm.  

"Given his history as a widely-followed researcher and market commentator, we think Mark is ideally suited to his new role," said Ed Sweeney, director in corporate communications.

Ian Thompson, managing director and chief credit officer in Asia-Pacific, is replacing Adelson. He has been appointed senior managing director and chief credit officer with global responsibility.

The rating firm appointed Jacob to his role as head of structured finance ratings back in August 2008. He replaced Vickie Tillman, who had been the acting head of the unit since January 2008. Tillman took over when Joanne Rose became executive managing director for risk and quality policy.

At S&P, Jacob had oversight of all of the rating agency's structured finance operations. Meanwhile, Adelson, Jacob’s former colleague at Nomura Securities and whom Jacob previously shared a consultancy business with, joined the company in May 2008.

Jacob and Adelson formed Adelson & Jacob Consulting after they had left Nomura. The firm offered securitization advice until right before Adelson started at S&P. 

Formation of Executive Committee

As part of the changes just announced, S&P has formed an executive committee that will be responsible for the ratings business, strategy, regulatory and policy outreach, investment and talent.

The company is now dividing its business in terms of regional rather than product lines. The reorganization along these lines is in light of the evolution of the global markets.

Currently the rules in off balance sheet financing and global financial interactions have veered away from specific institutions, and the need for regional leadership becomes more apparent. This division is also beneficial from a market facing perspective.

"Moving forward, our organization and the markets will be best served by having regional leadership oversee our ratings across asset classes," Sweeney said. "For this reason, we are organizing our ratings practices under executive managing directors for the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific."

Douglas Peterson, president of S&P, will head the new executive committee based out of New York. Other members include Yu-Tsung Chang, executive managing director of Asia-Pacific ratings services based in Tokyo; Paul Coughlin, executive managing director of global analytics and operations, based in New York; James Daly, Jr., vice president of human resources based in New York; Christian Dinwoodie, executive managing director of market development in London; Yann Le Pallec, executive managing director of EMEA ratings services in Paris; Catherine Mathis, senior vice president of marketing and communications in New York; Adam Schuman, executive managing director and chief legal officer in New York; Joseph Sniado, senior vice president and chief information officer in New York; and John  Weisenseel, senior vice president of finance in New York.

"As we look forward to 2012, these organizational changes will better position us to drive growth in developed and emerging markets and to create new products and services," Peterson said. "The new structure builds on our many strengths and will enable us to collaborate more effectively with colleagues across teams and with S&P Capital IQ as part of McGraw-Hill's Growth and Value Plan."

Additionally, the rating agency also plans to appoint a chief economist and chief risk officer to its executive committee.

As part of the organizational change, Coughlin, who had been executive managing director, corporate and government ratings,  is now executive managing director, global analytics and operations.

He will coordinate global management of the analytical units and have direct responsibility for the ratings business. This includes corporate, financial services, government and structured finance in the Americas. During a transition period, he will oversee the structured finance groups worldwide.

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