DR. STEPHEN RYAN
Professor of Accounting, Peat Marwick Faculty Fellow
Stern School of Business, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
Considered one of the leading authorities on financial institution accounting,
Dr. Ryan has published widely on financial reporting for financial instruments
and by financial institutions in leading publications, including Financial Analysts Journal, Journal of Accounting Research, The Accounting Review, Review of Accounting Studies, and Accounting Horizons. In addition, he is author of the book, Financial Instruments and Institutions, published by Wiley Finance.

His expertise on financial services accounting is in demand at leading investment banks, credit rating agencies, and bank regulatory agencies. Dr. Ryan is actively involved in the development of financial reporting as a past member of the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council and chair of the American Accounting Association's Financial Accounting Standards Committee.

Dr. Ryan received his PhD from Stanford University and his bachelor's degree from Dartmouth University.

CHRISTOPHER O'CONNELL
Senior Vice President, U.S. Structured Finance, DBRS
Christopher O’Connell is a Senior Vice President in the Structured Finance Group. Chris opened the New York office for DBRS in 2004 and is responsible for building the U.S. asset-backed business. He has published criteria on rating retail auto transactions, auto lease transactions, credit card transactions and is currently developing criteria in other asset classes such as wholesale inventory finance and operating assets.  Chris developed DBRS' auto finance business and auto loan level model, and has recently started building out the efforts for the firm in other asset classes.

Chris worked at XL Capital Assurance for three years prior to joining DBRS in 2004. At XLCA, he worked as an originator in the commercial ABS group where he focused on complex commercial asset backed transactions. Prior to XLCA, Chris worked as a Director at Standard and Poor’s Corp in the commercial assets group for four years and the consumer assets group for another four years. His asset specialties included wholesale inventory finance, retail auto loans, trade receivables, equipment lease transactions, unsecured credit card loans and consumer loans.  

Chris holds an MBA from Fordham University, with concentrations in strategic management and finance

PATRICK DELLAVALLE
Vice President, Asset Securitization, SUNTRUST ROBINSON HUMPHREY
As a Vice President in SunTrust Robinson Humphrey’s Asset Securitization Group, Patrick is responsible for originating, structuring and closing securitization transactions for SunTrust clients. As lead structurer on the MBS/ABS desk, Patrick has focused on Non-Agency, Alt-A, and Sub-Prime MBS, as well as transactions backed by various other asset classes.

Patrick joined SunTrust Robinson Humphrey in 2006 from Deloitte and Touche where he was a senior structurer in their Securitization group. Prior to Deloitte, Patrick worked for Financial Security Assurance where he underwrote mortgage and asset backed transactions. He holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

ARTHUR FRANK
Director of MBS Research, DEUTSCHE BANK SECURITIES
Arthur Frank is currently Director of MBS Research at Deutsche Bank Securities in New York, where he is in charge of a six-person MBS research team that covers the agency, prime, and Alt-A MBS markets, both fixed rate and ARMs, as well as the reverse mortgage market. Prior to coming to Deutsche Bank Securities in May 2007, he was a Director in the Mortgage Strategy Group at Barclays Capital. He was a Vice President in MBS Research at Lehman Brothers from 1991 to 1993, Senior Vice President and Head of MBS Research at HSBC Securities from 1993 to 1998, and Director and Head of MBS Research at Nomura Securities International from 1998 to 2006. He began his financial markets career in 1987 as a Senior Quantitative Investment Analyst at Equitable Capital Management Corporation, which has since merged with Alliance Capital Management.

Prior to coming to Wall Street, Arthur Frank was a full-time, tenure-track faculty member at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He has also taught at the University of Rochester. Mr. Frank earned a B.A. in Mathematics (summa cum laude, with High Honors in Mathematics) from the University of Cincinnati, an M.A. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Michigan, and an M.S. in Mathematical Statistics from Purdue University. He completed all requirements except the dissertation for a Ph.D. in Quantitative Social Sciences from the University of Rochester.

Mr. Frank became a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) in 1990. He has been an active member of the MBS Research, Strategy, and Analysis Committee of The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (formerly the Bond Market Association) since 1994. He is a frequent speaker at MBS conferences, and is often quoted in the financial press about developments in the MBS market.

KEI ISHIDOYA
Director, FITCH RATINGS
Kei Ishidoya is a Director in Fitch Ratings’ Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Group where she is responsible for providing ratings on Prime, Alt-A, Subprime and Specialty mortgage products. She is also a voting member of the credit committee and the criteria committee.

Prior to joining Fitch Ratings in October 2000, Kei was at Lehman Brothers where together with a team, she advised the Thai government on an auction of distressed assets following the Asian Financial Crisis.

Kei graduated from Columbia University with a BA joint degree in Math and Economics in 1998.