Joachim C. Bartels, Managing Director, Business Information Industry Association
Mr Bartels is an information specialist with over 40 years of global business experience in business information services. He held line and staff management positions at the Dun & Bradstreet Corporation in the USA, Europe and Asia. Bartels is founder and chairman of Intrepid Explorers, Inc. (IEI), a US based global information content consultancy. He is also co-founder of Business Information Industry Association Asia Pacific – Middle East Limited (BIIA), based in Hong Kong. BIIA was formed in June 2005 as a result of an initiative by several leading business information content services companies and three information content consultancy firms. BIIA is an affiliated industry association member of FCIB. Bartels is a frequent guest speaker at FCIB events

Russell D’Souza, International Credit and Risk Manager, Hallmark Cards, Inc., USA
Mr D’Souza’s current responsibilities include managing the company’s credit and financial risk exposures at 12 subsidiaries and with licensees in 60 countries. He has also worked in corporate planning at May Department stores and was a professor of International Business at Kansas Wesleyan University and Kansas State University.

Kersi Patel, Regional Head, Trade Services Operations, HSBC Bank Middle East Ltd, UAE
Mr. Patel is a post graduate in Management (Finance) and has worked for over 15 years with the HSBC Group, besides two years each with Deutsche Bank and Emirates Bank. He has handled managerial responsibilities in all key areas of commercial banking - Personal Banking, Corporate Banking, Treasury Services, IT Services and Administration - and has specialized in the field of International Trade Finance Services. He has been the Head of Trade Services business for HSBC in India, South Asia Head of Trade Services for Deutsche Bank and the Head of Trade Services for Emirates Bank. He is now working with the HSBC Group in Middle East as their Regional Head for Trade Services Operations. Mr Patel was associated with ICC in India as an Executive Committee member and was appointed by ICC Paris as a DOCDEX expert.

Pradeep Taneja, Head of Global Trade Services, BankMuscat International, Bahrain
Mr Taneja possesses over 26 years of banking experience, including 20 years as Head of Department. He has worked for Punjab National Bank, India (1980-84); Bank of Baroda, India (1984-1993); Bank of Baroda, Dubai (1993-1997); ABN AMRO Bank, Bahrain (1997-2002); BankMuscat, Bahrain (2002-2004) and BankMuscat International, Bahrain (2005 - present). He is a Certified Documentary Credit Specialist, a certification endorsed by International Chamber of Commerce, France and jointly awarded by Institute of Financial Studies, UK and International Financial Services Association, USA . A member of ICC Banking Commission, Paris, Mr Taneja serves as Chairman of ICC Bahrain Trade Finance Forum, is a DOCDEX expert under the Documentary Instruments Dispute Resolution Service offered by the International Centre of Expertise of the ICC Banking Commission. He is a Chartered member of the Middle Eastern Regional Advisory Council of the Institute of International Banking Law & Practice, USA and is a member of the UCP 600 Consulting Group.

Nick Tiltman, Director of Credit, Tech Data Europe, UK
Mr Tiltman has over 20 years of Credit Services and business experience in industries including Publishing, Electronics Manufacturing and Distribution. He attended the NACM’s Graduate School of Credit and Financial Management (GSCFM) in the US in 2000/2001 and was awarded the Executive Award with highest distinction and the designation of Certified Credit Executive. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Credit Management in the UK, a Fellow of the Association of Credit Professional and serves on the Board of Directors for FCIB.

Alan Wallace, Managing Director, International Risk Consultants (Europe) Ltd
Mr. Wallace was born in 1961 in Glasgow, UK, and entered asset based lending with Midland Bank in the late seventies. He progressed through to a senior business development role with information provider Dun and Bradstreet some ten years later. Mr. Wallace became a Director of Infocheck UK in the late eighties and worked with their trade credit insuring arm. In October 1993 he and two colleagues founded Indemnity and Risk, a specialist trade credit insurance broker which changed its name in 1997 to IRC Europe. IRC Europe are currently the leading independent specialist trade credit insurance broking firm in the UK with a staff group of 52 from four regional offices in the UK. IRC broker some of the world’s largest trade credit programs and are extremely experienced in this regard. IRC Europe works in conjunction with IRC North America.

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