Program

Sunday, November 12th
10:00am–5:00pm	Golf Outing Sponsored by: JPMorgan Chase Bank
6:30–7:30pm	Welcome Reception Sponsored by: Coface North America
Monday, November 13th
8:00–8:30am	Continental Breakfast Sponsored by: Citibank
8:30–8:45am	Conference Welcome FCIB Activities Update
8:45–10:00am	Keynote Presentation Driving Forces in Today's Global Economy
		Speaker:	Stephen Leach Managing Director and Emerging Markets Economist, Citigroup (New York)
10:00–10:15am	Coffee Break Sponsored by: PNC Bank
10:15am–12:00pm	Concurrent Sessions Session One Fundamentals of Export Credit Management A comprehensive overview of export credit management, including assessment and mitigation of export credit risks, and avoidance of international payment problems. A comparison of the different mitigation and trade finance techniques and a look at the changing role of the international credit professional.
		Speaker:	Paul Beretz, CICE, Pacific Business Solutions
	Session Two Risky Business: Coping with Hostile Credit Management Situations Abroad Business travel is perhaps the most dangerous form of travel. And, as a credit professional on foreign soil to collect on a debt … can you think of a more inviting target? Don’t wait until you have a bad experience abroad to find out if your company has a kidnap, rescue and extraction plan for you. Attend this session to uncover the potential pitfalls of international travel and get valuable tips on contingency planning to avoid danger.
		Moderator:	Jeff Jankowiak, International Risk Consultants, Inc.
		Speaker:	Jack Cloonan, Thomas A. Clayton Consultants, Inc.
12:00–1:15pm	Networking Luncheon Sponsored by: Euler Hermes ACI
1:30–3:30pm	Analyzing Latin American Financial Statements – Evaluation and Interpretation This session will provide interactive instruction by example, using various Latin American financial statements for analysis by exporters, underwriters, and bankers. Learn how to examine financial statements from multiple angles to better evaluate and interpret a company’s financial performance and gauge its ability to pay you.
		Moderator:	David Marsh, Novus International Inc.
		Panelists:	David Gardner, Wells Fargo HSBC Trade Bank David Marsh, Novus International Inc. Pablo Siade, Euler ACI Servicios
3:30–3:45pm	Coffee Break Sponsored by: Wachovia Bank
3:45–5:15pm	Understanding the Sharia’a: Islamic Finance in Theory and Practice Prevalent from the Middle East to Southeast Asia, Islamic finance has many facets and applications for today’s export credit professional. This advanced session will examine case studies for practical knowledge, and give an overview of the principles that govern business transactions in that part of the world, including banking, business law, contract law, and trade finance.
		Moderator:	Russell D’Souza, Hallmark International, Inc.
		Panelists:	Patrick Connelly, Ph.D., CCE, FICM, CGBP, Entelyx International, Inc. Andrew Metcalf, King & Spalding LLP Derek Weist, Arab Banking Corporation (ABC) Islamic Bank
5:30–6:30pm	Cocktail Hour Sponsored by: International Risk Consultants, Inc
Tuesday, November 14th
8:00–8:30am	Continental Breakfast Sponsored by: FCIA Management Co.
8:30–10:00am	World Markets in Review—Latest Developments Take a look at today’s volatile markets and hear the latest forecasts and key “watch outs”. Join Dr. Belcsák in a discussion of the changing trade conditions throughout the world. Ample time for questions.
		Speakers:	Dr. Hans Belcsák, S.J.Rundt & Associates, Inc.
10:00–10:15am	Coffee Break Sponsored by: ABN-AMRO Bank
10:15am–12:15pm	Round Table Discussion: Focus on Asia, Latin America and Europe Join the moderator, panel members and everyone in the audience in this interactive discussion with content derived from country-specific questions and export credit topics submitted by conference participants and FCIB members.
		Moderator:	Bob Long, ABN-Amro Bank
		Panelists:	Dr. Hans Belcsák, S.J.Rundt & Associates, Inc. Jim Buehner, Eaton Corp. Tom Croke, Ingersoll-Rand Co. Angela Hodges, CICP, Eastman Chemical Latin America, Inc.
12:15pm	Conference Adjourns

Speakers:

Dr. Hans Belcsák is President of S.J. Rundt & Associates, Inc., headquartered in New York City. Born in Austria and educated for the most part in Innsbruck, he majored in commercial law and political economics and obtained the degree of Doctor of Jurisprudence. He is the publisher of Rundt's World Business Intelligence dealing with global, political and economic trends, Rundt's World Risk Analysis Program of Country Risk Assessments, and the Financial Executive's Country Risk Alert.

Paul Beretz, CICE, is the founder and Managing Director of Pacific Business Solutions, a consulting company specializing in strategic planning and cash flow solutions. He brings over 30 years of experience in global management and finance in low and high tech industries—chemicals, forest products, semi-conductors and telecommunications among others. He has been an instructor in finance and business at the University of California at Berkeley and is an adjunct professor at both St. Mary’s College of California and University of Phoenix, as well as an instructor for the FCIB Online Course in International Credit and Risk Management.

Jim Buehner is the Global Trade Credit Manager at the Eaton Corp., a premier industrial manufacturer with sales of $11 billion. Mr. Buehner joined Eaton in 1995, and has responsibility for management of Eaton’s investment in international subsidiaries receivables worldwide. Prior to Eaton, he was Export Credit Manager for Continental General Tire Co.

Jack Cloonan is President of Thomas A. Clayton Consultants, Inc. (Clayton Consultants), a firm specializing in corporate and private security, risk assessment, training and crisis management worldwide. The firm’s core consulting services include managing kidnap for ransom incidents, extortion, malicious product tampering, wrongful detention and child abduction. Mr. Cloonan, a 25-year veteran of the FBI and an internationally respected security expert, has extensive strategic knowledge and experience in the areas of investigation, crisis management and intelligence analysis. Mr. Cloonan has served as a counter-terrorism consultant and commentator for ABC News. He has also held positions as Security Specialist for the Exxon Corporation and, most recently, as a Managing Director for L.F. Stephens, Inc., where he led investigations for individuals and corporate clients in areas of due diligence, risk assessment, internal theft, global risk and employee integrity. Mr. Cloonan holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of New England and is an active member of ASIS and Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI.

Pat Connelly, Ph.D., CCE, FICM, CGBP is President of Entelyx International, Inc., and Director of the Institute for Global Credit/Risk Management at the University of South Florida. He promotes credit risk management abroad through his affiliation with the Academy for the Study of Economics in Bucharest, Romania and company interests throughout Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. Prof. Connelly also directly supports the interests of FCIB-China in their efforts to integrate a credit risk management mentality into the Chinese economy, and promote the credit risk management profession. Dr. Connelly is an appointee of the Secretary of Commerce to the Florida District Export Council, and also serves on several Boards of Directors, including FCIB, Florida Council for Economic Education and numerous state, national and international advisory boards.

Tom Croke is the Director of Global Credit in the Climate Control Sector of the Ingersoll-Rand Corporation. He has held worldwide responsibility for credit and collection activities of his unit for the past six years. Previously, Tom worked for many years in Europe, Africa and the Middle East in the
credit and collection area, as well as in customer service. During that time, he was also very involved in developing distributors in the emerging markets of Eastern Europe and Asia.

Russell D’Souza is the International Credit Manager for Hallmark International, a division of Hallmark Cards, Inc. His current responsibilities include managing the company’s credit and financial risk exposures at twelve subsidiaries and with licensees in sixty 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. He is conversant in Hindi, Japanese and French.

David Gardner is Vice President of Structured Trade Finance at Wells Fargo HSBC Trade Bank, a nationally chartered bank in the U.S. dedicated exclusively to international trade. Mr. Gardner covers the West Coast and is responsible for establishing and expanding business by providing innovative international financing solutions including: Global Supply Chain Financing and short-term and medium-term finance structures utilizing private credit insurance and export credit agencies, such as ExIm Bank. Mr. Gardner, an M.B.A. graduate of the University of Washington, joined First Interstate Bank as a relationship manager in the international division in 1990 and has served in various structured trade finance roles since joining the Trade Bank in 1996.

Angela Hodges, CICP is Latin America Credit Supervisor for Eastman Chemical Company, which manufactures and markets chemicals, fibers and plastics worldwide. She has responsibility for Eastman’s regional credit employees based in Mexico, Argentina and Brazil, as well as the overall management of a $140 million accounts receivable portfolio, which represents sales to 400 active customers in 25 countries. Prior to joining Eastman Chemical, Angela spent almost 14 years with Alcoa Inter-America, Inc. where she managed their entire export region portfolio, including Latin America, Caribbean, Europe and Asia. Since graduating from Thunderbird, The Garvin School of International Management, Angela's career has been focused entirely on international credit challenges. Angela has garnered almost 20 years of experience in credit management, all with Fortune 500 corporations. Angela has been an active FCIB member since 1997 and was in the very first CICP graduating class.

Jeff Jankowiak is a Partner in the firm of International Risk Consultants, Inc. headquartered in Columbus, Ohio and Glasgow, Scotland. The firm specializes in credit and political risk insurance, credit risk mitigation and trade finance structuring. Previous to joining IRC, Jeff was Vice President of Marketing, Finance and Administration at Cozzini, Inc., a capital equipment manufacturer for the food industry.

Stephen Leach holds the title of Managing Director and Economist in Citigroup's Foreign Exchange Department based in New York. He advises a broad range of corporate and institutional customers in both North America and around the world on economic and global exchange rate developments. Mr. Leach joined Citibank's Emerging Markets FX desk in New York in 1989. Prior to joining Citibank, Mr. Leach spent ten years with Chemical Bank's Foreign Exchange Advisory Service, first in London and then in New York. Following graduate school, his first position was as an economist in the Treasurer's Office of Ford of Europe Inc., located in the United Kingdom. Mr. Leach holds degrees in economics from the University of Warwick (in England) and the University of Pennsylvania.

Robert B. Long, III, CCM, is currently a Director at ABN AMRO, having joined ABN AMRO Bank’s International Trade Services & Advisory Group as a Vice President in 1998. His responsibilities include developing new business and managing existing international relationships for the Bank, specifically with regard to import payment and export collection systems, trade finance, and other trade related services. Previously, Bob was employed by First Union Bank and CoreStates Bank, N.A., where he worked in the Export Cash Management International Trade Services Group. He frequently speaks to international credit and collection groups on international trade with emphasis on funds flows and credit/cash management issues. He is currently a member of the 12:45 Credit Group and is active with the NCCA. He has been published and quoted in Business Credit, The Exporter, and other magazines and trade journals. Bob earned a BS in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Drexel University in Philadelphia. He earned his Certified Cash Manager (CCM) designation in 1986.

David Marsh, CBF, CICE has been Manager of Credit for Novus International, Inc. since the company was formed in 1991. With Novus, he travels frequently throughout Latin America and periodically to Europe and Asia Pacific. Before Novus, Mr. Marsh was a division credit manager at Anheuser-Busch, and was corporate credit manager at Chromalloy American Corporation from 1971-1986. He started his career in 1963, working in agricultural and international credit at Monsanto Company, and then as a division credit manager for Textron in St. Louis. Mr. Marsh is an active member of FCIB’s Board of Directors and currently serves on the Board of NACM-St. Louis where he was named Credit Executive of the Year in 2002.

Andrew Metcalf is a partner in the Middle East/Islamic Finance Practice Group and Financial Transactions Practice Group in King & Spalding LLP’s New York office. A graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, Mr. Metcalf joined King & Spalding after being in corporate practice in Cairo, Egypt for 2½ years. Over the past eight years, he has represented a number of clients in Islamic transactions, including in corporate acquisitions, real estate transactions, working capital financing, structured and subordination financings, and letter of credit/guaranty facilities.

Pablo Siade is the Latin America Senior Risk Manager for Euler Hermes in Mexico. His responsibilities include the monitoring of a portfolio comprising approximately 14,000 companies in 18 countries throughout Latin American and the Caribbean, with total exposure of US$5 billion. Prior to joining Euler Hermes, Mr. Siade worked as a Financial Planning Analyst at Pfizer, one of the world’s top pharmaceutical companies. Mr. Siade has a Masters Degree in Finance from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico and a Bachelors Degree in Public Accounting from the Universidad Iberoamericana.

Derek Weist BA, FCA. Deputy CEO, ABCIB Islamic Asset Management Ltd, London. Derek Weist qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1987 and worked in the Banking and Financial Services Investment Group at Ernst & Young until 1992, when he joined the Finance Division at The United Bank of Kuwait Plc. After a spell in Finance and Credit, he transferred to the Islamic Investment Unit at UBK in 1994 where he helped develop a number of successful leasing and real estate funds. He left UBK in late 1999 and joined ABC International Bank to work in their new Islamic Asset Management Division as Director of Asset Management and as Finance Director of ABCIB IAM Limited. He has structured a number of funds and investment vehicles for financing assets in a Sharia compliant and tax efficient manner. He left ABCIB in 2004 to set up an accounting and consulting business which was successful and has now been sold. He re-joined ABCIB in March 2006 as Deputy CEO of the Islamic Asset Management Group of the Bank. He is currently developing a range of investment products, including Islamic securitisations and other investor conduits in the real estate, trade finance and equipment leasing sectors, and is helping to expand the business into other areas of Islamic financing.

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