Alan Andrews serves as a Vice President in PNC's Global Treasury Management Group. Based in Pittsburgh, he focuses on assisting corporate customers in mitigating the various risks encountered when selling internationally. Alan has over 20 years of experience in trade finance. He has lived and traveled overseas and is proficient in Mandarin Chinese. Alan holds a bachelor's of science degree in Business Administration from Boston University and a master's degree in International Management from the American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird School of Global Management). Dr. Hans Belcsák has served as the President of S.J. Rundt & Associates, Inc., a New York head-quartered consulting and publishing firm, since 1973. S.J. Rundt & Associates specializes in helping multinational companies, exporters, importers, banks and investors assess risks and opportunities in their international strategies and transactions. Dr. Belcsák is publisher of Rundt's World Business Intelligence, which focuses on global political and economic trends, Rundt's World Risk Analysis Program, a provider of country risk assessments, The Financial Executive's Country Risk Alert, and Rundt's FXPRO Foreign Exchange Rate Forecasts. Additionally, Dr. Belcsák is Chairman of the International Council for the American Management Association, a consultant for the Management Center Europe in Brussels, and an advisor to a regional governor of the Russian Federation. Dr. Hans Belcsák is a renowned keynote speaker on global developments and is a founding member and supporter of ICTF. Dr. Belcsák was born and educated in Austria. He holds degrees in Commercial Law and Political Economics as well as a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree. Dr. Belcsák s dissertation in economics has received significant recognition and accolade as a critical appraisal of Keynesian fiscal policy applied to modern economies. Paul Beretz is Managing Director of Pacific Business Solution and a founding partner of Q2C (Quote to Cash) Solutions. He has over 30 years of global corporate experience in finance and management with telecommunications, semi-conductors, forest products, chemicals, plastics and consumer products industries. Paul instructs in the MA in Leadership program for St. Mary's College (CA); adjunct faculty in extended education with UC Berkeley, Michigan State University and instructs in international business at an executive program held at Dartmouth College. He has developed and currently facilitates several on-line, certificate courses in finance and international business. Paul's BBA is from the University of Notre Dame with an MBA from Golden Gate University.
Dinesh D Souza, Keynote Speaker, is listed by the World Affairs Council as "one of the nation's 500 leading authorities on international issues". A former policy analyst in the Reagan White House, D'Souza also served as John M. Olin Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and the Robert and Karen Rishwain Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Mr. D'Souza's books have had a major influence on public opinion and public policy. He is one of the nation s most acclaimed speakers for business audiences. Among his recent engagements are the annual World President's Organization conference, Forbes CEO Summit, and Harvard University. Russell D Souza is the Director of Global Credit Risk Management at Hanesbrands Inc. a $4.3 billion leader in the apparel industry, with leading brands like Hanes, Champion, and Playtex, based in Winston-Salem, NC. He has previously worked at Hallmark Cards, Inc., Payless Shoesource (a former division of May Dept. Stores - now Macy's) and was also a professor of finance & international business. He has been active in the realm of credit and international trade, through association memberships, advisory roles on Chambers of Commerce and currently, on the international advisory board of Winston Salem State Univ. (member of the UNC system). Russell has served on the boards of FCIB & NACM, as Chairman of FCIB and currently serves on the board of ICTF. He is conversant in Hindi, Japanese and French. Alex Escobar Edson Antonio Gonçalves is General Director of Sintesis Brasil Credit Reports & Debt Collection Agency, established in 1999 in Brazil and with operations in Argentina, Uruguay and Mexico, as well as a Lawyer, registered at the Brazilian Bar since 2003. He is active in credit reporting and debt collection fields with over 10 years of experience practicing law in foreign trade activities, contracts, documents and related issues since 1999. Edson graduated in Law from the University of Sao Paulo City in 2002 and graduated in Foreign Trade from the University Santana in 1996. He also holds a MBA in International Business earned in 2005 from FGV Brazil and has specialized in Brazilian Bankruptcy Law since 2004.
Hermelinda (Hermie) Gonzalez, CBA, CICP, RGCP is the International Trade Finance Manager of The Scoular Company. The Scoular Company is a 115- year-old marketing agricultural company operating across North America. The Scoular company sources and ships commodity goods globally. Hermie has over 16 years of experience in international credit. She began with US Gypsum in 1995 and then went on to work with Archer Daniels Midland Company in late 1999 working with their joint venture offices in Latin America. Since early 2008, she has been with The Scoular Company overlooking trade worldwide. Her experience also includes over 9 years of banking experience in Texas. She holds an undergraduate degree in marketing from Texas Lutheran University and an MBA from the University of Incarnate Word. She has been an NACM member since 1995, an FCIB member & CICP certified professional since 2004, and more recently, an ICTF member and Registered Global Credit Professional (RGCP). Brian Good has been with Puma for almost 10 years. In his tenure with the company he has served most of his time in Credit, Returns, and AR and most recently has taken over the Customer Service, Allocations, and Repairs/Warranty groups. Brian has recently relocated to California with his wife and two kids from his New England home to take on his new position as Director of Customer Relations for Cobra PUMA Golf, Inc. Previously he was Senior Manager of Credit and A/R at Puma NA. Brian graduated with a BS in Finance from Southern New Hampshire University. Romelio Hernandez is President and Director of Litigation at HMH Legal, a professional corporation specialized in credit and collection services in Mexico. He is based in Tijuana, Baja California, México, where he works extensively with foreign exporting companies and collection agencies assisting them with their out-of-court and legal collection efforts throughout Mexico. His litigation experience of fifteen years and exposure to international commercial law has allowed him to provide guidance and general counsel to foreign companies in mitigating the various risks of selling international. Romelio is a graduate of Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, having graduated and being admitted to practice law in Mexico since 1997. Romelio holds a Masters Degree in Comparative Law (LLM) from the University of San Diego (2011). Brenda Jalowiec, CCE, CICP, RGCP is a veteran credit professional with over 25 years in the field handling both domestic and international portfolios. A graduate of Baldwin Wallace College (OH) with an MBA from Cleveland State University, Brenda attended the Graduate School of Credit and
Finance at Dartmouth College. She holds her CCE, CICP, and RGCP designations. As Global Director of Credit and AR for Nidec Motor Corporation, she has responsibility for operations in Mexico, Columbia, Venezuela, Canada and China, as well as extensive receivables in Latin America and the Middle East. Jeff Jankowiak is a Partner in the firm of International Risk Consultants, Inc. headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, with offices in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Indianapolis, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, China, London, Sao Paulo Brazil, and Monterrey Mexico. IRC is also a member of the International Credit Brokers Association, the largest global network of trade credit insurance brokers with 42 offices in 27 countries. Located in San Francisco, Jankowiak leads the firms' efforts in California and the Western region. Previous to joining the firm he was Vice President of Marketing, Finance and Administration at Cozzini, Inc., Chicago, IL, a capital equipment manufacturer serving the food industry. During his tenure he developed and operated a trade finance and credit group for short and medium term credit exposures. He also led a team, which created structured trade programs with EXIM Bank and ECA's for Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Russia. Prior to this he was Chief Operating Officer at The National Provisioner, Inc., Chicago. IL an agricultural consulting service for meat, poultry and seafood industries. He is a graduate of Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, Food and Human Nutrition, Economics and Finance. Jankowiak is a founding member of ICTF and a member of the ICTF Board of Directors. Stephen Kunz is Director, Corporate Finance, Office of the CFO, GlaxoSmithKline. He is responsible for delivering improvements in total receivables and payables across a global matrix of regional shared services and in-market commercial operations. Stephen is also responsible for Trade Finance programmes and Business Process Outsourcing such as specialised credit control and collections Shared Services. Stephen leads a global Centre of Excellence ensuring common best practices and continuous improvement in order-to-cash and procure-to-pay transactions across the enterprise. Stephen has 20+ years multi-national business experience across a range of industries including Financial Services, Energy, Consumer Products and Pharmaceuticals. He has held various leadership positions in Sales, Brand/Product Management, Information Technology, and Finance based both in Europe and America. Stephen has a Bachelor s degree from Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, and a Masters of Business degree from Saint Joseph s University Erivan K. Haub School of Business, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Stephen is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.
Fernando Mesia is currently Senior Vice President Corporate - Middle Market Manager at Mercantil Commercebank N.A., a U.S. bank based in Florida. Prior to joining Mercantil Commercebank N.A., he was in charge of International Corporate and Financial Institutions at Banque Sudameris, a French Trade Finance bank with operations in Europe and Latin America. Fernando has intensive trade finance experience, facilitating U.S. companies and commodity traders do business internationally. He has a MBA from Florida International University. Dan North has been with Euler Hermes ACI (EH ACI) since 1996, using macroeconomic and quantitative analyses to help manage EH ACI s risk portfolio of more than $250 billion in annual U.S. trade transactions. As an economist he has appeared on CNBC, Fox Business News, France 24, and Bloomberg Radio and Television. He has been quoted by Barron s, Business Week, Paris Le Monde, and the Wall Street Journal. And recently, he was ranked fourth on Bloomberg s list of the top 65 economic forecasters for the 2008-2009 period. Mr. North holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Business. Tim Paulsen has worked as a bill collector (consumer and commercial), credit fraud investigator, collection manager, credit manager and an internal as well as an external management consultant. He is the author of the popular Paid in Full as well as two other books and numerous articles on the subject of Accounts Receivable. Tim is the past-president of the Toronto chapter of C.A.P.S. (Canadian Association of Professional Speakers. The Principal of T. R. Paulsen & Associates and the founder of the International Center for Professional Collections, Tim has developed and led very highly rated programs and consulted with clients across North America, Bahamas, China, Ghana, India, Jamaica, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, The Philippines and Singapore. Walter Rebello is the Corporate Credit Manager and Latin America Finance Manager for Ravago Americas, based in Orlando, FL. Ravago is a Belgian corporation with sales of over Euros 4 billion per year mostly dedicated to the commercialization of plastic resins and synthetic rubber with over 8,000 customers in the Americas. Ravago conducts business in more than 80 countries. Walter was born in Brazil, graduated from Fundacao Getulio Vargas in Sao Paulo with a degree in Finance and a post-graduate degree in computer science. He spent 19 years with Dow Chemical, including 5 years as Credit Manager for Dow/Dow Agro Sciences/Pharmaceutical in Sao Paulo, Brazil and 5 years as Latin America Credit Manager out of Coral Gables FL and Sao Paulo, Brazil. Walter has been an active member of the NCCA - National Chemical Credit Association, serving on the board from
1993-1996 and again from 2004-2008, including Chairperson of the International Division. He was involved with FCIB for almost 18 years, from the early 90's until 2010, but no longer involved. Walter is now an active board member of ICTF. He has travelled to over 50 countries in his professional life. Tom Sayles is the Vice President of Global Credit for Brightpoint, Inc. (Nasdaq: CELL); a $4.0 billion global leader in providing supply chain solutions to the wireless industry. Before joining Brightpoint in 2004, Tom held a number of regional and global roles in credit and commercial finance with companies including General Electric, Co., Bush Boake Allen, and IFF (International Flavors and Fragrances). Tom is a graduate of Boston College, and of the GE Financial Management Program; and a veteran with more than 25 years experience in trade credit. For the past 7+ years Tom has led Brightpoint to record low DSO, bad debt expense, and past due. Susan Seamands, CICP, RCGP experience has focused on the international arena, with several years at Mutual of Omaha, AMF, ConAgra Foods, and most recently Gavilon, LLC, where responsibilities have included management of the international trade credit portfolios for LatAm, Asia, Europe, Australia and Africa. Trading Ag Commodities worldwide, primarily grain and feed ingredients, has called for skillful use of trade terms that span the spectrum, from open credit to Letter of Credit and all options in between. Susan has also managed trade credit insurance policies for both ConAgra and Gavilon. She has been involved in several long-term collection efforts, both pre and post 2008 and was instrumental in developing new metrics for evaluating MTM and Performance Risk for trades ranging from $100k - $50mm. Over the course of her career, she has travelled extensively, to include such destinations as Mexico, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Switzerland, Germany, China and Japan. She has also lived in France & England, and speaks French, Spanish, Italian, German and studied Mandarin Chinese. She has done free-lance translation work for Virginia Power, Valmont and Nestlé. She holds a Bachelor s Degree in French and Spanish from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, 2ème Degré d Etudes Françaises from the Université de Dijon in France, and a Master s Degree in Business Administration with a focus on Global Trade from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She also earned her CICP designation from FCIB, her RGCP from ICTF, and is looking forward to participating in ICTF s courses offered in conjunction with Thunderbird School of Global Management this Fall.
Craig Weeks is a managing director in the Global Transaction Services division of Citibank in New York. He is currently responsible for global trade finance sales. Previous work experience includes J.P. Morgan where he was a Managing Director in the Global Trade Finance division in New York, and Continental Grain Company where he served as assistant treasurer in New York and director of trade finance in Geneva, Switzerland. Mr. Weeks began his banking career at Marine Midland Bank in New York, where he served as vice president of correspondent banking covering parts of Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula. He has a masters of international management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management and a B. A. degree from Dickinson College. He also studied at La Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, in Medellin, Colombia. Craig Weeks is a former chairman of the Bankers Association for Finance and Trade, a Trustee of Dickinson College, Carlisle Pa. and serves on the New York City Advisory Board of the Posse Foundation.