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Michael Evan Avidon is Senior Counsel at Moses & Singer LLP, after 36+ years as a Partner there.  He Co-Chairs its Banking & Finance Practice Group.  He is widely recognized for his knowledge of letters of credit (LCs), lending, and secured transactions.  Mike handles secured and unsecured lending; agented and bilateral deals; trade finance and supply chain finance, including discounting, receivables purchases, and payables agreements; loan agreements, LC reimbursement agreements, security agreements, guarantees, and participation agreements; electronic contracting, outsourcing, and white label agreements; and LC disputes and litigation.  His work involves standby, direct pay, and commercial LCs, and demand guarantees.  His clients include money center banks, smaller banks, and other financial institutions.

Dyanne is a world-wise executive with experience in the banking sector including transaction banking, lending, product management and strategy creation. She is a multi-lingual, high energy, enterprise solutions leader with a proven track record for building relationships and leading high-performance teams. Dyanne re-joined Scotiabank and as Vice-President, Head Trade Finance & Supply Chain, she has global responsibility to build and promote the traditional trade and supply chain finance businesses. Born and raised in Montreal, Canada, Dyanne graduated from McGill University with a major in Economics and successfully completed programs at Queen's University and the Richard Ivey School of Business. She is passionate about cross-border flows and in helping businesses realize their success in international markets. Dyanne is sought after as advisor and board member for numerous public, private and government entities. In addition, she is often called on to present at conferences and industry association meetings.

Lisa Chin is a Director and the Global AML Head of Trade Finance for MUFG Bank, Ltd. since 2019. She started her trade career as an import letter of credit processor for American National Bank and Trust Company of Chicago. Surviving a number of mergers that ended up as JPMorgan Chase Bank, NA, she held various roles in trade operations for 18 years until she moved into an AML/KYC role supporting trade finance and escrow. In 2015, she moved to HSBC Bank as Senior Vice President and the U.S. Head of AML Compliance for Trade Finance, where she managed an advisory team supporting the Trade Finance department. Lisa is a member of the BAFT National Letter of Credit Committee and the co-Chair of the BAFT Trade Compliance Committee. She obtained her CDCS in 1999 and has since remained certified. Currently, she and her team are working on a project to standardize AML processes in MUFG’s 31 trade offices around the world.

David holds a B.S. in Economics from the University of the Philippines and began his logistics career in 2001. As a strategic senior executive, he leads high touch global logistics sales and client management at ARC Air Logistics, Inc. He specializes in comprehensive import solutions from China, Southeast Asia, South Asia (Indian subcontinent), and the EU into the USA—covering international air and ocean freight, U.S. Customs entry filing, Importer Security Filing, satellite warehousing, and domestic FTL/LTL trucking. Based in Los Angeles, David coordinates clients across a wide range of industries including fashion, textiles, machinery, pet products, and LED goods. David and his global team design hybrid logistics systems—tailoring air plus ocean plus ground routes that align with each client’s goals and products. He offers proactive guidance through volatile trade environments, including reciprocal tariffs and shifting import regulations.

Mr. Frank Fortes is the Senior Trade Finance Expert, responsible to provide legal advice on complex trade finance transactions and training on Trade-based money laundering & sanctions. Mr. Fortes has 14 years of extensive experience in the Trade Finance industry that has been predominantly acquired during his tenure in France and Canada within the HSBC Group. Prior to joining the Toronto-Dominion Bank, he held various senior positions as Legal Counsel at HSBC France or Manager of the International Guarantees Unit of HSBC Canada. He holds a Master's Degree in International Business Law and is also CITF (Certificate in International Trade and Finance) and CSDG (Certificate for Specialists in Demand Guarantees) certified.

Pearl Fortugno is a Senior Analyst at TD Securities within Global Trade Finance Operations. With over 14 years of experience in the banking sector, including 11 years specializing in Trade Finance. She has developed comprehensive expertise in all aspects of Standby Letters of Credit, Guarantees, Commercial Letters of Credit and Documentary Collections. Pearl is recognized for her extensive knowledge of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) practices and has taken on additional responsibilities to support and champion the day-to-day compliance risk mitigation within TD's Global Trade Finance Operations.

Mark Garfield’s current role is Head of Global Financial Institutions at Zions Bancorporation responsible for foreign bank relationship development. He joined Zions Bancorporation in 2005. He has over 30 years of banking experience with 25 years in international banking management covering trade finance, trade services, foreign exchange, correspondent banking and product development. Throughout his career he has worked closely with corporate and commercial entities in the Midwest and Western U.S. providing banking support for cross-border trade. Mr. Garfield currently serves as a Director of BAFT and Chair of the Utah District Export Council. He served on the DEC National Advisory Board and Board of the World Trade Center, Utah.

Normand Girard is Director, Global Trade Operations for BMO. He is responsible for the Bank’s processing of all trade finance products in North America and Europe as well as process oversight in Asia. Mr. Girard has 35 years of experience in Global Trade Operations at BMO. During his career with the Bank, he has covered every role in Import, Export, Standby Letters of Credit and Collections as well as integral operations leadership roles throughout the evolution of BMO’s trade finance business. He has been Chair of the BAFT Southeast Committee from 2011 to 2017. He is a Certified Documentary Credit Specialist and currently Chair of the BAFT National Commercial Letter of Credit Committee since 2017.

Gerardo Gutierrez-Olvera joined Grupo Financiero BANORTE 11 years ago as Executive Director, responsible for Trade Finance and International Business. BANORTE is the second largest bank in Mexico, and the only one among the 6 largest banks in the country that is managed by a Mexican management team. Gerardo joined BANORTE after more than 20 years of comprehensive and substantial experience in the international banking arena with Banco Santander and Bank of America, working for those institutions both, at a local and regional level, in Mexico City, Monterrey, New York City, Madrid (Latin American Division) and Hong Kong (Asia-Pacific regional hub). His main focus has been on the development, management, sales, operations, and growth of business lines related to trade & supply chain finance, global payments, corporate banking, financial institutions, correspondent banking and treasury services. Under Gerardo’s leadership Banorte was named Best Service Trade Finance (Mexico) in Euromoney’s Trade Finance Survey 2024, and Best Trade Finance Provider in Mexico by Global Finance in 2019.

Renata Hazelman is AML Advisory Compliance subject matter expert in Trade Finance at MUFG Bank Ltd. U.S., supporting all of MUFG’s Americas branches.  Her career started at Chase Bank as a credit analyst, progressing to a relationship manager role in Commercial Banking, which is where she encountered Trade Finance for the first time, developing a strong interest in the subject matter. From there, she proceeded through several roles at the JPMorgan Chase organization supporting trade finance, supply chain finance and other products via regulatory remediation, then business controls, then AML compliance perspectives, gaining further knowledge and insight into the topic. In 2020, she joined MUFG Bank Ltd., as the Trade SME at MUFG Bank Ltd. U.S. and has since expanded her repertoire to governance, new product reviews, financial crimes risk assessments and other financial crimes impactful subjects, while continuing to grow her trade finance knowledge base.

Melissa Luster is the VP of International Operations at BOKF, NA, Melissa has been a member of the BAFT Southeast LC Subcommittee since 2012 which she currently sits as Secretary. She provides leadership and training to her Trade Operations Team at BOKF, NA working directly with the team members providing services for products such as participations, documentary collections and letters of credit both standby and commercial. Melissa also supports the back office system as well as font end trade platform, onboarding customers and provides training. Her career with BOKF,NA began in April of 2007 and she earned her CDCS certificate in 2013.

Agnes Martinez is an accomplished professional currently serving as the Capital Markets - Trade Finance Operations Manager at City National Bank. She efficiently oversees the processing of trade finance products, including Letters of Credit, Documentary Collections, and Supply Chain Finance. Before joining City National Bank, Agnes made significant contributions to JPMorgan Chase bank as the Manager for their Global Trade Finance West Coast division. Her expertise and leadership skills played a pivotal role in driving the division's success. Agnes's exceptional abilities and dedication to the field have earned her recognition in the banking industry. She had the honor of chairing the BAFT (Bankers Association for Finance and Trade) West Coast region and now holds the position of Co-Chair of the BAFT Regional Committee. Agnes contributes to advancing and collaborating within the trade finance community through active involvement in these esteemed committees.

Ellen Muench is a Vice President and Trade Capital Markets Back Office Team Lead at Associated Bank with more than 25 years of banking experience, including Supervisory experience, System Administration, and 16 years in Trade Services. During her time supporting back-office operations, in addition to delivery of Letter of Credit, Documentary Collection and Capital Markets products her areas of expertise have included process review and refinement for efficiency and risk reduction, planning, testing and implementation of system integrations and upgrades, and preparing and conducting product education and group training sessions across lines of business. She is a Certified Documentary Credit Specialist and a member of the BAFT Southeast and Central Regional Subcommittees and the Standby Letter of Credit/Guarantee and Commercial Letter of Credit National Committees.

Ukamaka Okpara is a distinguished Trade Finance professional with over thirteen years of industry experience. In her current capacity, she serves as the Team Leader for Standby Letters of Credit and Guarantees - Global Trade Operations, BMO Financial Group in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Her extensive expertise encompasses Documentary Collections and Export Letters of Credit, earning her recognition as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in Standby Letters of Credit and Guarantees. Beyond advisory responsibilities, she actively participates in product application testing within the organization. Ukamaka has attained the following accreditations: Certified Anti Money Laundering Specialist, Certified Documentary Credit Specialist, Certified Specialist in Demand Guarantee and a Certificate in Risk Management from York University, Toronto, Canada. She is currently a member of the BAFT Southeast; National Standby LC and BAFT Trade Compliance Committees.

Fiore (Frank) Petrassi is Global Product Manager for Standby Letters of Credit and Guarantees with JPMorgan Chase responsible managing and growing the global Standby Letter of Credit and Guarantee offering to the JPMorgan client base for all lines of business. Frank is a long standing member of the BAFT Trade Finance Committee and current Chair of the BAFT National Standby Letter of Credit/Guarantee Committee. He was former Chair of the BAFT North Central Standby Letter of Credit Committee and Co-chair of the IIBLP Government Mandated Letter of Credit Committee.

Joe Phillips is a Senior Manager with TD Bank’s Financial Crime Risk Management team, where he focuses on anti-money laundering (AML) compliance for trade finance. He previously held financial crime compliance roles at MUFG Bank, Ltd. and Standard Chartered Bank. Before entering the banking sector, he spent nearly a decade with U.S. Naval Intelligence, most recently serving as a task force officer with the FBI’s Newark Field Office. Joe began his career in the maritime shipping industry, which provided the foundation for his co-authorship of the BAFT white paper "Perspectives on Evaluating Potentially Unusual Vessel Behavior," published in December 2022. Joe is also a long-standing member of the BAFT Trade Compliance Committee.

Glenn Ransier is the SVP Head of Documentary Trade and SBLCs with Wells Fargo Bank. He is currently a Technical Advisor assisting the production of official Banking Commission Opinions for the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris, France. He also has delegation experience at the ICC and at the International Organization for Standardization. Mr. Ransier has been an involved member of BAFT for decades and was most recently the Chair of the Oil and Commodity LC Working Group in 2015.

Ms. Kristine Siebel retired in 2022 after 45 years in the Letter of Credit world. At retirement she was a Vice President at Societe Generale in their Trade Finance Group, previously she had been a Senior Credit Officer for Royal Bank of Canada responsible for their Captive Reinsurance Business in New York. Prior to joining RBC, Ms. Siebel was Assistant Vice President and Standby Letter of Credit Risk Officer for JPMorgan Chase Bank in New York. Ms. Siebel began her career in Trade Services with JPMorgan Chase’s predecessor bank Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company. Ms. Siebel has extensive experience in both the issuance and the risk aspects of Standby Letters of Credit. She has been a member of the BAFT North American Standby Letter of Credit Committee since its inception in 1994 and was the Chair of the committee until her retirement. At this time she is also an Honorary Member of BAFT.

Lorna Strong is a qualified barrister & solicitor who has worked in law and finance for more than 25 years, in both Canada and London, England. For over 10 years she was Managing Director and global lead counsel for HSBC Global Trade, a business that annually facilitated over USD740 billion of trade with access to 90% of all global trade flows. She provided risk management and policy development, and managed HSBC legal counsel in over 50 jurisdictions. She likewise advised on areas as diverse as bank regulatory, financial crime, sanctions, digital transformation, international disputes, and crisis management. In 2024, Lorna joined LSE (London School of Economics & Political Science) as Associate Programme Director of the MSc Law and Finance programme and set up Strong Consulting Group. She continues as a member of the ICC (International Chamber of Commerce) Legal Committee and lectures in academic and industry forums, including with the ICC.

David Tannenbaum started his career in sanctions compliance while serving at the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (OFAC), the U.S. agency in charge of administering economic sanctions. In his capacity at OFAC, he oversaw the analysis of blocked and rejected transactions, and provided sanctions advice to some of the world’s largest financial institutions, Fortune 500 companies, and law firms. David created Blackstone Compliance Services, a company specializing in sanctions compliance, after joining the private sector in 2013. As the director of Blackstone, he served as the FRB-appointed independent consultant of a global financial institution and has led sanctions testing for three major monitorships on behalf of the US Department of Justice, Federal Reserve Board, New York Department of Financial Services, and foreign regulators such as the United Kingdom’s FCA and France’s APCR.

Craig Weeks is the Senior Vice President – Trade for the Bankers Association for Finance and Trade (BAFT). Craig is also a Transaction Banking subject matter expert for Fitch Learning and an Executive Practicum Adviser of the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative of North Carolina State University. Craig served as SVP and Manager of the International Banking Group of US Bank as well as serving at Citibank and JPMorgan as Global Trade Sales Head for both institutions. Craig worked for Continental Grain Company, in New York, as Assistant Treasurer for Bank Relations, and in Geneva, Switzerland as Trade Finance Risk Manager. Craig has a Masters of International Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management (Glendale, AZ) and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dickinson College, (Carlisle, PA) where he is an Emeritus Trustee. Craig also studied at the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (Medellin, Colombia). Craig was a board member and former Chair of the Bankers Association for Finance and Trade (BAFT). Craig is a Disaster Services volunteer for the American Red Cross Serving Western North Carolina and an avid hiker and golfer. He and his wife Lorraine reside in Weaverville, NC USA.