Events

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.

Jonathan Conley serves as Vice President in CoBank’s Trade Services Operations Division. In this role, he manages Documentary Services (Letters of Credit and Collections), Accounts Receivable Purchasing and SWIFT within the Trade Services Division and is responsible for processing of all aspects of Trade products. He has over 41 years of experience in the letter of credit business, including nine years managing the Trade Services team at CoBank. Prior to joining CoBank Jon served as Vice President, Manager at Wells Fargo, in the Standby Letter of Credit operations for eight years. He also served as Vice President – Letters of Credit at SunTrust Bank (in Atlanta), Bank One/Banc One International (in Ohio and Texas) and Harper Group/Circle Airfreight Freight Forwarding for over thirty-two years, combined.

Merlin Dowse is an Executive Director and a Global Product Manager within the Core Product team. In this capacity, Merlin leads a global team responsible for the management of digital solutions and innovation available to the clients of J.P. Morgan across the globe. Merlin previously held the position of Global Product Manager for the Portfolio Management Group within Global Trade at J.P. Morgan. In this role he led the digitization efforts of both the internal and external processes supporting the distribution of all trade finance assets. Prior to this, while based in London, he was managing the EMEA Trade product set for the Corporate client segment, where he worked on various initiatives such as the Bank Payment Obligation, SWIFT for Corporates whilst also helping expand J.P. Morgan’s global footprint. Prior to joining J.P. Morgan, Merlin worked in various capacities in the Trade Services department at Rabobank in the Netherlands. Merlin has been involved in numerous industry-wide initiatives and was recently appointed as Vice-Chair to the International Chamber of Commerce’s (ICC) Banking Commission and he is also the Sponsor of the Commercialisation Working Group under the auspices of the ICC Digital Standards Initiative (DSI).

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.

Jeremiah Glock comes to us with over 50 years of experience in Global Trade Operations, with 25 years at Citi in various positions. For the last 14 years he has been one of Citi’s Global Trade Advisors, assisting with providing guidance in all functions of Letters of Credit (Advising Commercial / Standby L/C’s and Examination of Documents), Import and Export Collections, Reimbursements and Compliance and Potential Risk items. Mr. Glock is CDCS (Certified Documentary Credit Specialist) certified and also represents Citi as the Vice Chair on the Southeast Letter of Credit Committee which includes the Collection Committee.

Michael Grizzanti is a Vice President at Bank of America, N.A. and has over 27 years of experience in Global Trade Operations. He is currently the Senior Operations Consultant for US Standby Operations in Scranton, PA with additional consulting responsibilities for Canada, Mexico and the EMEA regions. Prior to his consulting role, he managed the US Standby unit for 15 years. He is currently an active member of the BAFT National Standby Letter of Credit Committee.

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.

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.

Lelia Savory is Senior Vice President, Product and Servicing Manager for the International Department at First Horizon Bank. She has performed various roles in trade services for over 25 years and is now responsible for the team that processes trade finance and foreign exchange related transactions. She is a Certified Documentary Credit Specialist, outgoing co-chair of the BAFT Regional Bank Council, and past Chair of the BAFT Southeast Letter of Credit Committee.

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.

Having started his career as a document examiner under Commercial Letters of Credit with the then ABN Amro, India, he is now heading the Trade Guarantees Expertise Desk with the Trade Finance Competence Centre of BNP Paribas, Brussels, Belgium. With 10+ years of his exciting journey in traditional Trade Finance he has had the opportunity to don several hats. Some of his previous positions include Senior LC Officer, BNP Paribas Montreal, Canada, Trade Finance Trainer for SBLCs and Commercial LCs, Client Service Manager - Trade Finance CIBC, Montreal, Canada. His most recent accomplishment is the title holder of the “ICC Belgium Registered Trainer of the Incoterms® rules 2020.

Ofer has vast experience in international corporate banking, specializing in leading initiatives and projects, building and restructuring new lines of business, products and strategies. Ein Bar's Experience and persistence enable him to see the big picture, enact the vision of the business. and maintain operations with a keen attention to detail.

Michael Evan Avidon is a partner in Moses & Singer LLP, a NYC law firm, where 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’s practice emphasizes: secured and unsecured lending; trade finance; supply chain finance; discounting; LC reimbursement agreements; participation agreements; receivables purchase and payables 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 and other financial institutions.

Mr. Leonard Frady is a Sanctions Compliance Officer with the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in their Sanctions Compliance & Evaluation Division. Previously, Mr. Frady worked as a Senior Bank Examiner and Bank Examiner with the New York State Department of Financial Services, New York State Banking Department, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Also, he has worked as a Senior Enforcement Case Specialist with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) on BSA/AML matters, and as a Securities Compliance Examiner with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission. In addition, he worked in the BSA/AML/Sanctions Compliance Department of Eagle Bank located in the Washington, DC metro area.

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.

Jeremiah Glock comes to us with over 50 years of experience in Global Trade Operations, with 25 years at Citi in various positions. For the last 14 years he has been one of Citi’s Global Trade Advisors, assisting with providing guidance in all functions of Letters of Credit (Advising Commercial / Standby L/C’s and Examination of Documents), Import and Export Collections, Reimbursements and Compliance and Potential Risk items. Mr. Glock is CDCS (Certified Documentary Credit Specialist) certified and also represents Citi as the Vice Chair on the Southeast Letter of Credit Committee which includes the Collection Committee.

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.

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.

David Rabinowitz, a member of Moses & Singer's Litigation, Intellectual Property and Law Firm Management practice groups, has been a partner with the firm since 1985. Within a broad commercial litigation and litigation counseling practice, David has focused in the substantive areas of financial industry litigation, including corporate trusts and letters of credit, trusts and estates, intellectual property, contracts and employment. David has represented major financial institutions in matters relating to indenture trusts, letters of credit, negotiable instruments and electronic transfers, real estate and cross-border judgment enforcement.

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.

Lelia Savory is Senior Vice President, Product and Servicing Manager for the International Department at First Horizon Bank. She has performed various roles in trade services for over 25 years and is now responsible for the team that processes trade finance and foreign exchange related transactions. She is a Certified Documentary Credit Specialist, outgoing co-chair of the BAFT Regional Bank Council, and past Chair of the BAFT Southeast Letter of Credit Committee.

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.

Donald Smith has over 43 years of experience in letters of credit starting with the UCP 222. He is retired from Citibank New York and is currently President of Global Trade Advisory, a Charlotte NC based consulting firm focused on training in the traditional trade products, regulatory compliance and dispute resolution. He has been a member of the US delegation to the ICC Banking Commission since 1998, chaired the ICC’s Uniform Rules for Forfaiting drafting group, co-chaired the International Standard Banking Practices drafting group, was a member of the group which produced the International Standby Practices ISP98. He has been a member of BAFT and its predecessor organizations since 1982, a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee, and chaired the national Letter of Credit Committee and the Annual Conference several times.

Scott Stevenson is the Senior Vice President of Trade at BAFT. Stevenson leads the association’s trade-focused policy, practices, and education initiatives, and supports its trade-related councils and committees. Prior to joining BAFT, Stevenson was a senior advisor for AF Capital Partners, which provided expertise in emerging market structured and project finance for development banking institutions. For two years, he consulted development banks and export credit agencies following a 17-year career at the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and World Bank Group in various trade and investment project leadership roles. Before joining the IFC, Stevenson was the regional head of financial institutions at Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Colgate University, and his MBA from York University.