Cambridge Training Series

Richard Heckinger was formerly vice president and senior policy advisor, Financial Markets Group, at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. He started his career in financial markets at the Chicago Board Options Exchange in 1973. His career has included executive management of financial market operations and risk. He has a wide range of international experience including positions in Montreal, London, Hong Kong, Boston and Chicago. He has served on international committees, including a Federal Reserve Bank of New York working group, the OTC Derivatives Regulators’ Forum, SWIFT, and the International Securities Services Association. He has a MPhil degree in economics from the London School of Economics, a BA degree in mathematics from the Illinois State University, and completed the Advanced Management Course at the University of Chicago.

Janet Cosier is the former Chief Risk Officer and Adviser on Strategic Planning at the Bank of Canada. She continues in her capacity as the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Payments Association. She has served in a variety of functions including comptroller and chief accountant, as well as chief internal auditor, before being appointed adviser to the governor. She has provided technical assistance to various central banks in the areas of strategic planning, risk management, governance and financial reporting. Before joining the Bank of Canada, she worked with the Office of the Auditor General of Canada and with the Department of Industry, Trade and Commerce. Mrs Cosier holds degrees from York University and the University of Windsor in mathematics, computer science, accounting and financial management.

Francesco Papadia is chair of Prime Collateralised Securities, chair of the Selection Panel of the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund, resident fellow of Bruegel and lectures at various Universities. Between June 1998 and May 2012 he was director general for Market Operations at the European Central Bank. Before that he held different positions at Research Department and Foreign Department of Banca d'Italia. Between 1980 and 1983 he was economic advisor at the Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs of the European Commission. From 1974 to 1979 he served as economist in the Research Department of Banca d'Italia. Francesco Papadia holds a degree in Law from the University of Rome. He did his postgraduate studies in Economics at Istao, Ancona and at the London Business School. He has published numerous articles and books.

María J. Nieto is Advisor in the Directorate of Financial Stability, Regulation and Resolution, at Bank of Spain where she has developed her career since December 2000. She is author of several articles on banking, financial stability and regulatory issues that have been published by prestigious peered reviewed journals and she is member of the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Banking Regulation and the Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance. She has cooperated as consultant with the IMF and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and has worked at the ECB, Council of Economic Advisors to the Spanish President and the IMF. Ms Nieto earned a PhD cum laude from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and MBA (finance) from the University of California Los Angeles.

Iain Thomson spent most of his career at the Bank of England, holding positions in exchange control, foreign exchange, open market operations and training, before a two-year secondment to the Central Bank of Swaziland, sponsored by the IMF. There, he was director of foreign exchange reserves, and responsible for advising the governor, developing local capacity to manage financial markets, and establishing Swaziland's first stock market. On return to the UK, he was involved in helping various Eastern European and former Soviet Union central banks to modernise. He eventually created and was appointed to the role of Head of Training & Development at the Bank. After leaving the Bank in 1999 he set up his own consultancy firm, dealing with all aspects of performance management and working with over 250 organisations in 40 countries.

Kenneth Sullivan was until 2015 a senior financial sector expert with the International Monetary Fund. Previously, he spent seven years at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand as chief manager of both Accounting and Corporate Services where the bank won accounting prizes for the transparency of its published financial statements. Prior to that he provided a financial management information system consultancy, held senior accounting roles in insurance and wholesaling, and worked in education. Starting in 1993 he served as accounting expert on IMF missions, providing accounting technical assistance to central banks around the world, organized and presented at central bank accounting workshops and participated in Financial Sector Assessment Program and Safeguard Assessment

Atilla Arda is a Senior Financial Sector Expert in the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Monetary and Capital Markets Department; prior to this, he was a Senior Counsel in the IMF’s Financial & Fiscal Law Unit. Mr. Arda joined the IMF in February 2007 from the central bank of the Netherlands where he held a Senior Counsel position and was Substitute Secretary to the Board; he also contributed to the workings of the Legal Committee of the European System of Central Banks. Mr. Arda has consulted for over 70 countries, half of which on-site, including for the central banks of countries as diverse as Myanmar, Indonesia, Jamaica, Ukraine, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Kosovo, and Egypt. In recent years, he was the deputy mission chief for the IMF Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) for Switzerland and he led the crisis management workstream for the Euro Area FSAP; currently, he is leading the crisis management workstream for the USA FSAP. Mr. Arda is specialized in central bank governance and law, financial law, institutional frameworks for macroprudential policy and crisis management, financial safety net arrangements, crisis preparedness, and bank resolution regimes. Mr. Arda is a contributor for ‘Smit & Herzog on The Law of the European Union.’ He is a regular speaker at international conferences and has been chairing Central Banking Publications’ course on ‘Central Bank Governance and Legal Risks’ since 2014.