Cambridge Training Virtual Series

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.

Klaus Gressenbauer joined the European Monetary Institute in December 1997 and the European Central Bank (ECB) at its inception in 1998. He held a number of management positions in international banking, primarily in the area of controlling and general management. Upon joining the ECB Mr Gressenbauer first served as Director Planning & Organisation and was later on appointed Director Internal Audit. In his ECB capacity and prior to becoming Director Internal Audit, he inter alia also served as Chairman of the European System of Central Banks' (ESCD) Benchmarking Working Group, Chairman of the ESCB Organisational Analysis Working Group, member of the ECB Budget Committee, member of the ECB Management Committee, member of the ECB Project Steering Committee, member of the ECB Assets and Liabilities Committee and is now Chairman of the ESCB's Internal Auditors Committee. Mr Gressenbauer studied communication theories and philosophy and holds a PhD in political sciences from the University of Vienna. He also holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the International Management Institute in Geneva.

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.

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.

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.

Marek Petruš is an external relations consultant with deep expertise in financial and economic policy communications. He has worked closely with top monetary policymakers as a strategic advisor to governors in the Czech Republic as well as more than a dozen low-to-middle income developing countries. He has been affiliated with the International Monetary Fund as a short-term expert for central bank communications, advising central banks across Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa to make their policies more transparent and on modernising their communications. His expertise and experience stems from an assignment as Director of Communications and later chancellor at the Czech National Bank (CNB), preceded by a career with the world’s leading news media companies, including Reuters and the Wall Street Journal. During his tenure, the Czech central bank upgraded its policy communications and brought its transparency and communication toolkit into line with global best practices. These advances helped solidify the CNB’s standing as one of the world's most transparent and best communicating central banks.

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

An economist by education, Mugur Tolici has gained a significant experience in central banking activities, during the 20+ year career in the National Bank of Romania, in the fields including monetary policy, economic research, cash issuance and circulation, and human resources. During his career, he has been head of monetary policy division, adviser to the deputy governor, head of the governor's office, deputy director of cash dept. and HR director. In his last capacity he led a major transformation project aimed at creating and implementing a people management system based on the best HR practices, suited to organization’s needs and culture, and ready to address the challenges of a continuously changing environment. For 1 year, between 2018-2019, Mr. Tolici worked for the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC as a Senior Adviser for the Executive Director (Dutch-Belgium Constituency) representing Romania and North Macedonia. He has a rich academic experience as lecturer at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies and National University of Political Studies and Public Administration.

Mr Tolici holds a degree in banking and finance, and a PhD in economics.