Windsor 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.

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Kimmo Soamäki is the founder and CEO of Financial Network Analytics (FNA) and the founding editor-in-chief of The Journal of Network Theory in Finance. He started his career as an economist at the Bank of Finland where he developed in 1997 the first simulation model for interbank payment systems. In 2004 while at the research department of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Mr Soramäki was among the first to apply methods from network theory to improve our understanding of financial systems. During the financial crisis of 2007-2008 he advised several central banks, including the Bank of England and European Central Bank, in modelling interconnections and systemic risk. This work led him to found FNA in 2013 provide solutions to monitor the complex financial networks that play a continually larger role in the world around us. Mr Soramäki holds a Doctor of Science in Operations Research and a Master of Science in Economics (Finance), both from Aalto University in Helsinki.

Eric Wolfe has over 25 years applied experience in market, credit and operational risk management and was most recently Deputy Managing Director of the Funds Management and Banking Department at the Bank of Canada. His previous roles have spanned asset management, credit derivatives, trading risk management and macroeconomic forecasting, across Asia, North America and Europe.

Eric holds an M.A. in economics from the University of Toronto, is a CFA charterholder and has received the Professional Risk Manager designation.

Eric has spoken in previous NALM Asia conferences. As Chairman of this year's event, he will facilitate interactive dialogue and thought-provoking discussion with his wealth of experience in central banking.

Christopher Gale is a former senior vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank who has held leadership positions in the Federal Reserve for Information Technology, Financial Management, Strategic Planning, Facilities Management and Law Enforcement. From 2012–2014 he chaired the Fed’s Technology Services Council, the senior executive information technology steering committee for all 12 Reserve Banks. Before joining the Bank, he held management positions at large mutual fund, public accounting, savings and loan and commercial bank organizations. He received his BS in Finance from Northeastern University in 1982 and his MBA from Northeastern in 1988.

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.

John Jussup was general counsel and secretary of the Bank of Canada, from 2009 until July 2012. Prior to joining the central bank, he was senior vice-president, chief legal officer & secretary of Cognos Inc., one of Canada’s leading software companies, from 1993 until its acquisition by IBM in 2008. Before joining Cognos, Mr Jussup held increasingly senior in-house counsel and secretarial positions in the mining, medical diagnostics and finance industries. He graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada and from Queen’s University, in Kingston, Canada (LLB). He was called to the Ontario Bar in 1979. He was a recipient of the Canadian General Counsel of the Year Award in 2005 in recognition of his achievements corporate governance. He currently sits on a number of boards and consults in the areas of in corporate secretarial and in-house legal practice.

Marek Petruš is an external relations manager with expertise in financial and economic policy communications who has served as an advisor to top monetary policymakers including governors in the Czech Republic as well as more than a dozen low-to-middle income developing countries. He is currently affiliated with the Institute for Economic Education (INEV), the Czech Republic's leading non-for-profit economic education institute. He has advised central banks across Eastern Europe,  Asia, and Africa on making 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. This helped solidify its standing as one of the world's most transparent and best communicating central banks.

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.

Antti Heinonen has been the chairman of Banknote Ethics Initiative since its inception in 2013. He was the chairman of the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group between 2008 and 2012 and the Director, Banknotes at the ECB from 1998 until 2008. He chaired the Banknote Committee of the European System of Central Banks for more than 10 years and the Eurosystem Cash Changeover Co-ordination Committee in 2001 and 2002. Prior to joining the ECB he was the chief cashier for the Bank of Finland. He holds degrees in economics and mathematics from the University of Helsinki, and has recently written two books, one on the history of Finland’s markka banknotes, and another on euro banknotes. The latter is also translated in English (The First Euros) and German (Die Ersten Euros).