Kroll Bond Ratings Announces Senior Management Team

NEW YORK, July 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Kroll Bond Ratings (www.krollbondratings.com) announced today the members of its senior management team, including experts from a range of financial disciplines.  Kroll Bond Ratings will distinguish itself by performing the deep analysis that is synonymous with the firm that Jules Kroll created.  The firm will emphasize ratings accuracy and adopt the investment community's perspective in forming its approach to ratings and corporate governance.  Kroll Bond Ratings expects to publish its first ratings during the third quarter of 2010.

"These professionals, with their varied and impressive expertise, have the much-needed judgment to refashion the credit ratings industry," said CEO and Chairman Jules Kroll.  "Together, we will provide investors with a reliable and accurate product.  Investment professionals managing retirement accounts and pension funds deserve ratings in which they can have confidence to make smart investment decisions.  With this team in place, we will be able to meet these needs."

The team is as follows:

• Jules Kroll is the Chairman and CEO of Kroll Bond Ratings.  He is the founder of Kroll Inc. and is the acknowledged founder of the modern investigations, intelligence, and corporate security industry.  In 1972, he established Kroll Associates Inc. as a consultant to corporate purchasing departments, and in doing so, created the prototype for a new breed of professional services firm dedicated to mitigating risk.  His firm, which he sold to Marsh & McLennan Companies in 2004 and left in 2008, ultimately reached annual revenues of $1 billion.  The recipient of numerous awards throughout his career, Mr. Kroll was named "Entrepreneur of the Year" by Cornell University in 2003 and was honored with the U.S. Entrepreneurial Award by British American Business Inc. in 2002.  Mr. Kroll received a B.A. degree from Cornell University in 1963 and an LL.B. degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1966.  He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Managed Funds Association and currently serves as Board President of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice Foundation.

• James Nadler is the President and Chief Operating Officer of Kroll Bond Ratings.  James was previously the Vice President for Corporate Development at General Re in the New England Asset Management Division.  While at General Re, James helped create a new platform for trading, settlement and reporting.  James' expertise in research and analytics at General Re was instrumental in maintaining client relationships while generating new revenue.  Over the last two decades, James has held several roles in the world of financial analysis, working for mainstays in the ratings industry as well independent research firms.  As Executive Vice President at FitchRatings, he was responsible for strategy, budgets, hiring, product development, and credit rating criteria for the Structured Finance Group, a group he led.  James began his career as a ratings officer at Standard & Poor's and as a senior accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers.  He received a B.A. in Economics from the University of Kansas and an M.B.A. from Rutgers University.

• Robert Anselmi is the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Kroll Bond Ratings, Inc.  Robert brings nearly four decades of experience in financial services, both as a senior legal and compliance officer and as a valued member of executive management.  Before joining Kroll Bond Ratings, Robert held positions with industry leaders, including New York Life Investment Management, initially as General Counsel and later as Vice Chairman, Lehman Brothers and J.P. Morgan Investment Management, where he served as General Counsel and Managing Director, responsible for the firm's legal and compliance areas.  Robert has a B.S. in Economics from Fordham University, an M.B.A. from Fordham University's Graduate School of Business and he received his J.D. from the Fordham University School of Law.  He has been a member of the Bar of the State of New York since 1982.

• Ellen Coleman is the Director of Underwriting Review at Kroll Bond Ratings and is responsible for mortgage originator and servicer reviews.  Ellen has 20 years of financial services experience concentrated in mortgage investment and risk management.  She served five years at Countrywide Financial Corp. in various treasury roles where she helped originate and fund mortgage securitizations.  Prior to Countrywide, Ellen spent ten years as a relationship banker with ABN AMRO Bank in Los Angeles.  She began her banking career at Chase Manhattan Bank in New York.  Ellen holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Georgetown University and an M.B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles.

• Jerome Fons is the Executive Vice President of Strategy for Kroll Bond Ratings.  Jerome is an economist specializing in credit risk and rating agency issues, having spent 17 years at Moody's Investors Service, leaving the firm in August 2007.  Positions Jerome held at Moody's include Managing Director, Credit Policy, member of the firm's Credit Policy Committee, chair of the Fundamental Credit Committee and chair of Moody's Standing Committee on Rating Symbols and Practices.  Jerome was also a member of Moody's Country Risk Committee, which sets sovereign rating practices.  Prior to joining Moody's, Jerome was an Economic Advisor at Chemical Bank, New York and an Economist with the Federal Reserve Banks of New York and Cleveland.  He holds a B.A. in Economics from San Diego State University and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, San Diego.

• Ajay Junnarkar is the Chief Financial and Administrative Officer of Kroll Bond Ratings.  Ajay joins the company from Marsh & McLennan Companies, where he served as a senior finance team member, holding roles including Vice President & Assistant Treasurer, Chief Financial Officer of its global reinsurance brokerage subsidiary, Guy Carpenter & Company, and Director in its Corporate Development and Strategy Group.  Ajay also worked at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., where he conducted due diligence investigations for its investment, merchant and private banking operations.  He began his career as a forensic accountant at Kroll Inc.  Ajay holds a BMath and an M.A. in accounting from the University of Waterloo in Canada, an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School and is a Chartered Accountant in Canada.

For more information, please visit www.KrollBondRatings.com.

SOURCE Kroll Bond Ratings