Experienced Team of Research, Trading, Legal & Portfolio Experts
Xtract Research is a fixed income research and data provider focused on covenant oriented research for high yield and convertible bonds as well as syndicated bank loans. We have a team of experienced finance attorneys that review indentures and credit agreements to prepare in-depth covenant research reports designed to assist traders, analysts and portfolio managers in quickly understanding the covenant package and potential issues. Xtract has also collaborated with the Loan Syndications and Trading Association on its Bank Debt Review product in order to bring bank loan market participants a comprehensive and high quality report for credit agreements available at a reasonable price. Xtract's clients consist of many of the world's largest hedge funds, investment managers, insurance companies, private equity firms and investment banks.
We have provided a great deal of information about our services on this website, but are happy to discuss any additional questions you might have. To discuss your individual needs please contact us at 203-599-1000 or 203-438-6700.
Executive Team
>> Michael G. Knox, CFA, President, 21 Years Experience
Mike co-founded Xtract Research LLC in 2005 and oversees all research and consulting activities. Prior to founding Xtract Research, he was a founding partner and portfolio manager with Hamilton Investment Management LLC where he oversaw the Convertible Arbitrage, Credit and Special Situations strategies. He held the same roles at Hamilton's predecessor, Hamilton Partners Limited and was with the combined firms for 7 years. Prior to joining Hamilton, he was a Portfolio Manager with Morgan Stanley Advisors (previously Dean Witter InterCapital) where he managed one of the largest Convertible mutual funds in the country as well as co-managed the firm's Equity Income fund. Prior to Morgan Stanley, he was a high yield and convertible Portfolio Manager for Eagle Asset Management and a trader/analyst for Eagle's sister company, Heritage Asset Management. Mike has a BA from Ohio Wesleyan University, a MBA from The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
>> Manish Aggarwal, Managing Partner, 11 Years Experience
Manish co-founded Xtract Research LLC in 2005 and is responsible for overseeing the general business development. Prior to founding Xtract Research, he was actively involved in a start-up financial support company to develop outsourcing solutions for hedge fund operations. Prior to joining this venture, Manish was a trader in the risk arbitrage group at a multi-strategy hedge fund, Hamilton Investment Management LLC. He had joined Hamilton's predecessor (Hamilton Partners Limited) in June of 1997 as a trading assistant, and was instrumental in developing the in house back office processes and systems. Manish has a BS in accounting from the City University of New York (Hunter College).
>> Robert P. Blank, Esq., 36 Years Experience
Bob began his 36-year legal banking career as an associate at Shearman & Sterling, where he specialized in bank lending and corporate financing transactions. Thereafter, he spent almost 20 years working on a variety of financing and investment banking matters as a Managing Director and Counsel in the Legal Department of Bankers Trust Company (now part of Deutsche Bank AG). He then spent two years at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP as Counsel specializing in UCC Article 9 transactions. Most recently, he worked at Luskin, Stern & Eisler LLP (since acquired by Hughes, Hubbard & Reed) where he worked on a variety of bank and other lender loan transactions. Bob is a 1970 graduate of Yale College and a 1973 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Bob is admitted to practice law in the State of New York.
>> Justin M. Smith Esq., 8 Years Experience
Justin has 8 years of experience as an attorney in acquisition finance, secured and unsecured lending, debt restructurings, securities and mergers and acquisitions. He serves as Xtract's Senior Covenant Analyst and is responsible for overseeing Xtract's review and analysis of indentures, credit agreements, and other debt documents. Prior to joining Xtract, Justin was a corporate finance associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP in New York where he represented private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies in acquisition financings, bank loans and other finance transactions. Prior to joining Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, Justin was a corporate associate at Sidley Austin LLP in New York where he represented issuers and underwriters in private placements, debt equity and convertible securities. Justin received a BA from the University of Virginia and a JD degree from Washington and Lee University School of Law. Justin is admitted to practice law in New York and is a member of the New York State Bar Association.
>> Richard L. Tavrow, Esq., 40 Years Experience
Over his 40-year legal banking career, Dick has served as Senior Vice President, Secretary, General Counsel, and a member of the Board of Directors of two major international corporations, the shares of one of which were traded on the New York Stock Exchange, and as a Partner in a New York City law firm. In these positions, he has had extensive and intensive experience with diverse domestic and international commercial and transactional legal and business matters, including negotiating, drafting, and advising on large, complex secured and unsecured loan and other credit and financing facilities. He also served as Chief Counsel of a Federal agency involved in regulating the U.S. Balance of Payments and international finance matters. Most recently, he worked for over the past ten years for UBS AG, serving as a Director and heading the Documentation-Unit of Banking Products Services, which has the exclusive responsibility within UBS for handling, reviewing, and executing all types of credit facilities in the U.S. and Canada. Dick received the A.B. magna cum laude in Economics, LL.B., and LL.M. degrees from Harvard University and attended the Universities of Copenhagen and Luxembourg as a Fulbright Scholar. Dick has been admitted to practice law in California and New York.
>> Christina Kulawas, Esq., 30 Years Experience
Christina has 30 years of experience as both an attorney and as a commercial loan workout officer. Her legal experience includes secured and unsecured lending (representing both lenders and borrowers), debt restructurings, acquisition financing and entertainment law. Most recently, Christina worked in-house in the Legal Department of a major international financial institution and had previously been a corporate associate at Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP in NY before joining a small corporate law firm as Counsel. Christina received a BS from St. John's University and a JD degree from Fordham School of Law where she was on the Law Review. Prior to passing the bar, Christina was a commercial loan workout officer at several major financial institutions, including Bankers Trust Company. She is admitted to practice law in the State of New York.
>> Valerie A. Potenza, Esq., 12 Years Experience
Valerie has over 10 years of experience as an attorney in secured lending, securities offerings and structured finance. She has represented lenders, borrowers, underwriters and asset originators in secured lending facilities, warehouse facilities and public and private debt offerings. She has negotiated and drafted credit agreements, security agreements, intercreditor agreements, indentures and offering documents. Ms. Potenza practiced law in the Finance and Real Estate Group at Dechert LLP for ten years and began her career in the Latin American Practice Group at Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle. Ms. Potenza is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and Rutgers College. She is admitted to practice law in the State of New York.
>> Ross Hallock, Esq., 10 Yrs. Experience
Ross has 10 years of experience as an attorney in acquisition finance, secured and unsecured lending, debt restructurings, high-yield debt issuances and mezzanine debt issuances. He has represented both issuers/borrowers and providers of capital. He has negotiated and drafted credit agreements, indentures, security agreements, intercreditor agreements and offering documents. Ross practiced law in the Global Finance Group at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and in the corporate department at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. Ross is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Dartmouth College. He has been admitted to practice law in the State of New York.
>> Danielle DePalma, Esq., 5 Years Experience
Danielle has over 5 years experience as an attorney specializing in lending and corporate financing transactions. She most recently held a position as Vice President and Senior Counsel at CIT Group Inc., providing legal support to their Commercial & Industrial division. Prior to CIT, she was an associate in the Banking and Finance group at Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP negotiating financing transactions on behalf of financial institutions, financial sponsors and corporate borrowers. Danielle was also an associate in the finance group at Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP where she represented hedge funds in acquisition financings and other finance transactions. Danielle received a B.A. in Economics from New York University and a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law. Danielle is admitted to practice law in the State of New York.
Operations Team
>> Erik Chabot, Operations Manager
Erik joined Xtract in 2007 as an operations analyst and is responsible for the day-to-day operations of Xtract's research services. He oversees the tracking and analysis of SEC filings, manages its news services and ensures the integrity of Xtract's indenture and credit agreement libraries. Prior to joining Xtract, Erik taught English in Hokkaido and Tokyo, Japan as well as in the United States. Erik holds a B.A. in Political Science from Bates College, an M.A. in East Asian Studies from Lund University in Sweden and is proficient in Swedish, Japanese, and French.
>> Dain Vanderminden, Operations Analyst
Dain joined Xtract in 2007 as an operations analyst and is responsible for the high yield and convertible services including coordinating with the legal and research teams in updating the website for covenant summary reports. Prior to working for Xtract Research, he was student at the University of Connecticut where he obtained his B.A. in Economics and a minor in Business.
>> Debobroto Deb, Operations Analyst
Debobroto Deb joined Xtract in June 2007 as an operations analyst and is responsible for monitoring new convertible and investment grade bonds issued to the market, analyzing RSS news feeds and reviewing and bookmarking documents. Prior to joining Xtract Research, he managed a federal grant program for Student Support Services at Polytechnic University (now part of New York University) in Brooklyn, New York. Debobroto holds a B.S. in Social Science and a M.S. in Management from the Polytechnic Institute of New York University.
>> Virginia Brooks, Operations Analyst
Virginia joined Xtract in 2009 and collaborates with Xtract's legal team to deliver Bank Debt Review and Covenant Xtract reports. She also manages Xtract's credit agreement document library and analyzes SEC filings and RSS feeds to maintain Xtract's news services. Prior to Xtract, Virginia worked as an analyst for a real estate advisory corporation to assist the FDIC with liquidating and restructuring failed banks. Additionally, Virginia has taught economics courses at several local colleges. Virginia holds a B.S. in Business Administration with a minor in Latin American Studies from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a M.A. in Economics from Syracuse University.
>> Patrick Locke, Operations Analyst
Patrick joined Xtract in 2010 as a recent graduate of the University of Rochester, where he received a B.A. in both Financial Economics and Spanish Literature. Throughout his senior year, he assisted a Simon School of Business PhD candidate on his dissertation on the effects of performance pricing in public debt renegotiations. Patrick will be contributing to operations involving Bank Debt Review and Covenant Xtract reports.
>> Ann Marie Amelio, Office Manager
Ann Marie heads our administrative team. She has over 20 years of business experience including 15 years in the financial planning and financial services industry with Robert F. Nash & Company in Wilton, CT. She also has served a variety of roles in local charitable and non-profit organizations including as treasurer and secretary. She holds a BBA from Iona with a concentration in finance.
Marketing and Sales Team
>> Kimberly Clyne, Director of Strategic Marketing
Kim is our Director of Strategic Marketing and is responsible for all of our marketing and promotional activities and planning. Kim came to Xtract after 8 years at General Electric (GE) in a variety of operational, marketing and research roles in both GE Corporate and GE Commercial Finance. She also spent 5 years as a management consultant with Deloitte focused on the retail industry. Prior to joining Deloitte, she spent 5 years at Lord & Taylor Department Stores in the merchandising organization. Kim has a BA in English from Emory University and an MBA from Rutgers University School of Business.
>> Daron Balducci, Director of Sales
Daron joined Xtract Research in August of 2009 and heads up our sales team. Prior to joining Xtract, Daron was a Regional Director at Gimme Credit a Fixed Income Research firm based in New York City where he managed multiple regions across the U.S. Before Gimme Credit, Daron held multiple sales and sales consulting positions selling Microsoft, Cisco, and Siebel. Mr. Balducci holds a BA in Communications from Florida Atlantic University and a Masters of Information Technology from American InterContinental University.
>> Eileen Creighton, Director of Sales
Eileen joined Xtract in 2010 to focus on new business development within the Midwest and tri-state areas. Prior to joining Xtract, she was Head of North America Sales for Pharmawire and previously handled new sales for Debtwire, both proprietary intelligence tools serving the healthcare and distressed debt markets, respectively. Eileen has almost 20 years experience in sales and business development within the financial markets, including work in investment banking and loan syndications at Deutsche Bank and heading up sales for a quantitative research product while at Instinet. She received her MBA from Thunderbird, the Garvin School of International Management, and her BA from Towson State University.
>> Jeffrey Miller, Director of Sales - West Coast
Jeff joined Xtract Research in January of 2010 and will be focusing on bringing in new West Coast and Convertible accounts as well as assisting management in developing new products and consulting services. Prior to joining Xtract, Jeff was an analyst at JMG Capital, a Los Angeles based multi-strat hedge fund (which included convertible arbitrage) where he assisted the traders in credit and equity analysis. Before JMG, he was an analyst at Creedon, Keller & Partners, a convertible arbitrage hedge fund in Sausalito, CA, where he again assisted the PM and traders with convertible and credit analysis. Jeff also worked at Scotia Capital and CSFB (in the M&A group). Prior to getting his MBA at NYU, Jeff practiced law as one of two staff attorneys that opened up and ran the NASD's Arbitration and Mediation offices in downtown Los Angeles and as an associate at the law firm of Robie & Mathai. Jeff has a BA from U.C. Berkeley, a J.D. from UCLA's School of Law and an MBA from NYU's Stern School of Business.
>> Natasha Brooks, European Managing Director
Natasha joined Xtract Research in April 2010 to launch EuroXtract into the European marketplace. Prior to joining Xtract, Natasha was Managing Director of Pharmawire, a proprietary intelligence service focusing on the healthcare sector for the financial community. Before this, Natasha worked on a sister service to Pharmawire, Debtwire, responsible for new sales to the buyside in the distressed debt and high yield space. Previous experience also includes 6 years at Euromoney Insitutional Investor Plc during which time she set up a business introducing early stage and start-up hedge fund managers to service providers. Natasha holds a BA (Hons) degree from Cambridge University.
>> Johanna Slotnick, Senior Client Relationship Manager
Johanna Slotnick joined Xtract Research in 2010 and is responsible for client assistance and product training for Xtract's High Yield, Syndicated Loan, Convertible Bond and Legal products. Prior to joining Xtract, Johanna spent two years as a Senior Client Relations Manager for Debtwire, handling all account management, research assistance and product training activities for hundreds of firms across the Americas interested in the distressed, chapter 11 and leveraged loan spaces. Johanna received her BS in Communications as well as Applied Economics and Management from Cornell University.
