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).
>> 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.
>> 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.
>> 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.
>> James Slessenger, 22 Years Experience
James spent 22 years as a finance lawyer based in the City of London. After studying law at the University of Cambridge, he trained at Herbert Smith LLP, one of London's leading international law firms, and then worked as an associate and, for 12 years, as a partner in its Finance Division. His long experience includes acting for borrowers and lenders in new money, refinancing and restructuring work in the syndicated loan, private equity and limited recourse and project finance markets, many of them multi-layered debt structures. Notably, he was involved in a number of high profile complex stressed and distressed debt situations. In particular, he lead the team advising Eurotunnel, the operator of the Channel Tunnel, (then the biggest ever private sector project financing by value and with a syndicate of over 200 lenders) on various renegotiations of its financing, including its 1995-1998 restructuring (of "Byzantine complexity" - Financial Times) whereby its syndicated project finance debt was partly exchanged into four new capital markets instruments. He also advised on two of Eurotunnel's subsequent innovative debt buy-backs, taking advantage of the below-par value of its long-term debt. His experience also includes inter-creditor and security issues. An English-qualified solicitor, much of his work had multi-jurisdictional elements, particularly in France and Germany (he spent a year and a half working in the loan market in Frankfurt at the introduction of the Euro single currency).
>> 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.
>> Rachel Katz, Esq., 10 Years Experience
In 2010 Rachel joined the Xtract Legal/Research team and has over 10 years of experience as an attorney specializing in bank lending and corporate financing transactions. She has experience representing both lenders and borrowers in the negotiation and drafting of credit agreements, security agreements and other forms of credit documentation. Prior to joining Xtract, Rachel practiced law at several major law firms, including most recently, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP and Shearman & Sterling LLP. Rachel received a BA from Union College and a JD degree from American University, Washington College of Law. She is admitted to practice law in the State of New York and the District of Columbia.
>> Justin M. Smith Esq., 10 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.
>> Christine Tadros, 8 Years Experience
Christine is an English qualified lawyer with over 8 years experience in banking and finance at leading City law firms. She trained at Norton Rose gaining experience ranging from negotiating syndicated loans to advising on EMTN programmes and security-related issues from proposed securitizations. She subsequently moved to Shearman Sterling working within the European Finance team specializing in acquisition finance and leveraged transactions. Christine regularly worked on high profile, leveraged acquisition financings involving multiple jurisdictions and layers of debt. In addition to the widely syndicated secured loans that Christine worked on, her transactions frequently involved a capital markets (high yield) component. Christine graduated from University College London with a First Class Honours LL.B in Law and French Law in 1995. She also gained a Diploma in French Law from the Universite of Pantheon-Assas (Paris II). Christine qualified as a Solicitor in England and Wales in January 1999.
>> Stacy J. Greenhouse, Esq., 7 Years Experience
Stacy has over seven years of experience as a finance, M&A and securities lawyer. She has represented financial institutions, private equity sponsors and domestic and international companies in negotiating and documenting various types of financings, including syndicated senior secured and unsecured credit facilities, workouts, restructurings, bond issuances and debt and receivables securitizations. Stacy previously practiced law in the banking & finance group at Mayer Brown LLP and the corporate department at Paul Hastings LLP. During a secondment with the Structuring & Execution Team at Standard Bank, Stacy worked with investment bankers to structure, negotiate and document financings including acquisition, asset-based, cash-flow and export financings as well as bond issuances and tender offers. One of the notable financings that Stacy worked on while at Standard Bank - Cerveceria Nacional Dominicana's 2008 bond tender offer and peso-linked note issuance - earned recognition as a "Deal of the Year" by LatinFinance. Stacy received a BA magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania and a JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she was a senior editor on the Journal of International Economic Law. During law school, she also received Penn Law's Pro Bono Award and obtained a Certificate in Business and Public Policy from Wharton. Stacy 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.
>> 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.
>> Gisselle Nuñez-Szekely - Operations Analyst
Gisselle joined Xtract in 2011 as an Operations Analyst. She is responsible for Xtract's Merger & Acquisition database as well as assisting the operations team with all Covenant and Bank Debt Review report inquiries. Prior to joining Xtract, Gisselle held a position as a Client Specialist in the Mutual Funds sector of BNY Mellon in which she obtained her Series 6 & 63 licenses. She is currently enrolled in Hofstra University's MBA program and holds a B.S. in Bioscience which she obtained from Farmingdale State College. She is also a New York State Notary Public.
>> 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, where she held a Series 7 license. She also has served in a variety of roles for local charitable and non-profit organizations, including the executive board positions of treasurer and secretary. She holds a BBA from Iona College with a concentration in Finance and is a CFP® Certificant.
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.
>> 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 Institutional 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 Schvey, Senior Client Relations Manager
Johanna Schvey 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.
>> Silvia Franko, Managing Director, North America Sales
Silvia joined Xtract Research in 2011 as a member of the North American sales team. Prior to joining Xtract, Silvia was Head of Sales - Asia Pacific of mergermarket in Hong Kong, an independent Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) intelligence service providing forward-looking origination and deal flow opportunities to investment banks, financial advisory community, law firms and private equity firms. Her team was responsible for growing the platform's already well established presence in the dynamic Asian growth markets, and penetrating new and challenging markets, such as China and India. Before that, Silvia worked for mergermarket in London where she successfully drove the sales efforts in the corporate market across EMEA and thereafter the financial advisory market in Nordics and London. Prior to joining The Mergermarket group, Silvia has ten years of international sales experience in financial media and publishing. Studied at Anglia Polytechnic University, Cambridge, UK.
>> Lara Hughes - Client Relations Manager
Lara Hughes joined Xtract Research in 2011 as a recent graduate of City University London, where she received her BSc (Hons.) in Psychology. She is responsible for client assistance and product training for Xtract's High Yield, Syndicated Loan, Convertible and Legal products, alongside strategic marketing and client research. She also supports the operations team in client inquiries and manages investment grade securities. Prior to Xtract and alongside her studies, Lara was employed part-time as a Legal Assistant at UK-based Spratt Endicott Solicitors. Here she gained 5 years experience in Commercial Debt Recoveries, handling client enquiries, account management and legal procedures.
