SIFMA Europe & Affiliates
Directors' Bios
Mark Austen
Mark Austen joined the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) (formerly the Bond Market Association) in August 2005. His primary areas of responsibility are the European Primary Dealers Association (EPDA) and SIFMA’s work in the international repo market. Prior to joining SIFMA, Austen worked for MTS Group, the European trading platform for fixed income securities, where he was head of Legal and Compliance. Prior to MTS, Austen spent three years as head of an international environmental web portal. A member of the Canadian Bar, he holds an LLM from the LSE; an LLB from Osgoode Law School, Toronto; and a BA (Hons) from McMaster University, Ontario. Contact
Lorraine Charlton
Lorraine Charlton joined SIFMA in September 2007. She launched and is Managing Director of the European Primary Markets Division (EPMD). Previously, Ms Charlton worked for the Office of the Legal Advisor in Asmara, Eritrea, where she was Deputy Legal Advisor to the Office of the President of Eritrea. The Office represented Eritrea before the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary and Claims Commissions in The Hague. Prior to that, Ms Charlton practised in the London office of Latham & Watkins LLP, where she focused on international capital markets, primarily representing underwriters in high yield debt transactions and acquisition finance. Ms Charlton arrived in London in 1998 after working as an associate in the Brussels and New York offices of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton. She graduated from New York University School of Law in 1995. Contact
Werner Frey
Dr Werner Frey was nominated Chief Executive of The European Securities Forum in June 2002; he has been the Managing Director of ESSF since its integration into SIFMA Europe. Dr Frey, a Swiss national who has a Ph.D in History, Constitutional Law and Political Sciences, studied at the Universities of Zurich and Cambridge. He has occupied senior positions in banking; until 1997, he was a member of the Executive Board of Bank Leu, and since 1990, he has been part of the Credit Suisse Group. As a result of his advisory activities from 1997 to 2002, he is well acquainted with the securities infrastructure in Europe. Contact
Bertrand Huet
Bertrand Huet is the Managing Director, European Legal & Regulatory Counsel, of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), London. Huet handles all European policy issues for SIFMA and its European affiliates. He qualified with the international law firm Linklaters & Alliance in 1994 and, prior to joining SIFMA in June 2004, spent nine years in the legal departments of Bankers Trust and Deutsche Bank. Huet holds a Master's Degree in English and French Law (Hons) from King’s College, London, and Pantheon Sorbonne University, Paris. Contact
Malou Lindholm
Malou Lindholm is the Managing Director for Conferences in Europe and Asia of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA). She has 10 years' experience in the events industry and is responsible for the strategic development of all European and Asian conference and events business, ensuring that SIFMA brings a first-class value-for-money customer experience to members through the creation of tailored industry events. Lindholm comes to SIFMA from C5 Conferences, a commercial events company specialising in finance and regulatory seminars, where she was managing director. She has also worked as a divisional manager for financial conferences and as a content producer for the world’s largest conference company, Informa, in London and New York. She has an MSc in Social Policy and Planning from the London School of Economics, UK, and a B.A. in Thai Language and International Relations from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. Contact
Karsten Moller
Karsten Moller is Executive Vice President and Head of Europe and Asia for the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA). Moller oversees SIFMA’s efforts in Asia, specifically providing management support and direction to the Asia Securities Industry Financial Markets Association (ASIFMA). He works with his colleagues to represent SIFMA’s members around the globe on issues such as market development, cross-border trading, and market regulation. Moller held a number of positions at Goldman Sachs around the world, including head of debt capital markets coverage in the U.S., head of fixed income in Germany, and co-head of European debt capital markets in London. He was elected partner and managing director in 1996. Prior to working at Goldman Sachs, Moller held positions at Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan, and Shell International. Moller holds B.A. and M.S. degrees in political science from the University of Copenhagen, and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School, from which he graduated with honours. A Danish citizen, Moller currently resides in London. Contact
Gilbey Strub
Gilbey Strub is Managing Director of the European High Yield Association (EHYA) and is responsible for developing and directing its activities. The EHYA is a non-profit trade association representing the European high yield and leveraged loan market. Its membership comprises banks, investors, law and accounting firms, and ratings agencies. Strub is a UK- and U.S.-qualified lawyer with 15 years of legal experience. Previously she was a partner of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where she represented private equity sponsors in leveraged buyouts. Strub came to London in 1998 from Washington, D.C., to build Kirkland’s European high yield practice. The EHYA, which was founded in 2002, hired Strub as its first professional managing director in 2006, when the EHYA became affiliated with SIFMA's predecessor, The Bond Market Association. Contact
Rick Watson
Rick is Managing Director and head of the European Securitisation Forum (ESF), where he leads industry-wide efforts to promote education, understanding, and development of cash and structured-products businesses among the ESF's 160-strong member base. Previously, Watson was Managing Director, Structured Finance, for FGIC UK Limited in London, where he was head of the team responsible for the origination, underwriting, and execution of financial guarantees and credit derivatives for consumer asset, CDO, and whole-business securitisation transactions. Prior to joining FGIC, Watson was Head of ABS and CDOs at HSBC Bank plc, where he led a pan-European team of originators of consumer, CDO, and other products. He held a similar position at Bear Stearns in London and was previously an Executive Director at UBS Limited, and at Morgan Stanley and Freddie Mac. Watson received an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. He was co-chair of the ESF’s Legal and Regulatory Committee from 2000 through 2004. In January 2006, he co‑edited the Euromoney Books publication “Asset Securitisation and Synthetic Structures: Innovation in the European Credit Markets.” Contact