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.
Lorraine Charlton
Lorraine Charlton was appointed General Counsel of the EHYA and Executive Director, Regulatory Policy, of SIFMA in September 2007. She is also actively engaged in launching and heading up SIFMA’s new European Primary Markets Division. 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 practiced 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.
Werner Frey
Dr Werner Frey, has been nominated Chief Executive of The European Securities Forum in June 2002; he will be the Managing Director of ESSF upon integration in SIFMA Europe. Werner 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, and, until 1997 was a member of the Executive Board of Bank Leu, since 1990 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.
Bertrand Huet
Bertrand Huet is the Managing Director, European Legal & Regulatory Counsel, the Securities Industry and Financial markets Association (SIFMA), London. Huet handles all European policy issues for SIFMA and its European affiliates, the European Primary Dealers Association (EPDA), the European Securitisation Forum (ESF) and the European High Yield Association (EHYA). 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 Degree in English and French Law (Hons) from King’s College, London and Pantheon Sorbonne University, Paris.
Karsten Moller
Karsten Moller is Senior Managing Director and head of London 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 a 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.
Gilbey Strub
Gilbey Strub is Managing Director of the European High Yield Association (EHYA), and is responsible for developing and directing the activities of the EHYA. The EHYA is a non-profit trade association representing the European high-yield market. Its membership comprises banks, investors, law and accounting firms, and ratings agencies. Strub is a UK- and US-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 DC 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. Since 2006, the EHYA's membership has grown 75% (from 25 to 104 members).
Rick Watson
Rick is Managing Director and head of the European Securitisation Forum, where he leads industry-wide efforts to promote education, understanding and development of cash and structured products businesses among its 160-strong member base. Previously, Watson was Managing Director, Structured Finance for FGIC UK Limited in London, where he was of 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 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”