2024 Credit Funds Forum

Jessica Marlin, Partner, Ropes & Gray LLP

Jessica Marlin advises private fund sponsors on all aspects of their businesses, including fund formation, management company matters, and regulatory and compliance issues, focusing on sponsors with bespoke products and diverse business lines. Jessica has a particular focus on representing sponsors of credit funds and private equity funds.

Michael Doherty, Partner, Ropes & Gray LLP

Michael Doherty co-heads Ropes & Gray’s global asset management group. Michael provides advice to investment advisers, funds and independent directors on launching and operating a wide variety of fund products, including registered funds, private funds and business development companies. In addition, he counsels asset manager sponsors on transactional matters and new product development.

Byron Pavano, Managing Director, Fund Strategy and Counsel, Audax Group

Byron Pavano is a Managing Director, Fund Strategy and Counsel, for Audax Group. Prior to joining Audax in 2013, Byron was a Partner at Goodwin Procter. Prior to Goodwin, Byron was an Associate at both Testa, Hurwitz and Thibeault and Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian. Byron received a J.D. from Boston College Law School and a B.A. from Boston College.

Jessica Yeager, Vice President and General Counsel for Private Credit, Bain Capital

Ms. Yeager joined Bain Capital Credit in 2017. She is a vice president and general counsel for private credit, based in Bain Capital Credit’s Boston office. Previously, Ms. Yeager was an associate at Ropes & Gray LLP, working on hedge funds and private investment funds. Ms. Yeager received a J.D. from Boston University School of Law and a B.A. from Miami University.

Eric Behl-Remijan, Partner, Ropes & Gray LLP

Eric Behl-Remijan is a partner in the tax practice, based in New York. Eric’s practice focuses on corporate, international and partnership tax matters, as well as domestic and international mergers and acquisitions and restructurings. He represents public companies and private equity sponsors in complex domestic and cross-border joint ventures, mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures. The clients he advises include high-profile corporations in healthcare, media, and financial industries where tax efficiency is an integral part of a comprehensive investment strategy.

Natasha Hwangpo, Partner, Ropes & Gray LLP

Natasha Hwangpo is a partner in Ropes & Gray’s business restructuring group. Natasha’s practice covers domestic and international corporate restructuring, bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings, and crisis management. Her experience includes advising debtors in out-of-court processes and in-court restructurings across a broad range of industries, including energy, financial services, technology, retail, print, and manufacturing.

Leonard Klingbaum, Partner, Ropes & Gray LLP

Leonard Klingbaum is co-head of Ropes & Gray’s global capital solutions and private credit group and actively participates in the firm’s finance group. Leonard’s practice focuses on event driven and opportunistic financing transactions, as well as special situations, workouts, restructurings and insolvency matters. He routinely represents participants in all aspects of the capital solutions' arena, including distressed investing, strategic lending, loan-to-own, and restructuring matters. He has represented lenders (credit funds) and borrowers in direct lending, high yield, and mezzanine transactions, from the lower middle market to large cap transactions. He also acts on behalf of public and private corporate clients as general finance counsel.

Matt Roose, Partner, Ropes & Gray LLP

Matt represents official and unofficial creditors' and equity committees in chapter 11 cases and out-of-court restructurings. He also represents significant creditors, lenders and third-party purchasers in connection with chapter 11 cases and out-of-court restructuring situations.

Scott Abramowitz, Partner, Ropes & Gray LLP

Scott Abramowitz is a partner in Ropes & Gray’s private equity transactions practice group, based in New York. He has broad experience representing private equity funds, their portfolio companies and corporate clients in a wide variety of complex business transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, recapitalizations, leveraged buyouts, growth equity financings, joint ventures and other investment transactions. He also regularly counsels clients on general corporate matters and corporate governance. Scott has advised on transactions across many industries, including business services and technology, health care, financial services and industrials.

Christopher Moore, General Counsel & Secretary, TPG Angelo Gordon

Christopher Moore is TPG Angelo Gordon’s General Counsel. Prior to joining TPG Angelo Gordon in April 2020, Christopher served as the General Counsel for GE Capital and for GE Corporate Treasury & Capital Markets. Previously, he served as Global Head of Litigation & Legal Policy for GE Capital. Before joining General Electric in 2008, Christopher was a Partner at Goodwin Procter LLP in Boston, focused on securities and corporate governance matters, internal and government investigations, and other complex litigation. His public service positions include Chairman of the Judicial Nominating Commission for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and Commissioner of the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission.

Shannon Collins, Managing Director, Investment Banking, Goldman Sachs

Shannon Collins is a Managing Director in the Financial Institutions Group within Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs where she is responsible for covering the asset and wealth management sectors. She holds a J.D. from New York University School of Law and a B.A. in Economics and International Affairs from The George Washington University.

Laurel FitzPatrick, Partner, Ropes & Gray LLP

Laurel FitzPatrick is a partner in the asset management group and serves as leader of the firm’s hedge funds and credit funds teams. Laurel has extensive experience structuring and advising a wide range of credit, hedge and other private funds, including domestic and offshore vehicles. Recent credit fund formations include direct lending funds employing a variety of evergreen, treaty and rated notes structures, as well as traditional closed end credit funds, funds focused on tradeable or distressed credit and CLO equity funds compliant with EU risk retention rules. In addition to fund formation, Laurel assists clients in creating profit-sharing and other compensation structures which provide appropriate incentives and succession strategies.

Richard Byrne, President, Benefit Street Partners

Richard Byrne is the President of Benefit Street Partners, a wholly owned subsidiary of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE: BEN). He also serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Franklin BSP Capital Corporation, Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: FBRT), and Benefit Street Partners Multifamily Trust.

Mobi Ahmed, Principal, Centerbridge

Mobi Ahmed joined Centerbridge in 2018. Prior to joining Centerbridge, Mobi was an analyst in the Restructuring & Special Situations Group at PJT Partners. Mobi is a graduate of The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Marco Prono, Managing Director, Co-Head Direct Lending–Portfolio Management, J.P. Morgan

Marco Prono is a Managing Director and co-Head of J.P. Morgan Direct Lending practice. In this capacity Marco is focused on establishing and developing the firm’s direct lending platform globally.