Edward N. Speal, Managing Director, Head of Structured Finance, Americas

Edward Speal is responsible for BNP Paribas’ Structured Finance activities in North and South America. For the years 2005 to 2008 he was President and C.E.O, BNP Paribas (Canada). Based in Toronto and Montreal, he was responsible for BNP Paribas’ businesses in Canada. Previously he headed up the Bank’s teams covering the Energy, Project Finance and Corporate sectors in Canada. He was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Paribas Bank of Canada from 1996 to 2000. Prior to 1997 he was the global head of commodity derivatives for Banque Paribas based out of New York.

In addition, Mr. Speal is a member of the Board of Directors of InterOil Corporation, a Canadian energy company with operations in Papua New Guinea. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of Queen’s University at Kingston. Mr. Speal is a Canadian citizen and is a graduate of Queen’s University.

Fernando Sotelino, Adjunct Professor at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University

Fernando Sotelino has been Adjunct Professor at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University since 2005. He is also a director of the advisory board of Brasilpar (M&A advisory boutique, Sao Paulo, Brazil) and a Senior Operating Partner for private equity investments in Latin America of Advent International (Boston, U.S.).

Professor Sotelino was President of Unibanco (Brazil's third largest private sector bank) from April 1998 to May 2004, after seven years (1991-1998) in charge of the bank's international and investment banking divisions. Prior to that he had spent five years (1986-1991) with Citibank, as Managing Director responsible for the bank's M&A advisory, privatization and private equity activities in Brazil, and seven years (1979 -1986) with Crocker Bank (San Francisco, California), dedicated to corporate advisory and project financing situations in the U.S., Latin America and Asia.

Before embracing his executive career, he was Associate Professor of International Finance at the Graduate School of Business of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (COPPEAD). Professor Sotelino holds an M.A. in Economics and an MBA from Stanford University, and a M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering and a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.