Susumu Awanohara Susumu Awanohara is a well-known expert on U.S.-Asia relations with three decades of experience as a journalist and financial researcher. Before joining Medley Global Advisors LLC, Dr. Awanohara was the Washington correspondent for Nikkei Business Magazine and a special project consultant on global money markets for the International Monetary Fund. Dr. Awanohara began his career as an assistant editor at the Far Eastern Economic Review in the early 1970s and went on to play a key role in successive postings as bureau chief in Tokyo, Singapore, Jakarta and Washington. He has also worked as a coordinator for Japan Broadcasting Corporation, as an occasional correspondent for Tokyo Bunka Hoso in Tokyo, and until recently, as the Research Advisor for Nikko Research Center in Washington, D.C. Dr. Awanohara has a Ph.D. in economics from Yale University and a B.A. in international relations from Tokyo University. Matthew Benjamin Matthew Benjamin, Director - Political Economy, joined MGA in 2009 after a 14-year career in financial and economic journalism. Mr. Benjamin most recently served as an economic correspondent for Bloomberg News in Washington, focused on the U.S. and global economies, regulatory and macroeconomic policy, politics and trade. Prior to that he was chief economics correspondent for U.S. News & World Report magazine. Mr. Benjamin holds a B.A. from Bucknell University and an M.A. from New York University. In 2005 he was awarded a fellowship which included travel to study and work in China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Erin Blanton Erin Blanton is the Director of Global Fuels who covers the oil and gas, electric utilities, and coal industries. Before joining MGA, Ms. Blanton worked for several years on Wall Street as a trader for NASDAQ. Ms. Blanton has a B.A. in economics from Cornell University and an M.A. in international energy policy from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. Douglas Busvine Douglas Busvine, Director - Russia/CIS, joined MGA from global news and financial information company Reuters, where he worked for 18 years as a correspondent. In his five career postings -- Vienna, Almaty, Bonn/Berlin, Warsaw and Moscow -- Mr. Busvine's focus has been on covering Central and Eastern Europe's transition from communist central planning to the market economy. He has, over the past four years in Moscow, chronicled the break-up of oil major Yukos, gas monopoly Gazprom's rise from state ministry into global energy power, and Russia's transformation from the debacle of 1998. Mr. Busvine is a fluent speaker of Russian, German and Polish. A Briton, he holds a B.A. in history from Oxford University. Christian Distasio Christian Distasio, Director – Europe, joined MGA after a 16-year financial career in reporting, including more than a decade with Market News Service, based in Frankfurt. Mr. Distasio, an American who has resided in Germany since 1985, has focused on the European Central Bank and other regional monetary authorities, including the Swiss National Bank, as well as on macroeconomic developments and policy issues. Prior to his journalism career, Mr Distasio was preparing an academic career in history. His dissertation work included two Fulbright Scholarships in West Germany and research at the East German Academy of Sciences. He also worked briefly for the US Federal Trade Commission in the early 1980s as a Corporate Analyst in Washington. Mr. Distasio holds a magna cum laude B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a M.A. in history from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Bill Farren-Price Bill Farren-Price has been writing about Middle East energy, economics, and politics for 14 years. He joined MGA after several years serving as Deputy Editor for the Middle East Economic Survey (MEES), during which time he has advised regional and international banks and international oil companies on oil policy. Prior to that, Mr. Farren-Price has made contributions on energy and the Middle East for the International Herald Tribune, UPI, Forbes, Oxford Analytica and other newspapers and journals including Petroleum Economist. He has also presented conference papers in Austria, Greece, Iran, and the UK and has made regular appearances on television and radio in Australia, Austria, France, Japan, and the UK. A native Australian, Mr. Farren-Price graduated from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London. Peter Hamilton Peter Hamilton joined MGA from the Bank of England, where he held a number of high-level positions. Most recently, Mr. Hamilton served as top assistant to the Bank of England's executive director responsible for foreign exchange. Previously, as a senior member of the Policy Planning Group, he helped shape UK policy by preparing for G-7 meetings and working closely with the IMF, the World Bank and the EBRD. Mr. Hamilton worked in both the capital markets and the emerging markets groups at the Bank of England. He has an undergraduate degree from Oxford University and pursued his graduate studies at Cambridge University and the London School of Economics. Tim Jones Tim Jones joined MGA after a twelve year career in financial journalism, specializing in European monetary and business affairs. He helped found the Economist Group’s groundbreaking weekly newspaper, European Voice, and became the journal’s deputy editor. As deputy editor, he covered Brussels regulatory affairs, antitrust, trade policy, the creation of the eurozone and EU enlargement. Mr. Jones has also written extensively for the business pages of British weeklies. Prior to this, he was a correspondent for Knight-Ridder Financial News in Brussels and London reporting on monetary policy and currency markets, and an equities reporter for Financial Times Business Information. He has a degree in history from the University of Sheffield. Josh May Josh May is Deputy Head of Content for Emerging Markets. Before joining MGA he traded Emerging Market and Sovereign Eurobond Debt for Dresdner Bank and spent three years in Frankfurt as a key member of the top-ranked DM-Eurobond desk. Mr. May has proprietary trading experience in German, French and Italian government bond markets, and has also worked in the U.S. dollar Eurobond and money markets and trained as a commercial banking industry analyst. He has an undergraduate degree from Haverford College and an M.B.A. from New York University. Michael Monderer Michael Monderer joined MGA from the G7 Group, where he was managing director and senior Europe analyst, monitoring the European Central Bank and the major continental European economies. He also reported extensively on global financial issues in the IMF, IBRD, G7, G8, and G20. Previously, Mr. Monderer was Director for International Debt Policy at the U.S. Department of the Treasury and a Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary for International Affairs. He was the U.S. Government representative to the G-7 debt experts group, reporting to the G-7 Finance Deputies, and for 11 years represented the U.S. Government in the Paris Club of Western creditor nations. He has done extensive work on a Ph.D. in international finance and economics at the University of Maryland. Kenichi Nagura Kenichi Nagura, MGA's Tokyo representative responsible for the coverage of Japanese macro-political developments, joined the firm after serving as a journalist and economist for more than a decade. Mr. Nagura wrote for the Kyodo News Agency in Tokyo covering monetary and fiscal policies, financial markets and Japan's foreign economic relations. During this time, Mr. Nagura received Kyodo's highest award for outstanding reporting for his work on GATT Uruguay Round negotiations and Japan's industrial policy. After studying economics in the US for two years, Mr. Nagura became a senior economist at Norinchukin Research Institute in Tokyo, monitoring financial markets and macro- and micro-economic policies, as well as making economic forecasts. Mr. Nagura has a B.A. from Waseda University in Tokyo and an M.P.A from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. H. Kaan Nazli H. Kaan Nazli covers Turkey, Eastern Europe, and the Caspian region for MGA. Formerly a research analyst for the Eurasia Group, Mr. Nazli has written for the Nations in Transit Project by Freedom House, the Washington DC-based NGO advocating democratic development worldwide, as well as for the Financial Times, National Interest, Turkish Policy Quarterly, Insight Turkey, Caspian Investor, Russia/Eurasia Executive Guide and Open Society Institute sponsored website EurasiaNet. Mr. Nazli holds an M.A. in Political Economy from New York University, where he has worked as a researcher on Egypt, Czech Republic, Hungary and Turkey at the Department of Economics, and a B.A. in International Relations from the School of Political Sciences at the University of Ankara, Turkey. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Government/Russian and Eurasian Studies at Georgetown University. Luisa Palacios Luisa Palacios, Managing Director - Emerging Markets, joins MGA with almost 10-years of experience at international financial institutions. Most recently, Ms. Palacios worked for Barclays Capital as a Macro Strategist for the Andean Region, with share coverage of Argentina. Prior to this, Ms. Palacios was a Senior Economist for the Japan Bank of International Cooperation, where she focused on Latin America energy and debt issues. Ms. Palacios has also worked for Societe Generale in both Paris and New York, where she started out following Middle East/North Africa and Turkey and, later, as an economist for Latin America. Additionally, Ms. Palacios has served as a consultant for the World Bank in the office of the Chief Economist for Latin America. Ms. Palacios has a Masters in International Affairs from Columbia University and holds a PhD from The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies where she concentrated on international economics and Latin American energy policy. She has published papers in international journals on economic policy and debt issues in Latin America and on regional energy policy issues, and is a frequent commentator on economic and political developments in Latin America for the international media. Gustavo Rangel Gustavo Rangel, Director - Emerging Markets, Latin America, joined MGA after five years with Barclays Capital, where he provided research and analysis on central banks, fiscal policy, and domestic politics in the region, including Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, and Panama. He has also analysed Brazilian equity markets for Banco Boreal in Brazil. Mr. Rangel holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Illinois, where he taught Macroeconomics and statistics before resuming his career in the financial industry, and a B.A. in Economics from the Catholic University in Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio). Jeffrey Silva Jeffrey Silva, Senior Director – Telecommunications, Media and Technology, joined MGA in 2009 after a 26-year career as a leading telecom-high tech policy journalist and commentator. Mr. Silva served most recently as Washington Bureau Chief of RCR Wireless News, where he tracked telecom and high-tech policy matters pending before Congress, the Federal Communications Commission, the administration, courts, state governments and state regulatory agencies. In recognition of his in-depth analytical reporting, particularly on the intersection of technology and politics, Mr. Silva was named national co-winner of the American Society of Business Publication Editors’ Silver Award for government coverage in 2003. Previously, Mr. Silva had stints with The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Springfield (Va.) Times, the National Captioning Institute and the Voice of America. He holds a B.S. cum laude in Communications from the University of Tennessee. Daniel Sternoff Daniel Sternoff heads MGA's Emerging Markets and Energy research, with a primary research focus on oil markets, geopolitics and China. Prior to joining MGA in 2002, Mr. Sternoff covered Middle East politics as a Jerusalem-based correspondent with Reuters, and subsequently led coverage of global macroeconomics and international capital markets as director of Reuters' Foreign Exchange Group in New York. Mr. Sternoff contributes to policy roundtables with groups including the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Aspen Institute, the Carnegie Center for Ethics in International Affairs and the Council on Foreign relations, and has also worked as a researcher for CFR's senior fellow for Muslim politics. Mr. Sternoff received a Fulbright Scholarship after completing his M.A. in international relations and economics from the Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He also holds an undergraduate degree from Duke University. Logan Wright Logan Wright, Director- China, comes to Medley from Stone & McCarthy Research Associates in Beijing, where he was the firm's China analyst, focusing on China's influence on global fixed income and currency markets, Chinese exchange rate policy, the measurement and management of China's foreign assets, and Chinese macroeconomic statistics.  Dr. Wright has also closely monitored the domestic politics and market activities of the People's Bank of China, including the central bank's activity in the Chinese interbank money markets and the impact of this activity on the Chinese banking system.   He is proficient in Mandarin Chinese and has lived and worked in Beijing since 2001.  He recently defended his Ph.D dissertation concerning the political factors shaping the reform of China's exchange rate regime, at the George Washington University.  He also holds an M.A. in Security Studies and a B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.