Kim Iskyan
International Markets Analyst
Kim is a 25-year veteran of global financial markets, as an equity research analyst, fund manager, political risk analyst and investment commentator and writer. Kim spent nine years as a research analyst for major Eastern European investment banks, and was the portfolio manager of a $120 million hedge fund. He has worked in investment communications with Pioneer Investments in Dublin, as a political risk analyst for Eurasia Group in Washington, D.C., and built and launched a successful investment research and publishing firm in Singapore.
Kim’s writing and commentary on a wide range of topics, including global politics, investing and finance has been published in the Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune, Slate.com, Global Finance magazine, American Consequences, and Salon.com. He has appeared on Bloomberg Television, CNBC, Fox Business and a range of other media to discuss international investments.
Dr. Peter Westin
Economist and Financial Writer
Peter is a lecturer in Economics and Finance at Lake Forest College and adjunct professor of same at DePaul University. In 2015 he founded Stratonomics, a firm advising emerging and frontier market investors. Peter was the Chief Equity Strategist and Chief Economist at Aton, a major investment house, and immediately before, Head of Equity Strategy for Russia and Turkey at J.P.Morgan. Prior to this, Peter was Chief Economist at Aton Capital and MDM Bank. From 1998 to 2001, he worked in Moscow and Stockholm for the Stockholm Institute for Transition Economics (SITE) and the Russian European Centre for Economic Policy (RECEP), where he edited Russian Economic Trends, then the leading publication on the Russian economy, while acting as economic advisor to the Russian and Swedish governments. Prior to RECEP, Peter was a lecturer in transition economics at University College London, from which he holds a Ph.D.
Peter has received top ratings as an equity strategist from Thomson Extel in 2005 and 2013, and from BlackRock in 2009.
Gregory Madick
IR Pro and Financial Writer
Gregory is a financial professional with more than 15 years of investor relations and corporate finance experience in the natural resources and retail sectors, and a track record of building best- in-class internal corporate infrastructures in emerging markets environments, strengthening the reputation and profile of startups in the global markets, and playing instrumental roles in raising capital via IPOs, private placements and secondary offerings.
As Senior Director of Investor Relations at the X5 Retail Group, Gregory spearheaded a successful communications campaign to retain all core institutional investors despite significant C-suite churn.
As Head of Investor Relations at one of Europe’s largest independent gas producers, he won investment-grade credit ratings from Fitch, Standard & Poor’s, and Moody’s. Under Gregory’s leadership, the company ranked in IR Magazine’s Top 5 for five consecutive years, winning multiple awards for best regional investor relations.
lavell thomson
Chartered Accountant and Financial Writer
Lavell is a Chartered Accountant with an audit foundation and significant domestic and international experience in finance and operations management. Among her areas of expertise are post-merger integration, internal controls, streamlined financial reporting and strategic guidance.
Lavell has worked in the Corporate Finance department of MassMutual, at major accounting firms—PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG, where she was a director in the Business Intelligence Advisory unit—as well as at industry majors: Carrier and United Technologies. Well versed in technical accounting, Lavell has developed parallel cash flow in IFRS and US GAAP formats and is a subject matter expert on technical accounting guidance and interpretations, including derivatives, revenue recognition, and restructuring. She has been regularly involved in writing and reviewing select aspects of 10-Q and 10-K reports.
Lavell is President of the Board of Governors of the Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington, CT. She is a holder of the ACA designation from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, and has a BA/MA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University.
Brian Wesneski
Financial Marketer and Financial Writer
Brian is an investment professional with nearly 15 years’ experience in emerging capital markets. Brian began his financial career at CentreInvest Group, where he was a VP of Equity Sales, a position he also held at UniCredit before moving to ING Group as Head of (Regional) Sales and Trading.
A career built on advising institutional fund managers, marketing IPOs and private placements, and analyzing venture capital opportunities across asset classes and sectors has led Brian to focus on identifying actionable investments in deeply undervalued emerging markets assets. In addition to sales and client relationship management, he has deep expertise in fundamental analysis and financial product marketing.
From 2000 to 2004, Brian was an active-duty Airborne Ranger in a Special Forces unit deployed to Afghanistan. He was honorably discharged from the Army with the rank of Captain.
Brian holds a BSc in Biology from the University of Scranton and an MBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.
ginger gaines
Attorney and Financial Writer
Ginger boasts over 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry, specifically in compliance, compliance training, and licensing training. As Vice President at Securities Training Corporation (STC) she worked with major companies to design courses tailored to their compliance-training needs. She was also the Editor-in-Chief of *STC Compliance Digest*, a twice-yearly publication highlighting regulatory and compliance-related developments in the securities industry.
Ginger has written courses and articles on the regulatory aspects of anti-money laundering (AML), identity theft, investment advisory practices, 529 plans, mutual funds, communications with the public, working with senior investors, retirement planning, and variable products, among other topics. She also helped write the training manuals and practice tests for the Series 6, Series 7, Series 63, Series 65 and Series 66 license exams.
In addition to STC, Ginger has worked at Prudential Securities, Prudential Insurance and Smith Barney. She holds a BA from Georgetown University and a JD from Fordham University. Ginger is a member of the New York State Bar.
