Ms. Holly Kulka is Global Chief Risk and Compliance Officer for S&P Global Ratings. Based in New York, she leads our globally integrated risk and compliance teams, including the analytic quality and validation groups. Ms Kulka’s group works with senior leadership to ensure compliance with all relevant laws and regulations, as well as with internal policies and industry best practices. She is a member of S&P Global Ratings’ Executive Committee.
Previously, Ms. Kulka served as Executive Vice President, Deputy General Counsel for Intercontinental Exchange Inc., which acquired NYSE Euronext. As a member of the executive leadership team, she was responsible for regulatory strategy, litigation, investigations, antitrust, insurance, privacy and human resource legal matters. Before that, she was a partner at the law firm of Heller Ehrman LLP, representing and advising companies and individuals in state and federal commercial and regulatory investigations, corporate governance questions and litigations through trial. Earlier in her career, Ms. Kulka was a federal prosecutor.
Ms. Kulka holds a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School and a B.A. from Williams College. She is admitted to the bars in New York, New Jersey, California and Washington, D.C.
Mr. M.B.N. Rao, former Chairman and Managing Director of Canara Bank and Indian Bank, has graduated with a B.Sc degree in Agriculture. He is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, London and Fellow of the Indian Institute of Banking and Finance. He is a member of the Singapore Institute of Management and has done his Diploma in Computer Studies from University of Cambridge and National Computing Center, London.
Mr. M.B.N. Rao has extensive in-depth knowledge and over 38 years of varied experience in Banking and Finance, Economics, Foreign Exchange, Money and Capital Markets, Risk Management, Treasury and Funds Management, Asset and Liability Management, Internal Control, Inspection & Audit, Vigilance, Taxation and Administration etc. Mr. M.B.N. Rao held Chairmanship of various banking organizations and Directorship in reputed companies. During his tenure, he has received a number of awards from Indian Bank and Canara Bank including a number of commendations. He was a Director of General Insurance Corporation of India and Founder Chairman of Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of India Insurance Company.
Mr. Diwakar Gupta is a seasoned and highly respected banking and financial services professional with over 49 years of experience in this field.
Mr. Gupta was Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of the State Bank of India, where he was responsible for setting strategies and direction alongside other members of the State Bank’s Central Management Committee. He joined the State Bank of India in 1974 and held several positions at its various units and subsidiaries. From August 2015 to August, 2020 Mr. Gupta was Asian Development Bank's (ADB) Vice-President for Private Sector and Cofinancing Operations. In this role, Mr. Gupta had oversight over ADB's assistance to private sector projects with a clear development impact but limited access to capital. Mr. Gupta has also worked as Independent Director on the boards of various business councils, financial services companies and other private organizations in India.
He is currently the non-executive Chairman of National Asset Reconstruction Company Limited (NARCL), besides being Independent Director and Advisor for few reputed Indian entities.
Mr. Gupta holds a Master of Science degree in Physics from the University of Delhi, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics (with Honors) from St. Stephen’s College in Delhi.
Ms. Shyamala Gopinath has nearly 39 years of rich experience in financial sector policy formulation in different capacities at Reserve Bank of India (RBI). At RBI, she held key positions and guided & influenced national policies in diverse areas of financial sector regulation and supervision, development and regulation of financial markets, capital account management, management of government borrowings, foreign exchange reserve management and payment and settlement systems. She has served on several committees while with RBI. During 2001 to 2003, she was deputed as Senior Financial Expert at the International Monetary Fund. Ms. Gopinath retired as Deputy Governor of RBI, a position that she held for nearly 7 years. She served as Chairperson of the Advisory Board on Bank, Commercial and Financial Frauds for two years from 2012 to 2014.
Ms. Gopinath was also the Chairperson of the Board of Corporate Bonds and Securitisation Advisory Committee of SEBI.
Since 2012, Ms Gopinath has held several Board positions in large corporates and public sector undertakings such as Clearing Corporation of India, Indian Oil Corporation Limited, GAIL and Ernst & Young (Global Governance Council) and has also served as a part-time Non-Executive Chairperson of HDFC Bank Ltd. Presently, Ms. Gopinath serves as Independent Director on the boards of renowned companies. She is a member of the Governing Council ofResearch and Information Systems for Developing Countries (RIS) a New Delhi–based autonomous policy research institute.
Ms Gopinath is a member of Boards of India Sanitation Coalition and WinPE ProClub Mentorship Programme.
James M. Wiemken is Executive Managing Director and Head of Global Ratings Services which includes Analytics, Research and Operations. He is based in New York and is a member of the S&P Global Ratings Operating Committee. Jim oversees a group of more than 2,200 analysts and support staff across 28 countries that covers more than one million outstanding ratings on entities and securities across a wide range of sectors. These include governments, corporations, financial institutions, and structured finance.
Jim joined Standard & Poor’s in 1997 and has held lead regional practices in both U.S. public finance and European structured finance. Previously, Jim was a member of S&P Global Ratings’ Analytics Policy Board and the global criteria officer for international public finance and U.S. public finance ratings, based in London. Following that assignment, Jim was Global Practice Leader for Structured Finance Ratings and then went on to run the Methodologies group responsible for developing and maintaining criteria and models. Following that, he then led S&P Ratings’ Analytical Quality & Validation group and chaired the Criteria and Model Governance Committee, which reviews and approves criteria and models in advance of consideration for board approval before assuming his current role.
Before joining S&P Global, Jim was a regional economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, specializing in state and local economic analysis. Specific research interests included estimating the effects of North American Free Trade Agreement and studying unintended incentives and consequences in banking legislation.
Jim holds a bachelor of arts degree in Economics and French from Millikin University and a master of business administration degree from Yale University.
Subodh Rai is the Managing Director of Crisil Ratings Limited and leads the Ratings business. He is responsible for deepening client relationships, strengthening Crisil Ratings brand in the domestic market and analytical execution.
Previously, Subodh Rai was President - Risk and Compliance for Crisil Limited. In this role, Subodh led the risk management, information security, compliance and internal audit functions, focusing on mitigating risks and strengthening resilience, in the context of an evolving economic, technology, and regulatory environment.
Prior to this, Subodh was Chief Ratings Officer at Crisil Ratings and headed the analytical function. He chaired the Rating Committee and was responsible for its functioning. Subodh also led the franchise initiatives for Crisil Ratings and authored several incisive opinion pieces.
Subodh has more than 25 years of experience in the financial sector and has held various leadership positions in the Ratings division. He has also served as Director on the Board of many companies including TRIS Ratings, Thailand.
Before joining Crisil, he worked with Shree Renuka Sugars Ltd and Garware Wall Ropes Ltd.
Subodh holds a PGDM from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and an engineering degree from the College of Technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand.
