Before founding Stern Bank, Peter managed a number of successful, international firms over the course of his 30-year career. In the 1980s, Peter created American Customs Service Inc., which focused on freight forwarding and customs brokerage. He sold the business in 1993 and founded another freight-forwarding and customs brokerage firm, Express Service Forwarding Inc., which represented foreign airlines and steamship lines, among other industries. Today, he is President of Express Trade Capital, Inc, a New York based trade finance firm that provides factoring, purchase order funding, and special project programs to domestic and international corporate clients.
Peter has significant experience evaluating investment grade, high‑yield and convertible debt offerings, leveraged acquisition finance and syndicated loan transactions as President of Garantia LLC, a New York investment firm. In 2016, for instance, Peter concluded a transaction with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (ERBD) to purchase distressed loans the bank had made to an Eastern European supermarket chain. Peter purchased EBRD’s $56,000,000 loan for approximately $9,000,000 and converted it to an approximate 25% equity stake, making him a major shareholder. That same year he negotiated a transaction with the Bank of Cyprus (represented by Alfa Bank) to purchase a $25,000,000 distressed loan, secured by the borrower’s corporate real estate, for $8,000,000.
Peter also maintains an active role in a New York property investment firm that actively invests in distressed, non-performing or poorly performing mortgages originated in the U.S. market. That venture currently has hundreds of notes outstanding with a face value of tens of millions of dollars.
He is a graduate of the Transportation College in Odessa and holds a U.S. Custom Brokerage License.
Liora began her technological career serving in the Israel Defense Forces as a member of an elite computer unit. Since then, she has worked for some of Israel’s biggest industrial companies as a project management specialist, and in the online gaming industry where she handled anti-fraud and anti-money laundering compliance.
Liora is a graduate of Bar Ilan University where she earned her MA in Information Science with a specialization in information technology. She graduated from Ben Gurion University with a BA in Health Policy and Management.
Drew is an investment and trade finance attorney with experience in a wide range of industries and deal types. In his previous capacity, he was responsible for structuring and executing complex cross-border transactions as well as providing legal and regulatory advice. He is a former law clerk to the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa as well as to a federal judge at the United States Court of International Trade.
Drew is a graduate of The George Washington Law School and School of Business where he earned his JD and MBA as an EURC Scholar. He graduated with a BA in Economics and Political Science summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the same institution where he was a George Gamow Fellow.
He is a member of the New York State Bar.
Alex has vast experience across all verticals of trade finance – having acted as importer, exporter, and financier in Asia, Europe, Africa and North America. He spent the early part of his career arranging the export of cashew nuts and other agro-commodities from West Africa, as well as assisting West African importers source alternative finance for their imports from Asia and Europe. In 2008, Alex founded an Israeli-based trade finance brokerage firm that specialized in assisting clients to procure finance facilities for their international trade transactions. Alex’s firm arranged hundreds of millions of dollars per year in letter of credit and guarantee financing for importers, and assisted exporter in obtaining forfaiting and factoring facilities.
Alex is an ICC Certified Documentary Credit Specialist (CDCS) and a Certified Specialist in Documentary Guarantees (CSDG).
Angel has spent two decades specializing in corporate fiscal management and team leadership. He spent his early career as an auditor at KPMG where he planned and executed financial statement audits of Fortune 500 companies, and as a finance manager for General Electric where he was named as one of Puerto Rico’s top financial analysts. Angel then served as a financial team leader at two major telecommunications companies, responsible for all accounting-related operations. Most recently, in his capacity as Chief Financial Officer of Latin Media House, he and his team counteracted a multi-million dollar negative cashflow, guided the acquisition of a digital media company, and led all accounting and due diligence processes.
Angel graduated magna cum laude from the University of Puerto Rico with a BA in Business Administration.
He is a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Fraud Examiner.
Jorge has more than 15 years of experience in the Puerto Rican financial services industry. Before joining Stern, Jorge oversaw compliance teams at Nodus International Bank and Banplus International Bank, where he coordinated and monitored day-to-day BSA/AML compliance programs and ensured adherence to local and federal regulatory requirements. Within the past 5 years, Jorge’s particular focus has been on helping de novo financial institutions comply with regulatory regimes, especially with respect to the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.
Jorge has held various positions with Eurobank, Scotiabank, Facebank International and BBVA Puerto Rico, where he developed, managed, and maintained various compliance policies and procedures.
Jorge graduated from the University of Phoenix, where he earned a BA in Business Administration.
Sunita has over 10 years of experience in sales and trade finance. Her career in trade started at WestLB, a European commercial bank, settling trades and managing documentation. At Intesa Soditic she established the company as an active participant in the secondary market for loan syndications and forfaiting. Most recently at United Bank Limited (UBL), the second largest private bank in Pakistan, Sunita was responsible for FI relationships and compliance for correspondent banking.
Sunita graduated from The University of Reading with a BSc in Business Economics. She is also an ICC Certified Documentary Credit Specialist (CDCS).