Operations Professional

JENNIFER A. LAINO

New York, NY *****

732-***-**** ********@*****.*** https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-laino OPERATIONS EXECUTIVE

Operations executive with both specialized experience in the par and distressed bank loan market and transferable skill sets to various business areas. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to lead and collaborate well with internal and external stakeholders. Career highlights include hiring top tier talent, building best-in-class operational platforms for complex products and streamlining processes with a focus on controls and automation. EXPERIENCE

Blackstone Credit, New York, NY September 2023 - Present CONSULTANT – PRIVATE CREDIT OPERATIONS

Coordinate secondary private credit trades between the deal teams and the middle office asset servicing and loan closing teams. Work directly with legal and deal team members to ensure allocations are completed, KYC is approved and pricing is finalized. Work with external counterparties to ensure a smooth closing of trade with the loan settlements team.

Oversee Named Agents for private credit loan portfolio. Oversight consists of a comprehensive review of each legal document to include the Credit Agreement and corresponding Amendments. Hold weekly meetings to discuss open issues with Borrowers and the Lending Group. Act as the main point of contact for internal external stakeholders. BC PARTNERS ADVISORS, LP, New York, NY April 2023 – September 2023 MIDDLE OFFICE MANAGER – PRIVATE CREDIT OPERATIONS

Managed the Private Credit middle office division overseeing deal closings, trade settlements, corporate actions and fund onboarding transactions.

Coordinated direct lending deals between the deal team and middle office team to ensure closings were successful and all deadlines were met. Worked with internal and external tax teams on fund allocation to maximize tax efficiency. Facilitated liquidity with treasury team by communicating deal status updates, amounts, allocations and closing dates.

Set up all deal transactions in firm system, VPM, by completing a thorough legal analysis of the credit agreement and fee arrangement letters, to ensure all operational data points were accurately accounted for to ensure economics flow correctly. Process included controls that range from four eye checks and automated reconciliation processes.

Managed all corporate actions of both private and leveraged credit portfolio. Worked with deal team members on ensuring all voting deadline were met. Gate keeper for firm amendment log and led meetings among operations, compliance, accounting and controllers on amendment economic, tax and legal considerations for each division.

Created comprehensive procedures for all middle office core functions to include responsibility lists, step by step processes, in depth visual diagrams and formal procedures for all aspects of the middle office.

Member and Lead on the Best Execution Committee. Performed quarterly trading analysis to ensure trading desk was performing best execution practices with trading prices to deliver the best investment service for investors. Committee included CFO, as Chairman, Middle Office Manager as Lead, Partner of Credit, Credit Trader, Director of Compliance, Senior Compliance Officer, and Operations Lead. KOHLBERG KRAVIS ROBERTS & COMPANY (KKR), New York, NY May 2014 – December 2022 GLOBAL MARKETS OPERATIONS – HEAD OF LOAN SETTLEMENTS AND AGENCY SERVICES PRINCIPAL - KKR CREDIT PAR AND DISTRESSED BANK LOAN TRADING BUSINESS, January 2017 to December 2022 VICE PRESIDENT - KKR CREDIT PAR AND DISTRESSED BANK LOAN TRADING BUSINESS, May 2014 to January 2017 Managed the KKR Credit par and distressed bank loan settlement team of four, for a high value, high volume trading desk following the LSTA and LMA Standard Terms and Conditions.

Built highly skilled team to execute complex legal documentation, prepare pricing, perform credit agreement and amendment review analysis and implemented daily control reports to mitigate risk and maximize efficiency.

Developed comprehensive settlement oversight procedures and instituted full-scale weekly trade status reports with corresponding meetings directly with traders and CLO portfolio managers to mitigate risk, maximize liquidity opportunities and deliver optimum economics to the credit trading business.

Implemented operational infrastructure, which resulted in a consistent year over year, perfect record of zero losses in primary and secondary delayed compensation revenue due to operational processes.

Accomplished developing dynamic and top tier business relationships with traders, portfolio managers and legal counsel on all aspects of the trade life cycle, while managing a complex trading portfolio that included CLOs, SMAs, BDCs, Special Situation and Dislocation funds.

Member of the Trade Review Committee for the KKR Credit Trading business and presented quarterly business results and analytics to the Senior Executive Management team of trading, legal and compliance. KKR Capital Markets Syndicated, Private Credit and Direct Lending Agency Busines Designed and implemented the operational architecture for the Private Credit, Direct Lending and KKR Capital Markets Syndicated Loan Agency businesses, using a white label provider. Ensured Private Credit, Direct Lending and Syndicated deals ran smoothly and trades closed by internal deadlines to achieve best-in-class business relationships, maximize liquidity and achieve optimal credit ratings.

Launched oversight process for the white label providers to ensure the credit agreement review, deal set up, syndicated and third-party trade closings and ongoing daily transactions were performed with a high degree of accuracy and beat industry standards.

Outsourcing Management & Relationship Management

Successfully implemented outsourcing vendor for par loan settlements, security settlements and agency services to include KKR’s leveraged credit, private credit, direct lending and capital market businesses.

Led the initiative from the onset, beginning with the responsibility of choosing the best provider through a comprehensive market search, completion of the cost analysis and determining all legal and economic considerations for BDCs, CLOs and SMA investor accounts.

Negotiated the servicing agreement contract and incorporated all SLAs and KPIs by coordinating efforts with legal, compliance, client partner group, custodians, engineering and cyber security teams.

Relationship owner for firm outsourcing providers with internal business partners. Main point of contact for borrowers and firm clients to resolve issues and ensure best methodologies were executed by outsourcing vendors.

Cultivated a true partnership of trust with internal and external business partners for a successful outsourcing business by acting as the solution provider and pro-actively implementing controls to mitigate risk and enhance client relationships.

BANK OF AMERICA MERRILL LYNCH, New York, NY November 2004 – May 2014 VICE PRESIDENT – DISTRESSED TRADE CLOSING LOAN GROUP, March 2009 – May 2014 Distressed trade closer for the secondary trading and sales desk utilizing comprehensive knowledge of reviewing and negotiating legal language for distressed trade documents based on the LSTA Standard Terms and Conditions, using ACBS as the loan settlement platform.

Prepared all distressed closing documents, including the Purchase and Sale Agreement, Purchase Price Letter and Transfer documents. Finalized PSA negotiated terms by directly collaborating with counterparties, attorneys, traders, portfolio managers, sales desk and internal counsel on all aspects of the distressed closing process.

Worked directly with senior management and trading desk on specialized trading portfolios consisting of a complex trading book, including aviation credits and export credit agency backed loans. Independently closed all trades by strict deadlines and provided trade status and business analytics to senior management. MERRILL LYNCH, New York, NY

VICE PRESIDENT – PAR AND DISTRESSED BANK LOAN GROUP, December 2006 – March 2009 Managed the par trade closing group with a team of ten who reviewed all documentation based on the LSTA Standard Terms and Conditions and closed all secondary par and distressed bank debt trades using Loan IQ.

Point person of the closing group for the trading and sales desk. Worked directly with trading and sales on client issues and represented the closing group as the main point of contact.

Trained the Hong Kong office in March of 2006 and October of 2007 on all areas of Loan IQ and internal workflows to include primary syndications, agency deal servicing, daily non-agency asset servicing and par and distressed trade closing.

ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT – PAR AND CLO BANK LOAN GROUP, November 2004 – December 2006 Par trade closer for the secondary trading and sales desk using Loan IQ. Completed the 2006 Path Finder Management program.

EDUCATION

RUTGERS UNIVERSITY, DOUGLASS COLLEGE, NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ Bachelor of Arts (BA), Double Major in Communication and Sociology

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