Dr. Cifuentes joined R.W. Pressprich in August 2005 as Managing Director in the Structured Finance Department. Previously, he was Managing Director and Global Head of CDO Research at Wachovia Securities in New York . Before joining Wachovia, Dr. Cifuentes managed the Triton Opportunities Fund I, a US$ 330 million CDO of CDOs , a leveraged fund that invested in CDO bonds. Previously, he had been a Managing Director in the Structured Finance department of AMBAC and a Senior Vice President at Moody's. He has contributed to the development of many analytical techniques that are commonly used in the structured finance arena, and has lectured and consulted extensively on many financial topics in the U.S. and overseas. Prior to entering the financial arena he worked at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights , New York where he focused on mathematical models and numerical methods in Engineering and Applied Science. Dr. Cifuentes received a Ph.D. in Applied Mechanics and an M.Sc. in Civil Engineering from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), an MBA in Finance (Stern Scholar Award) from New York University and a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Chile . |