About us

Walter Gontarek is our CEO and Chairman. As such, he sets the firm’s strategy, articulates its culture, and manages key stakeholder relationships. He previously served as Managing Director/Global Head of Credit Products at the Royal Bank of Canada and held senior executive roles in capital markets and consumer/SME banking in the US, Canada and Europe.

Walt holds non-executive board roles at the UK regulated arms of Catalina Re-insurance and Wiserfunding Ltd. He holds an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business and a Doctorate (Finance) from Cranfield University. He also holds certificates from Carnegie Mellon University (Cyber Risk Board Oversight) and Stanford University (Board Directors College).

Walt is a Visiting Fellow/Lecturer for Sustainable Finance/Financial Markets at Cranfield University and a Professor (Honorary) for fintech at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland.

Deborah is a founding partner of Channel. She currently serves as CFO and Head of Strategy.

Before joining Channel in 2006, Deborah worked at Rabobank as Global Business Manager for all its capital markets activities, overseeing budgeting, planning, and other administrative functions. She previously worked at Westpac as Divisional Controller and EBRD as Principal Manager of its initial financial control policies. Deborah holds a BSc from the London School of Economics and is a chartered accountant.

As Chief Operating Officer, Ian joined Channel from his position of Managing Director at Corporate Linx, a Supply Chain Finance technology provider based in France and the UK.  He has  spent most of his career in invoice finance and asset-based lending, both here in the UK and overseas.

During his 9 years with Bibby Financial Services, he spent 6 years based in Australia & Singapore as CEO for Asia Pacific followed by 3 years in Atlanta as CEO of BFS North America.

His earlier career experience includes executive positions with General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC) in the UK and prior to that International Factors, a subsidiary of Lloyds Bank.

Paul Wilson has over 22 years’ experience of investing in credit and structured finance markets globally. He was previously a senior portfolio manager at BlueMountain Capital Management, investing in structured finance and other credit products.

Prior to this he was managing director and global head of structured credit markets at Credit Agricole. Before this he was head of credit correlation trading at Citibank for Europe. He began his career trading credit products at Morgan Stanley where he spent 7 years and was an Executive Director.

He holds an MPhys in Mathematical Physics and an MSc in Financial Mathematics from the University of Edinburgh. Paul sits on the firm’s executive committee, risk committee and managing partners committee.

Hilmar heads the debt products business at Channel which includes origination and overall structuring activities for debt-linked transactions.

Hilmar leads the team for rated, un-rated, insured and un-insured working capital financings for our issuing clients globally. Prior to joining Channel in 2007, Hilmar was a Quantitative Analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort.

Hilmar holds a PhD in Mathematics from the University of Nottingham. He is a member of the risk committee.

Kristian Wilson is Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Channel. In this role, he is responsible for driving the company’s technology and embedded finance vision.

Kristian joined Channel from Auto Integrate, the market leading maintenance authorization platform in North America, where he successfully migrated the platform to the cloud. Prior to that, he has delivered scalable technology platforms in businesses ranging in size from start-up to SME, across a variety of industries, including protecting millions of children online with Future Digital, providing the underbanked with access to competitive finance and high quality rental property with Richmond Group, and helping corporations understand their VOIP telephony with Tiger Communications.

Kristian holds an MCOMP in Computer Science from Loughborough University (1^st Class).

Walter Gontarek is our CEO and Chairman. As such, he sets the firm’s strategy, articulates its culture, and manages key stakeholder relationships. He previously served as Managing Director/Global Head of Credit Products at the Royal Bank of Canada and held senior executive roles in capital markets and consumer/SME banking in the US, Canada and Europe.

Walt holds non-executive board roles at the UK regulated arms of Catalina Re-insurance and Wiserfunding Ltd. He holds an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business and a Doctorate (Finance) from Cranfield University. He also holds certificates from Carnegie Mellon University (Cyber Risk Board Oversight) and Stanford University (Board Directors College).

Walt is a Visiting Fellow/Lecturer for Sustainable Finance at Cranfield University/SciencesPo Paris and a Professor (Honorary) for fintech at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland.

Varda is Senior Independent Director and Chairs the Compensation Committee at Channel as well as REMCO, helping to align our values and performance aims to long-term outcomes. Varda has over 30 years’ experience in global strategy, senior business management and marketing roles, including C-suite activities.

Varda joined De Beers in 1984 and became CEO of the De Beers Diamond Trading Company (DTC) from 2006 until 2014. In 2013. She successfully completed one of the largest transfers of economic activity from the Northern to the Southern Hemisphere – the multibillion dollar relocation of the DTC business from the UK to Botswana – after which Varda stepped down as CEO to pursue a portfolio career. Working across borders, she has continually developed pioneering approaches to collaborating with government partners from Southern Africa to Canada. She has overseen the creation of an international network of public/private joint-venture operations in multi-cultural environments, dealing with complex supply chain issues while delivering on the expectations of major international stakeholder relations.

Varda has completed business and management courses at Templeton College, Oxford, Cranfield and INSEAD. She is a board member or advisor at Petra Diamonds, Vulcan Cyber, and the Mineral Development Company of Botswana (Pty) Co. Varda is also a C-suite executive mentor to leading executives in global markets.

Marcus has held senior leadership positions in investment and multi-lateral development banks, and in the microfinance sector. He was a Vice Chair of TD Securities for Europe and Asia/Pacific, Treasurer and previously Head of Asset & Liability Management at the EBRD, and also worked for the World Bank.

Prior to that he worked in capital markets and derivatives at CIBC and Deutsche Bank. He presently is a non-executive director at TCX where he also serves as chairman of the risk oversight committee, and was until recently a director of the International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm). Marcus holds a PhD from the Freie Universitaet Berlin and graduate degrees from the London School of Economics and Cambridge University.

Jack is a member of the Board of Directors, Chairs its Audit & Risk Committee, and is a member of the Compensation Committee. Jack provides advice to the management team on strategic matters for 15 years and liaises with key stakeholders and shareholders as needed.

Jack previously served as senior banker in the capital markets business at Citibank in Asia and the US where he played a key role as one of the founders of the derivatives markets. He founded CapMAC and served as CEO and Chairman, including its listing on the NYSE.

He was named in March 2010 as non-executive Chairman of the Asset Protection Agency, an executive agency in the United Kingdom and subsidiary of HM Treasury, to help create a rescue for the banking crisis in the UK. Jack holds an MBA from UC Berkeley and a BS from California State University, Long Beach. He is the co-author of Managing Credit Risk, published by Wiley & Sons in 2008 and 2014 with Dr Edward Altman and Paul Narayanan.

Richard is the Chief Investment Officer of Singapore based Lyon Capital Management which has supported Channel across a number of its investment strategies over the past ten years.

Previously, he served as managing director of the Flexo Manufacturing Corporation, Tigerpack Ltd in China, and SGS International Inc. Richard received his BS in economics concentrating in economics and decision sciences from Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Deborah is a founding partner of Channel. She currently serves as CFO and Head of Strategy.

Before joining Channel in 2006, Deborah worked at Rabobank as Global Business Manager for all its capital markets activities, overseeing budgeting, planning, and other administrative functions. She previously worked at Westpac as Divisional Controller and EBRD as Principal Manager of its initial financial control policies. Deborah holds a BSc from the London School of Economics and is a chartered accountant.

As Chief Operating Officer, Ian joined Channel from his position of Managing Director at Corporate Linx, a Supply Chain Finance technology provider based in France and the UK.  He has  spent most of his career in invoice finance and asset-based lending, both here in the UK and overseas.

During his 9 years with Bibby Financial Services, he spent 6 years based in Australia & Singapore as CEO for Asia Pacific followed by 3 years in Atlanta as CEO of BFS North America.

His earlier career experience includes executive positions with General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC) in the UK and prior to that International Factors, a subsidiary of Lloyds Bank.