WALL STREET TRAINING & ADVISORY - Key Persons


Alan Anderson

Alan Anderson, Ph.D., FRM, is one of WST's resident experts on quantitative finance and risk management. He has over twenty years of combined teaching and working experience in credit and portfolio risk management as well as derivatives and complex option pricing models. He currently teaches at numerous universities in the areas of applied mathematics, risk management, and quantitative finance. In addition, he has previously worked at institutions such as TIAA-CREF and Reuters in quantitative risk and analyzing credit spreads. Alan holds a PhD from Fordham University and has a MS from Polytechnic University. Professional Experience Equilibrium Concepts, Consultant TIAA-CREF, Senior Quantitative Risk Analyst Market Data Corporation, Financial Economist Reuters, Fixed Income Analyst

Anna Brescia

Anna Brescia specializes in investment banking, with extensive experience in leveraged finance and credit agreements. Ms. Brescia has advised companies in the industrial, consumer, real estate, alternative energy, maritime, transportation, natural resources, telecom industries with respect to leveraged finance, mergers and acquisitions, capital raising and strategic partnerships opportunities. Her responsibilities included deal origination, evaluation, structuring, financial modeling, legal documents negotiation, and portfolio management for small and large cap companies. In addition, Ms Brescia evaluated investment opportunities in Western Europe and Asia. Professional Experience Dahlman Rose LLC, boutique investment bank focused on shipping, transportation, natural resources, and energy ThomasLloyd Capital LLC, boutique investment bank focused on alternative energy GE Capital, Leveraged Finance / Financial Sponsor Coverage Lehman Brothers, Leveraged Finance / Financial Sponsor Coverage Kaufman Brothers, boutique investment bank focused on technology, media, telecom, green technology and healthcare

Frederick D.S. Choi

Job Titles:
  • Dean Emeritus and Distinguished Service Professor of Business at New York University Stern School of Business
Frederick D.S. Choi is Dean Emeritus and Distinguished Service Professor of Business at New York University Stern School of Business. He served as Vice Dean and Dean of the Undergraduate College at Stern from 1995-2004. He is currently the Chair of the Accounting Department. He has authored numerous books including International Accounting (Prentice-Hall), International Finance and Accounting Handbook (John Wiley), International Capital Markets in a World of Accounting Differences (Irwin) and Globalization of Financial Accounting and Reporting (FEI). He has published in many journals including Journal of Accounting Research, Accounting and Business Research, Financial Analysts Journal, Journal of Accountancy, and the Journal of International Financial Management and Accounting. Achievements Lectured at such institutions as INSEAD (France), the Cranfield School of Management (England), University of Washington, Japan America Institute of Management Science, University of Bocconi (Italy) and the Stockholm School of Economics (Sweden) Member of the First American Visiting Team to establish the National Center for Industrial Science and Technology Management Development in the Peoples Republic of China Fellow of the Academy of International Business Recipient of the Citibank Excellence in Teaching Award Recipient of the American Accounting Association's Outstanding International Accounting Educator Award First academician appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Financial Executives International Research Foundation

Hamilton Lin - CEO, Founder

Job Titles:
  • CEO
  • Founder
Hamilton Lin, CFA, Founder & CEO of Wall Street Training & Advisory, has a broad background in investment banking and mergers and acquisitions. His responsibilities have included analyzing, structuring and negotiating mergers & acquisitions. Mr. Lin custom-builds and develops all of the financial and merger models that he uses which have become corporate and departmental standards. Mr. Lin has closed over two dozen transactions and has diverse industry experience ranging from oil & gas to insurance to asset management and related sectors. Professional Experience Wall Street Training & Advisory, corporate training firm dedicated to teaching fundamental financial concepts Freeman & Co, boutique investment bank focused on asset management and broker dealers Hales & Co, boutique investment bank focused on insurance and insurance brokerage Banc of America Securities, Mergers & Acquisitions group Ryan Labs, specialized bond asset management firm Goldman Sachs, Investment Banking Research PricewaterhouseCoopers, Management Consulting

Peter Olinto

Peter Olinto, CPA, JD has taught CPA and/or CFA Exam Review courses for the past 15 years. Previously he worked as an auditor for Deloitte & Touche, was a tax attorney for Ernst and Young, and later spent almost ten years teaching law, accounting, financial statement analysis, and tax at both the graduate and undergraduate levels at Fordham University's business school. He earned his Juris Doctor degree from Fordham University School of Law in 1995.

Richard Taddonio

Richard Taddonio has a broad background in sales & trading, investment banking, and private equity, with detailed and extensive experience in distressed debt and restructuring defaulted loans to gain equity control. He focuses most closely on industries requiring high capital investment and offering substantial collateral, including agriculture, chemicals, gaming & leisure, industrial production, media, and technology. Mr. Taddonio has analyzed hundreds of firms on both the sell-side and buy-side, and has executed diverse deal structures, ranging from a focus on a single firm requiring a highly complex analysis of all verticals at every level, to large-scale multi-industrial deals including many securities, requiring rapid top-level analysis. Professional Experience Falconhead Capital, Private Equity Marlin & Associates, Investment Banking Associate Black Diamond Capital Management, Distressed Debt Analyst Bank of America, Investment Banking Division Wachovia, Credit Derivatives Trading Summer Analyst Bank of America, Equity Research Summer Analyst

Ryan Levitt

Ryan Levitt is an experienced private equity investor, having spent the last 7 years in a variety of M&A and buy-side roles, in a range of industries and sectors. Mr. Levitt has deep experience in valuation and modeling methodologies, having analyzed over $200B in deal flow, with a particular emphasis on small to mega-cap leveraged buy-outs and minority equity investments. His responsibilities include deal origination, company and market analysis, financial models and valuation, term/structure negotiations, closing/funding and post-closing portfolio management. Mr. Levitt is also GE Greenbelt Six Sigma certified and formerly taught Excel modeling internally at GE Capital. Professional Experience Private Equity Secondary Firm, a buyer of diversified private equity assets on the secondary market, including both fund of funds and direct equity positions, managing over $6B in capital GE Equity, Investment Professional with the private equity arm of the General Electric Company, with over $7B of balance sheet investments, focused on financial services, healthcare, and energy investments GE Capital, a graduate of the GE Financial Management Program. Financial Analyst in GE Corporate Lending, GE Capital Corporate FP&A, GE Capital Aviation Services, and M&A Associate at GE Transportation Finance

Ted Michaels

Ted Michaels has a broad background with the financing and operation of businesses, with a particular emphasis on education, real estate, and special situations investing. His current focus is on the acquisition and turnaround of distressed real estate and real estate backed investments. He has extensive experience in valuation and modeling methodologies and his responsibilities have included operational & strategic plan development and implementation, as well as deal origination, analysis & evaluation, structuring and financial modeling. As a Vice President at WST, Mr. Michaels has led and assisted instruction on a wide variety of topics ranging from corporate valuation, to merger & acquisition deal structuring and leveraged buyouts. In this capacity he has taught at numerous universities throughout the United States and Canada as well as at major industry and financial services firms. Professional Experience Boutique Real Estate Private Equity Firm, focused on distressed real estate and real estate backed investments Boutique Asset Management Firm, focused on investments in entrepreneurial businesses and real estate Early Stage Venture Capital Firm, focused on healthcare, biotechnology, and education industries

Tony Hokayem

Tony Hokayem, CFA, currently works for a large special situation investments fund which focuses on strategic lending opportunities. He originates across the capital structure in various types of debt (senior debt, junior debt, mezzanine debt, bonds, DIP, etc.) and equity (preferred, common, etc.). Prior to his fund experience, he spent 11 years at a large super regional bank in their syndicate trading, distressed, leverage finance origination, risk management, and contract finance areas. His focus has been private middle market companies. Mr. Hokayem has spoken at New York University's Stern School of Business and at several investment conferences. Professional Experience Special Situations Investment Fund: Origination Structuring and Underwriting Syndication and Closing Portfolio Management Large Super-Regional Bank: Syndicate Trading Leverage Finance Structuring and Underwriting Bankruptcy/Restructuring and Distressed Loan Trading Private Debt Loan Origination, Portfolio Management Credit Training