Product Selector

Stephen Zinser

Chief Executive Officer and Co-Chief Investment Officer

Stephen co-founded ECM in February 1999.  He has over 25 years of fiduciary investment management and sell side transactional experience in multiple European credit asset classes including investment grade corporates, financials, structured finance and ABS, high yield, EMEA Emerging Markets and leveraged finance.

Prior to co-founding ECM, Stephen was responsible for overseeing European credit intensive new issues and asset backed securities at Merrill Lynch, London. Before joining Merrill Lynch, he was Director of Loan Syndications at Chase Investment Bank in London. 

Stephen is a graduate of Cornell University.

Ross Pamphilon

Co-Chief Investment Officer and Portfolio Manager

Ross is a founding member of ECM's investment team, with over 15 years of experience in trading, portfolio and risk management.  

During his career at ECM Ross has been responsible for a range of business areas including emerging markets, investment grade corporate debt, high yield, long-short relative value strategies and front office IT before assuming overall responsibility for portfolio management and credit research. 

Prior to joining ECM Ross was an emerging markets specialist at Merrill Lynch where he had responsibility for trading local currency fixed income debt, derivatives and foreign exchange products.

Ross qualified as a chartered accountant with Price Waterhouse and holds a BSc (Hons) in Chemistry from City University, London. 

Matthew Craston

Head of Alternative Investments

Matthew joined ECM in January 2004. He has had over thirty years of experience in the credit markets, and is responsible for ECM’s senior secured loans and special situations investments.

Prior to ECM he was a Managing Director at UBS Investment Bank. Between 1997 and 2003 he worked in UBS’s European Leveraged Finance Group, where he was responsible for arranging large senior and subordinated debt facilities for leveraged buyouts by private equity firms. Before 1997 he worked in the Corporate Finance division of SBC Warburg, both executing and advising on transactions, including fund raisings and debt advisory mandates.

During the 1980s he worked for the Chase Manhattan Bank in London in various roles, with work including large corporate debt-raising transactions and debt restructurings.

Alastair Thomas

Head of Rates and Treasury Management

Alastair has spent more than 20 years in finance and portfolio management and has been with ECM since 2002. In his current role he is responsible for all asset and liability interest rate and foreign exchange hedging, active duration management, and the treasury operations for all of ECM’s portfolios. Previously he held additional responsibilities as a portfolio manager trading various credit sectors.  

Before joining ECM Alastair was at Dresdner where he was a Director responsible for sterling interest rate derivatives, gilts, and AAA bond trading. Prior to that, he traded various interest rate derivatives, asset swaps and total return swaps at Merrill Lynch for over seven years.  Alastair started his career at Price Waterhouse in corporate finance. 

Alastair is a chartered accountant and holds a MA in Engineering Sciences from Oxford University.

Frances Hutchinson, CFA

Head of Corporate Strategy & Business Development

Frances joined ECM in 2004, and in her current role is responsible for corporate strategy and business development, in particular new product development.

Previously ECM's Head of Credit Research, Frances remains a member of the Investment Committee and the Investment Strategy Group. Prior to ECM, she was Head of European Credit Research for HSBC in London and before joining HSBC in 1999 was an investment analyst for UNUM Corporation.

Frances holds an MBA from Columbia University Graduate School of Business and an AB in Government from Bowdoin College. She is a CFA charterholder.

Robert Galione

Chief Operating Officer

Robert has 24 years' industry experience in a wide capacity of roles.

Previously Robert worked at UBS in London  from 1987 to 1996  in a number of different capacities ranging from product control to trading derivatives always focusing on debt products.

In 1996 he transferred to UBS Singapore where he was a Director and Head of Derivative Middle Office.  

Robert joined ECM as Head of Operations in 1999.  

Robert holds a B.A. in History from the University of London.

David Thompson

Head of Marketing

David joined ECM in 2011 and is responsible for Marketing and Sales. He began his career in fixed income in 1983 at Lehman Brothers. He was then appointed to direct the Credit Sales business at ABN Amro Europe, and later became a trustee of the ABN Amro pension fund.

In 2006 David left the sell side to work in the hedge fund business, and later joined investment consultancy Redington as head of the Manager Research Team.  

David holds a BSc (Hons) in Economics from University College London.