Russell Duke is a global financial executive bringing two decades of international finance, leadership, and economic advisory expertise to National Standard. Mr. Duke is currently President and Chief Executive Officer of National Standard, and is a member of the company’s Management and Investment Committees. Mr. Duke officially joined National Standard in 2008 and was later promoted to Chief Executive Officer.

He brings highly skilled experience in structured finance, credit structuring, sovereign debt, infrastructure finance, political risk management/insurance and asset-based lease finance. He brings almost twenty years of experience in the international finance industry and economic/infrastructure public and private expertise to National Standard.

Mr. Duke is a leading authority in the areas of international infrastructure financing and international public finance for Sovereigns and public sector markets. He is widely recognized as an industry leader in the use of private sector capital to achieve public policy objectives related to economic development and infrastructure development by the public sector internationally across developed and emerging markets.

Mr. Duke is a seasoned long-term financial executive and hands-on CEO, active in the company’s most important transactions, assignments and client relationships. During his tenure at National Standard, he has developed proprietary financial products that have helped the company become a participant in global sovereign and infrastructure debt finance.

Mr. Duke has authored dozens of published articles in major media outlets such as Bloomberg, The Guardian and other global news sources.  Mr. Duke has also been the subject of numerous interviews on economic, banking and infrastructure matters and is a regular speaker at public and private sector conferences and events globally.

Robert Lavin is the Chief Financial Officer and also serves as the Chief Investment Officer at NSF and is a member and Director of the firm’s Management Committee and Investment Committee. As such, Mr. Lavin is responsible for the day to day financial administration and treasury functions of the firm including managing all functions related to financial and credit structuring, transaction servicing and administration, pricing, investor relations with institutional investors, commercial banks, and investment banks.

His experience includes 25 years working on Wall Street in senior banking positions at CIBC, UBS, Deutsche Bank, and Morgan Stanley, advising global institutions and corporations on fixed income strategies and financial solutions.

Mr. Lavin holds an MBA from University of Chicago in Finance, Accounting, and Marketing and a BS in Chemical Engineering from University of Virginia.