Ana Maria de Alba is a risk management and banking consultant with over 30 years’ experience providing compliance and risk management consulting services, as well as forensic investigations and litigation support to the domestic and international financial services community. Ms. de Alba founded CSMB in 1997 and since then she has conducted and participated in numerous consulting assignments throughout the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean. She leads all of CSMB’s business practices.

As a former senior banking officer in both domestic and foreign banks including SunTrust, Banco Atlántico, International Finance Bank, and BICSA, Ms. de Alba was engaged in private banking administration and organization, analysis and control of asset/liability mixes, analysis and management of foreign exchange, organizational definition, and strategic planning. Additionally, from 1997 through 2002 Ms. de Alba served as adjunct professor for senior level courses taught at the Management and International Business Department of Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, Florida, and is currently the lead academic advisor and instructor at Florida International Bankers Association (FIBA), teaching the AMLCA and CPAML certification course in partnership with FIU.

Ms. de Alba has utilized her banking and financial expertise to assist clients in conducting risk assessments, maintaining business integrity, uncovering breaches, and developing solutions to deter further criminal activity. She has supported a significant number of banks in evaluating internal controls through the process of risks assessments, as well as in developing and documenting standard operating policies and procedures and providing advice and consultation to clients regarding the prevention, detection, and deterrence of money laundering and terrorist financing.

She has been engaged by numerous financial institutions to perform mandatory and/or targeted training and development on AML/CFT subject matter, anti-money laundering and other consumer regulatory compliance evaluations, risk assessments to comply with provisions of various regulatory mandates, forensic or “look-back” reviews of high-risk account activity, forensic fraud investigations, and investigations on government corruption. As a financial investigator, her experience has been instrumental in uncovering violations to further resolution and prosecution. Ms. de Alba is also a frequent speaker at trade conferences in the United States, Latin America, and Europe.

Ms. de Alba earned her master’s degree (MBA) in Banking and Finance from Nova Southeastern University and her Bachelors’ Degree in Business Administration with a Major in Finance from the University of Miami. She is FIBA certified in both AMLCA and CPAML and is certified by the CFATF (an FSRB for the FATF-GAFI) as an expert in Mutual Evaluations Methodology.

Ana Maria de Alba is fully bilingual in English and Spanish.

Celeste De Armas is Principal and Chief Operating Officer of CSMB International. Ms. De Armas has over 30 years’ experience in executive management and consulting for corporate entities and financial institutions. Ms. De Armas leads the Firm’s Enhanced Due Diligence Practice focusing on site visitations and independent evaluations of high-risk customers particularly correspondent banking, wealth management and NRAs. Ms. De Armas also directs the firm’s technology services group developing cutting edge software for compliance automation. Beyond these areas Ms. De Armas guides the overall growth and operational strategy for CSMB.

Ms.  De Armas has led staff assessment and operations improvement projects for financial institutions and corporations.  Ms.  De Armas joined CSMB in early 2013.  Prior to joining CSMB, Ms. De Armas spent 5 years doing strategic consulting for early stage companies and founded and later sold Nueva Cocina Foods.  Prior to Nueva Cocina, Ms. De Armas spent 15 years in senior positions with Nestle USA culminating in her role as SVP and General Manager of the Chilled Foods Division of Nestle USA and VP Corporate Strategy and Planning for Nestle USA. 

Ms. De Armas has a Masters’ Degree in Business from the Kelley School of Management at Indiana University, and a bachelor’s degree in Business from California State University, Long Beach.  She holds the prestigious Anti-Money Laundering Certified Associate (AMLCA) designation from FIU/FIBA, which she maintains in good standing through continuing education in AML/CFT compliance matters.

Celeste de Armas is fully bilingual in English and Spanish.

Cody Smith brings over 18 years of banking experience, specializing in Anti Money Laundering Compliance and Business Risk to CSMB where he leads projects for foreign and domestic financial institutions which include program development, independent evaluation and testing, risk assessment, examination remediation, advisory and training.

Prior to joining CSMB, Mr. Smith worked for Wells Fargo Bank where he traveled throughout Latin America evaluating the AML Compliance structure and programs of foreign financial institutions to identify the business risk posed by correspondent relationships. Prior to that he was Vice President of Compliance for the Americas region of a Spanish Caja de Ahorros where he developed and implemented the compliance program for this de novo International Agency.

Mr. Smith has also worked as the Compliance Officer of the International Wealth Management line of business at SunTrust Bank. In these roles he has been responsible for the on-going development, implementation and risk assessment of effective BSA/AML/OFAC, fraud prevention and consumer compliance programs and has trained teams to identify and mitigate associated risks.

Cody studied Political Science at Florida International University, and he is CPAML certified, the prestigious Certified Professional in AML, which is the highest level designation from Florida International University (FIU) and the Florida International Bankers Association (FIBA). Mr. Smith maintains all designations in good standing through continuing education in AML/CFT compliance matters.

Cody is bilingual in English and Spanish.

Julio Aguirre brings to CSMB over 28 years of banking experience dealing with Compliance, Trade Finance and Bank Operations.  Prior to joining CSMB, Mr. Aguirre served for over 11 years as Senior Vice President and Head of Compliance for Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior (Bladex), and for over 16 years as Senior Vice President and Finance Manager, at Banco Internacional de Panama (Bipan), where he was responsible for all matters ranging from Operations to Compliance for the bank and its subsidiaries.

Mr. Aguirre is a member and First Vice-President of the Money Laundering Prevention Committee of FELABAN (the Federation of Latin-American Banks). He held the chairmanship of the Compliance Officers’ Committee of the Panama Banking Association for more than 15 years, he is the President of the Organizing Committee of the Hemispheric Congress for the Money Laundering Prevention of the Panama Banking Association, and he is member of the Special AML and Crime Finance Committee of ACAMS Group for Latin America.

Mr. Aguirre has participated as member of the “US-LA PSD Steering Group meeting”, and he has participated and continues to be a frequent speaker at international Money Laundering Prevention and Terrorist Financing Congresses in LATAM, US and the Caribbean.

Mr. Aguirre is also a founder and director of A&S Advisors in Panama a firm dedicated to anti-money laundering and financial crimes consulting services and a member of the CSMB Network Alliance.

Mr. Aguirre holds an MBA in Business Administration from Latina University in Panama, a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Panama University, and holds both the ACAMS designation as well as the prestigious Certified Professional in AML designation (CPAML) from Florida International University (FIU) and the Florida International Bankers Association (FIBA), which he maintains in good standing through continuing education in AML/CFT compliance matters.

Julio Aguirre is fully bilingual in English and Spanish.

Roderick Schwarz is an attorney with over 16 years’ experience in the prevention of money laundering and financial crimes, corporate security, and investigations for banking, securities, insurance, MSBs and other related industries. Prior to joining CSMB, Mr. Schwarz served as Compliance Officer and as a Vice President of Corporate Security and Research Services in global banking institutions such as Citibank (Venezuela and Aruba) and other financial institutions operating in Venezuela and within the LATAM and Caribbean markets.

Mr. Schwarz has been responsible for leading and executing risk management projects to identify and measure the inherent risk level and define residual risk for large multinational institutions. He has implemented and developed processes, policies, regulations and internal compliance procedures, evaluated internal control systems, served as special guest auditor in inspection and corporate auditing procedures for correspondent banking clients and conducted specialized transactional audits (look-back's).

Mr. Schwarz has held executive positions in various compliance committees of the Asociación Bancaria de Venezuela. As an attorney, he has conducted comparative law examinations for multinational institutions with the purpose of aligning processes to local and international law and guiding corporate governance structures. In addition, Mr. Schwarz has served as a technical consultant in criminal procedures and he has served as a Professor at the Instituto de Altos Estudios de Derecho and the Instituto de Desarrollo Profesional de los Colegios de Contadores Públicos.

Mr. Schwarz received his legal degree from Santa María University in Venezuela and his advanced studies degree in banking from the Universidad Simón Bolívar. He maintains two leading AML/compliance certifications, namely, CAMS and the CPAML which is the prestigious Certified Professional in AML designation from Florida International University (FIU) and the Florida International Bankers Association (FIBA). Mr. Schwarz maintains all designations in good standing through continuing education in AML/CFT compliance matters.

Mr. Schwarz is also a co-founder and director of A&S Advisors in Panama, a firm dedicated to anti-money laundering and financial crimes consulting services and a member of the CSMB Network Alliance.

Roderick is bilingual in English and Spanish.

Corina Mascaro is a banking executive with over 20 years’ experience in the domestic financial services industry, both in the banking and securities sectors. Ms. Mascaro's professional background expands over various fields such as Lending and Private Banking as well as Regulatory Compliance, where over the past 5 years she has developed extensive experience with particular emphasis on BSA, USA Patriot Act, Anti-Money Laundering, and Sanctions/OFAC related compliance matters.

Prior to joining CSMB, Ms. Mascaro was an international commercial lender at Northwest Bank Corp, in Minneapolis Minnesota, where she was responsible for origination, management and supervision of a portfolio of commercial loans with the objective of maintaining and increasing its asset quality and scope. She maintained up-to-date customer’s files including current balance sheets, profit and loss statements, cash flow projections and loan documentation, all in compliance with BSA/AML/OFAC regulatory requirements. In this position, she was also responsible for negotiating terms and loan structure based on risk considerations and presented new credits and renewals for approval to the Bank’s senior loan committee. From lending she transferred to Los Angeles, California and accepted a position at Shearson-Lehman Brothers as a securities broker dealer, where she built and managed an equity and fixed income portfolio for both international and domestic clients in the exchange market. Ms. Mascaro then joined Wells Fargo Bank in Los Angeles, California as a senior Private Banking executive where she managed a large portfolio of international clients.

Ms. Mascaro began consulting in 2012, where she began strengthening her knowledge around AML compliance matters. With CSMB, she has specialized in all matters regarding OFAC sanctions programs and assists both domestic and international clients in compliance related investigations, KYC remediation projects, and quality control assurance.

Corina Mascaro holds both a bachelor of arts degree and a master’s degree from the University of Missouri in Romance Languages, and a master degree in business administration from the University of Southern Illinois. Furthermore, she earned the prestigious FIBA AMLCA certification, which she maintains in good standing through continuing education in BSA/AML/OFAC compliance matters.

Corina Mascaro is fluent in English, Spanish and French.

Markela Martinez brings over 20 years of experience in domestic and international banking, specializing in Operational Risk Management, Internal Controls and Compliance.  She has developed solid expertise of the banking industry’s laws, regulations, risk management standards and international best practices.  At CSMB Ms. Martinez consults across a variety of projects with a special focus on risk assessments, staff evaluations and technical compliance projects.

Prior to joining CSMB, Ms. Martínez was Operational Risk Officer at Banco LAFISE Panama, where she was responsible for assisting the Bank's Risk Manager in the implementation and compliance of the bank’s operational risk management framework.

Before joining Banco LAFISE, Ms. Martinez was the Risk Officer at Banco Internacional de Costa Rica, where she began her banking career a Letter of Credit specialist. As a Risk Officer she was responsible for performing the risk management evaluations of the Bank's risk areas and the annual vendor review.  The vendor review included due diligence, revision of contracts and ongoing oversight of outsourcing relationships as well as the continuous supervision of subcontracting relationships, aimed at identifying risks and ensuring compliance with State and Federal laws, including Gramm-Leach Bliley Act (GLBA). She was also responsible for monitoring compliance with physical security controls and the Bank’s client privacy policy, ensuring that all aspects of risk were considered and that user specific practices were in line with the bank’s established policies.

Ms. Martinez attended the University of Santa Maria de la Antigua, where she earned a degree in Finance.  She also holds the risk management certification AIRM (ALARYS).

Markela is bilingual in English and Spanish.

Pamela Wilkerson is an international banking and compliance professional with over 30 years’ field experience in international financial matters for private and public financial institutions, in both the Latin American and Caribbean markets. Ms. Wilkerson specializes in matters relating to anti-money laundering, know your customer, correspondent banking, customer due diligence and enhanced due diligence per USA Patriot Act requirements, offshore banking, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and EU Directives.

Ms. Wilkerson joined CSMB in early 2016; since then, she has been involved in multiple large scale assignments with foreign financial institutions, assisting in the implementation of AML/CFT compliance programs; developing and documenting policies and procedures, providing AML/CFT training to both operations and commercial teams; performing gap analysis of internal controls; performing risk assessments; and conducting in high risk account reviews and investigations.

Prior to joining CSMB, Ms. Wilkerson was Vice President & Regional Risk Officer for Global Financial Institutions at Wells Fargo Bank. Her primary function was to provide client underwriting for international financial institutions, and relationship monitoring. Also, with Wells Fargo, she held a position with the Internal Audit Department with duties covering planning, execution, validation and reporting on the organization’s international compliance program.

Prior to Wells Fargo, Mrs. Wilkerson held several senior roles with JP Morgan Chase Bank in Dallas and Chicago. She was Relationship Manager focused on trade finance in emerging markets. As Vice President, International Compliance Manager in the Global Financial Institutions unit she coordinated the Anti-Money Laundering/Know Your Customer process and for correspondent banks and other financial entities in the Middle East, Latin America, Caribbean and Europe. She also worked on policy and procedure development and implementation, project management, regulatory examination, internal audit coordination, and training.

Prior to her involvement at JP Morgan Chase Bank, Ms. Wilkerson served at the World Bank Group (IBRD) in Washington D.C. as an International Investments Trader and Analyst.

Ms. Wilkerson has a Masters’ Degree of Science in Economics/Finance from Texas A & M University. She is certified as an Anti-Money Laundering Specialist by ACAMS.