CREF TRACK: Ask the Auditors

Nirav Badani

Partner, Baker Tilly

Nirav has been part of Baker Tilly’s Financial Services group since joining the Firm in 2009. Currently serving as the Firm’s Financial Services Southern California Regional Industry Leader, he specializes in serving entities in the banking, specialty finance and asset management space. Nirav has served public and privately held mortgage lenders and servicers, structured finance, and community banking organizations. Nirav is a subject matter expert on complex topics including valuation of complex financial instruments such as MSRs, ABS securitizations, derivatives, and Level 3 financial instruments; accounting for variable interest entities; and regulatory compliance engagements such as HUD/GNMA and SEC Regulation AB. Nirav is a leader in the Firm’s specialty finance and mortgage banking practice, helping develop thought leadership and the Firm’s audit methodology.

Adam Bareham

Managing Director, Ernst & Young

Adam Bareham is a New York-based Managing Director in EY’s Structured Finance Advisory Services practice leading the Valuation Analysis and Pricing (VAP) team as well as serving clients in the securitization transactions market. Adam has more than 25 years of experience in the securitization industry. In that time his clients have included all of the largest investment banks, money center banks, Securitization Issuers, REITs and hedge funds. VAP works with over 900 audit teams at Ernst & Young helping them value and understand the risks associated with securitized products held by our clients. He is a subject matter expert in RMBS, ABS, CMBS, Agency, CLOs, Master Servicing Rights (MSRs) and Esoteric deals as wells as leveraged, non-performing, re-performing and consumer loans. Adam also has vast experience in Structured Finance transactions. He has managed and modeled (Agreed-Upon Procedures) more than 1,600 securitized transactions of a diverse group of asset classes including RMBS, ABS, CMBS, Agency, CLOs, MSRs and Whole Business securitizations. Adam has also worked on large scale DFAST, CCAR and Regulation AB compliance engagements as well as several high profile Federal Reserve and OCC consent order engagements as a Subject Matter Expert and team leader. He has previously worked at The Bank of New York, Deloitte, DTCC and Grant Thornton all in structured finance leadership roles. Adam has an MBA from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and a BS in Economics from Manhattan College.

Shweta Desai

Audit Partner and Board Director, Grant Thornton, LLP

Shweta has over 17 years of experience working on a wide range of clients in the financial services industry. She has been consistently recognized for leading effective and efficient audits and building strong client relationships with management and audit committees. Her technical skills, project management skills and ability to collaborate with clients has been a significant contributor to not just creating, but also maintaining strong client relationships over time. She has focused on public and privately held financial services clients including mortgage REITs, specialty lenders, banks, broker dealers and credit funds. Her specialty lending clients include real estate lenders, credit card originators, leasing companies and payday lenders. Shweta has significant hands-on experience related to complex accounting matters related to fair value, consolidations, VIEs and internal control testing. She has also worked on several public and private offerings throughout her career. Additionally, she has wide ranging experience on technical accounting matters related to loans, valuations, securitizations, and investments. She is based in San Francisco and is currently the lead partner on a large accelerated publicly traded mortgage REIT as well as several large privately held companies throughout the West Region. Shweta also leads the Shared service integration for the West Region and is an active leader in the Firm’s Diversity and Inclusion programs.