Financing the Arsenal of Democracy Series: The Credit Landscape

 As part of BENS's Financing the Arsenal of Democracy panel series, we are convening leaders from finance, industry, and national security to move beyond abstract concepts and get into the mechanics of how capital actually flows into national security priorities with real-world practitioners.

Building on our first and second sessions focused on venture capital and then the equity landscape, we are pleased to invite you to the third session: the Credit Landscape.

In-person guests are welcome to join for coffee / networking starting at 7:15 a.m. ET.

Agenda

In this session, we're bringing together a panel of experts to discuss:

• How lenders actually underwrite credit — and what they need to see before extending it
• Why so much of the over $500 billion in annual U.S. defense contracting still doesn't translate into bankable credit cases for companies
• Where bank lending, syndicated and bond financing, and private credit each fit best across the industrial base
• What would need to change in contracting, procurement, and project structure to unlock more credit at scale

Featured Panel

This session takes a deep dive beyond venture and equity, bringing together three distinct perspectives across the credit landscape — a senior aerospace & defense corporate banker, a global co-head of investment grade finance, and the chief investment officer of a major direct lending platform.

Moderator: Frank Finelli, BENS Board Director; Senior Advisor, The Carlyle Group

• Matt Kuskie, Senior Vice President, Aerospace & Defense, U.S. Bank
• John Servidea, Global Co-Head of Investment Grade Finance, J.P. Morgan and a senior capital markets leader on the firm's Security and Resiliency Initiative (SRI)
• Michael Hadley, Chief Investment Officer & Head of Underwriting, Carlyle Direct Lending; Partner, Global Credit

More About the Series

Our Financing the Arsenal of Democracy series will conclude with a final session examining government lending and financing tools — building toward a complete picture of how the defense industrial base gets financed. Explore the analysis from our inaugural panel on growth credit.

We hope you can join us for the Credit Landscape session, which promises to be a timely and substantive conversation. In-person guests are invited to stay for networking following the event.

Organizer:
Nick Hatcher
nhatcher@bens.org

Cost: Free