Marcia-Elizabeth Christian Favale is a distinguished finance and innovation leader with over 30 years of global experience, specializing in emerging markets across investment banking, asset management, sovereign advisory, and entrepreneurial ventures. As a Senior Advisor to Clearbrook Global, she brings a unique combination of deep capital markets insight, sovereign restructuring expertise, ESG leadership, and sustainable innovation strategy.
Marcia began her career at Bankers Trust and went on to hold senior investment banking roles at Merrill Lynch and UBS, where she served as Managing Director and Global Head of CEEMEA and LATAM Corporate Bond Research. Recognized as the #1 Emerging Markets Corporate Analyst by Institutional Investor Magazine, she later joined Brevan Howard as a senior portfolio manager and Advent Capital Management to launch a global emerging markets fund.
A recognized authority in sovereign finance, Marcia served as Senior Advisor to the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan during the financial crisis, where she architected the landmark $30 billion Burden-Sharing Restructuring Framework—now a case study at Oxford University’s business and policy schools. She also designed and led the country’s “People’s IPO” privatization program. Marcia currently serves on the board of the Qazaqstan Investment Corporation (Private Equity) and is a former Board Member of the Development Bank of Kazakhstan, among other board of director experience, where she chaired committees on strategy, risk, audit, and ESG.
She also serves on the Advisory Board of Valor Carbon, a climate tech startup focused on democratizing access to voluntary carbon markets. Her work at Valor Carbon strengthens her leadership in ESG, impact investing, and carbon-linked finance strategies, particularly in frontier and developing economies.
She holds an MSc in Major Programme Management and an Executive MBA from the University of Oxford, and a BA in Political Science from New York University, and executive certifications from Harvard Business School and MIT in ESG, AI, blockchain, and risk management. She is a guest lecturer in Private Equity and Global Markets at Oxford’s Saïd Business School and is featured in its executive education programs, including Authenticity for Women Leaders and the Oxford Private Markets Investment Programme.
A dual citizen of the United States and Brazil, Marcia is fluent in English and Portuguese. She is the author of Risk, Recovery, and Empowerment, a seminal work on sovereign innovation and financial restructuring, and Leading Innovation and Inclusion, a strategic guide to scaling inclusive, disruptive ventures.