S Mark Ray

Senior Advisor

Mark has served as a senior investment professional at John Hancock Life Insurance Company for over twenty-five years. He combines deep, specialized knowledge in the transportation, aerospace and defense sectors with broad experience ranging from investment origination, portfolio management, and restructuring activities. He held positions of increasing responsibility within John Hancock’s Bond and Corporate Finance Group since 1987. In 2000, he was promoted to Senior Managing Director, with responsibility for over $10 billion of public and private securities issued by global companies within the transportation, aerospace and defense, metals, mining and agribusiness industries. The portfolio was a subset of the Bond and Corporate Finance Group’s $108 billion General Account investment responsibility. The investment portfolio included corporate debt obligations, highly structured asset-backed securities, taxable municipal bonds, and infrastructure debt and equity. During his tenure at John Hancock, he was responsible for developing investment strategies in the transportation, aerospace and defense sectors, which included serving as lead investor in several highly structured investments and cross-border transactions. Mark served on the board of two equity portfolio companies in the transportation sector. Mark retired from John Hancock in 2013, and currently serves as a consultant to John Hancock, originating investment opportunities and managing relationships, primarily in the airport and airline sectors.

Mark enjoys significant and long-standing relationships with executives at many airlines, lessors, financial institutions and airline services companies. Over the years, he served on several airline ad hoc secured creditor committees. Mark is an active member of several aviation industry associations, including International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading and Wings Club Board of Governors.

Mark earned a BS in Agricultural Economics from Texas Tech University, and completed coursework at several Executive Management programs at Harvard Business School, Babson College and Boston University. Mark served in the United States Air Force (Reserve), where he achieved the rank of Captain.