Richard Francis is Co-Head of the Americas Team in the Sovereign Group at Fitch Ratings. He manages a group of sovereign analysts based in New York and spearheads the sovereign research initiative in the Americas. He is also lead sovereign analyst covering the United States, Colombia, El Salvador and Chile, among others. Richard is also a frequent spokesperson for the group on sovereign ratings.

Prior to joining Fitch in 2016, Richard was a Director for the sovereign group at Standard and Poor’s where he covered numerous countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Richard also worked at Morgan Stanley in the Latin American Economics Research Group.

Richard earned a BA in political science from Rice University and an MA in International Affairs from Columbia University.