Carol Schweidel is a vice president on the commercial real estate team at PPM America, Inc. (PPM). She is responsible for asset management for the core and structured loan portfolios. Prior to taking on this role, Carol worked as PPM’s REIT credit analyst. Prior to joining PPM in 1997, Carol was in the research and communications area of Fitch (formerly Duff & Phelps Credit Rating Co.), with special emphasis on real estate-related debt securities. Previously, she worked on equity research and communications at Investment Information Services. Carol earned a master’s degree in financial markets and trading from the Illinois Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is a CFA^® charterholder.