Zak Summerscale is chief investment officer for the European loan and high-yield bond team at Babson Capital. He chairs both the European High-Yield Investment Committee and the Global High-Yield Committee. He also has direct portfolio management responsibility for several of the firm's strategies. Summerscale joined Babson in 2001 from New Flag Asset Management, where he was portfolio manager for a European high-yield fund. The fund was short-listed in 2000 by Global Investor magazine for "investment excellence in high yield." Prior to New Flag, he worked for the United Bank of Kuwait, initially as a distressed-debt analyst and eventually as senior portfolio manager in charge of the U.S. and European high-yield funds. Summerscale qualified as an associate chartered accountant with Ernst & Young in 1996. A former board member of the Loan Markets Association, Summerscale holds a B.A. in economics from Durham University.