Founder and President

John Schuster is the founder and president of JLS Capital Strategies, LLC.  He advises U.S. and international clients on structured and project finance transactions. In 30 years in the infrastructure finance industry, Mr. Schuster has led and advised deal and project teams on more than 200 separate transactions, involving nearly $50 billion of approved project loans for infrastructure projects in the power, oil/gas, mining, satellite, semiconductor and other sectors.

Work Experience

Vice President and Head of the Structured Finance Division of the Export-Import Bank of the United States

Prior to founding JLS Capital, Mr. Schuster served 15 years at Ex-Im Bank.  As the Vice-President and Head of the Structured Finance Division, he grew the division’s lending to over $10B per year, leading the Ex-Im Bank into new sectors such as satellites, renewable energy, mineral mining, nuclear power, and semiconductor manufacturing, while expanding the bank’s portfolio in traditional segments of oil & gas and power. As a result of his leadership, Ex-Im was awarded several Deals of the Year and was selected Export Credit Agency of the Year and Multilateral of the Year in 2013. Prior to assuming leadership of the Structured Finance Division, Mr. Schuster was a Managing Director, where he led deal teams originating many of the division’s most challenging cases in the power, petrochemical, and satellite sector.

Head of International Finance Advisory at PA Consulting Group

Mr. Schuster headed the international finance advisory practice at Hagler Bailly, where he advised agency, bank, and corporate clients with a focus on project financing of IPP projects in emerging markets. He authored Power Project Finance, a seminal work on power project finance in developing countries.

Head of International Finance Advisory at ICF Consulting

Mr. Schuster managed the international finance advisory practice for ICF Consulting’s energy group, advising agency, banking and government clients on project finance, risk allocation, financial feasibility, and other matters. He advised on successful debt restructurings on power and coal assets in the U.S. and Australia, and advised on competitive bidding programs in the U.S.