Assured Guaranty Corp. has appointed Michael DiRende as managing director of risk management.

"We are extremely pleased that Mike has joined Assured to assist us in further expanding our strong risk management capabilities," said Andrew Pickering, managing director and chief surveillance officer at Assured Guaranty Ltd.

"As our credit portfolio expands in size and diversity, it is important that we continue to add to our risk management expertise, particularly in the current credit environment."

Mr. DiRende, who is reporting to Mr. Pickering, has more than 14 years of experience in credit and capital markets.

He has most recently worked in remediation and restructuring for both debt and equity exposures. Prior to joining Assured, Mr. DiRende was a director in the Special Situations group at MBIA Insurance Corp. where he focused on both municipal and structured finance credits.

Previously, he held the position of director at Kroll Zolfo Cooper, an international turnaround consultancy firm and before that, as a senior consultant with Arthur Andersen.