SIMON BLAKENEY
Investment & Counterparty Risk
HSBC Global Asset Management
Simon joined HSBC Global Asset Management in Aug 2010 to lead the Investment and Counterparty Risk function for the UK Business. He started his career as a trainee actuary with a Pensions Consultancy before then moving into the Investment Management Industry in 1995.
Previous roles within the Asset Management Industry have included being a Director of the Risk and Performance teams at both Morgan Stanley Private Wealth and Threadneedle Asset Management as well as running his own Consultancy. Simon currently sits on a variety of committees at the CFA and the Investment Managers Association (IMA) including the IMC Panel, the Investment Performance Working Group and the Authorised Funds Investment Risk Group, he is also a former Chair of the Sectors Committee at the IMA.
DR. CHANDRA A. POOJARI
Rigi Capital Partners
Dr. Chandra A. Poojari, FRM, is a founding principal and is responsible for the analysis of portfolio strategies, modelling and risk aspects at Rigi Capital Partners. Prior to joining Rigi Capital in December 2009, he worked as a Risk analyst at BlueCrest Capital‘s Longevity/Mortality desk from August 2007. At BlueCrest, apart from being the principal analyst at the desk, Chandra co-ordinated a team of Life insurance actuaries, quantitative developers for various due-diligence activities for investors. Before joining the hedge fund, he was a lecturer at Brunel University (London) and was a leading authority in the area of optimization of large-scale stochastic model and held several research grants. Mr. Poojari was one of the youngest academics to receive tenure. Mr. Poojari holds a Ph.D in Computational Modelling and Stochastic Optimisation from Brunel University and an M.Sc in Applied Statistics and Informatics from the Indian Institute of Technology (Mumbai).
COLIN MCLEAN
Chief Executive Officer
SVM Asset Management
Colin McLean has been an investor for over 30 years. He is a frequent conference speaker and contributor to financial publications, and is a regular guest on Bloomberg TV & Radio, CNBC, BBC TV and Radio.
Colin’s recent conference presentations and many articles have focused on new developments in behavioural finance, and the implications for management of investment teams, interpretation of information, and correcting biases in portfolio management. He has been instrumental in challenging traditional approaches by bringing behavioural finance experts to seminars and conferences, and has also applied this to the way in which SVM operates. He is featured in a chapter of Technical Analysis & Behavioural Finance in Fund Management published in 2009. His investment methods were also covered in Investing with the Grand Masters and Moneymakers.
GRAEME CONDIE
Head of Solutions Strategy
DST GlobalSolutions
Graeme joined DST Global Solutions in 2010. With over 25 years’ experience in the financial services industry, Graeme has a particular focus on portfolio analytics. Previous roles include Executive Director at Edinburgh based The WM Company and Sales Director at StatPro. As Sales Director, UK, Europe & Middle East for DST Global Solutions, Graeme is responsible for the sales, strategy and commercial elements of Anova, our new and revolutionary middle office analytics suite.
LUKE RAHBARI
Chief Investment Officer
Stutland Volatility Group
Luke is a managing partner and is responsible for risk management and overall portfolio construction at Stutland.
Luke has over 25 years of experience trading equities, equity derivatives and structured products. Previously, he served as the largest independent market maker at CBOE for LETCO Trading (at the time, the largest listed equity options specialist firm in the United States), and became LETCO’s most profitable independent trader within the Designated Primary Market-Maker group. He subsequently managed the largest specialist unit at the CBOE, which, under Luke’s direction, became LETCO’s most profitable unit.
He is a well-recognized expert in the derivatives industry and has been widely quoted or featured in the WSJ, Reuters, Dow Jones Newswire, TheStreet.com, The Financial Times, and Pensions and Investments.
MARGARET AMMON
Chief Risk Officer
Old Mutual Asset Managers UK
Margaret Ammon is currently the Chief Risk Officer for Old Mutual Asset Managers (UK), where she has responsibility for the risk, compliance and finance functions. Margaret joined OMAM (UK) in 2006 from KPMG, where she spent seven years working in its Financial Risk Management practice focussing on market risk issues, initially in the Sydney office and subsequently in London. She has also had a range of risk and front office roles in financial institutions such as HSBC and Citigroup.
Margaret holds a Masters in Applied Finance from Macquarie University, a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance & Investment from the Securities Institute of Australia and a BA in Accounting from the University of Canberra. She is also a Certified Financial Risk Manager.
JULIAN LYNE
Head of Global Consultants
F&C Investments
Julian Lyne is Head of Global Consultants and responsible for the UK Institution Business at F&C Investments. Julian joined F&C in June 2008, and had previously spent 5 years at HSBC Investments in a variety of roles, including heading up DC and latterly as Head of Global Consultant Relations. Prior to joining HSBC, Julian I was responsible for managing consultant relations and DC services at JPMorgan Fleming Asset Management from 1998 to 2003. His career way began at Fidelity Pensions Management in 1993.
MAT OAKELEY
Head of Group IT
Schroders
Mat has 19 years’ experience in IT within the Financial Services’ industry, starting in the insurance sector (General Portfolio) before moving to UBS Global Asset Management (formerly Philips & Drew). At UBS he had a variety of technical, project and leadership roles across the front, middle and back-office before becoming the Global Head of Investment IT.
Since joining Schroders in 2005 as Head of Group IT, he has overseen a dramatic programme of change to Schroders’ core application platforms as well as material re-design of Schroders’ IT Infrastructure outsourcing arrangements.
Mat believes in an Enterprise Architecture-led IT strategy which puts data consistency at its heart. In partnership with the operational divisions, this has led to the creation of a scalable and modern platform and architecture fully capable of responding to Schroders’ rapid business growth and supporting the management and record-keeping needs of our clients.
STEFANO HAVER
Fund Operations Director
AAC Capital Partners
Stefano spent the first 8 years of his career at ABN AMRO Corporate Banking Department and in 2000 joined ABN AMRO Capital, the Private Equity arm of ABN AMRO Bank. At ABN AMRO Capital he held various positions as Investment Manager supervising a diversified portfolio of direct investments as well as investments in third party managed funds.
In 2005 Stefano was appointed Fund Operations Director, to prepare the spin out of AAC Capital Partners from ABN AMRO (completed in 2007) and the subsequent fund raising process, through a stapled secondary transaction.
Stefano first implemented an arm’s length legal set-up, coordinated the preparation, and execution of all fund documents actively supported the fund raising and now supervises all the funds administration, reporting and regulatory activities.
SYLVAIN PRIVAT
Buy-side Product Manager
Misys Sophis
Sylvain Privat is Buy-side Product Manager for Misys Sophis responsible for the strategic product direction and client driven developments in the front and middle office for Misys’ flagship buy-side solution Misys Sophis VALUE. Monitoring regulations and their impact on their growing asset management and hedge fund client base and adapting the VALUE solution to meet these needs is a key current focus. He has been with Misys Sophis for 5 years, previously holding consultant and business analyst positions in the financial industry and is a graduate of the Ecole Centrale Paris.
JULIAN WEBB
Head of DC & Workplace Saving Business
Fidelity International
Julian is Head of Fidelity’s DC and Workplace Saving Business, reporting to Gary Shaughnessy, UK Managing Director. Julian leads the overall strategic and corporate management of the business as well as playing a leading role in driving change. He is responsible for creating, developing and delivering the key components of Fidelity’s Workplace Saving solution to the market.
Julian joined Fidelity in 2004 as Head of DC Sales and later became Head of the DC Business. Prior to the creation of the DC and Workplace Saving Business in 2011, Julian held additional responsibility as Head of Platform Sales for Fidelity FundsNetwork alongside his DC remit. In this role Julian was responsible for the platform sales team and key IFA relationships. In 2011 Julian relinquished this role to fully concentrate on the creation of the new DC and Workplace Saving Business.
WILLIAM ALLPORT
Director, Global Product Management, Multi-Asset Strategies
AllianceBernstein
Mr. Allport is responsible for developing and supporting AllianceBernstein’s Multi-Asset Strategies for institutional, retail and private clients, globally. Previously, Mr. Allport was responsible for developing AllianceBernstein’s defined contribution product solutions for pension schemes, plan sponsors and intermediaries in Europe, including business and marketing strategy, and in addition to this, he was a relationship manager for one of the firm’s largest sub-advisory clients. Mr. Allport joined AllianceBernstein in 2003 within the Institutional Consultant Relations & Business Development group. Prior to this, Mr. Allport had worked in audit and assurance for KPMG LLP within their Financial Services Advisory practice.