Wei Xie

Director – Capital Markets Group and Co-Head of Multi-Strategy Investing

OPTrust

Wei Xie is a Director in the Capital Markets Group at OPTrust, one of Canada’s largest pension funds with assets of $20 billion and investment professionals in Toronto, London and Sydney.

Wei leads the management of the external public markets program that covers a broad spectrum of liquid strategies, which includes equities, credit and hedge funds. Wei also spearheads the investment innovation efforts at OPTrust by co-chairing the Incubation Portfolio Investment Committee, with a particular focus on Crypto and the application of Machine Learning / Artificial Intelligence.

Wei held various progressively senior positions at OPTrust. Prior to this, Wei was the Chief-of-Staff to the Chief Investment Officer, when he supported and advised the CIO in his day-to-day management of OPTrust’s Investment Division. Prior to that, he served as an Investment Strategist for the Global Investment Strategy Group, and an Associate Portfolio Manager within the Private Markets Group.

Wei earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada.

Elizabeth Burton

Chief Investment Officer

Employees’ Retirement System of the State of Hawaii

 Elizabeth Burton is the Chief Investment Officer of the Employees’ Retirement System of the State of Hawaii (“HIERS”), where she oversees over $17 billion in pension fund assets. HIERS provides retirement, disability and survivor benefits for employees of the State of Hawaii (“State”) and its counties, including teachers, professors, police officers, firefighters, judiciary employees, judges and elected officials. The defined benefit plan has both contributory and noncontributory benefit structures. 

Prior to joining HIERS, Ms. Burton served as Managing Director of the Quantitative Strategies Group at the Maryland State Retirement Agency. In this role, Ms. Burton was responsible for the $4.5B Absolute Return Portfolio and for risk management oversight of the $55B Plan. Ms. Burton joined the Agency in July 2016. 

Previously, Ms. Burton owned William Street Advisory—a strategic advisory practice which she founded in 2013. Prior to that role, Ms. Burton was a Senior Economist and Expert Witness with Criterion Economics. Prior to that role, Ms. Burton was a Consultant at First Annapolis where she worked on M&A transactions and consulting the payments industry. Previous positions include: Co-Portfolio and Quantitative Risk Analyst with a South Africa-based fund of hedge funds, Trader (fixed income securities) for a risk management firm, and Portfolio Management Associate with a quant-focused fund of hedge funds. 

Ms. Burton received her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and French, cum laude, from Washington and Lee University, and her MBA in Finance, Econometrics & Statistics from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She is on the board of a private residential real estate investment trust and a Trustee of The Hill School, a private boarding school. She is also a CAIA charter holder. Ms. Burton was named one of Chief Investment Officer Magazine’s Top-40-Under-40 in June 2017. In 2019 Ms. Burton received the Industry Innovation Award for <$20B plan by Chief Investment Officer Magazine and was listed in the Power 100 in 2019. 

Benjamin R. Arnold

Founder and Chief Executive Office

Meraki Global Advisors

As the Founder & CEO of Meraki Global Advisors, Benjamin Arnold is responsible for running all facets of the business. The concept of Meraki Global Advisors was a direct result of Ben’s determination to deliver asset managers a differentiated outsourced platform with an overriding objective of excellence.

Mr. Arnold has over 15 years of experience in the hedge fund and financial services industry spanning across the globe. Previously, he spent three years at Fillmore Advisors (acquired by INTL FCStone) where he was instrumental in growing the outsourced trading desk. Prior to his move back to the United States, Ben was an Executive Director on the Equity and Equity Derivatives Sales-Trading desk at Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong and Mumbai, India. Before joining Goldman Sachs, Ben was a Vice-President on the Equity and Equity Derivatives Sales-Trading desk at BNP Paribas in Mumbai.

Ben began his career as a hedge fund trader with roles at Intrepid Capital Management and Asian Century Quest Capital in New York. He graduated from American University’s Kogod School of Business with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance.

John Christofilos

Senior Vice-President, Chief Trading Officer and Investment Management, Operations Strategy

AGF Investments Inc.

John Christofilos leads a team responsible for trading AGF’s Assets Under Management across its Retail, Institutional, High-Net-Worth and ETF portfolios. He is also a member of AGF’s Business Development unit with responsibility for reviewing and leading Capital Markets opportunities and technology advancements. John is also a member of The Office of the CIO, a leadership structure that encourages and further embeds collaboration and active accountability across the Investment Management team and the broader organization. His career has spanned more than 30 years, with experience on both the buy- and sell-side. Before joining AGF in 2014, John served as Managing Director at Canaccord Genuity, leading the firm’s efforts in electronic and program trading. Prior to Canaccord, he worked as Senior Managing Director for E*TRADE Institutional, a full-service financial services firm based in New York City. John is a member of the Canadian and U.S. Securities Traders Associations and is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian ETF Association (CETFA). He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from San Diego, California-based United States International University, where he played Division 1 Hockey.

Rahul Khasgiwale

Senior Investment Director for the Americas

Aviva Investors

Rahul is Senior Investment Director for the Americas across liquid markets and is based in Toronto, Canada. He works closely with our investment teams to represent investment processes, portfolio positioning and performance to prospects, clients and investment consultants. Rahul has regional management responsibilities for the Americas investment specialists and is also a member of the Americas client solutions leadership team and the global product leadership team.

Experience and qualifications

Rahul joined Aviva Investors from Manulife Asset Management where he was Investment Director for Global Investment Solutions. Prior, Rahul was an Absolute Return Investment Director at Standard Life Investments focused on retail and institutional clients and consultants in Canada. He began his career at HSBC Global Asset Management, where he held a variety of senior investment roles based in the UK, Switzerland, Middle East and Canada across a twelve-year period.

Theresa Shutt

Senior Vice President

Fiera Private Debt

Theresa Shutt is Senior Vice President for Corporate Private Debt at Fiera Private Debt. Prior to joining Fiera Private Debt in July 2019, she was the Chief Investment Officer of Private Debt with Integrated Asset Management.

Ms. Shutt is responsible for the overall strategic direction and operation of the Corporate Debt Financing Team. In this role, she provides leadership in support of business development, investment approval, fund strategy and portfolio management. With over 20 years of experience in corporate lending and capital markets, she contributes to the success of the business by growing AUM through strategic capital deployment and the development of innovative private debt strategies.

Prior to Fiera Private Debt, Ms. Shutt was a Managing Director with BMO Corporate Finance where she developed customized financing solutions for mid-market Canadian Companies. Previous to this role, she held a variety of roles at RBC and Scotiabank structuring fixed income and equity derivatives for corporations and asset managers. She began her career working as an economist for the Conference Board of Canada.

Theresa Shutt holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Economics (Honours) from the University of Alberta, a Master of Arts (MA) in Economics from McMaster University and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Rotman School of Management of the University of Toronto. Ms. Shutt is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.

Maria Pacella

Managing Partner

Pender Ventures

Maria has over 20 years of investing and operational experience in emerging growth companies, with a focus on technology businesses. She spent 11 years with one of Canada’s largest venture capital firms where she invested in multiple early-stage ventures and served on a variety of boards, in the areas of enterprise software and health-tech. Along the way, she worked at two start-ups assisting with operational activities and strategic initiatives. Prior to that, Maria worked in M&A for Deutsche Bank.

Current board roles include Clarius Mobile Health, Jane Software, Teradici, Librestream, and One45 Software. She is also on the SFU Beedie School of Business Advisory Board and St. Paul‘s Hospital Foundation Board. She holds a BBA from Simon Fraser University, is a CFA charterholder and an active member and a past President of CFA Society Vancouver.

As an investor in the rapidly changing world of early-stage technology, Maria invests in exceptional entrepreneurs and teams that excel at identifying business opportunities, develop world-class products and are dedicated to building great companies

Grahame R. Lyons

President & Founder

Arbutus Partners

An investment fund industry pioneer in the growth and origination of many large well known investment funds over the past 25 years in financial services. Early adopter of major trends in mutual funds, ETFs and alternative investments. Leading role in the growth and origination of many large well known investment funds.

Senior and executive roles at Fidelity Investments Canada Ltd, Strategic Value Corp, Loring Ward Investment Counsel, Barclays Global investors Canada Ltd. and Claymore Investments.

David Sheng

Senior Portfolio Advisor

Aksia

David is a Senior Portfolio Advisor at Aksia, and is responsible for advising North America institutional investors on their alternative investment programs, in particular hedge funds and private credit. He is an active member of Aksia’s Diversity working group and the Association of Asian American Investment Managers. Prior to joining Aksia, David was a Senior Manager Research Analyst at Man Group, FRM focused on sourcing and evaluating hedge fund strategies. David spent the first half of his career within the Institutional Sales and Trading businesses at HSBC and Morgan Stanley, particularly within the Fixed Income divisions.

David graduated from Princeton University with a BA in Economics and holds an MBA from Columbia University.

Kirk Sims

Head of Emerging Manager Program

Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Kirk Sims heads TRS’ Emerging Manager Program. Since being established in 2005, TRS has committed $3.7 billion to one of the largest programs of its kind. An additional $2 billion has been invested directly with EM Program graduates. Each graduate was selected as a result of consistent outperformance among a group of more than 160 EM managers. Recognizing the Program’s success, in early 2019, TRS rolled out a plan to invest another $3 billion over the next three to five years.

Sims joined the Teacher Retirement System of Texas on March 1, 2019. Before joining Texas Teachers, he was a Senior Investment Officer for the Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois. Sims had oversight and management responsibility of TRS’s Emerging Manager Program, a $750 million evergreen pool of capital designed to identify and invest in emerging investment managers across all asset classes.

Prior, Sims worked at Prudential Retirement where he was responsible for a manager of manager’s retirement platform as well as an open architecture investment platform. He also has a background in asset management and has held various positions with both large and small asset managers.

Sims is a CFA charter holder and holds a Masters in Business Administration from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Howard University in Washington, DC.

Sandy Rattray

Chief Investment Officer

Man Group

Sandy Rattray is Chief Investment Officer of Man Group and a member of the Man Group Executive Committee. He is also a member of the Man Group Responsible Investment Committee. He was previously CEO of Man AHL from 2013 to 2017, and CIO of Man Systematic Strategies from 2010 to 2013.

Before joining Man Group in 2007, Sandy spent 15 years at Goldman Sachs where he was a Managing Director in charge of the Fundamental Strategy Group. He also ran Equity Derivatives Research at Goldman Sachs in London and New York.

Sandy is a co-inventor of the VIX index. He is a board director of MSCI Inc and sits on the MSCI Advisory Council and the Jesus College Cambridge investment committee. Sandy is a governor of the Southbank Centre in London and is a founding patron of the London Cycling Campaign.

He holds a Master’s Degree in Natural Sciences and Economics from the University of Cambridge and a Licence Spéciale from the Université Libre de Bruxelles

Cara Nakamura

Managing Director, Financial Assets Division

Kamehameha Schools

Cara Nakamura serves as a Managing Director of the Financial Assets Division of the Kamehameha Schools, which represents a $12 billion globally diversified endowment. Prior to joining Kamehameha in 2016, Cara spent over a decade investing for Princeton University (the Princeton University Investment Company), focusing largely on the construction and growth of the endowment’s $6 billion+ private equity/venture capital porfolio. Earlier professional roles included economic research at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and a Fulbright Scholarship in Kyoto, Japan. Born and raised on Oahu, Hawaii, Cara earned an A.B. with honors in Economics and Certificates in both East Asian Studies and Japanese Language from Princeton University, and an M.B.A. in Finance from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Cara, her husband, and two children reside in Honolulu, Hawaii.

François Rivard

Chief Executive Officer

Innocap Investment Management

As CEO, François leads Innocap Investment Management’s activities. During his 24 years in the investment industry, he has held various senior functions in capital markets and wealth management in Toronto, Montreal and London. Notably, in his role as Head of the Financial Products Group at National Bank of Canada, he was responsible for engineering and distribution of structured derivative-based investments globally. François is the recipient of Bishop’s University Top 10 Under 10 award, a standing YPO member, and has contributed or been featured in BLOOMBERG, the Globe and Mail, Derivatives Week, Structured Products Magazine as well as a featured speaker at various conferences in North America, London, Paris, Zurich, Abu Dhabi and Singapore. Since 2014 François has been a board member and active contributor to the CHU Sainte-Justine Foundation, one of the largest sick kids hospitals and research centers in North America. François received a BBA from Bishops University and his MBA from HULT Business School in London

Mario Venditti

Founding Partner & CEO

Innovobot

Mario Venditti is CEO and Co-Founder of Innovobot, a Montreal-based investment and innovation platform that funds innovative technologies that tackle critical social and environmental challenges.

Innovobot is the lead investor in carbon removal technology firm CarbiCrete and conversational AI company Heyday.

 Prior to founding Innovobot, Mario was COO of Above Security.

Under Mario’s guidance, Above Security acquired SecureIT in Switzerland and Seccuris in Winnipeg, and received international recognition from the Gartner Group as one of the Top 10 MSSP Vendors to Watch.

Mario was leader of the senior executive team that implemented a new global sales strategy and supply chain to service customers in 40+ countries. During his tenure, Above Security went from a small local start-up to a global company with clients in 40+ countries and multiple operations centres around the world, until it was acquired by Hitachi Systems in October 2015. 

Mario also spent 12 years working as a management and strategy consultant. He has Masters a Science, a Bachelor of Engineering and an MBA from McGill University.

Pablo E. Calderini

President and Chief Investment Officer

Graham Capital Management

Pablo E. Calderini is the President and Chief Investment Officer of Graham Capital Management, L.P. (“GCM”), an alternative investment firm with approximately $17 billion in AUM as of May 1, 2021. Mr. Calderini is responsible for the management and oversight of the discretionary and systematic trading businesses at GCM, among other things. Mr. Calderini is also a member of the firm’s Executive, Investment, Risk and Compliance committees. He joined GCM in August 2010 and became an Associated Person and Principal of GCM effective August 13, 2010. Prior to joining GCM, Mr. Calderini worked at Deutsche Bank from June 1997 to July 2010 where he held positions of increasing responsibility, most recently the Global Head of Equity Proprietary Trading. Mr. Calderini commenced his career at Deutsche Bank as Global Head of Emerging Markets. During his tenure at Deutsche Bank, Mr. Calderini also helped manage several groups across the fixed income and equity platforms, including the Global Credit Derivatives Team. Mr. Calderini received a B.A. in Economics from Universidad Nacional de Rosario in 1987 and a Masters in Economics from Universidad del CEMA in 1989, each in Argentina.

Michael Hume

Partner and Head of Strategy & Research

MKP Capital Management

Mr. Hume is a Partner and Head of Strategy & Research. Mr. Hume is currently based in MKP’s London Office. Prior to joining MKP in 2016, Mr. Hume was Head of the Capital Markets Division at the Bank of England, where he was responsible for leading the Financial Policy Committee assessment of capital markets risks and policies. Mr. Hume was also a Senior Adviser on International Issues and Monetary Policy Adviser to the MPC. From 1997 to 2008 Mr. Hume was at Lehman Brothers where he rose to become Chief European Economist. Mr. Hume has published a number of articles in books and academic journals on the topic of financial imbalances and served on international policymaking committees at the G7, OECD, and Financial Stability Board.

Mr. Hume read Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the University of Oxford, received an M.Sc. in Economics at the University of Warwick, and is currently affiliated with the European Institute at London School of Economics.

David “Tiger” Williams

Founder & Managing Member

Williams Trading

Tiger is the Founder and Managing Member of Williams Trading. Prior to founding Williams Trading, Tiger was an Associate Director at Tiger Management where he was responsible for trading the domestic equity portfolio from 1993 through 1997. Tiger began his career on Wall Street in 1987 as a member of the Principal Training Program at E. F. Hutton. In 1989, he joined First Boston as an Associate and Generalist Equity Sales Trader. In 1990, Tiger joined Needham and Co. as a Vice President and in 1991 moved to Donaldson Lufkin and Jenrette, also as a Vice President. Tiger received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Political Science at Yale University in 1984 and his Masters in Business Administration from the Stern School of Business at New York University in 1989.

Mee Warren

President

Bodhi Research Group

Mee Warren is President at Bodhi Research Group. Her duties include portfolio diagnostics, trade execution best practices, due diligence, and risk management. She enjoys working with a diverse set of clients and projects focused on research and education in the alternative investment space. She is also committed to Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion in the workplace. Mee joined Bodhi Research Group after nearly 15 years at Two Sigma Investments, LP.

Mee joined Two Sigma in 2003 as its 30th employee. At the time, Two Sigma was a small emerging manager just trading US equities. For the first five years, she worked very closely with the CEO and built out the back and middle offices. In October 1, 2008, she joined the trading desk and eventually became Head Trader of their largest portfolio and traded global equities, currencies, commodities, and derivatives. In 2015, she was promoted to an elite 5-person team that strategized investment decisions and elevated the production environment for firm and equity strategies across all portfolios and regions worldwide. This team essentially served as the Investment Committee for Two Sigma Investments. She worked on proprietary execution tactics, portfolio construction research, and built risk monitoring tools. Mee was an important part of the team that was responsible for the tremendous success at Two Sigma. In 2018, Mee chose to leave Two Sigma which at the time had nearly 60 Billion USD in AUM.

Mee Warren won the “Women in Finance Outstanding Contributions” award from Markets Media and the Women on Wall Street Trailblazer” award from Traders Magazine. Mee is a graduate from the the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, and she holds both the CFA and CAIA charters. She is also a member of NOIP (National Organization of Investment Professionals), 100 Women in Finance, Women in ETFs, MM Women in Finance Advisory Board and also sits on the board of several non-profits. Mee is an ACBL Life Master in Contract Bridge Card Game and a competitive pool player.

Jason Campbell

Principal

Eckler

A Principal within Eckler’s Investment Consulting practice, Jason joined the firm in 2006. He provides investment strategy advice to a wide range of institutional clients, including DB and DC pension plans, endowment/foundations, single family offices, corporations and non-profit organizations.

In addition to consulting responsibilities, Jason is a member of the Investment Research Steering Committee which oversees investment manager and strategy research.

Jason’s specific area of expertise is alternative investments including infrastructure, real estate and private equity/debt strategies.

An active volunteer within the pension and investment community, Jason has authored several articles and presented on investment strategy at numerous conferences. He is currently a member of the Canadian Investment Review Advisory Board, a volunteer on the CNIB’s National Investment & Pension Committee and a director with the National Ballet School Foundation.

Jason graduated from the University of Western Ontario in 1999 with an Economics degree. He has also earned the designations of Chartered Financial Analyst and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst.

Gerry Brunk

Managing Director

Lumira Ventures

Gerry Brunk is a co-founder and Managing Director of Lumira Ventures, a North American healthcare venture capital firm whose Boston office he established in 2002.  Some of his past and current investment responsibilities include Pharmasset (acquired by Gilead Sciences), BardyDx, KAI Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Amgen), MAKO Surgical (acquired by Stryker), Endotronix, enGene, HistoSonics, Cyrano Therapeutics, Satsuma Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: STSA) and Engage Therapeutics (acquired by UCB).

Prior to his investing career, Mr. Brunk was an entrepreneur in the life sciences sector, founding and serving in a variety of management and board capacities at several venture capital-funded companies. Earlier, as an engagement manager in the healthcare practice of The Boston Consulting Group he advised pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms on strategic issues involving portfolio management, product licensing, R&D productivity, new product launches and acquisitions.  Mr. Brunk began his career as a member of the investment banking group of Credit Suisse First Boston in New York, where his clients included public and private healthcare companies.

Mr. Brunk serves on the Board of Directors of Southeast Life Sciences, the review board of the Ivy Foundation Biomedical Innovation Fund at the University of Virginia, and is a mentor for the Canadian Technology Accelerator in Boston and the Stanford University Biodesign program. He received an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business and a BA from the University of Virginia, where he studied biology and economics.

Raj Lala

President & CEO

Evolve ETFs

Mr. Lala is President and Chief Executive Officer of Evolve ETFs. Evolve is one of Canada’s fastest growing ETF providers since launching its first ETF in September 2017. Evolve is a leader in thematic ETFs and specializes in bringing disruptive innovation ETFs to Canadian investors. Evolve’s suite of ETF products provide investors with access to: (i) long term investment themes; (ii) index-based income strategies; and (iii) some of the world’s leading investment managers. Established by a team of industry veterans with a proven track record of success, Evolve creates investment products that make a difference. Prior to founding Evolve ETFs, Mr. Lala served as Head of WisdomTree Canada – a division of WisdomTree Investments Inc., one of the world’s largest ETF issuers. Prior to this, Mr. Lala was Executive Vice President and Head of Retail Markets for Fiera Capital Corporation, a prominent Canadian investment management firm with over $100 billion in assets under management. Mr. Lala co-founded and served as President and CEO of Propel Capital Corporation (which was acquired by Fiera Capital Corporation in September 2014). Propel raised approximately $1 Billion in structured products in its five years of operation. Prior to Propel, Mr. Lala worked with Jovian Capital and held several roles at Jovian including President of JovFunds Inc., an asset management division of Jovian Capital. Mr. Lala holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Toronto.

Bob Williamson

Vice President, Sales

Battea Class Action Services

Bob Williamson has over 30 years’ experience in the financial services industry. Prior to joining Battea – Class Action Services, LLC, he held various sales and management roles in the financial technology space. While at Lava Trading, Bob marketed electronic trading systems and execution services to the sell-side brokerage community. He became the top-producing sales person, of which the company was later acquired by Citi. Bob spent 12 years with NYFIX, Inc. In his role as Senior Vice President of Sales for NYFIX’s trading products division, he was responsible for sales and for marketing the firm’s trading platform, which was utilized by the financial community and became the dominant player in the listed trading executions and management space. Bob began his career in financial services with VBand, a specialized telecommunications company. During his seven-year tenure as a Regional Channel Sales Representative marketing a highly specialized telecommunication system for traders at banks, brokerage firms and exchanges. Bob earned a BS in Business/Economics from the State University of New York at Oneonta and attended the University of Copenhagen, where he received a Certificate of Participation in the International Business Program.

Christian McCormick

Director, Senior China Equity Product Specialist

Allianz Global Investors

Mr. McCormick’s primary role is as a senior product specialist on our China equity platform, which oversees over $20 billion of long only equity investments. He also works on the firm’s $41 billion Systematic quant platform that includes multifactor research in China. He has presented at numerous industry conferences, written several white papers, and is a frequent investment resource and guest across multiple media platforms, including Bloomberg and CNBC. Mr. McCormick’s previous experience was as a managing director at quant firm INTECH and as an investment consultant for Meketa Investment Group. He has 22 years of investment industry experience. Mr. McCormick has a B.A. in Business Administration and Russian Studies from Principia College in Illinois. He is a CFA charterholder.