Millan Mulraine

PhD

Chief Economist, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan

Millan Mulraine joined Ontario Teachers’ in 2016 as the Chief Economist, after close to 10 years with TD Securities, most recently as its Deputy Chief US Economist in New York, where he was responsible for directing U.S. economic research and rates strategy. Millan leads the Economics Research Group at Teachers’ and is responsible for designing and conducting analytical macro-oriented research aimed at providing thought-leadership within Teachers’ on global economic, policy, financial market and geopolitical issues to inform key Total Fund decisions on major investment themes and risks. Millan is also very passionate about inclusion and diversity issues and leads the Multiculural@Teachers’ Employee Resource Group, aimed at fostering an inclusive and diverse community at Teachers’, as well as building bridges with external partners to advance inclusion and diversity in our broader finance community.

Millan holds a BSc in Economics and Statistics from the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, an MSc in Economics from the University of Warwick in England, and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Toronto.

Robert Lavigne

Managing Director – Economic Research, OMERS

Robert Lavigne is Managing Director, Economic Research, and in this role serves as a member of the Total Portfolio Management (TPM) leadership group.  He and his team provide economic analysis and research to TPM, Capital Markets and OMERS. He joined OMERS in 2015.

Prior to joining OMERS, Robert worked at the Bank of Canada on a wide variety of issues related to global macroeconomics.  In particular, he advised policymakers on Canadian positions at the G20 and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He has policy and research experience regarding both advanced and emerging economy themes.

Robert has three children who help keep him up to speed.

Sarah Takaki

Senior Director – Sustainable Investing, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP)

Hazlitt Gill

SVP & Senior Research Director – Global Manager Research, Wells Fargo Investment Institute, Wells Fargo & Company

Hazlitt Gill is a senior research director for Global Manager Research (GMR), adivision of Wells Fargo Investment Institute. The GMR team selects and overseesthe third-party money managers used throughout Wells Fargo’s brokerage, privatebanking, family wealth, and retirement businesses.

In his role, Mr. Gill oversees the investment manager research for alternative investments. Prior to joining Wells Fargo, Mr. Gill was the chief investmentofficer for RLJ Select Investments LLC. He has more than 20 years of experience in the financial servicesindustry.

Mr. Gill earned both a Masters of Science in Operations Research and Statistics and a Bachelors of Science inMechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and holds Series 7, Series 63, and Series 3 Exemption securities registrations with FINRA. He resides in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Panayiotis Lambropoulos

CFA, CAIA, FRM

Portfolio Manager, Employees Retirement System of Texas

Panayiotis Lambropoulos is a Portfolio Manager at the Employees Retirement System of Texas – a $28 billion retirement plan – located in Austin, Texas. His responsibilities include sourcing, analyzing and evaluating potential third party managers deploying all types of alternative investment strategies.  His focus is on the Trust’s Absolute Return Portfolio as well as Opportunistic Credit allocation. Lastly, he is responsible for the Trust’s Emerging Hedge Fund Manager program – ERS Launchpad – which he proposed and spearheaded.

Panayiotis started in the alternative investment industry as a Research Analyst at Grosvenor Capital Management in Chicago. He later joined MCP Alternative Asset Management, a multi-billion Tokyo-headquartered Investment Advisor (Fund of Funds) in Chicago. He was responsible for sourcing, analyzing and monitoring hedge fund investments, and contributing to portfolio allocation decisions. He worked alongside institutional clients and top investment decision makers for some of Japan’s best and largest blue chip financial institutions.

Panayiotis holds a B.S in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance and Marketing from Boston College, and an M.B.A in General Management from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Panayiotis is a CFA Charterholder and has earned his Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation as well as his Financial Risk Manager (FRM) certification.

Lindsay Saldanha

CFA

Associate Portfolio Manager, OPTrust

Lindsay Saldanha is an Associate Portfolio Manager on the Sustainable Investing and Innovation team at OPTrust, one of Canada’s largest pension funds managing net assets of over $23 billion. The Sustainable Investing and Innovation team is establishing and executing on a new investment strategy to put capital to work across asset classes in innovative areas that support OPTrust’s long-term sustainability, starting with opportunities stemming from climate change.

Prior to joining OPTrust, Lindsay was Assistant Portfolio Manager on the Infrastructure Debt team at Fiera Capital, a member of the Fiera Impact Investment Committee and managed the infrastructure debt sleeve of the Fiera Global Impact Fund. Prior to joining Fiera Capital in 2017, Lindsay was Senior Investment Analyst on the Project Finance and Infrastructure Team at Manulife Financial after successfully completing Manulife’s Investment Division Rotational Program.

Lindsay holds the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) designation from the CFA Institute, and earned a Bachelor of Science Degree from McGill University, majoring in Mathematics.

Ryan Abrams

CFA, FRM

Senior Portfolio Manager, Exelon Corporation

Leia Levand

CFA

Manager – Investment & Risk, Innocap Investment Management

Leia Levand is a Manager at Innocap Investment Management where she is responsible for investment and risk oversight with a focus on a broad spectrum of hedge fund strategies.

Ms. Levand has extensive experience as an allocator across both alternative and traditional assets. Most recently, she was part of the Absolute Return Team at Alberta Teachers’ Retirement Fund, where she was responsible for a portfolio of hedge funds, with a focus on quantitative strategies. Ms. Levand holds a B.Sc. in Pure Mathematics from Memorial University of Newfoundland and is a member of the Montreal CFA Society.

Andy Greene

CIM, CAIA

Managing Director – Investments, Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) Pension Plan

Andy brings over 25 years of investment experience in both the U.S. and Canada. Andy is the Managing Director, Investments for the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) Pension Plan, a $8+bln defined benefit plan and responsible for overseeing the TTCPP’s investment portfolio. Prior to this Andy spent eight years at OPTrust, as Director, Public Market Investments overseeing $9bln in assets across equities, fixed income and hedge funds. Prior to OPTrust, Andy worked at Northern Trust, the University of Wisconsin Foundation, Willis Towers Watson and Morgan Stanley. He holds an MA in Applied Economics from Binghamton University and a BA in Economics from Ithaca College, the Certified Investment Manager (CIM) and Chartered Alternatives Analyst (CAIA) designations. He serves on the Investment Committees for the York University Pension Plan and United Church of Canada Pension Plan.

Kevin Zhu

CFA

Managing Director – Head of Portfolio Construction, OPTrust

Kevin Zhu is Managing Director, Head of Portfolio Construction at OPTrust, one of Canada’s largest defined benefit pension funds with net assets of over C$23 billion.

Kevin has over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, including both central banking and total portfolio investment framework and strategy design for large Canadian defined benefit pension plans.

Kevin joined OPTrust in 2016 where he currently leads Total Fund portfolio management functions, including portfolio construction research and innovation, capital and risk allocation across asset classes and strategies, and dynamic total portfolio management.

Prior to joining OPTrust, Kevin held the position of Director, Strategy & Asset Mix at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Prior to this appointment, Kevin was Senior Economist at the Bank of Canada focusing on monetary policy research and model development. He holds a MA in Economics from Carleton University and is a CFA Charterholder. In 2017, Kevin was named to Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute’s Public Investor 100.

Robin Lundgren

PhD

Quantitative Analyst, Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund (AP4)

Dr. Robin Lundgren is a Quantitative Analyst working at the Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund (AP4). Robin has been working at AP4 for almost two years where he is working with portfolio construction and expected return modelling. Robin Lundgren is also responsible of the internal quantitative platform.

Prior to AP4 Robin has been responsible for developing and designing a risk system used by mutual funds. In that system Robin was responsible for all market and liquidity models in the system.

Robin defended his PhD thesis in applied mathematics with title “Convergence of Option Rewards” in 2010.

Cédric Fontanille

Director, Head of Investment Mandates – Cross Asset Solutions, Unigestion

Cédric Fontanille, Director, is head of Investment Mandates within the Cross Asset Solutions department where is in charge of the team managing external traditional and alternative investments. He joined Unigestion in March 2012 to cover hedge fund selection in the macro and commodity space.

Cédric began his career in 2001 in the Quantitative team at Olympia Capital Management in Paris. Then, he became a Strategy Analyst focusing on Directional Trading and Relative Value Hedge Fund in the London office. Later on, he was promoted to Deputy Head of Research and took over global research responsibilities for Directional trading and Quantitative trading strategies. In 2010, he became Head of Olympia’s US office in New York.

Cédric holds a DEA in Economics & Financial Econometrics from the University of Paris II- Pantheon Sorbonne Assas. He also hold a Master in Applied Mathematics and Social Sciences from the University of Paris IX – Dauphine.

Ranjan Bhaduri

PhD, CFA, CAIA

Founder & CEO, Bodhi Research Group

Dr. Ranjan Bhaduri is the Founder & CEO of Bodhi Research Group. Bodhi Research Group is focused on research and education in the alternative investments industry.

Dr. Bhaduri has extensive experience in manager research, portfolio management, and due diligence (investment, operational, and structural). Dr. Bhaduri has designed and implemented an institutional due diligence and research program. Dr. Bhaduri’s experience includes being on an Investment Committee at Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management where he conducted due diligence and helped design customized portfolios of Alternatives. Earlier, he was at a Canadian Fund of Funds, and at a multi-billion dollar capital management firm where he was involved in all aspects of its fund of hedge funds and structured finance business. He has also worked with two major Canadian
investment banks in the Financial Strategy Consulting Group and in Global Risk Management &Control, respectively. He has collaborated closely with many pensions and sovereign wealth funds on a variety of portfolio matters.

Dr. Bhaduri has a winning track record of leadership and training. Several of his former analysts and interns have gone on to have successful careers and have held positions at prestigious organizations, including the following firms: Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Goldman Sachs, J.P Morgan, Exelon Corporate Pension, US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and Crabel Capital Management.

Dr. Bhaduri has held an advisory role at the East-West Center, a leading think tank on the Asia-Pacific region. He has taught finance and mathematics at several universities and lectured on Derivatives for the Montreal Exchange. Dr. Bhaduri has taught parts of the CFA Curriculum for Allen Resources. Dr. Bhaduri has published papers on, and been invited to speak worldwide regarding hedge fund issues, and advanced portfolio and risk management techniques. Dr. Bhaduri was invited by the CME to be part of a special delegation that met with regulators in Beijing and Taipei to discuss hedge fund issues.

Dr. Bhaduri holds both the CFA and CAIA charters. He is a member of the American Mathematical Society, the Mathematical Association of America, and the Toronto CFA Society. Dr. Bhaduri previously served as a member of the All About Alpha Editorial Board, the CAIA Chicago Chapter Executive, on the Board of Directors of AIMA Canada, co-chair of AIMA Canada Managed Futures Committee, and on the AIMA Global Research Committee. Dr. Bhaduri is an avid ice hockey fan and ACBL Silver Life Master in Bridge.

Akobe Sandy

CFA

Impact Investment Officer, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Akobe Sandy joined the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) in 2021, bringing his extensive experience in investment management and socially responsible investments to his role as an impact investments officer. His work bridges capital gaps for under-invested people and communities and employs impact capital to advance RWJF’s longstanding history of championing solutions that further opportunities for equitable health and well-being.

Previously, Sandy was an impact investments senior associate for the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, where he helped manage MacArthur’s $500 million impact investments portfolio, including Benefit Chicago, a $100 million fund advancing economic development throughout the Chicago region. He also developed new grantmaking within MacArthur’s Impact Investments program to advance racial equity and expand inclusive investment practices.

Before joining MacArthur, Sandy spent several years as an investment banker with KPMG Corporate Finance and Madison Street Capital, a middle-market investment bank. Within this role, he advised on mergers and acquisitions and capital-raising transactions across several industries. Previously, he provided research and analysis on hedge funds and commodity trading advisor (CTA) strategies with AlphaMetrix, an alternative investment management firm.

Sandy received a BA in Political Science from Yale University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). He is a 2019 IMPACT Leadership Fellow of the Chicago Urban League and University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Sandy currently lives in suburban Chicago with his wife and young son. Born in Trinidad and Tobago but raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., he is excited to return to the East Coast with RWJF. He is an avid traveler, a reformed DJ, and a documentary enthusiast.

Koblavi Fiagbedzi

CFA, CAIA

Portfolio Manager & Head of Real Assets, CBC Pension Plan

Koblavi is the Portfolio Manager and head for Real Assets at the CBC Pension Plan and is currently executing the new real asset strategy for the Plan.  This strategy is closely hinged to enhancing portfolio resilience and optimizing income and capital growth characteristics across the business cycle on a global basis; investments have been executed on a Fund, direct secondary, JV/co-investment and directly owned basis.  In addition, he provides support to the larger Team in the execution of private equity and private debt transactions.

Koblavi began his career at the Bank of Canada in 2004 where he worked on longer term economic research themes and forecasting model maintenance. After joining EDC as an Economist, he focused on current analysis and transactional guidance for political risk insurance, sovereign, and project finance loans in key emerging and developed markets. Later he led EDC’s corporate strategy for emerging markets and conducted due diligence and deal sourcing for project finance, corporate debt, political risk, and credit insurance. In 2012, he joined the CMPA Investment Fund where he focused on transaction and portfolio management for the private market portfolio.

Koblavi earned his BBA (Honors) from Acadia University and MBA from the University of London. Koblavi is also a CAIA and CFA charter holder.

Mee Warren

CFA, CAIA

President, Bodhi Research Group

Rob Goobie

CPA, CMA

AVP – Collateral Management, Fixed Income & Derivatives, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP)

Robert is the Assistant Vice President Collateral Management, Fixed Income and Derivatives at Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) with a focus on the optimization of large portfolios of collateral in excess of $100b for both Equities and Fixed Income assets, utilizing global relationships -peer to peer, broker dealers, and custodian banks.  He also inspired HOOPP’s in-house collateral management software which integrate Fixed Income, Equities, Derivatives, Securities Lending and Borrowing, Repo and FX Trading into one cohesive platform. Robert joined the HOOPP in October of 2000 after working seven years in the financial industry including at Deutsche Bank, Bankers Trust, TD Securities and HSBC. He has a bachelor’s degree of Commerce, Accounting and Finance from Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada and is a Certified Public Accountant.  Robert is very interested in the peer to peer community, utilizing blockchain technology for Capital Markets, focusing on: Fixed Income and Equity Repo, Securities Lending and Borrowing, Collateral Management and Financing.

Kirk Sims

CFA

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.

Caroline Chow

R.H.N., C.N.E.

Founder, Happy Health & Vice President, CAASA

Caroline is Vice President and co-founder of the Canadian Association of Alternative Strategies & Assets (CAASA). She works closely with members to establish and grow the Association’s initiatives both within Canada and abroad. She serves a broad range of alternatives such as liquid alts, private lending, real estate and digital assets.

Previously, she spent 5 years at AIMA Canada and during this time, corporate membership, events and committee engagement were doubled.

Caroline is also a certified Culinary Nutrition Expert (CNE) and Les Mills RPM instructor. When she is not contributing to the Canadian Alternatives industry, she provides education, consulting and workshops through her brand, Happy Health.

She is an Honours graduate of the Academy of Culinary Nutrition as well as the University of Waterloo, holds a degree in Honours Economics with a Finance Specialization and has completed the Canadian Securities Course (CSC).

Jane Segal

CFA

Portfolio Manager, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP)

Jane Segal is a Portfolio Manager at the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP).  Jane joined HOOPP in 2020 to build out the External Managers program and, prior to HOOPP, helped oversee the external managers portfolio at the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.  Jane started her career at the Royal Bank of Canada where she held a number of roles across Capital Markets in Toronto, London, and New York.  Jane earned a bachelors degree in Engineering Physics from Queen’s University and a masters degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Toronto.  Jane is a CFA Charterholder.

Kalina Berova

CFA

Portfolio Manager – Partnership Portfolio, British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI)

Ms. Kalina Berova has over 18 years of investment and risk management industry experience. Currently, Kalina works as a Portfolio Manager in the Partnership Portfolio of BCI, responsible for investments across absolute return and long only strategies. With $199.6 billion in assets under management, British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) invests on behalf of BC’s public sector.

Previously, she was a visiting researcher at Bodhi Research Group, focusing on areas such as diligence of newly launched alternative investment firms, best co-Investment practices, alternative portfolio benchmarking, and etc. Prior to that, Kalina was part of the External Relationships Team at the New York office of OMERS, where she gained investment experience across a broad range of traditional and niche hedge fund strategies, long-only funds, custom alternative investment solutions, and private equity funds & co-investments.

Kalina began her career at the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan in the Asset Mix and Risk Group, where she developed expertise in the areas of portfolio construction and risk management of both alternative and traditional asset classes and investment strategies.

Anne-Sophie van Royen

PhD

Senior Managing Director, La Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec

Dr. Anne-Sophie van Royen joined La Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec as a Senior Managing Director in May 2019. She initially oversaw the systematic tactical asset allocation strategy activity. In June 2020, she took the leadership of the quantitative equity team.  Dr. van Royen has worked in quantitative finance for over 20 years. Prior to joining CDPQ, she worked at the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, advising the investment committee on all matters pertaining to asset allocation. She was previously the head of Quantitative Trading in the Investment Solutions division at UBS, and headed the Global Tactical Asset Allocation Group at Credit Suisse in New York from 2004 to 2011. Prior to that, she was Vice-President, first at State Street Associates then at Columbia Management Group, where she was responsible for tactical asset allocation. She began her career in Mergers and Acquisitions with Goldman Sachs in London.

Dr. van Royen holds Ph.D. and M.Sc. degrees in Mathematical Economics from the Université de Paris – Sorbonne. She also holds an M.A. in Business Studies from HEC Paris and a B.A. in Psychology from the Université de Paris – Saint-Denis. She has published articles in a variety of professional investment journals, including the Financial Analysts Journal, Journal of Portfolio Management, Journal of Derivatives and Journal of Forecasting. She is a past President of the Society of Quantitative Analysts in New York and was an advisor in the Department of Mathematical Science at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Davide Sabatini

O.D.

Solutions Engineer, Bodhi Research Group

Dr. Davide Sabatini is the Solutions Engineer at Bodhi Research Group. His duties include building infrastructure and assisting the CEO with analysis. He uses multidisciplinary skills to develop client-centered solutions focused on research and education in the alternative investments industry.

Dr. Sabatini draws on inter-professional experience in the business, clinical and engineering domains. As co-founder of archerETF, he worked to offer investors low-cost, multi asset-class portfolios using ETFs. As a board-certified optometric physician, he worked to build multiple private clinics by creating cloud-based management systems and delivering therapeutic eye-care to a large patient base. As an entrepreneurial engineer, he developed a secure web-based educational utility that facilitates, enhances and differentiates elementary-level curriculum delivery for both educators and students.

Dr. Sabatini holds degrees in mathematics, physics, applied mathematics, optometry and engineering. Academic awards include a Governor General Award, Chancellor Scholarship, NSERC Scholarship, Burke Memorial Ring, Milos Novotny Graduate Fellowship and Graduate Teaching Award. Dr. Sabatini was a founding board member of Wellspring Niagara which provides free social, psychological, informational and spiritual support to individuals and families living with cancer. He has represented Canada internationally in ball hockey.

Jacky Lee

Vice President – Total Portfolio, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP)

Jacky Lee is Vice President, Total Portfolio, where he oversees total portfolio initiatives including asset-liability management, portfolio construction, factor framework, risk Budgeting, investment research and analytics. He joined HOOPP in 2019 as a Vice President, Portfolio Construction Group.

Prior to joining HOOPP, Jacky was a Managing Director in the Total Fund Management department at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Over his career there, he successfully led numerous total fund asset allocation, investment risk and analytic initiatives. Specifically, he built portfolio construction models, a total fund marco factor model, an asset’s scenario generator, an in-house risk system and an enterprise risk simulation engine.

Jacky earned his BASc, MASc and MMF from the University of Toronto. He has published numerous articles in leading peer-reviewed journals in finance, natural sciences, and engineering. His research has received multiple accolades, including the International Centre for Pension Management (ICPM) Research Award and the Pacific Center for Asset Management (PCAM) Research Prize. His recent research focuses on asset allocation and risk management using a factor approach. He is a HOOPP representative at the PCAM Research Advisory Council.

Confidy Kong

Creative Lead, Bodhi Research Group

Confidy Kong is the Creative Lead at Bodhi Research Group. Focused on the company’s branding and marketing. Ms. Kong brings an element of refinement, sophistication, and strategy to Bodhi Research Group that runs deeper than digital. From ideation to execution, Ms. Kong conducts the design, strategy, and operations of Bodhi Research Group’s educational arm involving: seminars, webinars, and conferences. Ms. Kong excels in client relationships by curating exceptional experiences with her in-depth knowledge and previous network in the arts, entertainment, and culinary and wines sectors. Education and experience ranging from creative direction, social art direction, brand identity, digital marketing, market research, and strategy development allow for the seemingly opposing worlds of “business and arts” to blend together seamlessly. Her penchant for inventiveness and an acute eye for accuracy delivers Bodhi Research Group a perspective both exciting and enlightening.

Beginning her career at Marques d’Elegance, an exotic automobile and luxury lifestyle events company, she was the C-Suite Executive Assistant eventually working towards Marketing Assistant and later, Marketing Manager. During her tenure, she developed advantageous expertise and etiquette serving the clientele of primarily single-family offices. Ms. Kong’s artistic involvement within the fashion industry such as; direction, photography, styling, and copywriting were issued in multitudes of publications including Elléments Magazine, HUF Magazine, Destinations of The World, WEST, Forum Magazine, The Invidiata Collection and more.

This recognition spearheaded her career in creative direction and digital marketing at companies such as Perk Naturals, U- Feast, and INK Entertainment and with offers from Huawei and ASTOUND.

After returning from living abroad in Austria, she received her Bachelor of Arts at Wilfrid Laurier University for Organizational Leadership and Psychology. Ms. Kong furthered her education in research by recently completing certifications in UX Design and Data Analytics at BrainStation. Ms. Kong also earned a Diploma in Business Marketing at Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology; she received a number of awards from provincial and national Marketing Case Competitions and was on the Dean’s Honour List. Aside from the technical skill- set, Ms. Kong is expanding her interests in culinary and wine culture is currently enrolled in the Court of Master Sommelier.

Kunjal Shah

CIO, Lyxor Asset Management Inc.

Kunjal Shah joined Lyxor Asset Management Inc. (“Lyxor Americas”) in August 2014 as the Global Head of Hedge Fund Research. He was appointed as Chief Investment Officer in May 2020. Mr. Shah is responsible for supervising the Portfolio Management and Hedge Fund Research teams, as well as developing advisory investment offerings and customized hedge fund solutions. Mr. Shah brings more than 20 years of experience in hedge fund manager selection, due diligence, and monitoring to his position.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Shah was employed by Arden Asset Management, where he was a Partner and Managing Director. Prior to that, he was a Director and Co-Head of Hedge Fund Credit Risk Management for the Americas at Deutsche Bank AG. He was also an integral member of the Hedge Fund Credit Risk Management team at Goldman Sachs & Co. in New York, where he led due diligence and monitoring of hedge funds.

Mr. Shah holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Manchester, and an M.B.A. in Finance, Management and Strategy from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Brandon Gill New

CFA

Senior Portfolio Manager – Capital Markets Group, OPTrust

Brandon Gill New is a Senior Portfolio Manager in the Capital Markets Group at OPTrust, one of Canada’s largest defined benefit pension plans. In her role, Brandon provides strategic direction and oversight over a number of strategies within the plan’s portfolio of C$6B externally managed public-markets funds.

Prior to joining OPTrust in early 2018, Brandon was a Director at BMO Capital Partners, a proprietary private debt and equity fund at Bank of Montreal. She also spent a decade at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. There, she served as a Portfolio Manager in the Alternative Investments Division managing a portfolio of global hedge funds and esoteric investment funds, and as an Assistant Portfolio Manager in the Public Equities Division covering Emerging Markets equities.

Brandon serves on the Institutional Asset Management Committee for CFA Society Toronto, as the Fund Development Chair and Chair of the Investment Committee for the Junior League of Toronto, and as a mentor for Women in Capital Markets.  Brandon holds an MBA from London Business School and a B.A. in International Economics from Middlebury College in Vermont. She is also a CFA Charterholder.

Carlos Ferreira 

CFA, CPA, FRM

Founder, Capital Governance Partners

Carlos Ferreira is the founder of Capital Governance Partners, an investment management advisory firm providing governance solutions for institutional investors and investment managers, focusing on independent non-executive directorships globally. Previously, Carlos was a Managing Director and Management Committee member of PAAMCO, where he provided firm-wide leadership to the Direct Trading business and Managed Account Platform, including responsibility for the Accounting, Operational Due Diligence, Operations and Treasury, Legal and Investment Structuring, and Compliance groups. In this role he worked extensively with emerging managers to structure investments for institutional clients.  Carlos has had former roles with KPMG (audit), Arthur Andersen (international corporate tax), Morgan Stanley (investment banking), KBC Financial Products and LGT Capital Partners (investment management), in a career spanning North America, Europe and Asia. He holds an MBA from the London Business School, a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto and CFA, FRM and CPA professional designations.

Marco Salerno

Previously Sr. Research Associate, BMO Financial Group – Finance Research & Trading Lab

Marco is completing his PhD studies in Finance at the University of Toronto – Rotman School of Management.

Throughout his studies, he focuses on empirical, theoretical asset pricing with a focus for portfolio allocation. His notable working papers include the topic of stable equities, portfolio tilting, factor investing, measuring economic policy uncertainty, portfolio construction theories, corporate finance topics such as financial distress, the relevance of financial covenants on contract design, and agency conflicts in investments. He has presented in the top finance conference in the world such as the American Finance Association annual conference and the European Financial Association annual conference. He also presented to the Pacific Center for Asset Management in the CIO advisory panel earlier this year on the topic of portfolio tilting. Most recently, he was invited to present to Wolfe Research, a consultancy firm that our Public Equities team has utilized for alpha strategies, as a subject matter expert on a research paper on the implication of the cross-sectional variation of US states policies on economic and financial variables. In that paper he uses textual analysis and machine learning techniques.

He has numerous working papers that are currently under review at various journals (i.e. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Review of Corporate Finance Studies, etc.) and he serves as an ad-hoc academic referee for the Journal of Empirical Finance.

Prior to his studies, he worked full-time for 5 years at the University of Toronto – Rotman School of Management as a Sr. Research associate in the BMO Financial Group Finance Research and Trading Lab. In there he spearheaded the continuing software development of the Rotman Interactive Trader (RIT) platform that was used as a trading platform for educational purposes.

Matthew Smagacz

CFA, FRM

Senior Investment Officer, Wyoming State Treasurer’s Office

Matthew Smagacz, CFA, FRM is the Senior Investment Officer of the Wyoming State Treasurer’s Office where he is integral in managing the $20 billion sovereign wealth portfolio. He has eighteen years of buy-side experience, specializing in alternatives and fixed income. He holds a BSBA in Finance from Washington University in Saint Louis and is a member of the Global Association of Risk Professionals, the CFA Society of Colorado and the CFA Institute.

Omeir Jilani

Executive Director – Head of Alternative Investments & Member of the Asset Allocation Committee

Omeir is currently the Head of Alternative Investments at the First Abu Dhabi Bank (Formerly known as the National Bank of Abu Dhabi’s), the largest Bank in the United Arab Emirates. Managing the Alternative Investments portfolio of the bank; he has been an integral part in establishing the Alternative Investments desk since 2008. Being a part of the team that manages Bank’s principal investments of over $30 billion; he has been an active member of the Global Markets Division, representing the Division at Group’s Asset Allocation Committee and the Investment Review Committee that outlines and discusses the Asset Allocation of the fiduciary capital. Omeir is also the Member of the Board of OneShare plc – 100% owned by FAB – an open-ended investment company incorporated in Ireland. Since Jan 2017; he was appointed as the Member of Investors Steering Committee for Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), an association that represents the global alternative investment industry.

Due to recognition of his knowledge and contribution; he has been the nominated host for the annual Global Financial Markets Forum, where he has hosted guests, such as Dr. Ben Bernanke, Larry Summers, Secretary James Baker, General Colin Powell, Dr. Mohamed El Erian, Jean-Claude Trichet, Tony Blair, David Cameron, Nicolas Sarkozy, Sir Paul Tucker, David Miliband, Niall Ferguson, Marc Faber, Paul Volcker, Axel Weber, Bob Diamond, to name a few. Prior to joining the FAB; he was a Portfolio Manager for an another Abu Dhabi-Based Commercial bank; the Union National Bank where he was a part of the Investment Team responsible for the management of Banks proprietary investments of over $1 billion, with over $700 million Fixed Income (including US GSE & GCC credit) and Structured Products portfolio and $150 million of Hedge Funds. Prior to UNB; he was the Investment and Development Analyst at The Private Office of His Highness Dr. Sheikh Sultan Bin Khalifa Al Nahyan (aka SBK Holdings) from the United Arab Emirates. During his tenor at the Private Office; in 2003, Omeir was selected as a local analyst for a high profile project for the Abu Dhabi Department of Economy, where he was actively involved with a UAE-based Investment boutique, Allied Investment House in the capacity of research and development for the group. He was an active member in the Feasibility Study of the establishment of $10 billion Petrochemical City prepared for the Department of Economy.

Omeir regularly speaks at Alternative Investments conferences representing asset allocators’ perspective. Omeir has earned his Honours Bachelors of Commerce (Accounting and Finance with minor in Economics) from Michael G. DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University, Hamilton (Canada) in 2001. He was awarded the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation in March 2010.

Christophe L’Ahelec

CFA

Director – External Manager Program, University Pension Plan Ontario (UPP)

Christophe L’Ahelec is an investment professional with more than twenty years of global experience in France, Hong Kong, Switzerland, and Canada.

Christophe is currently Director, External Manager Program, at the University Pension Plan Ontario. He works with UPP team to shape UPP’s global investment strategy with a particular focus on its External Manager Program. He is building strong trusted relationships with internal and external stakeholders to generate the risk/return objectives required to strengthen the future of UPP defined benefit pension plan for generations of university employees to come.

Prior to that Christophe was a Senior Principal in the Capital Markets (CM) department, at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board where he was accountable for the top-down management of the external managers portfolio and was part of the investment committee allocating to hedge fund, private credit and long only equity managers. During his 11 years tenure at OTPP, he originated, conducted due-diligence, and on-boarded systematic alpha managers in the equity and futures space, along with leading the group’s work in the alternative risk premia space.

Before coming to Canada, Christophe was a quantitative analyst and assistant portfolio manager at Mignon Genève SA/Alpstar Asset Management, in Switzerland, where he took part in the creation and portfolio management of a European systematic market neutral fund.

He spent the first two years of his career working for BNP Paribas in Hong Kong where he provided real-time quantitative support to the fixed-income trading desk.

Christophe is a graduate engineer in Finance and Applied Mathematics from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Informatique et de Mathématiques Appliquées de Grenoble, France and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation. Christophe has been invited to speak globally on advanced portfolio and risk management topics and has published papers on topics regarding portfolio construction and managed futures.

Jim Geoghegan

CFA

Visiting Researcher, Bodhi Research Group

Jim Geoghegan is an investment professional with 15 years of global experience in Hong Kong and Canada. He has experience developing and executing a diversity of investment programs and functions which enhance pension returns, with a focus on hedge fund strategies.

Jim Geoghegan is a Visiting Researcher at Bodhi Research Group, where his duties include due diligence. He enjoys partnering with a diversity of clients and projects focused on research and education in the alternative investments arena.

Jim was previously a Director in the Capital Markets & Factor Investing department at CPP Investments, where he was a senior member of the team responsible for directing the allocation of capital across the department’s absolute return strategies.

Previously, Jim was a senior member of the team managing CPP Investments’ global hedge fund program. As a founding member of the program’s fundamental investments segment, he conducted due diligence and on-boarded investment managers pursuing a variety of equity and credit strategies. He made significant contributions to the portfolio’s growth, expansion to new strategies and global scope, and completed an assignment in the Hong Kong office from 2013 to 2015.

During his tenure at CPP Investments, he was also a member of the Relationship Investments team, which built a fund of hedge funds focused on equity managers.

Jim received a Bachelor of Arts in Honours Business Administration from Ivey Business School and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation.

Mark Hannoush

CPA, (CA), CFA

Managing Director – Due Diligence & Advisory, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP)

As a Managing Director in the Finance department, Mark Hannoush leads a team that specializes in conducting due diligence at the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan in Toronto, Canada. His role is to ensure that operational risk management is assessed and mitigated, as well as to provide direct support and assistance with deal implementation for the Plan’s External Manager Program which includes a variety of investment products from Hedge Funds to Private Equity Funds, Managed Accounts and Managed Account Platforms. Mark also manages the Business Investigative Due Diligence process in support of the Investment Division. The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan has been a significant investor in the External Manager space for over two decades. Mark was formerly in charge of the Finance function for the Equities group within the Finance department, where he managed the middle and back office functions and processes for all internally traded and externally managed public equity portfolios. He began his career as an auditor with Ernst & Young LLP in Ottawa, Canada where he earned his CPA (CA) designation. He is also a CFA Charterholder.

Marco Vetrone

CPA, (CA), CFA

Managing Director – International, Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Investments

Marco is a Managing Director in the International Department overseeing Strategic Relationships and Operations in Europe. Marco is responsible for liaising with a wide range of external and internal stakeholders, relationship and brand building across Europe, operates as a Chief of Staff to the Head of International, and manages CPP Investment’s London office. Marco is a CPA/CA, CFA Charterholder and is currently pursuing an EMBA from London Business School.

Redouane Elkamhi

PhD

Professor of Finance, Rotman School of Management

Redouane Elkamhi is an Professor of Finance at Rotman. His research is focused on theoretical and empirical asset pricing. His recent work has been published in leading finance journals. He teaches PhD courses in Asset pricing as well as in specialized programs such as Master of Finance, Master of Financial Risk Management as well as MBA. For over fifteen years he has been involved in different advisory roles at central banks, pension funds, investment banks, sovereign funds and different global asset managers.

James Burron

CAIA

President & Co-Founder, CAASA

James co-founded CAASA in response to industry support for a Canadian alternatives association to serve all aspects including: hedge / alternative strategies; private lending; private real estate; private equity; plus emerging areas where Canada is a leader such as digital assets / blockchain and robo-advisors.

Prior to CAASA, James was the Chief Operating Officer of AIMA Canada where his team of three worked with 12 committees to produce 50-60 events per annum across Canada, organize 100+ committee meetings, and increase member numbers over his 7-year tenure from 66 to 164 corporate entities.

James also has experience in research and writing for the CAIA Association as well as serving on CAIA’s Exam Council and as a grader for the Level II portion of the exam. He also had roles in institutional sales and FoHF structuring in Seoul, South Korea, as a Product Manager at ICICI Wealth Management, and an Investment Advisor at RBC Dominion Securities. He graduated from Simon Fraser University with a BBA (Finance).

Brian Broadway

CPA

President, Gryphon Capital Management

Mr. Broadway joined Gryphon in 2017 as the President. Mr. Broadway’s duties include overseeing all of the daily operations of the family office as well providing strategic insight and direction in the areas of philanthropy and investment management for this multi-generation single family office. Mr. Broadway received his Bachelor of Science degree, with an emphasis in Accounting, from the University of Virginia in 1991 and an M.B.A., with an emphasis in Finance, from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill in 1999.

From August 1991 through July 1995, Mr. Broadway worked in the assurance practice at Coopers & Lybrand, LLC, as a member of the Financial Services Team and became a licensed Certified Public Accountant in Virginia in 2004. From August 1995 through April 2014 Mr. Broadway was employed by Chesapeake Capital Corporation, an industry leading CTA, was a Principal, held various senior leadership positions and was the President of the family office of its’ founder. From 2014 until earlier this year he was the COO and Principal of Aspen Partners, Ltd, a CTA based in Richmond Virginia.

Mr. Broadway, and his wife, Janet, live in Manakin-Sabot, just outside of Richmond. Both he and his wife are involved in their church and in his spare time Mr. Broadway enjoys wing shooting, cycling, and international travel.

Wagner Dada

PhD, CFA

Senior Portfolio Manager – Capital Markets & Factor Investing Department, CPPIB

Dada is responsible for researching and building systematic alpha and risk premia factors for multi-asset strategies. Before his current role, he was previously responsible for portfolio construction and research in the tactical asset allocation team within CPPIB. He joined CPPIB in August 2015 after spending seven years designing, building and implementing a global macro multi-asset systematic strategy at Tudor Investment Corporation. He holds a PhD degree in Economics from the University of Cambridge and is a CFA charterholder.

Keith Black

PhD, CFA, CAIA, FDP

Managing Director – Program Director, Financial Data Professional (FDP) Institute

Keith Black has over thirty years of financial market experience, serving approximately half of that time as an academic and half as a trader and consultant to institutional investors. He currently serves as Managing Director, Program Director FDP Charter at the FDP Institute.

During his most recent role as Managing Director, Content Strategy at CAIA was responsible for Curriculum development. Previous to that Keith was a valued team member at Ennis Knupp + Associates, Keith advised foundations, endowments and pension funds on their asset allocation and manager selection strategies in hedge funds, commodities, and managed futures. Other experiences include commodities derivatives trading, stock options research and Cboe floor trading, and building quantitative stock selection models for mutual funds and hedge funds. Dr. Black previously served as an assistant professor and senior lecturer at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Keith has contributed to the CFA Digest, and has published in The Journal of Wealth Management, The Journal of Trading, The Journal of Investing, and The Journal of Alternative Investments, among others. He is the author of the book “Managing a Hedge Fund,” as well as co-author of the second, third, and fourth editions of the CAIA Level I and Level II curriculum. Dr. Black was named to the Institutional Investor magazine’s list of “Rising Stars of Hedge Funds” in 2010.

Dr. Black earned a BA from Whittier College, an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University, and a PhD from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He has earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and was a member of the inaugural class of both CAIA and FDP members.

William Kelly

CAIA

Chief Executive Officer, CAIA Association

William (Bill) J. Kelly is the CEO of the CAIA Association. Bill has been a frequent industry speaker, writer, and commentator on alternative investment topics around the world since taking the leadership role at the CAIA Association in January, 2014. Previously, Bill was the CEO of Boston Partners and one of seven founding partners of the predecessor firm, Boston Partners Asset Management which, prior to a majority interest being sold to Robeco Group in Rotterdam in 2002, was an employee-owned firm. Bill’s career in the institutional asset management space spans over 30 years where he gained extensive managerial experience through successive CFO, COO and CEO roles.

Joe Tolen

CAIA

Director of Multi-Asset Strategies, Indiana Public Retirement System (INPRS)

Joe Tolen is the Director of Multi-Asset Strategies for the Indiana Public Retirement System (INPRS) and is responsible for the formulation and implementation of the Absolute Return and Risk Parity portfolios (~$8bn of DB assets). Joe joined INPRS in January 2018 and previously served as an Investment Officer focused on Multi-Asset Strategies. Prior to joining INPRS, Joe worked on the Equity Derivatives Sales Trading team for Morgan Stanley in London. Joe received his BS in Finance and Entrepreneurship from Indiana University.

Yasir Mallick

CPA, CA, CFA, CAIA

Senior Portfolio Manager, UBC Investment Management Trust (UBC IMANT)

Yasir Mallick plays a lead role in sourcing, monitoring, and evaluating external managers across both public and private markets. In addition, to manager selection and portfolio construction Yasir leads various strategic projects including governance, corporate strategy, investment framework, and redesign of investment related processes and procedures.

Yasir joined UBC IMANT in 2020. In his prior role with KPMG, he was responsible for leading the target operating model design and implementations for Asset Management clients which included design and implementation of a new target operating model and new order management system for one of Canada’s largest pension funds. In addition to delivery within Management Consulting, Yasir was also part of the KPMG Sustainability Team carrying out ESG and Responsible Investing due diligence engagements for private market investments executed by one of Canada’s largest pension funds.

Prior to KPMG, Yasir spent three years as a member of the Senior Investment Team and the Head of Private Markets at University Toronto Asset Management and six years at Ontario Power Generation (OPG) where he held various positions within the Finance and Treasury group including leading the total portfolio management and risk management group overseeing OPG’s $30B investment portfolio.

Yasir holds both a Bachelor of Commerce (B. Comm) and a Masters of Finance (MFin) degree from the University of Toronto. Yasir is a member of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario (CA, CPA) and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designations (CAIA).

Elena Boeva

US COO, Aflac Global Investments

Elena Boeva is the US Chief Operating Officer for Aflac Global Investments, with responsibility for managing due diligence and onboarding, operations and data management functions. She joined the firm as the Head of Operational Due Diligence and Onboarding of externally managed mandates in 2015. Previously, Elena worked at Guggenheim Fund Solutions responsible for operational due diligence, counterparty risk management and fund launches for Irish QIF, Cayman SPC and UCITS platforms. Prior to joining Guggenheim, Ms. Boeva worked at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board in the Due Diligence and Advisory group responsible for conducting operational due diligence and bespoke structuring for alternative investments. She also worked at Towers Watson, Morgan Stanley and Ernst & Young.

Wei Liu

CFA, FRM

Lead Partner – Public Markets, Clocktower Group

Wei is the lead partner for Clocktower’s public markets practice and leads its initiatives in China. He is a member of the firm’s management and investment committees. In 2011, Wei joined Clocktower Group as a risk analyst, improving the risk monitoring functions for its fund of funds product. In this role Wei was an integral part of developing Clocktower’s proprietary risk system, Abacus. In 2013, Wei’s role expanded, and he became the Head of Risk, overseeing the firm’s risk management function more broadly. This role included hedge fund manager position-level risk measurement, manager monitoring, risk management due diligence, and broader positioning summaries of the global macro hedge fund community.

In 2018, Wei became a Partner, managing the investment due diligence for Clocktower’s macro seeding platform and advising clients on their hedge fund portfolios across asset classes. Also, around this time Wei began to develop Clocktower’s China business by building a robust local network and developing an on-the-ground research effort in the region. Today, Wei leads Clocktower’s public markets group, which houses both the macro and China hedge fund investment teams who cover all manager research and manager monitoring.

Prior to joining Clocktower, Wei was a part of Seal Capital, a global macro hedge fund based in Los Angeles. He started as a Risk and Systems Analyst, building up various risk measurement models from scratch across all asset classes, with a particular focus on fixed income and FX. During his second year, Wei’s role expanded to include risk manager and desk quant responsibilities, monitoring portfolio risk, and providing market-related analysis.

Wei started his career in 2009 at Trust Company of the West (“TCW”), a $180 billion investment management company. He worked on the Mortgage-Backed Security (“MBS”) desk, supporting the research team on various projects.

Wei graduated from the University of Southern California in 2009, with a MS in Mathematical Finance. Wei received a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Fudan University in Shanghai, China. At the age of 16 Wei received first prize and became the National Olympia Champion in China. He also holds a Financial Risk Manager distinction and the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

John Bowman

CFA

Executive Vice President, CAIA Association

John serves as Executive Vice President for the CAIA Association, overseeing the industry leading CAIA charter, thought leadership and content development, and CAIA’s Asia Pacific strategy. John has devoted over 20 years to the asset management industry to recover the narrative of the value that the investment profession bring to society. He is a staunch public advocate for market integrity, long-termism, investor outcomes, diversity, human dignity and educational standards, as necessary ingredients to building a sustainable and healthy profession. John previously served as Managing Director for the Americas for CFA Institute, a region comprised of 40+ countries from Canada, the U.S., Central America, South America and the Caribbean. Bowman joined CFA Institute in 2004 after holding several industry positions. He served as a portfolio manager at Mellon Growth Advisors (MGA), where he was responsible for portfolio construction and stock selection for the MGA International Growth and MGA Global Growth strategies. Bowman also served as a portfolio manager for the International Growth Opportunities Strategy at State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) in its Global Fundamental Strategies Group. John is a prolific writer and commentator, frequently appearing in industry and business publications such as the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Pension and Investments, Financial Advisor, The Independent, Wealthmanagement.com and CNBC. Bowman earned a BS in Business Administration from Mary Washington College and is a CFA charterholder.

Michael Stamm

Director – Financing & Collateral Management, State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB)

Mike is the Director of Financing and Collateral Management at the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB).  He oversees liquidity optimization and efficient financing related to leverage implementation and securities lending and borrowing. Prior to SWIB Mike was Vice President of Treasury at Highbridge Capital Management focusing on Prime Broker financing and margin optimization.

Claire Thornton

Senior Manager – Balance Sheet Management Investments, AustralianSuper

Claire is Senior Manager of the Balance Sheet Management function within Capital Markets.  In this position, she is responsible for securities lending, collateral management, and liquidity risk management for the fund.  Prior to joining AustralianSuper, she was Assistant Treasurer at Medibank Private, Australia’s largest private health insurer.   

Wayne Kozun

Chief Investment Officer, Forthlane Partners

Wayne Kozun is the Chief Investment Officer of Forthlane Partners, a Multi-Family Office based in Toronto whose mission is to professionalize and humanize how families engage with their wealth and each other.  In his role Wayne works with clients to design their Strategic Asset Allocation using a goals-based framework.  He is also responsible for designing Forthlane Partners’ Funds across all asset classes, including Public Equity, Private Equity, Hedge Funds, Real Estate, Credit, Impact Investing, Real Assets and Fixed Income.

Previously Wayne spent 22 years at the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan where he last served as the Senior Vice-President of Public Equities.  In previous roles Wayne led the Fixed Income & Alternatives and Tactical Asset Allocation departments of OTPP. In these roles he oversaw C$75B of assets. Wayne currently serves on the board of the Institute for Quantum Computing in Waterloo.  He has served on several boards in the past including Camelot UK Lottery, Maple Leaf Foods, the Pacific Pension and Investing Institute, the Michael Garron Hospital Foundation and the Advisory Board for Campbell Lutyens.  He holds a BESc from Western University and an MBA from the Ivey School of Business and he is a CFA® charterholder.

Elena Manola-Bonthond

CAIA, PhD

Chief Investment Officer, CERN Pension Fund

Andrew Garrett

Senior Principal – Real Estate, IMCO

Andrew is responsible for a wide range of executive activities relating to growing IMCO’s $11+ Billion Global Real Estate portfolio through strategy development, proactive asset management, and seeking out new investment opportunities. IMCO has over $73B AUM, and is the only Ontario fund manager purpose built to onboard public clients such as pensions, insurance, municipal reserve funds, and endowments.

Andrew sits on the board advisory committees for a number of Canadian and US real estate private equity firms. He has significant non-profit sector experience founding a B Corp certified social enterprise to help incubate social purpose real estate projects. He currently volunteers on non-profit boards supporting social purpose real estate projects, youth programs and the visual arts at Art Gallery of Ontario.

Andrew holds a Global Executive MBA from Kellogg School Management (Chicago, Hong Kong, Toronto) and Real Estate Development Certification from MIT Centre for Real Estate.

Des Saraph

PhD

Dr. Des Saraph is a researcher and modeler with experience designing, developing, and deploying to production scalable, distributed machine learning (ML) systems and quantitative trading strategies. While currently on garden leave, Des is collaborating on academic research with faculty at Stanford University and Yale University. His research interests are broadly at the intersection of machine learning and social science. In one of his current projects, he is researching the relationship between companies’ public disclosure and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) policies. From 2015 to earlier this year, Des was at Two Sigma, where he researched and developed quantitative alpha strategies across asset classes by applying innovative modeling techniques to complex datasets. Des has served as a hands-on technical advisor and mentor through the Insight Fellows program for Ph.D. graduates transitioning to industry careers. He has advised on data science and machine learning (ML) best practices and creative solutions for real-world problems in a wide range of areas including predictive analytics, computer vision, time series, recommender systems, clustering, and natural language processing (NLP). Des completed his Ph.D. at Stanford University, where he applied NLP and ML at scale to structured and unstructured corporate disclosure data to better understand incentives and actions of managers and predict future financial performance of companies, with the end goal of informing and improving investor decisions. Prior to Stanford, Deswas a management consultant at Oliver Wyman serving Fortune 500 clients in US and international markets with data-driven, insightful, and actionable results including competitive intelligence, salesforce performance uplift, optimal variable annuity product pricing, and accurate investment benchmarks. Des holds a B.Math. and M.Math. from the University of Waterloo and a Ph.D. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. During his school years, Des actively participated in numerous mathematics, science, and geography competitions. He won the national championships of the Canadian Geographic Challenge and was a member of the four-person Canadian team that won gold at the National Geographic World Championship.

Pierre Barber

CFA

Portfolio Manager, Private Assets – Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA)

Pierre is a Portfolio Manager of Private Assets for the Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA).  The CMPA is a not-for-profit association in Canada that protects Canadian physicians against malpractice suits and promotes safe medical care in Canada.  Prior to joining the Private Assets team, Pierre helped manage the public assets at the CMPA.  Before joining the CMPA, Pierre worked at MD Management.  Pierre is a CFA charterholder and is a former Board member of the CFA Ottawa Society.  Pierre has an honours degree in Mathematics from McMaster University.

Redon Gallani

Principal – Sustainable Investing, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB)

Redon Gallani is a Principal at CPPIB where he works on sustainable investing activities, including ESG research, integration and engagement across the fund.  Prior to CPPIB, Redonwas a strategy advisor at Enbridge, and before that he was a commercial advisor for carbon management at BP, with both roles based out of Calgary. Redon earned his MA in Economics from Queen’s University and Honours BA (First Class) in Economics from the University of Calgary.

Mackenzie Putici

CMS Certified Sommelier

In-house Sommelier, CAASA and Founder, New World Wine Tours & Eating Through TO

Mackenzie Putici is the founder of New World Wine Tours and Eating Through TO as a CMS certified sommelier, educator, and culinary travel enthusiast he crafts memorable experiences for those looking to taste the best of global cuisine here in Toronto. Mackenzie also acts as the in-house sommelier of CAASA and always brings a top-quality tasting experience to every event!

Jennifer Han

Chief Counsel & Head of Regulatory Affairs, Managed Funds Association

Jennifer Han is Executive Vice President, Chief Counsel, and Head of Regulatory Affairs at Managed Funds Association (MFA). Jennifer is responsible for the strategy and execution of the Association’s U.S. regulatory advocacy and leads MFA’s regulatory engagement. She advises MFA members on legal, regulatory, and compliance changes and/or guidance impacting the alternative investment industry, including investment advisers, commodity trading advisors, and commodity pool operators. She has extensive experience working with policymakers and regulators, such as throughout the 2008 financial crisis, post-crisis, and to the refinement of today’s regulatory framework. She engages regularly with legislative policymakers and regulators, including the SEC, CFTC, Department of Treasury, Federal Reserve, NFA, ESMA, UK FCA, and IOSCO, among many others.

Jennifer joined MFA in 2006 as legal counsel and has served in a few different capacities before joining MFA’s executive leadership team. Prior to joining MFA, Jennifer was a staff attorney in the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations at the SEC, where she conducted inspections and examinations and advised on legal and compliance matters relating to developments in securities regulations and industry practices. Jennifer began her legal career as an associate with Pickard and Djinis LLP, a boutique securities law firm in Washington, D.C.

She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University and her Juris Doctor from American University. While in law school, she was an Editor of the American University International Law Review. Jennifer is a member in good standing of the Virginia bar.

Cameron Boyce

Associate, British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI)

Cameron Boyce is focused on BCI’s cryptocurrency and blockchain efforts. In his role on the Partnership Portfolio, Cameron focuses on absolute return investing across funds, co-investments and direct deals. The team seeks to capture compelling investment opportunities across the entire capital structure within public and private companies. Cameron has prior experience working in an Strategic Asset Allocation, and a Global Macro Hedge Fund.

With $199.6 billion of managed assets, British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) is the provider of investment management services for British Columbia’s public sector and one of the largest asset managers in Canada. BCI seeks investment opportunities around the world and across a range of asset classes that convert savings into productive capital. Our investment returns play a significant role in helping our institutional clients build a financially secure future for their beneficiaries.