Rebecca Anderton-Davies

Rebecca Anderton-Davies is head of ETF Accelerator for EMEA. Prior to her current role, Anderton-Davies was a senior relationship manager within the Strategic Client Coverage Group in the Global Markets Division, where she delivered the full breadth of the firm’s expertise to key asset managers and hedge funds. Before that, Anderton-Davies was a foreign exchange sales trader. She joined Goldman Sachs as an analyst in 2009 and was named managing director in 2019.

Antonio Barattelli

Antonio Barattelli is the Head of the Investment Management Unit and the rapporteur for the Investment Management Standing Committee of ESMA. The unit leads ESMA’s work related to policy and supervisory convergence in the investment management sector, namely in relation to the UCITS Directive, AIFMD, ELTIF and MMF Regulation as well as cross-sectoral files such as SFDR and PRIIPs.

Prior to joining ESMA, Barattelli was a senior associate at a major law firm in Luxembourg. He qualified as a lawyer in Italy. He holds a law degree from the University of Padua, a master’s degree in European Litigation from the University of Luxembourg and the University of Strasbourg as well as a Postgraduate Diploma in EU Competition Law from the King’s College London.

Abigail Bell

Abigail Bell advises on the structuring, establishment and distribution of private funds including hedge, hybrid and private equity products, both regulated and unregulated, across a broad range of asset classes and domiciled in a range of onshore and offshore jurisdictions. She also advises on the negotiation of seed investments, post-launch acceleration capital transactions and revenue sharing arrangements.

Bell is ranked for hedge funds by Chambers UK and recognized as “Leading Individual” by The Legal 500. She has been named one of the 50 leading women in hedge funds by The Hedge Fund Journal and a ‘Rising Star’ by Euromoney.

Toby Belsom

Toby Belsom has spent 30 years in fund management, ESG and investment research at Aviva Investors, Henderson Investors, UN Principles for Responsible Investment and ShareAction. The last five years he has managed UN Principles of Responsible Investment team that develops market guidance to support signatories across asset classes and strategies in their response to regulation such as SFDR and commitments such as net zero. His team is also developing content for PRI’s annual reporting framework. Belsom sits on the Advisory Boards for the ESG data business Novata and investor relations business CEN Advisory.

Dr. Florian Bentele

Dr Florian Bentele’s team is based in Frankfurt, Munich, Luxembourg, London and New York. They cover all legal matters regarding Allianz Global Investors’ and Allianz Capital Partners’ private markets business.

Before joining Allianz Global Investors in 2007, Bentele worked in the legal department of Deutsche Bank for three years. He previously spent more than eight years in private practice (including at German law firm Hengeler Mueller, during which time he did a secondment at Goldman Sachs Asset Management in London).

Etienne Burger

Etienne Burger has more than 25 years of international management and consulting experience. An expert in UK Life, Retirement, Wealth and Asset management, Burger’sprimary focus lies on advising leading insurers, wealth and asset managers on strategy, growth, distribution, operations as well as mergers and acquisitions. He has successfully designed and delivered multiple large-scale transformation programmes, both as a consultant and as an industry executive. Prior to joining PwC, Burger was the Head of Strategy & Corporate development at a listed UK Wealth manager.

Gavin Byrnes

Gavin Byrnes is a Managing Director and Head of Alternative Products for UBS Asset Management with more than 22 years’ experience in the financial services industry. He is responsible for the product strategy, design and development of UBS Asset Management’s US$275 billion alternative product offering. His responsibilities encompass the real asset and private markets business in addition to the hedge fund businesses across UBS O’Connor, a hedge fund and private credit platform, and UBS Hedge Funds Solutions, one of the largest hedge fund allocators globally. Byrnes also has responsibility for the product offering within the Credit Investment Group, a leading global non-investment grade credit manager.

Dr. Ben Caldecott

Dr Ben Caldecott is the founding Director of the Oxford Sustainable Finance Group at the University of Oxford Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment. At the University of Oxford, he is the inaugural Lombard Odier Associate Professor of Sustainable Finance, the first ever endowed professorship of sustainable finance, and a Supernumerary Fellow at Oriel College, Oxford. Ben is also the founding Director and Principal Investigator of the UK Centre for Greening Finance & Investment (CGFI), established by UK Research and Innovation in 2021 as the national centre to accelerate the adoption and use of climate and environmental data and analytics by financial institutions internationally. Ben specialises in environment, energy, and sustainability issues and works at the intersection between finance, public policy, and academe, having held senior roles in each domain. He has authored and edited a substantial number of publications related to sustainability and is an experienced media commentator and public speaker. His expertise and expert evidence have been recognised in high profile legal cases, including in the Federal Court of Australia and the High Court of England and Wales. He is a regular peer reviewer and has a number of trustee, board, and advisory panel appointments, including serving on the UK Climate Change Committee’s Adaptation Committee, DBS Bank’s Board Sustainability Committee, UK Export Finance’s Export Guarantees Advisory Council, and as a Trustee of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

Alastair Campbell

For ten years, Alastair Campbell was Tony Blair’s right-hand man as communications strategist and chief spokesperson. An influential voice and commentator on the political stage, he is well-known as a writer and campaigner, particularly on mental health awareness. He is the Editor At Large of The New European.

Campbell has written seventeen books, including ten volumes of diaries, four novels, a number one best-selling analysis of what it takes to win in politics, business, and sport, and two personal memoirs on depression and the pursuit of happiness. He co-hosts the podcast The Rest is Politics with Rory Stewart, where they tackle the latest developments in global politics and share their insights into the complex relationships within Parliament. Campbell frequently contributes articles in the media, including The Guardian and the Telegraph, and for several years wrote a monthly interview for GQ magazine.

He works with many charities, as an advisor and often as a fund-raiser, including Leukaemia Research, Bloodwise, and a number of mental health charities, including the Time to Change campaign and Alcohol Concern.

Mike Carruthers

Mike Carruthers is a Senior Managing Director and the Co-Chief Investment Officer for Blackstone Credit’s European and APAC private credit businesses. He is involved in the origination, researching, structuring and managing of our investments.

Carruthers re-joined the London team in 2022 after having previously relocated to Toronto, Canada to focus on BX Credit origination efforts in Canada and the Midwest. He previously worked in the London office of Blackstone Credit from 2006 – 2019. Carruthers graduated with Honors in Business Administration from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.

Albertha Charles

Albertha Charles is Asset & Wealth Management Leader for PwC UK. She has more than 20 years’ experience in Financial Services, specialising in Asset and Wealth Management, Private Equity and Insurance. Charles advises a range of UK and global AWM clients on the value of their businesses, the implications of potential strategic options as well as the opportunities for value creation and growth.

Charles is a member of the Prince’s Responsible Business Network and helped to define PwC’s inclusion strategy. She has been listed in Empower Top 100 Ethnic Minority Senior Executives lists for five consecutive years.

Jo Clube

Jo Clube is Director of Finance Technical at Aviva Plc, responsible for all aspect of technical compliance in corporate reporting, including IFRS, Solvency and Sustainability. A key focus is sustainability reporting, monitoring and implementing developments to ensure Aviva remains at the forefront of best practice. Jo also has responsibility for overseeing the technical aspects of IFRS 17 implementation, the new accounting standard for insurance contracts. Jo is a member of ICAEW’s Financial Reporting Committee and a member of the UK Endorsement Board’s Preparer’s Advisory Group. Prior to joining Aviva Jo was part of the technical accounting team at Pricewaterhouse Coopers which she joined after graduating from the University of Edinburgh.

Aisling Curtis

Aisling Curtis approx. has 25 years’ experience in Telecommunications and Technology Sectors, including with Microsoft. She led global, regional and also in-country teams across the UK, Italy, Netherlands, Germany and South Africa. Her remits have included P&L, Strategy, Marketing, Technology, Sales, Operations and Channel.

Curtis holds Board seats on the National Electricity Supplier, the ESB and Shannon Development, was previously an advisor to the IMI Council, the National Maternity Hospital Foundation and is a dedicated member of the 30% Club. She did her Masters in Business Economics and Strategy at UCC, studied at the Insead Data and AI School and recently completed the Cambridge University Sustainability Leadership in 2021-2022.

John Donohoe

John Donohoe is the Founder & Group CEO of Carne Group. John has over 25 years’ experience in the financial services industry and sits on and chairs the boards of some of the largest and most complex mutual and hedge funds. He also provides clients and industry peers with considerable expertise on governance, product development, distribution and regulatory developments. He is a thought leader in the ongoing development of hedge fund governance and oversight, as well as the digitization of asset management.

John was Managing Director of Deutsche Bank for 12 years, serving as an executive/non-executive director on various Deutsche Bank boards, rising to become CEO of Europe, Asia and offshore. Prior to establishing Carne in 2004, John was a Senior Vice President of State Street. He qualified as a chartered accountant with KPMG, Dublin, and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. He holds a first-class honours degree in Accounting and Finance from Dublin City University and is a member of multiple industry associations. In 2011 John co-founded Funds Congress, which is now one of the largest complementary asset management conferences in the world. He is recognised as an industry expert and is a regular speaker at international industry conferences.

Terry Donohoe

Terry Donohoe is Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer at Ignition Advice, a global digital advice technology business with a mission to power financial institutions to close the advice gap. Donohoe led the expansion of Ignition Advice into the Europe and UK markets and has 25 years’ experience in financial services, including technology, operations and propositional transformation strategies and implementations. Prior to Ignition Advice, He was founder and CEO of Omnium Investment Platform and Commercial Director for Natulis Group AG.

Richard Frase

Richard Frase advises on all aspects of financial services law. He has extensive experience of the legal and regulatory aspects of the UK financial services industry, gained in private practice, in-house and with the regulators, covering both wholesale and retail markets and including regulation and compliance, derivatives and trading documentations.

Frase was head of litigation at the Personal Investment Authority (later the Financial Services Authority and now the Financial Conduct Authority) from 1995-1998, where he dealt with a range of compliance and enforcement matters involving life companies and financial advisers. His published works include Sweet & Maxwell’s ‘Law and Regulation of Investment Management’ (3rd edition 2019) and ‘Hedge Funds and the Law’ (3rd edition 2021).

Des Fullam

Des is Chief Regulatory and Client Solutions Officer at Carne. He has over 20 years’ experience in senior roles in the funds sector. At Carne, he has worked with many leading asset managers to guide them in establishing their European fund ranges and providing bespoke solutions to their product needs. His experience extends to working with all types of UCITS and AIFs and he has assisted a number of hedge fund managers in launching UCITS products. Des sits on the Irish Funds Council, is a member of the EFAMA working group on management companies and is a regular speaker on industry panels.

Des qualified as a barrister at the Kings Inns in Dublin and also has an MBA in Financial Services from the UCD Smurfit Business School. He has a B.A. from University College Dublin and an M.Litt. in modern American History from the University of St Andrews. He is a Member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment, the International Bar Association and the Institute of Banking.

Martyn Gilbey

Martyn Gilbey is responsible for providing the strategy, leadership and management of Franklin Templeton’s overall business operations for the UK. Prior to joining Franklin Templeton in August 2017, Gilbey worked for Aberdeen Asset Management, managing the UK Distribution business covering Retail, Institutional and Captive channels. He has also worked for a number of asset managers and both in the UK and overseas in Asia Pacific and the Americas, including Barclays, Insight Investment, SWIP and Aberdeen.

Gilbey graduated from University College London in 1994 with an honours degree in English Literature, and also holds the Investment Management Certificate.

Bryony Gordon

Author and journalist Bryony Gordon is one of The Telegraph’s best-loved columnists and features writers. Freelancing for other publications and a bestselling author, Gordon is one of today’s most popular writers. Also, an advocate for mental health issues, having struggled with depression and anxiety, Bryony regularly speaks on this topic.

Known for her column ‘How the Other Half Lives’ Gordon’s writing became a staple for any Telegraph reader, cementing her as one of today’s great modern journalists. Her work has also taken her to interview countless influential figures including Lord Heseltine and Ricky Gervais.

Her published books have received intense critical acclaim and reached the bestseller lists. Coupling honesty with her natural charm, Gordon is an ideal speaker to discuss journalism, current affairs and mental health.

Patrick Hoffmann

Within the investment fund department of the CSSF, Patrick Hoffman is in charge of following up on a diverse range of domestic and international regulatory subjects relating to Luxembourg undertakings for collective investment. Hoffman also assesses the impact of new technologies, such as DLT, on the investment fund industry in Luxembourg, and he is leading the CSSF investment fund department’s efforts regarding DLT and crypto-assets. Before joining the CSSF in 2015, Hoffman worked in the audit department of a Luxembourg Big 4 audit firm.

Barry Kenneth

Barry is responsible for setting the Pension Protection Fund’s (PPF) investment strategy and making sure they invest their assets in line with it. Barry came to the PPF from Morgan Stanley, where he was Managing Director and Head of UK fixed income institutional and pensions coverage.

Prior to this, Barry was Director at the Royal Bank of Scotland advising on risk management and balance sheet management solutions for large corporate clients. He later specialised in pensions and insurance companies. Barry holds a BA (Hons) in Accounting from the University of Abertay.

Bipul Kumar

Bipul is a Data and AI/ML leader at Google Cloud in the UK/I. He has over 25 years of experience in the field, and his passion is to simplify the data engineering process for engineers, analysts, and scientists. He has a strong understanding of Capital Markets, and before joining Google, he worked in the Finance industry.

In his role at Google Cloud, Bipul is responsible for leading a team of experts specialising in Data Management, Analytics, and AI/ML. He develops strategy and works with leaders from customer organisations for successful implementation of Data Cloud.

Steven Libby

Steven Libby started his career at PwC San Francisco before moving to the Luxembourg office, where his focus is primarily on the asset and wealth management (AWM) industry, providing both assurance and advisory services.

Libby is the leader of the PwC EMEA AWM practice, a member of the PwC Global AWM Leadership team and a Board member of the Luxembourg fund association.

Libby’s client engagements involve providing assurance work for large international asset management and asset servicing players, as well as advice on product and industry trends. He services both traditional and alternative asset classes.

Alexandra Loydon

Alex is a Director in the Investment Division responsible for Partner engagement and the teams delivering SJP’s Investment, Banking and Private Client propositions into the Group’s Partnership.  She sits on two executive boards: Proposition and Distribution and also sponsors SJP’s initiative to engage young people in financial awareness.

A lawyer by background she joined SJP in 2010 and spent six years working alongside Partners advising individuals, families, entrepreneurs, trustees and corporates. She is passionate about enabling financial well-being through broadening awareness, creating financial security for clients and ensuring young people (especially young women) understand the importance of personal finance and independently planning for their futures.   She is a school governor and chairs the School’s Investment Committee.

Martin Moeller

Martin Moeller’s original background is in banking and wealth management, where he worked in different business leadership, global strategy and digital transformation roles. Today, he is Microsoft’s Director for Artificial Intelligence & Generative AI for Financial Services across EMEA, leading Microsoft’s partnerships with banks and insurers to help them transform their companies and products through applied AI and embed Artificial Intelligence into their organizations in a responsible and scalable manner.

Siobhan Noble

Siobhan is a seasoned digital strategist, change management specialist and business leader with more than 20 years of experience across technology, management consulting and financial services.

As Co-founder and former COO of fintech company, Leveris, Siobhan played a pivotal role in building a disruptive global digital banking B2B platform from the ground up.  Prior to that, she occupied senior leadership roles at Accenture and Bank of Ireland, specialising in digital strategy and the delivery of major global digital transformation programmes.

Siobhan currently leads the Product and Customer Success team at Carne, whose focus is on delivering market leading technology solutions to clients.

Mike O’Brien

Mike has held executive leadership roles within a number of leading global asset managers in London and New York. He brings extensive asset management experience, with a key focus throughout his career on innovation and technology-driven change in support of better client outcomes. A qualified actuary, during his executive career with JP Morgan Asset Management, BlackRock Investment Management and Barclays Global Investors, he was responsible for developing and leading global investment solutions, distribution and relationship management strategies.

Mike is a non-executive director of Carne Global Financial Services Limited, and he is a senior adviser to Osmosis Investment Management. He is also an investment adviser to the British Coal Pension Funds.

Previously, Mike served on the board of the UK NAPF and was a member of the UK NAPF Defined Benefit Council. He retired in 2020 from his role as Co-Head, Global Investment Solutions at JP Morgan Asset Management. Prior to his move to BlackRock in 2000, Mike qualified as an actuary with Towers Watson, where he served as an investment and risk consultant.

Mike graduated from Limerick University with a BSc in Applied Mathematics. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst and a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries.

Ciara O’Leary

Ciara O’Leary focuses her practice on investment funds, advising fund promoters and fund services firms on matters relating to the establishment, authorization, operation and ongoing maintenance of funds. O’Leary advises on all types of funds, including UCITS and Alternative Investment Funds. She has extensive experience handling matters pertaining to ETFs, alternative or structured UCITS and the use of derivatives and financial indices within the UCITS space. O’Leary is a member of the Irish Funds ETF working group.

Recognized in The Legal 500 EMEA (2021) for investment funds. O’Leary was highlighted for her “notable experience in ETFs”. Prior to joining Dechert, O’Leary was an investment management partner at another global law firm.

James O’Sullivan

James O’Sullivan is Head of Fund & Firm Authorisations in the Funds Supervision Division at the Central Bank of Ireland. He is responsible for the authorisation of investment funds and fund service providers and MIFID trading venues. Prior to this, O’Sullivan was Head of Funds Policy, which included responsibility for the domestic regulatory framework for funds in Ireland. He has represented the Central Bank at a range of European and International fora, including at ESMA’s Investment Management Standing Committee, and currently represents the authority at the IOSCO’s Investment Management Committee (C5).

Spencer Powell

At Just Climate, Spencer Powell leads sustainability and impact across the investment process. He previously spent three years at the Impact Management Project, where he led work on corporate disclosure as a technical facilitator and subject matter expert on measurement and disclosure of corporate sustainability. This work culminated in a secondment to the IFRS Foundation, where Powell worked on development of the newly formed International Sustainability Standards Board and led its technical work on climate-related. Prior to that, Spencer was the finance manager for Teranga Gold and started his career at KPMG in the energy and natural resources group in Toronto.

David Rae

David Rae is Managing Director, Head of EMEA Strategy and Advice. Based in London, he oversees the development of bespoke solutions for our institutional clients across EMEA. Rae has more than 20 years’ experience working with institutional clients, including pension funds, insurance companies and sovereign wealth funds. He has held a number of roles at Russell Investments. Between 2006 and 2012 he led the derivative overlay, LDI and implementation business for EMEA, and prior to that worked as a consultant in both London and Auckland.

Mikhaelle Schiappacasse

Mikhaelle Schiappacasse’s practice focuses on the structuring, establishment, management, marketing, and restructuring of fund platforms and investment funds, including hedge, debt, real estate, private equity and fund of funds, across a broad range of asset classes and fund domiciles. Ms. Schiappacasse also advises on the establishment of asset management businesses and acts for investment funds and their managers on general corporate, regulatory and compliance matters.

Ms. Schiappacasse is a Co-Head of Dechert’s Global ESG and Sustainability Practice, and in this capacity, she is a leading member of the firm’s ESG working groups and advises asset managers on compliance with the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) and the EU Taxonomy Regulation and other European ESG-related regulatory matters.

Mikhaelle Schiappacasse is recognized as a leader in her field including in The Legal 500 UK, the London Women in Finance Awards and the Hedge Fund Journal’s 50 Leading Women in Hedge Funds.

Rob Seminara

Rob Seminara is Head of Europe at Apollo, having joined in 2003. A member of the firm’s Management Committee, Seminara is based in London, having previously spent over a decade in Apollo’s New York office. He was a member of the Private Equity group at Evercore Partners and previously was employed by Lazard Frères & Co. in the firm’s Media & Communications group. Seminara is a member of the Board of Managers of MCC Holding Company LLC and Board member for Novolex. He graduated summa cum laude with a BS in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.

Padmesh Shukla

Padmesh Shukla is CIO of £14 billion Transport for London Pension Fund, where he has delivered major changes from diversifying the Fund’s bond and equities portfolio to building its over £6 billion alternatives programme, with non-UK assets making up close to 80% of the Fund. He led the Fund’s sustainability and engagement strategy, with the Fund announcing an ambitious Net Zero and “ESG tilted” investment targets late last year. Emerging markets and climate change are of particular interest to Shukla, having previously worked at the World Bank and the Centre for International Development.

Rory Stewart

Rory Stewart has been an academic, writer, adventurer, politician and diplomat. After time in the Army and the diplomatic service, he trekked across Afghanistan, was appointed a fellow at Harvard, and wrote a number of books before entering Parliament. He was a cabinet minister before his bid for the Conservative Party leadership, an often-heated contest to which he introduced a more moderate, progressive tone.

Stewart teamed up with former Labour strategist and communications director Alastair Campbell for the podcast The Rest is Politics. They also host the podcast Leading, and interrogate, converse with, and interview some of the world’s biggest names, from inside and outside of politics, about life, leadership or leading the way in their chosen field.

He is the co-author of Can Intervention Work? which examines the effects of political and military intervention on international affairs, human rights and how we understand nation building. Stewart is president of GiveDirectly, a nonprofit that lets donors send money directly to the world’s poorest households.

Nike Trost

Nike Trost heads the Asset Management, Funds & Pensions Market Analysis & Policy department. As Head of Department, she is responsible for delivering the FCA’s policy strategy in relation to the asset management sector and FCA regulated pensions.

Trost has 15 years’ regulatory experience gained from working across the FCA, including in asset management supervision, oversight of primary capital markets transactions and heading the FCA’s prospectus approval function.

Previously she was the senior manager of the FCA’s Markets Policy department, where she gained extensive policy making experience and oversaw several teams delivering a broad policy portfolio.

Mark Walker

Mark Walker is Chief Investment Officer of Coal Pension Trustees Services (CPT), the in-house executive responsible for the £19 billion of investments of the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme and the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme.

Prior to joining CPT, Walker was Managing Director and Global Chief Investment Officer of the Univest Company, Unilever’s internal investment group. He is also a non-executive Director of People’s Investment Limited, a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries and a member of the 300 Club.

Karen Ward

Karen Ward has considerable experience in economic and financial analysis, and public policymaking. Before joining J.P. Morgan in 2017, she was Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers for the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, advising on macroeconomic issues including fiscal strategy and Brexit. Ward worked for a decade at HSBC’s investment bank in a number of roles, including Chief European Economist. She started her career at the Bank of England providing supporting analysis for the Monetary Policy Committee.

In 2023, Ward served on the UK government’s Economic Advisory Council. She has been named one of Financial News’s 100 Most Influential Women in European Finance every year since 2019.

Kirsty Wark

Kirsty Wark is one of Britain’s most experienced broadcast journalists. She has presented the BBC’s flagship nightly current affairs show Newsnight for 25 years. Wark has also hosted the ground-breaking Late Show, election specials and live stadium events.

Wark presented The Review Show for more than a decade, conducting long form interviews with everyone from Margaret Thatcher, Madonna and Harold Pinter to George Clooney, Toni Morrison and Philip Roth. Wark has won several major awards for her work, including BAFTA Awards for Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting, Journalist of the Year and Best Television Presenter.