Our speakers will cover every major asset class and region, giving you a comprehensive overview of the latest news in the world's major markets.
Our moderator for the day is Dominic O'Connell. Dominic is the business presenter of the Radio 4 Today Programme. He was formerly Business Editor of The Sunday Times, since 2010, and joined the paper in 2001. Before that, he was part of the launch team of Sunday Business. Under his editorship, the paper broke a series of big business stories including the news of BHS's pending administration, and previously the Pfizer bid for Astra Zeneca, the largest ever attempted takeover of a British company. As well as his role on the Today Programme, Dominic also appears regularly on Business Live on BBC World News and the News Channel, on World Service Radio business output, and contributes to the online business pages.
Andrew is Head of Smaller Companies at abrdn. He is responsible for the management of the European Smaller Companies strategy which includes a Luxembourg SICAV fund, UK OEIC fund and a number of segregated mandates. Andrew began his career as a Chartered Accountant at Arthur Andersen, before becoming sector analyst for Sutherlands Stockbrokers. He joined Edinburgh Fund Managers in 1999 and Kempen Capital Management in 2006. In 2011, he became co-manager of all UK smaller company mandates as Scottish Widows Investment Partnership, prior to joining abrdn in August 2014 as Deputy Head of Smaller Companies before being appointed Head of Smaller Companies in March 2020. Andrew has an LLB (Hons), CA and IMC.
Andrzej is a fund manager in the Multi-Asset Funds team. His responsibilities cover the portfolio management and ongoing development of both institutional and retail multi-asset funds and he leads on the management of the award-winning L&G Multi-Index fund range. Prior to joining LGIM in July 2014, he was a fund manager at Aviva Investors. He is a CFA charterholder and completed the MSc programme in Finance at Bocconi University in Milan. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and social science from Utrecht University. An ESG advocate, Andrzej holds GARP’s Sustainability and Climate Risk (SCR®) Certificate and lectures at Queen Mary University of London on Portfolio Construction and Asset Allocation.
Ariel Bezalel started his career at Jupiter and has been a member of the fixed income team since 1998 and a fund manager since 2000. He is currently an Investment Manager in the Fixed Income team and manages the Jupiter Strategic Bond Fund (Unit Trust) and the Jupiter Dynamic Bond fund (SICAV). Ariel has a degree in economics from Middlesex University.
Ben Russon is a vice president and portfolio manager based in Leeds as part of Franklin Templeton Fund Management. He is the lead manager on the Franklin UK Opportunities Fund and co-manager on the Franklin UK Managers' Focus Fund. Mr. Russon joined the Franklin Templeton UK Equity team during 2013. Prior to this he spent 13 years as a fund manager with Newton Investment Management, specialising in UK Equities. He was the lead manager on the Newton UK Opportunities Fund from 2005, alongside associated institutional mandates. Previously he worked at Newton in the research function, specialising in the global food retail sector. Wider responsibilities also included global equity investment with the Newton Osprey Fund. Mr. Russon graduated from the University of Edinburgh with an M.A. (joint honours) in geography and economics. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.
Blake Crawford, Executive Director, is a portfolio manager within the J.P. Morgan Asset Management International Equity Group, based in London. He is a member of the Dynamic investment team. An employee since 2008, Blake joined the firm as a graduate trainee. Blake obtained a BSc in Economics from the University of Bath and is a CFA charterholder.
Jason is a portfolio manager in the Multi-Asset team at Ninety One. He is co-portfolio manager of the Multi-Asset Income strategies and his research responsibilities include equities. He joined the firm in 2015 to work on the income strategy as an analyst with responsibility for its equity exposure. Prior to this he worked for Pan Asset Capital Management as an assistant fund manager on multi-asset portfolios. Previously, Jason worked for BlackRock as an analyst. Jason studied Law at Oxford University. He holds an Investment Management Certificate and is a CFA® charterholder.
John is a member of Newton’s equity income team and is the lead portfolio manager for dividend-focused Large Cap Value strategies. John is responsible for creating the Income Stock strategy to meet demand from clients seeking attractively valued higher dividend income while not sacrificing dividend growth. He is also the lead portfolio manager for the Equity Income strategy, which emphasizes dividend growth stocks, and a senior research analyst on the Dynamic Large Cap Value strategy. John joined Newton in September 2021, following the integration of Mellon Investments Corporation’s equity and multi-asset capabilities into the Newton Investment Management Group. Before joining Newton, John was a senior portfolio manager and analyst at Mellon Investments Corporation and The Boston Company Asset Management (both BNY Mellon group companies). He has managed dividend strategies for the firm since 2005. Previously, John was Chair of Mellon’s Proxy & Governance committee.
Julian Cook is a portfolio specialist in the Equity Division at T. Rowe Price, covering the US Large-Cap Growth and Blue Chip Growth Equity Strategies. He is a vice president of T. Rowe Price International Ltd. Mr. Cook has 27 years of investment experience. He joined the firm in 2016. Prior to joining T. Rowe Price, he was the head of US Equity Sales in Europe for Morgan Stanley and Macquarie. He was also a US portfolio manager at Royal and Sun Alliance Investment Management.
Keith Balmer is a Director and Portfolio Manager within the Multi-Asset Investment team. He joined the company in 2016. Previously he was a Director at BlackRock within their multi-asset division and Man Group working with AHL the systematic managed futures manager. Keith graduated from Exeter University with a BSc (Hons.) in Mathematics with European Studies.
Lewis is responsible for communicating the Henley Investment Centre's fixed interest investment capabilities to external and internal clients. Lewis began his investment career with the firm within the Henley Investment Communication team in 2000. He joined the Fixed Interest team in 2003 as Product Director and took up his current role of Head of Fixed Income Products in 2014. He holds a BA (Honours) in International Relations from Sussex University.
Luke Barrs is Head of the Fundamental Equity Client Portfolio Management Team in EMEA at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Luke oversees the building of the Fundamental Equity franchise, drives business expansion, and communicates Fundamental Equity strategies to clients in EMEA. In his role as an Emerging Markets specialist, he is focused on helping clients gain appropriate access to emerging markets, as well as assisting with their strategic asset allocation decision making process. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs Asset Management he received a first-class B.A. (Hons) in Economics & Management from Exeter College, University of Oxford. He was awarded the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation in 2013.
Mike is Head of Sustainable Investments and co-fund manager of the RL Sustainable Leaders, RL World and RL Diversified trusts as well as the RL Global Sustainable Equity Fund. He has managed Sustainable Leaders since November 2003. Mike originally trained and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst & Young. Mike has spent the majority of his career assessing environmental, social and governance issues and how they influence investment decisions. He is a specialist in sustainable investing and one of the few fund managers in this area with such long tenure.
Nicholas Ware is a Portfolio Manager at Janus Henderson Investors, a position he has held since 2018. Nicholas joined Henderson as a director of loans in 2009 and became a director of strategic fixed income in 2012. From 2005 to 2009, he was a Senior Portfolio Analyst at Credit Hedge Fund Manager Highland Capital Management, where he helped build its European business. In 2004, he joined New Amsterdam Capital Management as a senior credit analyst. Prior to that, he worked at Ahli United Bank (UK) originating small and mid-market private equity transactions from 2002 to 2004. Nicholas spent 2000 to 2002 at SEB Merchant Bank originating senior and mezzanine transactions in the Nordic market. He was with Ford Credit, where he was responsible for establishing its subsidiary in Sweden, for two years before SEB Merchant Bank. He began his career in 1995 at PricewaterhouseCoopers and qualified as a Chartered Accountant.
Nick manages income mandates alongside Adrian Frost and Andy Marsh. After studying economics with French at the University of Nottingham, he started his career at F&C Asset Management in 2003. He spent four years there as an analyst and assistant fund manager on the UK and pan-European equities desks. In 2007 Nick moved to Polar Capital as a fund manager on the UK long/short equity hedge fund. He joined Artemis in 2012.
Nicolas is a Senior Portfolio Manager and forms part of the Investment Grade Credit team within our global Active Fixed Income platform. He is responsible for managing both global and sterling credit portfolios. He is the lead portfolio manager of the AXA Sterling Credit Short Duration Bond Fund, the AXA Global Short Duration Bond Fund and AXA WF Global Short Duration Bonds Fund. In addition to his portfolio management responsibilities, Nicolas heads the Sterling Credit Alpha Group during the Fixed Income Department’s quarterly Forecasting Forum and is responsible for providing relative value coverage of various sectors within AXA IM’s Portfolio Manager Analyst credit research organisation. Nicolas initially joined AXA IM in 2006. Prior to his appointment within the investment team, he was a fixed income product specialist responsible for the development of the UK, US and high yield product ranges. Nicolas holds two Master’s degrees, one in Diplomacy and International Strategy from the London School of Economics and one in IT Engineering from Telecom Sud Paris. He is also a CFA Charterholder. In August 2017, Nicolas was among 25 European investment professionals named a “Rising Star of Asset Management” by the Financial News.
Philip is a investment specialist manager in the Balanced Team. He joined Baillie Gifford in 2014 on the investment operations graduate programme and moved to the Clients Department after a brief spell with the firm’s Performance Analysis Team. Philip graduated MA (Hons) in Business and Finance from Heriot-Watt University in 2014.
Richard Woolnough joined M&G in January 2004 and manages Optimal Income, Corporate Bond and Strategic Corporate Bond, three of M&G’s flagship fixed income strategies. Richard began his career at Lloyds Merchant Bank in 1985, moving to Italian insurer Assicurazioni Generali two years later, followed by SG Warburg. In 1995, he became a fund manager at Old Mutual. Richard graduated from the London School of Economics with a BSc in economics.
Prior to joining JOHCM, Robert worked for Orbis Investment Advisory as an equity analyst for the Orbis Global Equity Strategy, focused on the retail, media, technology, oil & gas and insurance sectors. Previously, Robert worked as a Maths and Physics Teacher at Wellington College. Robert holds a BEng and MEng from Cambridge University and is a CFA Charterholder.
Sunil heads the team which manages long-only multi-asset funds and mandates.He is also a member of the Multi-Assets leadership group and a contributor to the AIMS investment process. Prior to joining Aviva Investors, Sunil was a Senior Multi-Asset Portfolio Manager at Santander Asset Management, having been Head of Global Asset Allocation at Hermes Investment Management and Head of Market Strategy at the British Telecom Pension Scheme. He also spent 10 years at BlackRock Investment Management in a number of roles including portfolio management, research and strategy.
Thomas Hanson, Head of Europe High Yield, is a member of the Global Leveraged Finance team. Prior to his current role, Thomas worked for Janus Henderson Investors, where he was manager of a number of high yield bond funds. Before that, Thomas worked for Aerion and Lazard Asset Management in a variety of analysis and portfolio management roles. He has been in the industry since 2000 and started with the firm in 2019. Thomas has a BA (Joint Hons) in French and Management Studies from the University of Reading. He is a CFA charterholder.