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.
Mr. Watford is an executive vice president and portfolio manager in the London office, focusing on high yield and multi-sector credit opportunities. He is a member of the diversified income, high yield, and credit research teams. Prior to joining PIMCO in 2007, Mr. Watford was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company and an investment banking analyst at Morgan Stanley. He has 21 years of investment experience and holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He also holds a master's degree in chemistry from the University of Oxford.
David Taylor began his career as an analyst in the research department at Wedd Durlacher and moved into fund management in 1987 with the Merchant Navy Officers Pension Fund. He joined Gartmore Investment Limited in 1991, during this time, he ran a combination of institutional funds and investment trusts, namely the Clydesdale Investment Trust and London & Strathclyde Trust. In 1995, he moved to LGT to manage small cap retail funds and latterly spent nearly seven years as head of UK smaller companies at HSBC Asset Management. He joined Chelverton Asset Management in January 2006 and has co-managed the Chelverton UK Equity Income Fund since launch.
Joined Ruffer in 2012. He graduated from the University of Glasgow School of Law in 2007 and spent four years working at Barclays in Glasgow, London and Singapore. He is a CFA charterholder and co-manager of two of Ruffer's flagship funds.
Gabrielle is responsible for Troy’s Global Equity Strategy and is Head of Research. Gabrielle was promoted to the board in 2020. She is the Fund Manager for the Trojan Global Equity Fund and the Electric & General Investment Fund. Gabrielle has 29 years’ investment experience, has managed global equity portfolios since 2001 and European portfolios since 1998. Joining Troy at the end of 2011, previously Gabrielle was a Senior Managing Director at Lazard Asset Management where she worked for 17 years and was responsible for Global and European portfolios. Gabrielle graduated from University College Dublin gaining a BA in History and Economics and an MA in Economics. She holds the ASIP qualification and is an Associate Member of the CFA Society of the UK. Gabrielle was appointed to the Board of Witan Investment Trust in August 2019.
George Pickard is an Investment Analyst at FSSA Investment Managers, part of First Sentier Investors. He joined FSSA Investment Managers as a graduate in 2014 and is responsible for providing research support to the portfolio managers, covering Asia Pacific equities. George has 9 years of investment experience. He graduated from Cambridge University with a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Master's degree in Chemistry. George is also a CFA Charterholder.
Helen joined Fulcrum as Investment Director in July 2023 from Legal & General Investment Management where she was looking after large UK institutional clients. Previously she has worked as a Relationship Manager at GMO, a Senior Strategist in the multi-asset team at UBS Asset Management and in a variety of client-facing and investment product-focused roles at AXA Rosenberg, Man Group and JP Morgan. Helen started her career working as an auditor with KPMG and graduated with a degree in Economics from the University of Exeter. At Fulcrum, Helen works as part of the Investment Team in a product specialist capacity as well as helping to maximise the overall client experience.
Junichi Takayama is an Investment Director with the Tokyo-based Nikko Asset Management Japan Equity team. Now based in London he acts as a direct conduit for the team’s investment process, research, and insights to UK-based clients. With over two decades of investment management industry experience in Japan and the US, he has a distinct East to West and West to East view of capital markets. He has regularly written for and been featured in UK publications for wealth managers, such as Investment Week and Money Marketing, providing commentary on Japanese equities and the RSMR-rated Nikko AM Japan Value Fund.
He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and Master of Business Administration with Honours from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) and Chartered Member of the Securities Analysts Association of Japan (CMA).
Matthew is the Director of Real Estate Securities and a Fund Manager at Gravis. He is responsible for the oversight of the VT Gravis UK Listed Property Fund and the VT Gravis Digital Infrastructure Income Fund. Matthew has more than two decades investment management experience and has a specialist focus on real estate securities and digital infrastructure investments. He served as an Executive Director of Grosvenor Europe where he was responsible for global real estate securities strategies. He joined Grosvenor following roles managing equity funds at Fulcrum Asset Management and Buttonwood Capital Partners. Matthew graduated with a degree in Economics & Politics from the University of York. He is a CFA charterholder and holds the Investment Management Certificate.
Matthew joined Guinness Global Investors in September 2005 is co-manager of the Guinness Global Equity Income Fund and the Guinness Global Innovators Fund. Previously, he joined Goldman Sachs on the Graduate scheme working in Foreign Exchange and then Fixed Income. Matthew graduated from New College, University of Oxford in 2004 with a Master’s degree in Physics. Matthew is a CFA charterholder.
Dickie Hodges has managed the Nomura Global Dynamic Bond Fund since 2015. Prior to joining Nomura Asset Management, Dickie held the role of Head of High Alpha Fixed Income at Legal & General Investment Management, managing its “Dynamic Bond Trust” – an unconstrained fixed income fund which he managed from its inception in 2007 until April 2014. He spent 18 years at Gartmore where he was Head of Pan European Portfolio Construction with responsibility for both their SICAV European Corporate Bond Fund and their SICAV European Bond Fund. Dickie began his career in 1986 at Chase Manhattan Bank in Fixed Income operations, before joining Natwest Investment where he was responsible for management of a number of specialist investment funds employing derivatives and cash instruments to implement quantitative strategies.
Roger has over 15 years’ experience in fund management, finance and commercial property. He has been at TIME Investments for over 10 years and is Co-Fund Manager for TIME:Commercial Long Income, TIME:Social Long Income and TIME:Property Long Income & Growth. Previously, Roger was an Assistant Director at Close Brothers Group PLC’s tax efficient and property funds division, with responsibilities across a number of commercial property funds. Roger holds a BA degree in Business and Financial Economics and is a Chartered Accountant.
