Why some ideas take off - and some don't

This session will reveal the underlying principles that drive the spread of ideas and innovations, from scientific discoveries and technological inventions to online trends and marketing campaigns. Using examples and activities to challenge common beliefs about successful (and unsuccessful) ideas, this session will cover the four key factors that influence spread, and how we can target them to boost the chances something will take off. It will also look at how network structure can help - or hinder - uptake of ideas, why some trends are easier to predict than others, and who we should target if we want something to take hold in a community or organisation.

Dr Adam Kucharski

Dr Adam Kucharski is a mathematician, epidemiologist, and author. He is a Professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), and a Senior Fellow at TED. Adam specialises in the maths of real-life and digital contagion, revealing the patterns and predictions of how things spread. After studying and working at Warwick, Cambridge, and Imperial College universities, he joined the LSHTM.

He has led large-scale studies of social behaviour and immunity, as well as developing new ways to understand and predict outbreaks. Adam has contributed scientific insights to multiple governments and health agencies, been profiled by The New York Times, The Times, and collaborated on research with organisations including Meta, Space X and the BBC.

Author of several books including The Rules of Contagion: Why Things Spread - and Why They Stop and The Perfect Bet: How Science and Math Are Taking the Luck Out of Gambling, an examination of science's on-going battle with luck, Adam has also written for Wired, The Times, the Financial Times, Scientific American, and The Observer and is a regular expert voice on BBC radio and television.

As well as holding the esteemed Medical Research Council Career Development Award in Biostatistics and the Wellcome Henry Dale fellowship, Adam was awarded The Adams Prize, one of the most prestigious prizes in mathematics, for his work on epidemiological methods.

IG Credit – making every basis point count

Coolabah (est. 2011 with +6bn USD in FUM) are cash bonds experts - playing mean reversion in IG credit through active trading and in-depth fundamental research.

Price discovery in OTC credit remains opaque (like stocks before exchanges existed). Coolabah’s unique process exploits mispricing in the highest quality, most liquid investment-grade bonds in order to generate excess returns primarily through spread compression as opposed to duration or carry.

Chris Joye

Chief Investment Officer and Portfolio Manager, Coolabah Capital Investments

Chris Joye founded Coolabah Capital in 2011 and leads the portfolio management effort that has produced one of Australia’s top short-term fixed-interest capabilities. He is responsible for investment decisioning, portfolio management, research and asset pricing, and general business management, running a large team of portfolio managers and analysts. Chris is a Contributing Editor for The Australian Financial Review, a leading economist and policy advisor and previously worked at Goldman Sachs, the Reserve Bank of Australia, and founded Rismark International. He has advised both Australian and US governments and studied at the University of Sydney and Cambridge University.

Nick Lemis

Global Head of Wholesale

Nick Lemis is the Global Head of Wholesale, responsible for distributing PAM’s single manager range of funds. Nick joined from DCI where he was Senior Product Specialist with responsibility for distributing DCIs product range and investment capabilities to a broad range of clients in Europe. Prior to joining DCI, Nick was Head of UK Wholesale Distribution at GAM covering Intermediaries, Advisers, Private banks and Investment managers across UK, Ireland, Africa and Greece. Nick began his career at Tradition Brokers.

E: nlemis@pacificam.co.uk
T: +44 (0)20 3970 2943

Chris King

Associate Director

Chris King is an Associate Director at Pacific and joined in April 2020. He is primarily focused on distribution of PAM’s single manager range of funds. Prior to this, Chris spent 4 years at Sabre Fund Management where he worked as a Business Development Analyst, covering investor relations and promotion of quantitative equity hedge funds.

E: cking@pacificam.co.uk
T: +44 (0)20 3970 2944

Capturing Climate Transition Opportunities in Global Equities

Allspring believes ‘leaving returns on the table’ is a common misconception in climate equity investing. Their approach seeks to deliver both financial and climate outcomes in a core global equity portfolio. Wai Lee will discuss how they drive alpha using their innovative bottom-up stock selection approach that blends quantitative tools and fundamental insights to amplify their ability to consistently select winning stocks. Identifying climate transition winners does not necessarily mean low carbon companies today, but companies that will win in a low carbon world of tomorrow. The goal is to build a resilient all-star portfolio of stocks that play well together, not just a portfolio of all-stars and they will discuss looking beyond traditional models to prevent compromising returns to invest in Climate Transition Global Equity.

Wai Lee

Head of Multi-Asset Research

Wai Lee is Head of Multi-Asset Research at Allspring. He is responsible for the research agenda, implementation, oversight, and governance of research across all systematic strategies including Climate Transition Global Equity. Previously Wai was a senior portfolio manager across asset classes including long-only and long-short US, Global and Emerging Markets equity strategies and was awarded the 2014 Asia Asset Management Best of the Best Award for Systematic Global Equity.

Charles Wilson

Head of Financial Institutions Sales (UK & Switzerland) International Client Group

Charles (Charlie) Wilson is head of Financial Institutions for the UK and Switzerland at Allspring Global Investments. In this role, he is responsible for financial intermediary distribution development with clients in both countries. He develops and manages client relationships with global and regional banks, private client groups, insurance companies, and platforms. He began his investment industry career in 1997. Charlie has earned his Investment Management Certificate.

E: charles.wilson@allspringglobal.com
M: +44 (0)7767 762871

Tom de Lisle

Sales Director, UK Financial Institutions, International Client Group

Tom de Lisle leads Allspring’s sales activities with wealth managers, discretionary investment managers and private banks in the UK. Before joining Allspring, he served as the London sales director at River and Mercantile Asset Management. Prior to that, Tom was head of Family Office Business Development and sales manager at Neptune Investment Management. He began his investment industry career in 2004 at Arjent Stockbrokers, where he advised UK private clients in US equities. Tom earned a bachelor’s degree in French and medieval French from the University of Oxford. He has earned his IMC and is a member of CFA Society UK.

E: tom.delisle@allspringglobal.com
M: +44 (0)7813 216643

Allianz US Large Cap Value: opportunities in US equities beyond the magnificent seven

Value and US equities are not always words that fit well together, but James Dorment and the US Large Cap Value team at Voya Investment Management, supplemented by their focus on Excess Capital Yield, have been able to outperform the Russell 1000, net of fees, by c.200bps per annum since 2008. Jim will provide insight into his team’s approach to investing in this part of the US market and discuss why they feel positive about its prospects going forward.

James Dorment CFA

Co-Head of Large Cap Fundamental Research, Head of Value, and Portfolio Manager

James Dorment is co-head of large cap fundamental research and serves as the head of value and a portfolio manager for the large cap value strategies at Voya Investment Management. Jim also covers the consumer discretionary sector. Prior to joining Voya, he was a senior research analyst from Columbia Management. Previously, he worked at U.S. Trust analysing and investing in a broad range of industries in both public and private equity markets. Jim earned a BA in economics from Bates College and is a CFA® Charterholder.

Neil Brown

Head of UK Distribution

Neil Brown joined Allianz Global Investors in 2020 and is Head of UK Distribution. He has over 25 years’ investment distribution experience and previously worked for M&G Investments for 20 years, where he held several positions, most recently as Head of UK Distribution, responsible for wholesale and institutional sales. He graduated from Birmingham University with a Bachelor of Arts in Geography. He holds the IMC and Level One of the CFA.

E: neil.brown@allianzgi.com
M: +44 (0)7385 398220

Matthew Couzens

Head of UK Wholesale Distribution

Matthew Couzens joined Allianz Global Investors in 2016 and has responsibility for relationships with London-based wealth managers, private client stockbrokers and multi-managers. Matthew has 19 years investment sales experience and has previously worked with Canada Life Investments, Russell Investments and L&G.

E: matthew.couzens@allianzgi.com
M: +44 (0)7701 003973

Morgan Stanley Global Macro Fund: Diversification and consistent excess returns from non-traditional sources

A Macro fund that has been long foreign currencies vs USD and short credit spreads for the last 5 years and still generated a 0.5 Sharpe ratio. How can that be?! With a strategy launched in 1996 from non-traditional beginnings, Global Macro seeks to generate alpha primarily from long and short sovereign positions across currencies, sovereign credit, and interest rates. During the session Kyle Lee will tell the story of how New Zealand’s big-bang reforms in the late 1980s started it all, as well as highlight how investors have used the fund to diversify portfolios from traditional stock and bond allocations and deliver consistent risk-adjusted returns.

Kyle Lee

Co-Head of Emerging Markets

Kyle Lee is the Co-Head of Emerging Markets and portfolio manager on the team’s flagship Global Macro Fund as well as the EM Debt strategies. He is responsible for co-leading the team of investment professionals based in Boston, Washington, D.C., London, and Singapore, as well as for buy and sell decisions, portfolio construction, and risk management for assets in emerging and frontier markets. He began his career in the investment management industry with Eaton Vance in 2007. Kyle earned a BA from Wesleyan University and is a CFA charterholder.

Max Harper

Executive Director

Max Harper is a member of the UK Intermediary Sales team and leads the Morgan Stanley UK sales coverage for Family Offices. He joined Morgan Stanley in 2017 having begun his career in 2010 with Thames River Capital (latterly F&C then BMO), he has since worked with NewSmith, Kepler Partners and Janus Global Investors. Max holds a degree in History of Art from UCL and holds the Investment Management Certificate (IMC).

E: Max.Harper@morganstanley.com
T: +44 (0)20 7425 7374

Daniel Hawkes

Executive Director

Daniel Hawkes is a member of the UK Intermediary Distribution team at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. He joined Morgan Stanley in 2015 and has 24 years of related industry experience. Prior to joining MSIM, Daniel worked at Columbia Threadneedle Investments for 11 years and both Cofunds and Fidelity before that. Daniel holds a degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Wales, Bangor and holds the Investment Management Certificate (IMC) Level 6.

E: Daniel.Hawkes@morganstanley.com
T: +44 (0)20 7425 7616

Risk factor diversification within high active share portfolios

Scott Weber, Vaughan Nelson’s Lead Senior Portfolio Manager, will introduce the Select strategy and Vaughan Nelson’s approach to risk factor diversification within high active share, concentrated portfolios. Vaughan Nelson employs a fundamental, research driven approach to high active share, concentrated portfolios. As part of the portfolio construction process, risk factors are considered and neutralised in an effort isolate return generation via security selection. Today, the result is a portfolio with 25-30 holdings with greater risk factor diversification than the S&P 500 while demonstrating long term outperformance through cycle.

Scott Weber, CFA

Senior Portfolio Manager

Scott Weber is a Senior Portfolio Manager of Vaughan Nelson’s Equity Products. Scott has 28 years of experience in investment management and financial analysis. He also holds the designation of being a Chartered Financial Analyst. Scott joined Vaughan Nelson in 2003. Previously, he was the Vice President for Investment Banking and Senior Associate for Investment Banking at RBC Capital Markets; an Associate in Investment Banking at Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown; and a Treasury Analyst at Freeport-McMoRan, Inc. He earned a Master in Business Administration from Tulane University’s AB Freeman School of Business and a Bachelor of Science from the University of the South.

Alex McArthur

Head of London Wholesale Sales, Natixis Investment Managers

Alex McArthur joined Natixis Investment Managers in December 2013 and is the Head of the London Wholesale Team and leads a team of four who cover a variety of London based domestic and international wholesale clients. Alex also has direct responsibility for the Global Financial Institutions based in London. Alex has over 15 years’ experience having previously spent 6 years at J.P. Morgan Asset Management managing the day-to-day relationship with a range of Institutional and Wholesale investors across several jurisdictions globally.

E: alexander.mcarthur@natixis.com
M: +44 (0)7551 157457

Julian Chinnick

Director, UK & Ireland Wholesale Sales, Natixis Investment Managers

Julian Chinnick joined Natixis in 2015 and is responsible for key clients within Southern UK, Dublin and Channel Islands. He has over 20 years' experience in the role, having spent the previous 14 years as Regional Sales Director at M&G Investments. He is a Chartered FCSI, Chartered Wealth Manager and previously a CISI Committee member for the Bristol & Bath region, further reflecting his proficiency within the market.

E: julian.chinnick@natixis.com
M: +44 (0)7469 083459

Enhanced Indexing: a smart approach to capturing the equity risk premium

One of the significant shifts in recent decades has been the rise of passive solutions. Despite their indisputable merits, including low costs and transparency, they face challenges such as lagging behind benchmarks net of costs, being prone to arbitrage, and lacking flexibility. In this session, Wilma de Groot will introduce the compelling alternative of Enhanced Indexing for capturing the equity risk premium by blending the benefits of passive and active investing. Wilma will discuss how this time-tested approach focuses on stable excess returns and limited relative risk, as well as provide insight into how it is successfully being implemented.

Wilma de Groot

Head of Core Quant Equities and Deputy Head of Quant Equity

Wilma de Groot is Head of Core Quant Equities, Head of Factor Investing Equities and Deputy Head of Quant Equity. She is responsible for quant equity strategies and specialises in asset pricing anomalies, portfolio construction and sustainability integration. She has published in various academic publications including the Journal of Impact and ESG Investing, Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of International Money and Finance, Journal of Empirical Finance and the Financial Analysts Journal. She is a guest lecturer at several universities. Wilma joined Robeco as a Quant Researcher in 2001. Wilma has a PhD in Finance from Erasmus University Rotterdam and holds a Master’s in Econometrics from Tilburg University. She is a CFA® Charterholder.

Nick Keem

Head of Wholesale UK

Nick Keem is Head of the UK Wholesale business at Robeco. He joined Robeco in 2020 from Pinnacle Investment where he was Managing Director for EMEA Distribution. Prior to this, he spent 8 years at J.P. Morgan Asset Management where he was most latterly Head of Wealth Manager Sales for the UK. Nick started his career in the investment management industry in 1997. He holds a BSc in Sports Science and Business Management from De Montfort University and is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst.

E: n.keem@robeco.com
M: +44 (0)7827 316526

Stuart Smith

Sales Manager

Stuart Smith is a Sales Manager in the UK Wholesale team at Robeco and joined the company in October 2019. He joined Robeco from T. Rowe Price, where he worked as a Client Service executive in the London office. Stuart holds a Bachelor of Science Honours in Economics from the University of Southampton and is a CFA® Charterholder.

E: s.smith@robeco.com
T: +44 (0)20 7496 3212

High-Conviction Global Equity: The Alpha Blueprint

Join Rob Hinchliffe, PineBridge Investments Global Focus Equity Portfolio Manager, to learn how a non-consensus approach leads to a highly differentiated, quality-focused portfolio. Global Focus Equity seeks to generate its alpha from stock-specific sources, avoiding sector, style, and other top-down macro tilts. The result is a concentrated portfolio paradoxically high in active share and low in benchmark risk, with a robust track record through widely ranging market conditions.

Rob Hinchliffe, CFA

Portfolio Manager, Head of Global Sector Cluster Research

Rob Hinchliffe joined the firm in 2008 and serves as a Portfolio Manager for the Global Focus strategy. He is also the Head of Global Sector Cluster Research and is responsible for bringing together the firm’s worldwide research across global industries to drive investment insights. Previously, Rob was a Senior Equity Analyst at UBS, where he was recognised by StarMine for stock selection, and began his investing career in finance at Bear Stearns in 1997. Rob received his BA in Economics from Rutgers College and his MBA in Finance from New York University. He is a CFA charterholder.

James Quinn

Head of Intermediary Sales, UK

James Quinn is Head of Intermediary Sales, UK, and is responsible for developing PineBridge’s UK intermediary business. James joined PineBridge from Robeco, where he was the firm’s Global Wholesale & Financial Institutions Manager. Prior to this, James worked at Sloane Robinson as a Business Development Manager. James holds an MSci (Honours) in Chemistry from The University of Nottingham and is a CFA Financial Analyst Charterholder.

E: james.quinn@pinebridge.com

Are we in an opportunity sweet spot for European value stocks?

Since the start of the year European investors’ expectations of a more dovish ECB have boosted growth names at the expense of value with the MSCI Europe ex UK Growth index nearly matching the year to date returns of the top-heavy MSCI USA equivalent. This extreme performance divergence has resulted in a valuation gap of nearly 14x between the Growth and Value indices, with the former trading roughly 40% above its 20-year median, while European value stocks are currently cheaper than their historical average. Matt Ring, a co-portfolio manager on Pzena’s Europe ex-UK Focused Value UCITS, will discuss how today’s backdrop is skewed in favour of value, and how they’re discovering many high-quality franchises trading at highly discounted valuations.

Matthew J. Ring

Principal, Director of Research and Portfolio Manager

Matthew Ring is a co-portfolio manager for the International Small Cap Focused Value, European Value and Global Small Cap Focused services. Matthew became a member of the firm in 2010. Prior to joining Pzena Investment Management, he was a senior manager with consulting firm Simat Helliesen & Eichner, providing due diligence for investments in the Industrials and Aerospace & Defence sectors. Matthew began his career with General Electric Aircraft Engines as a design engineer and holds a patent on his GEnx compressor case design for the Boeing 787. He earned a BS magna cum laude in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, a Masters in Mechanical Engineering from The Ohio State University and an MBA from Columbia Business School, graduating with honours.

Adrian Jackson

Director of Business Development & Client Services

Prior to joining Pzena, Adrian Jackson was at Sanlam FOUR leading its client service and sales team. Before Sanlam FOUR he worked at Record Currency Management. Adrian spent most of his career at Russell Investments joining the company in 1989 and was latterly chief executive officer of Russell Implementation Services Limited. He began his career with CL-Laing & Cruickshank in 1987.

E: jackson@pzena.com
M: +44 (0)7736 650897

Anna Sperotto, CFA

Director of Business Development and Client Services

Anna Sperotto joined the firm in 2023, covering the UK, Middle East and African regions. Prior to that, she spent a number of years, based in Dubai, predominantly with Franklin Templeton Investments before heading the MEA distribution efforts at Colchester Global Investors. She started her career as a junior portfolio manager on the corporate bond team at Insight Investments and holds a BA Hons in Business Economics from Durham University.

E: sperotto@pzena.com
M: +44 (0)7979 123717