Speaker alumni

Jim Mellon is a British entrepreneur and philanthropist who has gained valuable insights into companies and economies which would become drivers of global growth over many decades. Through his private investment company, The Burnbrae Group, he has substantial real estate investments in Germany and in the Isle of Man, and major shareholdings in banking, commodities, leisure and healthcare.

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One of the most successful investors of his generation, Jim’s philosophy is underpinned by his ability to identify “money-fountains” – market trends which leading to step changes and investment opportunities. His first book Wake Up! Survive and Prosper in the Coming Economic Turmoil, foresaw the global financial crisis of 2007-08, while his more recent collaboration Fast Forward, identified technologies and companies which are reshaping lives.

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Jim’s latest book, Juvenescence is about the ‘money-fountain’ idea of longevity science. It is a result of a year’s research into both the science and companies involved in the field of allowing people to live longer and healthier lives.

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Jim is an Honorary Fellow of Oriel College, at University of Oxford and is a trustee of the Biogerontology Research Foundation as well as of Lifeboat.

Ricky founded Eminence Capital in 1999. Today, Eminence is a ~$7.8B global investment management organisation investing client capital across global financial markets. As CEO and CIO of Eminence, Ricky is responsible for setting the firm’s strategic direction as well as directly managing its 20+ person investment team and diversified investment portfolio.

Prior to launching Eminence, Ricky was co-founder and co-general partner of Fusion Capital Management, a firm that managed a global long/short equity fund. Prior to that he was a research analyst at Mark Asset Management, where he began his investing career in 1991.

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Ricky received a BBA in Accounting and Finance graduating with honors from the University of Wisconsin. Ricky developed and teaches a capstone Finance course at Wisconsin, Applied Equity Markets Research, and launched Badgers in Finance, a professional and recruitment network for UW students and alumni across financial services. Ricky serves as an advisor on the Investment Committee for the University of Wisconsin Foundation and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Associate Professor Tim Sargeant earned his PhD from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand in 2008. He then undertook two postdoctoral roles at the University of Cambridge from 2008 until 2014. At Cambridge, his studies focussed on lysosomes, which are cellular structures that are essential for recycling damaged materials through a process known as autophagy.

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Since 2015, Tim has been at SAHMRI (South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute) in Adelaide, Australia where he studies the role of lysosomes in Alzheimer’s disease. His work has revealed key connections between lysosomal function and Alzheimer’s disease, particularly the importance of autophagy in clearing build up of a protein called tau, which is a hallmark of the disease.

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Recently, Tim’s focus has shifted to developing tools for measuring human autophagy, with the goal of advancing this research towards preventing age-related diseases.

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Niki is a co-founder of Blackbird, an investment firm with the dream to be a generational owner of generational companies born from Australia and New Zealand. Prior to Blackbird, he founded Startmate, an accelerator that helps nerds with ideas become great CEOs and build global startups. Earlier, he co-founded two software companies.

Blackbird partners with founders at the very beginning and surrounds them with a community of other founders who have built successful technology companies before. The firm began in 2012 and today manages a portfolio of 100+ technology companies worth over $7 billion, with committed capital across five funds.

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Adam Spencer was completing a PhD in Pure Mathematics when he won the national Triple J Raw Comedy championship in 1996. A television/radio career beckoned and Adam completed 15 years as one of Australia’s most respected radio commentators across Triple J and ABC 702.

His dexterity at being both mathematical - authoring eight best-selling books - and verbal - voted best debater in the world at the 1996 World Championships - makes him a curious customer indeed.

Adam is the Ambassador for Science and Mathematics at the University of Sydney, and a celebrated author of seven books, his latest is Maths 101, for Dumb Dads and Desperate Mums.

James Thomson is the senior Chanticleer columnist at The Australian Financial Review. Previously he was the Companies & Markets editor at the AFR, the editor of BRW, the editor and publisher of SmartCompany and a senior editor at Business Spectator. He writes on the Australian corporate sector, markets and global business.

Associate Professor Jill Newby is MRFF Career Development Fellow and Clinical Psychologist at the Black Dog Institute and UNSW. Jill is a leading expert on the technology-based treatment of depression, anxiety and chronic health conditions in adults, and leads a program of research into e-mental health, smartphone apps, and virtual reality interventions.

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Her research aims to improve the lives of people living with depression and anxiety and those at risk, through developing new and improved treatments, focusing on holistic approaches to mental health care, and improving access to affordable, effective treatment.

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Michael Messara is the Co-Chief Investment Officer at Caledonia and sits on the Board of Directors of Caledonia (Private) Investments Pty Limited. Michael joined Caledonia in 2006 after spending five years with UBS AG in Sydney. While at UBS, Michael held a number of roles in equity research with a particular emphasis on the materials, healthcare, media, gaming and small caps sectors. His most recent role before joining Caledonia was Director, Emerging Companies, heading a team of analysts covering Australian listed companies outside the S&P/ASX 100. Michael attended Bond University on a Business School Scholarship and completed a Bachelor of Commerce in 2001, majoring in Finance, Accounting and Economics. Michael is a Non-Executive Director of Arrowfield Pastoral Company.

Fleur has over 25 years investment experience and is portfolio manager and analyst for the Global Equity strategy. Fleur joined Northcape in 2018 and is in our Sydney office.

Before joining Northcape, Fleur was a Managing Director at UBS in Sydney. Having joined UBS in London in 2004 as a European Special Situations Analyst she progressed to Pan European Equity Sales and Account Manager for a range of fundamental hedge funds and long only institutions before returning to Australia with UBS in 2011. Initially Fleur established the business of European and US Equity Sales to investors based in Asia, then took over Global Sales to Australian based investors before eventually running the wider APAC Global Equity sales team. Before moving to the UK Fleur spent five years as a Generalist Equity Research Analyst at Capital Partners (now CP2), a boutique independent research advisory firm with expertise in the infrastructure sector.

Fleur holds a Bachelor of Commerce (First Class Honours in Finance) from the University of Sydney and is a CFA® Charterholder. In 2017 she completed not-for-profit directorship training with the Australian Institute of Company Directors under The Observership Program®.

Professor Kathryn North AM is Director of the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and the David Danks Professor of Child Health Research at the University of Melbourne.

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Professor North is trained as a paediatric physician, neurologist and clinical geneticist and in 1994, was awarded a doctorate for research in neurogenetics. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Harvard Genetics Program.

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Professor North is a national and international leader in the implementation of genomic technologies into clinical practice. She has received a number of awards including the GSK Australia Award for Research Excellence (2011), Ramaciotti Medal for Excellence in Biomedical Research (2012), Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for service to medical research (2012), and Foundation fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Science (2014). Professor North chaired the NHMRC Research Committee from 2012-2018, and currently chairs the International Advisory Board of the Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (UK).

Ian Narev is the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA). He was appointed to this role in July 2011, with effect from December 2011.

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Ian joined CBA in May 2007. Until January 2009, he was CBA’s head of strategy. From January 2009 until his appointment as Chief Executive Officer, Ian ran one of CBA’s major operating divisions – Business and Private Banking division.

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During Ian’s time as Chief Executive Officer, CBA has continued its long-standing customer focus. Ian’s priorities have included strengthening diversity and values among CBA’s leaders, building an innovation culture, applying technology to improve customer experience and productivity, and adapting CBA’s businesses to global regulation.

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Prior to joining CBA, Ian was a partner of McKinsey & Company, the global consulting firm.

David is a founding director of Lanyon Asset Management, a value-oriented equity fund manager established in 2009.

David co-manages both the Lanyon Australian Value Fund and the Lanyon Global Value Fund. Since inception in 2010, the Lanyon Australian Value Fund has generated compound returns of 17.4% whilst maintaining average cash balances in excess of 50% of fund assets.

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Prior to founding Lanyon, David was previously Head of Equities at institutional fund manager, CP2 (formerly Capital Partners). He has over 18 years of funds management experience working for firms in Australia and the UK.

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David has an Economics degree from the University of Adelaide, a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment from the Securities Institute of Australia (Finsia) and is a CFA charterholder.

Geoff Wilson has over 37 years’ direct experience in investment markets having held a variety of senior investment roles in Australia, the UK and the US. Geoff founded Wilson Asset Management in 1997. Geoff created Australia’s first listed philanthropic wealth creation vehicles, Future Generation Investment Company and Future Generation Global Investment Company. Geoff is Chairman of WAM Capital, WAM Leaders, WAM Research, WAM Active and WAM Microcap. Geoff holds a number of additional directorships with investment companies and non-profit organisations.

Paul is the Managing Director of CommSec. CommSec is Australia’s leading online broker providing retail and wholesale clients access to online broking, investment products, advisory services, cash management and gearing solutions through its two businesses; CommSec and CommSec Adviser Services.

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Paul is a Director of the Stockbrokers and Financial Advisers Association and a representative on Commonwealth Bank’s Diversity and Sustainability Councils. Paul holds a Commerce degree and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.

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Mr. Wong Kok Hoi is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of APS Asset Management Pte Ltd (APS). Established in 1995, APS currently manages USD2.9 billion* in assets. APS’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, foundations, endowments, financial institutions and family offices. Mr. Wong has over 35 years of investing experience in Asia Pacific equity markets.

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Mr. Wong was a Senior Investment Officer, Asia Pacific Equities Department, at GIC from 1981 to 1985. He was CIO of Cititrust and Banking Corporation, Japan from 1986-1990. He was consultant to the Monetary Authority of Singapore from 2000 to 2001. He helped the National University of Singapore set up Singapore’s first endowment fund and served on its first Endowment Investment Committee. A Japan Mombusho scholar, he obtained his Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) degree from Hitotsubashi University and attended Harvard University’s Investment Appraisal and Management Program. He is a CFA charter holder.

Mr Alex Waislitz is Executive Chairman and Founder of Thorney Investment Group, a Melbourne Australia based diversified investor in public securities, private companies and property. Thorney specialises in emerging companies across a broad array of industries including Manufacturing, Technology, Mining Services and Resources. Alex has extensive business and capital markets experience and has been a member of several public company Board of Directors. Alex is also Chairman of Thorney Opportunities Limited, and Thorney Technologies Limited, both Australian  sharemarket (ASX) listed investment companies, and Vice President of Collingwood Football Club.

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In 2014 Alex established the Waislitz Foundation with the aim of donating $50 million to charity.  He is a graduate of Monash University in Law and Commerce and a Graduate of the Harvard Business School OPM Program.

Leah Joy Zell (PhD, CFA) is a nationally recognized expert in international investing, and a pioneer in the international small-cap category. From 1992 to 2005, she was a co-founding partner and portfolio manager at Wanger Asset Management, a global small-mid cap equity specialist.

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Ms. Zell is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the Global Advisory Council of Harvard University, and the Wilson Centre Global Advisory Council in Washington, D.C. Ms. Zell also serves as a Director of the Horton Trust Company LLC, and a member of the Investment Committee of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. Previously, she was on the Harvard University Board of Overseers and the Board of Trustees of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

Bachelor of Engineering (Hons), Graduate Diploma in Applied Economics, CFA Charterholder.

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Matthew has more than 20 years’ experience in investment analysis and funds management. Matthew manages the Greencape Broadcap Fund with around $2 billion in funds under management.

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Before entering the financial services industry, Matthew worked as a commodity buyer in the World Wide Purchasing Division of General Motors. In 1997 Matthew took on the role of Head of Research at Taylor Collison Stockbroking, based in Adelaide. Matthew was a highly rated sell-side analyst in both the small caps sector as well as the healthcare sector. He then moved to Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (since acquired by Blackrock). Initially in the role of Fund Manager, he then took on the responsibility of Director and Senior Portfolio Manager in 2003, responsible for managing his own fund with a similar mandate to the Greencape Broadcap Fund that is managed today.

Mor Assia, iAngels Founding Partner and Co-CEO, is an Israeli High Tech insider with over 15 years experience assisting global corporations define new corporate strategies, M&A activities and technological pivots, working on the corporate level of blue-chip companies such as SAP, IBM and Amdocs. Mor has in just 5 years, grown the VC firm from a startup to a mature global company with over US$150M assets under management in divisions and funds that specialize in top-tier tech industry sectors, including Frontier Tech, FinTech, Enterprise Software and Environmental Technologies. Mor holds an MBA from Columbia University (New York), a Mathematics and Computer Science Degree from the Technion, Israel’s Institute of Technology (Haifa), and is is a graduate of the IDF’s 8200 Intelligence Unit.

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Mor puts this same insight, discipline and influence through iAngels, knowing where to look for new technologies, vetting them for market potential and structuring deal terms and a management team that is poised to deliver the best possible returns.

Annabel Spring became Group Executive of the Wealth Management Division of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) in October 2011.

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She is responsible for Colonial First State, Colonial First State Global Asset Management, Wealth Management Advice and CommInsure, and is a member of the Group Executive Committee.

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Annabel joined CBA in 2009 as Group Head of Strategy where she was responsible for strategy, mergers and acquisitions, and government relations.

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Before joining CBA, Annabel was Managing Director and Global Head of Firm Strategy and Execution at Morgan Stanley in New York. Annabel has worked in the USA, Asia and Australia.

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Annabel is Deputy Co-Chair of the Financial Services Council (FSC), and Director of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute. She is also a member of Chief Executive Women.

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Annabel holds degrees with honours in Laws and Economics from the University of Sydney and a Masters of Business Administration from Harvard Business School, where she graduated as a George F. Baker Scholar.

Renee Lim is a medical doctor, performer, and educator. In addition to her work as the Director of Program Development at the Pam McLean Centre (one of the leading centres in Australia aimed at improving communication education in the Health sector), as a Senior Lecturer in Professional Development at Sydney University, and as a locum doctor in Emergency and Palliative Care Departments across NSW, Renee is also a well established performer, working on shows likes Pulse, Ask The Doctors, Food Investigators, Secret City, East West 101 and Please Like Me, and as a writer/director with KFilms.  She is the CEO of Changineers, a social enterprise focused on providing educational innovation for organisations that are creating positive social change, and consults in Health, Education and Engagement across the NFP space, most recently with the Paul Ramsay Foundation and MSF.

Bobby Yazdani is Founder and Managing Partner of Cota Capital, a firm investing in private and public technology companies. Bobby works full time on the development and support of entrepreneurs through Cota Capital. Through his family office Signatures Capital, Bobby has invested in over 100 private companies. In 2014, Bobby was ranked #1 out of 2000 angel investors for successful follow-on funding by CB Insights. Masimo Corporation was Bobby’s first angel investment in 1989.

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In 2015, Bobby endowed the Signatures Innovation Fellowship at University of California, Berkeley to support data science projects with commercial promise. Bobby also serves as a founding member of the Persian Tech Entrepreneurs network, and a National Advisory Board Member of The Reset Foundation.

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Bobby founded Saba in 1997, taking the company public in 2000. Today, Saba is the leading provider of Human Capital Development & Management Solutions, serving over 30 million people from 2,200 customers across 195 countries and in 37 languages worldwide. While at Saba, he was named a finalist for Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Saba also earned spots on InformationWeek’s Innovation 100 list and Computerworld’s 100 Emerging Companies to Watch.

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Prior to Saba, Bobby worked at Oracle in various R&D roles (‘88 –‘97).

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Bobby has successfully mentored entrepreneurs and invested in over 100 early-stage startups including Aardvark (acq. by Google), Addepar, Atheer Labs, Baarzo (acq. by Google), BaseHealth, Bina Technologies (acq. by Roche), Bonobos, Canary, Clearspring, CleverSense (acq. by Google), Dropbox, FundersClub, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), GuardantHealth, HomeJoy, inDinero, InstaEdu (acq. by Chegg), KeyChain Logistics, KissMetrics, Klout (acq. by Lithium Technologies), Masimo (NASDAQ: MASI), Medialets, NextBio (acq. by Illumina), OpenGov, PassBan (acq. by EMC/RSA), Qwiki (acq. by Yahoo), Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM), SoundHound, SweetGreen, ThinkBig Analytics (acq. by Teradata), Uber, Wash.io, Webs.com (acq. by VistaPrint), ZenPayroll and more.

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Born in Tehran, Iran, Bobby completed high school in England, UK and received a B.A. in Applied Mathematics at UC Berkeley.

Danny Yong is the CIO and Founder of Dymon Asia Capital. Established in 2008, the alternative investment management firm has assets under management of US$5.7 billion across hedge funds, private equity and venture capital strategies as of June 2017. The Firm is headquartered in Singapore and has offices in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and Malaysia. In May 2014, Temasek invested USD 500 million in one of Dymon Asia’s funds, and also took a minority stake in the company. Dymon Asia Capital has 142 employees, comprising of 72 investment professionals. Danny has traded FX, fixed income and futures for over 20 years. He was an MD at Citadel Investment Asia where he ran the Asia Macro trading business from 2005 to 2007. Prior to Citadel, he was Goldman Sachs’ Head of Trading for South East Asian FX and Derivatives from 2000 to 2005. Danny started his trading career at JP Morgan in 1997.

Dr Kaylene Young was a Sir John Monash Science Scholar who obtained her BSc (hons) from Monash University in 1999.  With the start of the new millennium she commenced PhD research at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, where she developed a method to allow researchers to visualize and purify brain stem cells, so that they could be studied. She also identified a key signal capable of directing brain stem cells to make new nerve cells.  Kaylene then helped with the successful establishment of the Queensland Brain Institute at the University of Queensland, before accepting a postdoctoral research position at University College London (UK).  At UCL, Kaylene identified a novel immature cell population in the brain, capable of producing new cells and repairing brain insulation to offset the damage caused by Multiple Sclerosis.  She is now leading a research team at the Menzies Institute for Medical Research, to develop a new therapy that can direct brain repair in people with MS.  The importance of her research contributions are highlighted by her receipt of the Inaugural Metcalf Prize for Stem Cell Research, awarded to emerging leaders of stem cell research in Australia, and the Inaugural Macquarie Group Foundation, MS Research Australia Paired Fellowship, which supports research likely to make a significant impact on the lives of people with MS.

Dr Nikki Stamp is a cardiothoracic surgeon based in Sydney, Australia. Nikki is a graduate of the University of Western Australia and has completed training in cardiothoracic surgery with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. Nikki wants to share with people an approach to health and wellbeing that is backed up by science and good quality evidence. She has a particular interest in all things related to heart health and in particular, women’s heart health.

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Nikki is also a strong advocate for women in surgery and other professional positions. She enjoys mentoring and encouraging young women into roles that are traditionally occupied by men. Nikki enjoys education and thoroughly enjoys teaching young doctors and other hospital staff. She also is committed to advocating to doctor’s well being and prevention and management of mental health issues amongst doctors.

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Outside of work, Nikki is a Perth girl through and through, evidenced by a love of the beach and sunshine. Nikki is a (slow) runner and swimmer to help keep fit and healthy. Nikki also is an accomplished singer and can often be found belting out tunes from the music Chicago or Fleetwood Mac and hopes to one day make all four chairs turn around on The Voice.

Cathie registered ARK Investment Management LLC (“ARK”) as an investment adviser with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in January 2014. With over 40 years of experience identifying and investing in innovation, Cathie founded ARK to focus solely on disruptive innovation while adding new dimensions to research. Through an open approach that cuts across sectors, market capitalizations, and geographies, Cathie believes that ARK can identify large-scale investment opportunities in the public markets resulting from technological innovations centered around DNA sequencing, robotics, artificial intelligence, energy storage, and blockchain technology. As Chief Investment Officer (“CIO”) and Portfolio Manager, Cathie led the development of ARK’s philosophy and investment approach and has ultimate responsibility for investment decisions.

Prior to ARK, Cathie spent twelve years at AllianceBernstein as CIO of Global Thematic Strategies where she managed over $5 billion. Cathie joined Alliance Capital from Tupelo Capital Management, a hedge fund she co-founded, which in 2000, managed approximately $800 million in global thematic strategies. Prior to her tenure at Tupelo Capital, she worked for 18 years with Jennison Associates LLC as Chief Economist, Equity Research Analyst, Portfolio Manager and Director. She started her career in Los Angeles, California at The Capital Group as an Assistant Economist. Cathie received her Bachelor of Science, summa cum laude, in Finance and Economics from the University of Southern California in 1981.

Cathie has been recognized as an influential fund manager across various outlets. In 2018, editors at Bloomberg acknowledged Cathie by selecting her to its second annual Bloomberg 50 list of people across business, entertainment, finance, politics, technology, and science who have defined global business. Additionally, Fortune named Cathie to its exclusive roundtable of experts in the annual Fortune Investors Guide: The Best Investing Advice for 2019 From Fortune’s Experts. In 2016, Cathie received the “Women in Finance – Outstanding Contribution Award” from Market Media. Cathie also has been a featured speaker at the World Economic Forum (China) in 2016 & 2017, the World Strategic Forum (Miami) in 2017, The Sohn Hearts and Minds Investment Leaders Conference (Australia) in 2018 and 2019, and Singularity University’s Exponential Finance in 2017 and Global Summit in 2019.

In 2018, Cathie launched the Duddy Innovation Institute at her alma mater, Notre Dame Academy in Los Angeles. The institute offers a challenging educational experience for young women eager to stretch their learning beyond the boundaries of traditional acquisition of knowledge, while influencing a new way of thinking and learning throughout campus.