Mike Baird was elected Leader of the NSW Liberal Party at a party-room meeting on Thursday 17 April, 2014, and was later that day sworn in as Premier by the Governor, Professor Marie Bashir. He was the 44th Premier of NSW.

Mike Baird was appointed Treasurer of NSW after the election of the NSW Liberal and Nationals Government on 26 March 2011. In September 2012 he was also appointed Minister for Industrial Relations. Mike had served as Shadow Treasurer since December 2008 and previously as Shadow Minister for Energy, Finance and Youth Affairs.

Mike was elected Member for Manly in 2007 after an 18-year banking career incorporating corporate banking, securitisation, debt capital markets and project finance in Australia, London and Hong Kong.

Career highlights include managing corporate finance transactions across a range of industries for Deutsche Bank and Head of Originations, debt capital markets in London for the NAB.

Prior to his election to Parliament, Mike was Head of Institutional Banking for HSBC in Australia and New Zealand.

Since the formation of Oaktree in 1995, Mr. Marks has been responsible for ensuring the firm’s adherence to its core investment philosophy; communicating closely with clients concerning products and strategies; and contributing his experience to big-picture decisions relating to investments and corporate direction. From 1985 until 1995, Mr. Marks led the groups at The TCW Group, Inc. that were responsible for investments in distressed debt, high yield bonds, and convertible securities. He was also Chief Investment Officer for Domestic Fixed Income at TCW.

Previously, Mr. Marks was with Citicorp Investment Management for 16 years, where from 1978 to 1985 he was Vice President and senior portfolio manager in charge of convertible and high yield securities. Between 1969 and 1978, he was an equity research analyst and, subsequently, Citicorp’s Director of Research.

Mr. Marks holds a B.S.Ec. degree cum laude from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a major in finance and an M.B.A. in accounting and marketing from the Booth School of Business of the University of Chicago, where he received the George Hay Brown Prize. He is a CFA charterholder.

Mr. Marks is a member of the Investment Committees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Edmond J. Safra Foundation; a Trustee of the Metropolitan Museum; Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Royal Drawing School; and an Emeritus Trustee of the University of Pennsylvania (where from 2000 to 2010 he chaired the Investment Board).

Paul Keating served as Australia’s 24th Prime Minister, from 1991 to 1996, having been Treasurer between 1983 and 1991.

His political legacy includes fundamental social and economic reform that laid the basis for Australia’s last quarter century economic performance and included the deregulation of the financial, product and labour markets.  Paul Keating also established compulsory superannuation – now with more than $2.1 trillion under management.  He worked towards an inclusive social policy, for Australia to become a Republic and established the Native Title legislation.  His reforms in education included establishing the Australian National Training Authority.  In foreign policy, he established the APEC Leaders’ Meeting and worked to forge Australia’s place in the region, especially with Indonesia.

His book, Engagement: Australia faces the Asia Pacific (2000) was translated into Chinese and Japanese.  In October 2011, his book of post Prime-Ministerial speeches, After Words, was published and Keating, the book based on the 2013 four-part ABC interview series with Kerry O’Brien, was published in 2015.

Since leaving the Prime Ministership in 1996, Paul Keating has continued his interest in geopolitical and economic affairs and urban design.  He is the progenitor of the Barangaroo project in Sydney, including and especially, its Headland Park.

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.

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.

Mr Luciano has over twenty years’ experience gained as a portfolio manager, equities analyst and accountant. Prior to founding VGI Partners in 2008, Mr Luciano spent five years as an Executive Director and Investment Manager with Caledonia Investments in Sydney. Prior to Caledonia, Mr Luciano held positions as a Portfolio Manager at Allianz Equity Management and an equities analyst at BNP Paribas (formerly Prudential-Bache Securities Australia). Mr Luciano commenced his career as an accountant with BDO Nelson Parkhill in 1993.

Mr Luciano graduated from the University of New South Wales, with a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Accounting & Finance where he later completed a Masters of Commerce, majoring in Advanced Finance. He is a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia. Mr Luciano has completed the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Program and has been awarded the CFA Charter.

Mr Luciano is a Director of VGI Partners Global Investments Limited (ASX: VG1)

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.

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

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.

Madeleine Beaumont has been serving as a Senior Portfolio Manager of Australian Fundamental Equities at BlackRock Asset Management Australia Limited since joining the firm on 1 June 2015.

She began her career in the stock-broking industry, and then transferred to the buy-side at SBC Brinson, where she covered media, food and retail. Madeleine spent 11 years in London, where she broadened her experience, covering the UK and Continental European markets. She worked for SEB and for M&G, the investment arm of Prudential PLC. While at M&G, Madeleine was rated the number 2 Consumer Analyst. She was head of European Equity research and successfully managed a Pan-European Equity Portfolio.

She is a CFA charterholder and holds a Bachelor’s of Agriculture (Hons). Madeleine is also a Graduate of AICD and is involved as a non-executive director in the not for profit sector.

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.

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.

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.

Janchor Partners is an Asia-Pacific focused long-term investment firm based in Hong Kong, with around US$3b of assets under management. John Ho serves as a Deputy Chairman of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Listing Committee, an independent body whose functions are to approve stock exchange listings and has independent oversight over the Hong Kong Exchange Listing Division.

Before founding Janchor Partners, John was the Head of The Children’s Investment Fund (Asia) Limited in Hong Kong, managing the Asia office and its business and investment activities. Prior to that, John was a senior analyst with the Citadel Investment Group in the U.S. and also a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in Australia.

Before BCG, John was a lecturer in the School of Banking and Finance at the University of New South Wales Australia, where he graduated in Finance and Mathematics and was awarded the University Medal.  His final year dissertation on option pricing of physical assets was published in the Journal of Alternative Investments.

Patrick Hodgens is Head of Equities at Macquarie Investment Management and lead portfolio manager of the Macquarie High Conviction Fund, winner of the Money Management / Lonsec Australian Equities (Broad Cap) Fund Manager of the Year award in 2016.

With over 30 years’ experience in investment markets, Patrick has been instrumental in the development of the High Conviction team and the fundamental investment approach at Macquarie Investment Management. In his role, Patrick is responsible for the daily portfolio management of the Fund as well as driving process development across the business.

In his 27 years at Macquarie, Patrick has developed a comprehensive range of style aware equity strategies across a spectrum of risk/return profiles. Today, the Listed Equities business has over $18bn in assets under management, offering a range of products covering index, low risk, high conviction, small cap, long/short, Asian fundamental, and global funds.

Michael Messara is the Co-Chief Investment Officer at Caledonia. Michael started his career in 2001 as an equity research analyst at UBS AG in Sydney. During his time at UBS, Michael covered a range of industry sectors and was made the youngest ever Director of UBS in Australia.

Michael then joined Caledonia in 2006 and over the last 10 years has been responsible for some of Caledonia’s most successful investments. Caledonia is a global equity fund manager that was founded in 1992 as one of the first boutique fund managers in Australia. Caledonia has compounded the original capital invested at a rate in excess of 17% per annum.

Michael is now based at Caledonia’s office in New York. Michael is currently on the Board of Directors of Caledonia (Private) Investments Pty Limited and Arrowfield Group Pty Ltd and was previously a Non-Executive Director of Grays eCommerce Group Limited

Kerr Neilson has over 40 years of experience in financial markets both in broking and funds management.  This has involved a stint in London, followed by managing the research department for a stockbroker in South Africa.  Upon migrating to Australia he joined Bankers Trust, where he made important contributions to the development of that company’s highly successful retail funds management division.

Kerr left Bankers Trust Australia as an Executive Vice President to form Platinum Asset Management in February 1994.  In addition to managing Platinum’s global mandates, Kerr held the position of Chief Investment Officer until May 2013.  Kerr remains Chief Executive Officer and as portfolio manager for the global mandates at Platinum and is the principal shareholder.

BCom (UCT).

John Pearce joined UniSuper as Chief Investment Officer in July 2009. UniSuper is the superannuation fund dedicated to people working in Australia’s higher education and research sector. With more than 410,000 members and $50 billion in net funds under management, is one of Australia’s largest super funds. UniSuper has about 35 investment professionals involved in allocating funds and investing directly across all asset classes both domestically and globally.

John has over 25 years’ experience in the financial services industry both in Australia and Asia. He has held several senior positions including Chief Executive Officer and General Manager, Investments of Australia’s largest asset management company, Colonial First State, from 2000 to 2006. From 2006 to 2008 John was the Head of Global Asset Management for Ping An, which is China’s second largest insurance company.

Anthony is the Portfolio Manager of the SHARE-PLUS Long-Short Fund.

Anthony has 13 years’ experience outside of Perpetual, most recently at Ellerston Capital where for two years he was the Portfolio Manager for the Ellerston Capital Global Equity Management Fund. Prior to this role, he spent 3 years as an analyst working on a long/short strategy. Prior to joining Ellerston Capital, Anthony worked as an Analyst at UBS Investment Bank for 8 years.

Anthony has a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Sydney and has earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

BEc, CFA

Years of experience: 17

Years at Perpetual: 4

Shane Finemore is the Managing Partner of Manikay Partners and serves as the firm’s Chief Investment Officer.

Prior to founding Manikay Partners, Mr. Finemore spent 17 years at UBS and predecessor firms. Mr. Finemore was Managing Director and Head of the UBS Fundamental Investment Group, UBS’s Proprietary Multi Strategy Arbitrage and Investment business in the Americas, from 2002 to 2007, and served on the UBS Investment Bank board from 2006. Mr. Finemore was Head of Australian Equities at UBS from 1999 to 2001.

Mr. Finemore began his career with a predecessor of UBS in Interest Rate and Equity derivatives in 1990. He was a member of the board of the Australian Securities Exchange Limited from 2007 to 2013.

Dr Itescu has served on the Mesoblast Board since the Company’s founding in 2004, was Executive Director from 2007, and became CEO and Managing Director in 2011. Prior to founding Mesoblast, he established an international reputation as a physician scientist in the fields of stem cell biology, autoimmune diseases, organ transplantation, and heart failure. Dr Itescu has been a faculty member of Columbia University in New York, and the University of Melbourne and Monash University in Australia. In 2013, Dr Itescu received the inaugural Key Innovator Award from the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Culture for leadership in translational science and clinical medicine in relation to adult stem cell therapy. In 2011, he was named BioSpectrum Asia Person of the Year. Dr Itescu has consulted for various international pharmaceutical companies, has been an adviser to biotechnology and healthcare investor groups, and has served on the Boards of several publicly-listed life sciences companies.

MBBS, FRACP

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.

Gladys was first elected to the NSW Parliament as Member for Willoughby on 22 March 2003.

She was elected Leader of the Parliamentary Liberal Party on 23 January 2017 and sworn in as the 45th Premier of New South Wales. Gladys had previously served as Treasurer and Minister for Industrial Relations in the Baird Government since April 2015.

Prior to that, she was appointed Minister for Transport following the election of the O’Farrell Government in March 2011 and served in that role for four years.

She is a Master of Commerce graduate from UNSW and prior to entering Parliament worked as a General Manager for one of Australia’s largest financial institutions. Gladys has also completed studies in Government and Public Administration (B.A., Uni. Syd).

Gladys lives in Willoughby and has had a life-long association with the local area.

1983 and 1991.

His political legacy includes fundamental social and economic reform that laid the basis for Australia’s last quarter century economic performance and included the deregulation of the financial, product and labour markets.  Paul Keating also established compulsory superannuation – now with more than $2.1 trillion under management.  He worked towards an inclusive social policy, for Australia to become a Republic and established the Native Title legislation.  In foreign policy, he established the APEC Leaders’ Meeting and worked to forge Australia’s place in the region, especially with Indonesia.

His book, Engagement: Australia faces the Asia Pacific (2000) was translated into Chinese and Japanese.  In October 2011, his book of post Prime-Ministerial speeches, After Words, was published and Keating, the book based on the 2013 four-part ABC interview series with Kerry O’Brien, was published in 2015.  Troy Bramston’s Paul Keating: The Big Picture Leader was published in 2016.

Since 1996 Paul Keating has continued his interest in geo-political and foreign policy and urban design.  He is Chairman of Lazard Australia and is the progenitor of the Barangaroo project in Sydney, including and especially, its Headland Park.

Joe Lonsdale is a serial entrepreneur and founding partner of 8VC.  He serves on several boards including Wish, Addepar, OpenGov, Affinity, Illumio, Radius and Hyperloop-One.  Joe is a co-founder of Palantir, a multi-billion dollar global software company best known for its work in defense and finance.  Most recently, he was a founding partner at Formation 8, the precursor fund to 8VC, which is one of the top performing private funds.  Before that, he founded Addepar, a leading wealth management technology platform, and OpenGov.  Previously, Joe was an early executive at Peter Thiel’s Clarium Capital, which they grew into a large global macro hedge fund.  He also worked with the financial arm of PayPal while he was at Stanford.  Joe received a B.S. in Computer Science from Stanford in 2003 and often lectures and writes on entrepreneurship and technology.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Ben Alexander heads Ardea and has delivered industry-leading relative value returns to fixed income investors since 1998.

Ben co-founded Ardea, a boutique investment manager, in 2008 with the firm now managing $9.4bn in funds.

Ben’s focus at Ardea is centred on relative value opportunities spanning the breadth and depth of the domestic and international fixed income markets. Ben’s philosophy is to identify subjective investment opportunities, underpinned by accurate and consistent measures of value. Under this approach, Ben develops consistent, reproducible measures of value across the entire suite of fixed income and inflation-linked instruments. With value measured on a truly consistent basis, Ben is able to assess and act upon the subjective factors driving any divergence from fair value.

Prior to Ardea, Ben headed the fixed income team at Credit Suisse Asset Management in Australia, with responsibility for investment strategies in the Australian and Asian fixed income markets. Ben also held senior regional positions at Credit Suisse encompassing joint ventures in Asia. Ben began his participation in the fixed income markets with Credit Suisse in 1991.

Ben graduated with Honours in Mathematics from the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Raphael Arndt was appointed as the Chief Investment Officer of the Future Fund in 2014.

He leads a multi-disciplinary investment team, managing more than A$140 billion, making investments across all asset classes and geographies.

In particular, he focusses on the Fund’s “joined up” investment process, bringing together top down macro views and bottom up sector opportunities to construct the best overall portfolio.

This involves managing investments for Australia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Future Fund, and four additional funds, including the Medical Research Future Fund, which will be one of the largest medical research funds in the world when fully funded.

Raphael was previously the Fund’s Head of Infrastructure & Timberland where he was responsible for establishing both the Infrastructure & Timberland investment programs.

Raphael is also Chairman of the Investment Committee and a Board Member of the Melbourne Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation, Australia’s largest community foundation.

Raphael started his career as an Engineer working with Ove Arup & Partners in Melbourne and London.

He holds Engineering and Economics degrees and a PhD from the University of Melbourne which focused on risk allocation in Public Private Partnerships.

Mike Cannon-Brookes is the co-founder and co-CEO of Atlassian, a collaboration software company that helps teams organise, discuss and complete shared work. More than 89,000 large and small organisations around the world use Atlassian’s tracking, collaboration, communication, service management and development products to work smarter and faster every day.

Mike has received international recognition for his work, including Ernst & Young’s Australian Entrepreneur Of The Year in 2006 and Australian Business Person of the Year by the Australian Financial Review in 2017. He’s also been honoured by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader in 2009 and was named on the 2017 Forbes Global Game Changers list for reshaping the business world.

Outside Atlassian, Mike is an active angel investor and a non-executive director of Tyro, a technology-focused Australian bank. He serves as an adjunct professor at the University of New South Wales’ School of ComputerScience and Engineering, as well as chair of the Computer Science and Engineering Industry Advisory Board.

Mike holds a Bachelor of Commerce in information systems from the University of New South Wales, Australia.

Tim Carleton is the Portfolio Manager at Auscap Asset Management, a value focused long short Australian equities manager based in Sydney. Tim has a proven track record in long short investing having co-founded Auscap and, prior to that, having managed a proprietary portfolio at Goldman Sachs. Tim is a CFA charterholder, a CMT charterholder, a Senior Associate of FINSIA, and has a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws from the University of Sydney.

Peter founded Cooper Investors in 2001. As Chief Investment Officer, Peter created and implemented the firm’s VoF investment philosophy which is applied across the international, domestic and Asian equities strategies. He is responsible for mentoring investment team members and the standardisation and integration of the process across the investment teams.

Peter has over 30 years of investment management experience. In 1987 he joined the NSW State Superannuation Investment and Management Corporation as a specialist industry analyst and progressed to deputy portfolio manager of the $7bn portfolio. In 1993 Peter ran the Australian equities portfolios for BNP and then joined Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (formerly Mercury Asset Management) where he worked for 7 years, culminating in his position as Head of Australian Equities and Managing Director where he oversaw a team managing $7.5bn in Australian equities.

Hamish Douglass is Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Magellan Financial Group, and Lead Portfolio Manager of Magellan’s Global Equity strategies. Hamish is a former member of the Australian Government’s Financial Literacy Board, the Australian Government’s Takeovers Panel, the Australian Government’s Foreign Investment Review Board and the Forum of Young Global Leaders – World Economic Forum.

Professor Sally Dunwoodie leads the world in the discovery of the genetic and environmental causes of birth defects. She was appointed to the International Rare Disease Research Consortium Task Force; founded the International Consortium for Vertebral Anomalies and Scoliosis; and established the largest research program identifying the causes of congenital heart disease in Australia.

In 2017, Professor Dunwoodie announced one of the most significant discoveries in pregnancy research in decades. Professor Dunwoodie and her team identified a cause and possible prevention of multiple types of birth defects and recurrent miscarriage. This discovery could prevent thousands if not millions of cases of birth defects worldwide.

Sally is a Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of NSW. She received her Bachelor of Science (Hons) and PhD from the University of Sydney. She trained as an embryologist in London before joining the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute in 2000. With women filling just 15 percent of senior roles in science, Professor Dunwoodie is also an inspiring mentor for young female scientists.

Steven is Head of Research and Portfolio Manager of the Pengana International Equities Fund, the Value Growth Trust, Global Equities Trust and the listed investment company Global Value Ltd. He has over 15 years’ experience as a portfolio manager and equities analyst.

Prior to joining Pengana, Steven spent seven years at Hunter Hall International as an investment analyst and portfolio manager. He previously worked as an equities analyst at Tricom Securities and as an investment analyst at Platinum Funds Management.

Steven was awarded a Co-op scholarship at the University of New South Wales, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce (Merit), majoring in Accounting and Finance, and a Masters of Commerce, majoring in Advanced Finance. He has completed the Chartered Financial Analyst Program and has been awarded the CFA Charter.

Blake Henricks has worked at Macquarie for over a decade and co-manages the Macquarie High Conviction Fund. The High Conviction strategy is a concentrated Australian share fund that has delivered top quartile performance over all time periods.

The strategy has delivered 10.4%pa since inception in 2005, making it the #1 performing Fund in Australia over the period according to the Mercer Insights survey of over 100 peer managers.*

During this time, Blake has been responsible for generating alpha across various sectors including Telcos, Media, Tech, Resources, Oil, Gas and a variety of industrial companies.

Kit Huckvale is a Research Fellow in eHealth at the Block Dog Institute at the University of New South Wales, developing and evaluating novel technologies for mental health in youth. A medically-qualified doctor and informatics specialist, Kit joined the Black Dog Institute in November 2016 from Imperial College London where he was Research Principal for Imperial Tech Foresight, providing technology foresight and horizon scanning for major corporates. He completed his PhD at the eHealth Unit of Imperial College London and holds degrees from the University of Edinburgh and the University of Manchester. Kit is the recipient of a Black Puppy Foundation postdoctoral fellowship.

Dawn Kanelleas is Senior Portfolio Manager, Small Companies for Colonial First State Global Asset Management (‘CFSGAM’).
In her role, Dawn manages a range of Small Companies portfolios as well as researching and analysing of a range of Australian listed stocks in the Small Companies and MidCap sectors. Dawn has more than 20 years of investment industry experience as a broker and fund manager.
Prior to joining CFSGAM in January 2008, Dawn was a Portfolio Manager in Deutsche Asset Management’s highly-rated Small Companies Team for four years. Prior to this Dawn was with ABN AMRO Stockbroking as a marketing analyst for small companies. She was promoted to Director after four months and turned around a formerly unrated Small Companies franchise.
Dawn has completed a Bachelor of Science with first class honours and a PhD in chemistry. She also has a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance.

Philip King joined Regal in 2005 as the Chief Investment Officer and currently manages a suite of long/short equity products for Australian and International investors.  Philip was previously a portfolio manager at London-based hedge fund, DPFM, where he managed a special situations and relative value portfolio for over six years.  Before that Philip was a sell side analyst with Macquarie Bank in Sydney for five years and prior to working at Macquarie Bank Philip worked at KPMG as a Chartered Accountant for eight years.

Philip holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) from the University of New South Wales, is a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia, a member of the UK Society of Investment Professionals, a Chartered Accountant and is a Chartered Financial Analyst charter holder.

Mr Luciano has over twenty years’ experience gained as a portfolio manager, equities analyst and accountant. Prior to founding VGI Partners in 2008, Mr Luciano spent five years as an Executive Director and Investment Manager with Caledonia Investments in Sydney. Prior to Caledonia, Mr Luciano held positions as a Portfolio Manager at Allianz Equity Management and an equities analyst at BNP Paribas (formerly Prudential-Bache Securities Australia). Mr Luciano commenced his career as an accountant with BDO Nelson Parkhill in 1993.

Mr Luciano graduated from the University of New South Wales, with a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Accounting & Finance where he later completed a Masters of Commerce, majoring in Advanced Finance. He is a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia. Mr Luciano has completed the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Program and has been awarded the CFA Charter.

Mr Luciano is a Director of VGI Partners Global Investments Limited (ASX: VG1)

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.

Dr. Eliana Marino is the head of the Immunology and Diabetes Research Group at Monash University. She completed her PhD from New South Wales University in 2010, and worked for five years as a research officer and group leader between The Garvan Institute for Medical Research in Sydney and Monash University in Melbourne. She has been awarded with a Career Development Award from JDRF and with the distinguished Type 1 Millenium Award from Diabetes Australia – the largest allocated funding in Victoria. Her latest work has recently been published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature Immunology, showing her research is at the cutting edge of the field. Dr. Marino’s lab is one of the leading groups worldwide studying the role of diet and the gut microbiota on the development of type 1 diabetes and associated inflammatory complications. She is a contributor to the Athena Swan at Monash University and an enthusiastic South American soccer fan. She is currently investigating innovative dietary technology that boost the good gut microbiota and modulate the immune system to tackle type 1 diabetes. She can be contacted at eliana.marino@monash.edu or on Twitter at @ElianaMarino.

Ramez Naam is a former Microsoft executive, entrepreneur, inventor, and the Co-Chair of Energy and Environment at Singularity University. He’s also the award-winning author of five books, including the Nexus series of science fiction novels. Ramez’s books have won the Prometheus Award, the Endeavour Award, the Philip K. Dick Award, and been listed as an NPR Best Book of the Year.

Ramez spent 13 years at Microsoft, where he led teams working on artificial intelligence, big data, and internet search. His software has touched the lives of more than a billion people. He holds more than 20 patents, including several as a co-inventor with Bill Gates.

Ramez speaks around the world on clean energy, innovation, exponential technology, and how organizations can adapt. He’s briefed Fortune 100 CEOs, the Presidents and Prime Ministers of multiple nations, and the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs. His work has appeared in or been quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Atlantic, Slate, Business Week, Discover, Wired, and Scientific American.

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.

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.

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.

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

Mark Nelson is Executive Chairman and Co-founder of Caledonia, a specialist global investment manager founded in 1992 and based in Sydney, Australia. Mark was educated at the Universities of Melbourne, and Cambridge, receiving his Doctorate in 1986.

Dr Nelson has over 30 years experience working in Australian and International investment and equity markets, analysing and assessing the business models of global companies in a wide variety of industries, and successfully placing Caledonia at the forefront of Australian-based equity investment firms.

He is also the Vice President of the Board of Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Deputy Chairman of Art Exhibitions Australia, a Governor of the Florey Institute of Neuroscience, and serves on the International Council of the Tate Museums in London, and the Directors Council of The Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Shane Finemore is the Managing Partner of Manikay Partners and serves as the firm’s Chief Investment Officer.

Prior to founding Manikay Partners, Mr. Finemore spent 17 years at UBS and predecessor firms. Mr. Finemore was Managing Director and Head of the UBS Fundamental Investment Group, UBS’s Proprietary Multi Strategy Arbitrage and Investment business in the Americas, from 2002 to 2007, and served on the UBS Investment Bank board from 2006. Mr. Finemore was Head of Australian Equities at UBS from 1999 to 2001.

Mr. Finemore began his career with a predecessor of UBS in Interest Rate and Equity derivatives in 1990. He was a member of the board of the Australian Securities Exchange Limited from 2007 to 2013.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.