16:15 - 16:45 A view from the Middle East

Dr. Rania Azmi is an adviser to one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds and enjoys 15-plus years of private/institutional investing experience. After working for her father's family office and teaching at her alma mater, the University of Alexandria, where she came top of her class in Business Administration with a specialism in Finance, Dr Rania Azmi was noticed by organisations including the International Finance Corporation, which certified her to train small and medium-sized businesses on finance and investment, and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. From there she followed in the footsteps of Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair in the IV Leadership Programme, which took her all over the world. She has also been a keynote speaker at the CERN laboratories pension risk and investment summit. When not advising on investment, Azmi is a keen activist for women's position in business, politics and society, having  spoken for the World Bank on gender and economics, and was awarded the Google Prize for Most Interesting and Creative Work. Designated a global woman of influence by the Women Speakers Association, Dr Razmi also holds a PhD in Financial Mathematics. 

15:10 - 15:55 Stranded assets and other related climate risks. Are we sleepwalking into the next systemic crisis?

Pascal Blanqué is deputy CEO and CIO of Amundi Group, Head of Institutional Investors and Third Party Distributors and Member of the Executive Committee since 2005. He started his career in finance with Paribas in 1991 and joined Crédit Agricole in 2000, where he was Head of Economic Research and Chief Economist until 2005. As an economist and a financial historian Blanqué is the author of several contributions. His research interests and his academic work focus on monetary issues, the functioning of financial markets and the philosophical foundations of economics. Blanqué graduated from the Ecole Normale Supérieure and Sciences Po in Paris and holds a PhD in finance from Dauphine University.

10:20 - 10:30 Welcome from Austria & 11:55 - 12:55 Buy or build? Creating effective pension investment teams

Christian Böhm has been the CEO of APK Pensionskasse AG, a multi-employer pension fund based in Vienna, since 2002 and a Member of the Executive Board since 1989. He is also a member of the board of PensionsEurope and Vice Chairman of the Association of Austrian Occupational Pension Funds. Böhm graduated from the University of Linz, Austria. He worked as civil servant for the Austrian Federal Ministry of Labour, Department of Labour Law and Industrial Relations from 1982-87 and from 1987-89 with an industrial company on the redesign of the occupational pension scheme.

Michael T. Boychuk is currently the President of Bimcor Inc; one of Canada’s largest private sector pension plan managers. Prior to his current position he was the Senior Vice President and Corporate Treasurer of BCE Inc. and Bell Canada (November 1999-09). Throughout that period Boychuk was responsible for all Treasury, and Capital Markets activities of the BCE group of companies and until 2005, he was also responsible for all mergers and acquisition activities of the Corporation. He joined BCE in 1997 as President and Chief Executive Officer of BCE Capital, the venture capital arm of BCE Inc. Boychuk, a Chartered Accountant by profession, began his career with KPMG (Peat Marwick) and later joined the Montreal Trust Company where he held progressively senior positions until 1993. From 1994-97 he co-founded Manitex Capital Inc., a private equity merchant bank.

10:30 - 11:25 Keynote

John Bruton served as Taoiseach between 1994 and 1997. He was first elected to the Irish Parliament (Dáil Éireann) in 1969 at the age of 22 as a member of the Fine Gael Party, becoming Party Leader in 1990 and leading it into government in 1994.

During Bruton’s time as Taoiseach he helped transform the Irish economy into the "Celtic Tiger," when it became, for a period of 12 years, one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Bruton was also deeply involved in the Northern Irish Peace Process, leading to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, under whose terms a conflict of allegiances dating back to the seventeenth century was resolved.

Currently, since leaving his position as EU Ambassador to the US in 2009, Bruton is Chairman of IFSC Ireland, a private sector body set up to develop the financial services industry in Ireland. He is a member of the board of Ingersoll Rand plc, of Montpelier Re plc, and of the Centre for European Policy Studies. He is a Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for Transatlantic Relations in Washington DC, and has been a visiting fellow at the European Institute in the London School of Economics.

11:55 - 12:55 Buy or build? Creating effective pension investment teams 

Robin Claessens, who joined Redington in May 2014, is Managing Director in their Investment Consulting Practice. He was most recently CFO of BBOXX Ltd, a young and ambitious start-up which designs and manufactures “plug and play” solar-based electric systems. Prior to this he was CEO and CIO of Invensys Pension Scheme where he was responsible for liability management, asset management, corporate strategy, administration and corporate sponsor strategy. He oversaw the fund’s Trustee Board and Governance & Audit Committee, and chaired its Asset & Liability Management Committee. As CIO, he designed and executed a three-step plan to upgrade the fund’s investments and risk management capabilities. Claessens started his career at Goldman Sachs working initially in Corporate Treasury before moving into the Corporate Pension Advisory Group where he advised European and US corporations and their pension schemes on all aspects of pension strategy. He is a member of the steering committee of the Milken Institute Young Leaders’ Circle and the INSEAD UK Leadership Group.

After graduating from Cambridge University with first class honours in natural sciences and a distinction in post-graduate mathematics, Howard Covington had a career in investment banking and investment management. He was a director of SG Warburg, specialising in mergers and acquisitions, later becoming the European chief executive of US investment bank Wasserstein Perella. In 2001 he became a founding shareholder and chief executive of London-listed New Star Asset Management. Covington left New Star on its sale in 2009.

He went on to become the first non-academic chairman and an honorary fellow of the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences at Cambridge University, the UK’s national research institute for mathematical sciences and one of the leading such institutes in the world. He is also a fellow of the UK’s Institute of Physics and a trustee of the London Science Museum.

11:55 - 12:55 Buy or build? Creating effective pension investment teams

Stefan Dunatov is Chief Investment Officer at Coal Pension Trustees Limited, which is responsible for £20bn of investments of the Mineworkers' Pension Scheme and the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme. Prior to this he was a director at Deutsche Asset Management, portfolio strategist at Equitas, an advisor at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and economist at HSBC. Dunatov holds undergraduate degrees in law and economics from the University of Auckland and a Masters in Economics from The London School of Economics. He is a member of the 300 Club, a group of global investment professionals whose aim is to raise awareness of the impact of market thinking and behaviours in order to improve investment governance and strategy.

16:45 - 17:30 Is activism compatible with the way institutional investors operate? How institutional investors and activist hedge funds are increasingly joining forces

Julian Franks is a Professor of Finance and Academic Director of the Centre of Corporate Governance at the London Business School. Franks is widely published, in which his research focuses on bankruptcy and financial distress, corporate ownership and control, cost of capital and regulation. His work on ownership and control (with Colin Mayer and Stefano Rossi) has won two international prizes. He is Associate Editor of five finance journals.

Franks served as a member of the DTI-Treasury committee for reviewing the UK’s insolvency code in 2001 and was a member of one of The Company Law Review’s committees on corporate governance. He advises several UK regulatory bodies including the ORR and Ofwat and has been an expert witness for the UK government and advised (with Professor Brealey) The Office of Constitutional Affairs and provided advice to a Treasury committee chaired by Paul Myners on a review of the governance of mutuals. Recently, Franks was a member of a government taskforce (the Breedon Committee) investigating new avenues of non-bank sources of finance for small- to medium-sized companies.

10:15 - 10:20 Welcome & 11:25 - 12:10 Rebooting pension business models

Liam Kennedy is Editor of Investment & Pensions Europe (IPE) and Editorial Director of IPE International Publishers. Based in London, he has over 15 years’ experience as a financial journalist and editor, specialising in the field of institutional investment and pension funds. In that time he has met, interviewed and profiled countless senior executives at European and global pension funds, asset management companies and consultancies, as well as many other influential figures. He is a frequent speaker/moderator at events in Europe as well as in the US and Asia. Prior to joining IPE in February 2007, Liam spent nearly seven years at the Financial Times group in London, where he worked as a specialist Editor and Writer and launched four specialist European pension and investment publications. He holds an undergraduate degree of MA (Hons) from the University of Glasgow, UK.

14:10 - 14:50 An interactive discussion on latest trends and drives in investment and asset allocation

Rick Lacaille is Executive Vice President and Global Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of State Street Global Advisors and a member of the firm's Executive Management Group. In his role as Chief Investment Officer Rick has responsibility for all investment management activity at SSgA, including research and trading. Prior to his current role, Rick was Head of Global Active Equities, and previously European CIO. Rick serves on the European and International Executive Committees and the SSgA Investment Committee. Before joining SSgA in 2000, he held a wide variety of posts in quantitative fund management and research at Gartmore Investment Management, including periods as Head of Quantitative Research and Head of Structured Equities.

Rick has a BSc(Hons) in Operational Research from Lancaster University and an MSc in Econometrics from London Guildhall University.

Rick is a member of the FTSE Policy Committee and he sits on the Asset Management Committee of the Investment Management Association. He is a regular writer and broadcaster on investment issues and speaks frequently at industry conferences.

11:25 - 12:10 Rebooting pension business models

Amin Rajan is the CEO of CREATE–Research, a UK-based think-tank that specialises in the future trends in the global fund management industry.  He is the author of numerous reports on the industry’s evolving dynamics and the responses they require.

By developing special insights in the emerging business models and their successful execution, Rajan also offers strategic advisory services to CEOs and CIOs as they grapple with the new industry dynamics.

In the last 10 years, Amin has undertaken advisory assignments with numerous prominent fund managers around the world in areas like strategic change, investment performance, client service, product innovation and talent management.

11:55 - 12:55 Buy or build? Creating effective pension investment teams

Alan Rubenstein joined the UK’s Pension Protection Fund as Chief Executive in April 2009. Previously he was a Managing Director of Lehman Brothers, responsible for establishing the firm’s Pensions Advisory Group, which brought together equity, fixed income and investment banking services for pension funds and corporate plan sponsors. Rubenstein qualified as an actuary with Scottish Widows and then moved into senior executive positions in investment banking with BZW Asset Management, Lucas Varity Fund Management and Morgan Stanley. He is a former Vice-Chairman of the UK National Association of Pension Funds and chairman of its investment council. Rubenstein recently stepped down from the management board of the UK Actuarial Profession and as a council member of the Faculty of Actuaries. He is a former member of the UK Takeover Panel. In February 2014, Rubenstein was appointed as a non-executive member to the Supervisory Group of Robeco Groep NV.

16:45 - 17:30 Is activism compatible with the way institutional investors operate? How institutional investors and activist hedge funds are increasingly joining forces

Anne Simpson is Senior Portfolio Manager, Investments, and Director of Global Governance at CalPERS, the largest public pension system in the United States with approximately $300bn (€240bn) in global assets. The governance programme includes the CalPERS Focus List of shareholder engagement with companies, global proxy voting, and legal and regulatory reform. Simpson leads CalPERS’ sustainability project to integrate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors across the total fund. She is an advisory board member at the Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership, at Columbia Law School, a Director of the Council of Institutional Investors, a member of the Investor Advisory Group of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, and a member of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights Leadership Council. She sits on the editorial advisory board for the journal Corporate Governance: An International Review and the Greening of Global Investing published by the Economist. She is the co-author of Fair Shares: The Future of Shareholder Power and Responsibility. Her former roles include Senior Faculty Fellow, Yale School of Management, Executive Director of the International Corporate Governance Network, head of the World Bank-OECD Global Corporate Governance Forum, and Joint Managing Director of Pensions & Investment Research Consultants (PIRC).

16:45 - 17:30 Is activism compatible with the way institutional investors operate? How institutional investors and activist hedge funds are increasingly joining forces

Craig Stevenson works as a senior investment consultant within Towers Watson's Manager Research team. Stevenson is currently engaged in leading the research team for equity long/short hedge funds. He is involved in a number of hedge fund advisory client relationships with regard to the structuring of clients’ hedge fund exposure and ongoing monitoring.  
 


Prior to joining Towers Watson Stevenson was a senior associate at bfinance, associate director at Standard & Poor's and a research analyst at Stamford Associates. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a BComm (Hons) in Business Studies and Law, he is an Associate of the Securities & Investment Institute and a holder of the Investment Management Certificate.

14:10 - 14:50 An interactive discussion on latest trends and drivers in investment and asset allocation

Martin Steward began his career in finance and investment journalism in 2003, reporting on the European hedge fund industry for MARHedge magazine. In December 2005 he became Editor at MandateWire, a small venture that is now part of the Financial Times Group, dedicated to tracking the investment activity of European pension funds and endowments for the asset management industry, where he was responsible for developing the data-gathering process and building the research team. In March 2007 he joined the Financial Times, writing news and features for the group’s institutional investment magazine, FTMandate, its private banking title, PWM, and for FTfm. He moved into the newly-created role of Investment Editor at Investment & Pensions Europe (IPE) magazine in February 2009.

He was a winner at the State Street Institutional Press Awards in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013, and he was named Pensions Journalist of the Year by the Investment Management Association in 2013 and 2014. Martin holds a PhD in English Literature from University College London.

Raj Thamotheram is CEO of Preventable Surprises and a Visiting Fellow at the Smith School (Oxford University). Previously, he led the Responsible Investment team at the UK's Universities Superannuation Scheme, where he launched several collaborative initiatives including the Institutional Investor Group for Climate Change. Prior to that Thamotheram worked at AXA Investment Managers where he launched the first fund in Europe focused on human capital management and also the strategy to mainstream ESG, RI Inside.

He is a columnist for Investment & Pensions Europe (IPE), a regular contributor to Responsible Investor and the (co-)author of several academic articles and chapters. Thamotheram also works at various charities and foundations in different capacities. He trained as a medical doctor, has worked in NGOs, as founder and Director of Saferworld, international head of advocacy at ActionAid and the first manager of the Ethical Trading Initiative. He has also worked as a CSR consultant with clients including BT, the UK Cabinet Office and Caricom.

16:45 - 17:30 Is activism compatible with the way institutional investors operate? How institutional investors and activist hedge funds are increasingly joining forces

Jens Tischendorf is a Partner of Cevian and a Director of Cevian Capital AG. He is currently on the board of Bilfinger SE and was formerly on the board of Demag Cranes AG. Prior to joining Cevian in July 2008, he was a principal at AT Kearney where he worked from 2000-08 with responsibility for managing operational improvement projects for mid-sized and multinational companies in Europe, the US and Japan. Tischendorf holds a masters' degree in business administration and computer science (Dipl. Wirtschaftsinformatiker) from the Technical University of Darmstadt and a Diplôme d’études Approfondies in Industrial Engineering from the Ecole Centrale de Lyon. Cevian is the largest activist manager in Europe and takes significant ownership positions (typically 5-20%) in a limited number of deeply undervalued companies to which it believes it can add value through operational activism. Since 1996, Cevian has joined the boards of around 50% of its portfolio companies and has never had a proxy fight.