Speakers list

Alex Beveridge

Global Pensions, Incisive Media

Alex is the editor of Global Pensions. Prior to joining the magazine, he was a news and website editor for Charterhouse Communications, where he covered the UK mortgage market. Alex has a degree in politics and communications studies from the University of Liverpool and a post graduate diploma in journalism from the Journalism Training Center in London.

Bill Evans

Managing Director & Global Head of Economics & Research
Westpac Banking Corporation

William (Bill) Evans is a graduate of Sydney University (BEc. Hons I and University Medal) and the London School of Economics (M.Sc.). He has worked as a Research Manager for the Reserve Bank of Australia, Treasurer at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, and prior to joining Westpac in 1991, was Director and Head of Financial Markets at Schroders Australia Limited for 8 years.

Bill joined Westpac, in 1991, in the position of Chief Economist and Head of Research. During his time at Westpac, he also spent 2 years in New Zealand as Head of the Institutional Bank, with responsibility for Westpac’s corporate and financial markets businesses.

He is currently Managing Director Economics. He is the Bank’s economic spokesman and is responsible for all of the Bank’s economic and capital markets research, in addition to advising the Board on economic issues. Bill travels frequently, advising Westpac’s customers on the Australian economy and financial markets. He has developed many important contacts in the U.S, Europe and Asia.

Bill is a life member of the Australian Business Economists. He was a delegate at the Rudd Government’s 2020 summit

Anthony Michael

Head of Currency and Fixed Income Asia
Aberdeen Asset Management, Singapore
e-mail: Anthony.Michael@aberdeen-asset.com; tel: +65 6395 2468

Anthony Michael is head of fixed income - Asia, responsible for the management and investment performance of Aberdeen's non-Japan Asia fixed income and capital market products. He is also a member of the Global Macro Strategies team. Anthony joined Aberdeen in 2007, following the acquisition of Deutsche Asset Management's Fixed Income and Equity businesses that year. Anthony held the position of director/senior portfolio manager with Deutsche in Sydney, for five years, responsible for the development and implementation of fixed income and FX strategies. He was also a member of the global strategy group, the global insurance group and was a member of the tactical asset allocation committee. Previously, Anthony worked in similar roles with the Zurich Scudder Group, Perpetual Funds Management Australia and the ING Group.

Anthony has a BEcon and a MEc in Economics from Macquarie University, Australia, an MComm in Applied Finance from the University of New South Wales and a Graduate Diploma in Securities studies from the Securities Institute of Australia.

Brett Allender

Principal, Global Trading Strategies

Brett Allender received a B.Ec. (Hons) from the University of Tasmania before joining the Reserve Bank of Australia in 1983, where he worked for five years in research and domestic markets. He moved to the private sector in 1988 and became Chief Economist then Head of Proprietary Trading, at Schroders Australia Ltd. Brett joined Goldman Sachs JBWere in July 2000. He is a Principal and Co-Head of Goldman Sachs JBWere's Global Trading Strategies macro hedge fund.

Chris Baker

Senior Associate, Mercer Investment Consulting
+61 2 8864 6967 email chris.baker@mercer.com

Chris Baker is a Senior Associate who joined the Sydney office of Mercer’s investment consulting business in July 2008. Chris is responsible for covering Australian domiciled investment managers for fixed income, currency and global tactical asset allocation.

Prior to joining Mercer, Chris was a Senior Investment Analyst at SEI Investments in London within the fixed income team, where he was responsible for portfolio management and manager selection for the SEI global fixed income portfolios. Prior to working at SEI Investments, Chris worked as an investment analyst at Intech and also spent 2 years as an accountant at Ernst & Young in Sydney.

Chris holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree (Majors in Finance & Accounting) from Macquarie University and also is a CFA charter holder.

Joe Bracken

Head of Macro Strategies, BT Investment Management
e-mail: joe.bracken@btim.com.au tel:+61 2 9220 2035

Joe Bracken joined the funds management business of BT Financial Group, now BT Investment Management, as Head of Macro Strategies in July 2007 and is responsible for managing a family of global absolute return funds including Global Equity, Global Currency and Global Bond products along with the flagship Global Macro fund. He brings extensive experience in equities research, quantitative strategies and a strong track record running a $6 billion portfolio strategy of a global pension fund.

Previously, Joe worked 4 years for ABP, one of the largest pension fund in the world with over $240 billion in assets under management. There Joe was a founding member of the Global Quantitative Equities group, a team that runs approximately $24 billion using multiple pure quantitative equity models.
Prior to that Joe was a Vice President, Equity Research for JP Morgan Securities. Before that Joe was a Quantitative Fund Manager at Merrill Lynch Mercury Asset Management, London, UK.
Joe holds a Masters of Business Administration at London Business School (Distinction) and a Bachelor of Computer Applications at Dublin City University (First Class Honours).

Chris Loong

Head of Currency and Asset Allocation, State Street Global Advisors

Chris is a Senior Portfolio Manager and Head of the Asset Allocation and Currency Management group for State Street Global Advisors, Australia Limited. Chris joined SSgA in October 2005.
Previously he worked at AMP Capital Investors for 12 years, most recently as the Head of Interest Rates and Currencies, responsible for the active and passive management of AMPCI's domestic sovereign bond and foreign currency exposures. Prior to that, he worked as an economist at Bankers Trust Australia and CS First Boston. Chris began his career at the Reserve Bank of Australia, with responsibilities including research and analysis of international economies and financial markets.
Chris has received a Bachelor Commerce with Honours, majoring in Economics from the University of New South Wales, and a Master of Applied Finance from Macquarie University. He has lectured for the Faculty of Commerce, University of New South Wales and the SIA.

Lynnelle Jones

Director Client Services and New Product Development, Hathersage
tel: +1 203 434 5966 email: lynnelle@hathersage.com

Lynnelle Jones is Director of Business Development and Client Service for Hathersage Capital Management LLC, www.hathersage.com, a discretionary absolute return currency trading firm. Lynnelle has over twenty eight years of experience in global financial markets. She began her career working in the Bond Market Research Department at Salomon Brothers. In 1981 she moved to Goldman Sachs where she worked for a decade as a Vice President and institutional salesperson specializing in fixed income products, derivatives and structured products. Following her Wall Street experience she joined the Hathersage team and, in addition, consulted with Private Banks, including Coutts & Co. and The European Financial Group, on hedge funds and structured products. Lynnelle is a frequent speaker and writer regarding absolute return and risk conscious portfolio development. She holds a BA in Economics from Colby College, Waterville, Maine and an MBA from Cornell University, Johnson School of Business, Ithaca, N.Y.

Gail Kelly

Gail Kelly is Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Westpac Banking Corporation. Since her appointment in February 2008, Gail has led the development of a new vision and strategy for Westpac which is centred on customers. Building on this customer-focussed strategy, under Gail’s leadership Westpac completed its transformational merger with St.George Bank in December 2008.

Immediately prior to her appointment, Gail served as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of St.George Bank from January 2002 to August 2007. Between October 1997 and December 2001, Gail was employed at Commonwealth Bank of Australia; firstly as General Manager, Strategic Marketing, and later as Head of Customer Service and a member of the bank’s Executive Committee.

Mrs Kelly began her banking career as a teller at Nedcor Bank, one of the largest banks in South Africa. Gail held various General Manager positions at Nedcor, including human resources, cards and personal banking.

Mrs Kelly is currently a director of both Melbourne Business School and the Financial Markets Foundation for Children; and a member of both the Financial Services Advisory Council and Australian Bankers’ Association. Mrs Kelly is also a Director of Westpac New Zealand Limited, and a member of Westpac’s Board Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Committee.

Kurt Magnus

Director Institutional FX, Westpac Institutional Bank

Kurt Magnus is a Director of Institutional Foreign Exchange at Westpac Institutional Bank (WIB).

Kurt has extensive knowledge of currency options trading and specialises in currency risk management for global multi-asset fund managers.

For over 20 years, Kurt has specialised in Foreign Exchange and has experience across four major financial institutions both in Australia and offshore.

Kurt has been a facilitator at the Westpac & Global Pensions Currency Forum for a number of years.

Huw McKay

Principal Advisor Financial Markets, Australian Treasury

Huw McKay is Principal Advisor Financial Markets at the Australian Commonwealth Treasury. In this capacity he focusses on the gamut of financial sector issues, ranging from regulatory reform, market conditions, crisis adaption, mitigation and resolution, to macrofinancial linkages in the real economy.

Troy Rieck

General Manager Capital Markets, QIC
tel +61 7 3360 3848 email: t.rieck@qic.com

Troy Rieck is the Managing Director of Capital Markets at QIC, with responsibility for delivering corporate treasury services and product structuring solutions to QIC's clients. His team delivers funds management solutions that are capital efficient, tax effective, and low cost. They seek out specific big-picture risks and develop strategies to effectively manage them.

Troy holds an Honours degree in Science, a Masters degree in Commerce, and a Bachelor of Arts (Economics) from The University of Queensland, as well as a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investments from FINSIA. He is a Certified Finance and Treasury Professional, an AFMA
Accredited Dealer, a Fellow of FINSIA and a Certified Investment Management Analyst.

Chris Ryan

Head of International Department, Reserve Bank of Australia

Chris Ryan is Head of the RBA’s International Department, which is responsible for the RBA’s foreign exchange operations, international reserves management, international relations and analysis of international financial markets. Immediately prior to this position he was Head of the RBA’s Financial Stability Department, which produces the RBA’s Financial Stability Review. Before that he was Head of the RBA’s Domestic Markets Department, which is responsible for domestic market operations and analysis of domestic financial markets. During the 1990s he worked for a total of around five years at the IMF.

Nick Sherry

Senator the Hon Nick Sherry is the Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law in the Rudd Labor Government.

• He is responsible for all superannuation policy and administration matters, including taxation and prudential regulation of superannuation funds.
• His corporate law responsibilities include governance and insolvency issues as well as aspects of financial market conduct, disclosure, investor protection and supervision and oversight of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
• Other areas which he covers include financial literacy and the Royal Australian Mint.

Nick was previously Shadow Minister responsible for superannuation and has also been Shadow Assistant Treasurer. He was also a Parliamentary Secretary during the Keating Labor Government.

Nick chaired the Senate Select Committee on Superannuation in the former Labor Government and was also Deputy Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Superannuation and Financial Services.

His more than 20 years experience in the Australian superannuation system has given him deep knowledge and interest in the design and operation of superannuation and pension systems. Nick has kept abreast of the international pension scene, studying closely the systems and developments in the UK, US and Switzerland. He has written extensively on the subject.

The Minister has been a Senator for Tasmania since 1990. He is based in Devonport on Tasmania's North West Coast.

Paul Verschuer

Managing Director, FX & Commodities, Westpac Institutional Bank

Paul Verschuer is the Managing Director, FX & CCE for Westpac’s Institutional Bank (WIB), appointed in 2004. In this role he has global responsibility for Westpac’s Foreign Exchange, Commodities, Carbon and Energy sales trading businesses.

As a member of the WIB Executive Team he has a number of additional responsibilities including membership of the Westpac Group’s Market Risk Committee and oversight for the Institutional Banks Sustainability, Carbon and Water agendas.

After graduating from university in 1988, Mr. Verschuer commenced his career as a Senior Foreign Exchange Trader at Macquarie Bank. Since then he has held various positions including Executive Vice President, Head of Currency & Commodity Derivatives, Bankers Trust Australia Limited (1994-1999); Managing Director – Head of Trading for Zurich Capital Markets Asia (2001-2003).

Mr. Verschuer holds a Bachelor of Science – Pure Mathematics from the University of NSW as well as a Master of Arts – International Communication and Master of International Relations from Macquarie University.

Margaret Waller

CEO, Pareto Partners Australia
Tel +61 2 9087 7655 email: margaret.waller@pareto-partners.com.au

Margaret began her career in investment management in her home country of Australia where she spent six years managing Australian and international equities, fixed interest securities, and property investments for pension fund clients. She joined County NatWest Investment Management Ltd in 1985 and subsequently moved to New York to head up the marketing of their international investment management services to US pension plans. She returned to London in September 1989 to become the Deputy Head of the Global Quantitative Investment Group and was later promoted to Group Head. Margaret is a founder of the UK based investment management partnership, Pareto Partners, and has been heading the firm’s Pacific business development efforts from Sydney since 1996.

Margaret is a graduate of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology with a BBus degree, a Diploma from the Securities Institute of Australia and the Series 3 qualification from the National Futures Association in the United States.