Mikhail is the Head of Global Equities at Standard Life Investments, where he also serves as a portfolio manager on a number of Global Equity funds. Mikhail started his career in 1998 with Trigon Capital, an Eastern European investment banking firm, where his focus was on technology investment banking. He gained his MSc Accounting and Finance from London School of Economics and joined the investment banking division of Schroder Salomon Smith Barney in London in 2001, before moving to First State Investments as an Analyst, UK equities in 2002. He joined Standard Life Investments in January 2007. Mikhail holds a degree in Physics and Electronics from St. Petersburg State Technical University and a MSc in Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and holds an Investment Management Certificate (IMC).

Christopher Pitaluga is the CEO at Abacus Gibraltar, a leading international professional services firm in Gibraltar, dedicated to providing private and corporate clients with an exceptional range of financial services and products. Four decades of expertise in wealth management, trusts, corporate structuring, tax, and accounting services have helped Abacus create and deliver financial solutions that are simple, effective and bespoke in relation to the structuring of worldwide assets.

Andrew Swan, Head of Asian Equities for the Fundamental Equity division of BlackRock’s Alpha Strategies Group.

David Lafferty is Senior Vice President, Investment Strategies Group at Natixis Asset Management. His team is responsible for assessing capital market trends, working with aff liated portfolio management teams, and developing innovative product solutions. He has been with the company since 2004. Previously, Lafferty was senior vice president responsible for fixed-income and asset allocation products with State Street Research, developing investment strategies for institutional clients with assets ranging from $10 million to $2 billion. From 1998 to 2001, he was a senior investment strategist at MetLife, structuring asset allocation programs for institutional clients with assets totaling $600 million. Lafferty has over 20 years of investment industry experience. He received his BA from the University of New Hampshire and his MSF (Master of Science in Finance) from Suffolk University. He is a member of the Boston Security Analyst Society and the CFA Institute. 

Richard Turnill is BlackRock’s global chief investment strategist, leading investment strategy within the BlackRock Investment Institute. Previously he was chief investment strategist with the firm’s active management business and has also led BlackRock’s global equity team, serving as a portfolio manager. He writes about global markets, the economy and investment ideas.

Philippe Waechter is chief economist of Natixis Asset Management.

He began his career at Bred Banque Populaire in April 1988 as an economist.  In 1994 he became Director of the economic research department of Bred Banque Populaire, then named Banque Populaire Asset Management. Later, he became Chief economist of Natexis Asset Management in 2003. 

He graduated from the University of Paris and worked as a Professor at the University of Evry from 2003 to 2004.

Serge Pustelnik is currently studying international law at Harvard and is also a legal fellow at New Markets Lab in Washington, DC where he identifies alliances and coordinates projects with NGOs, nonprofits, local governments, foreign investors and local entrepreneurs. As Managing Director at Genesis Securities and Lek Securities in New York, he identified institutional and international investors and introduced them to the firms. Serge Pustelnik has spent the last 15 years helping fund managers, investment banks and entrepreneurs reach institutional and international investors throughout Europe, Eastern Europe and Asia.

Sevda Sarp joined Erste Asset Management in 2013, as a research analyst covering the financial sector. She worked for Erste Group since from 2011 to 2013 as a Senior Banking Analyst. Prior to that, she worked at UniCredit Istanbul and Ata Securities covering the Turkish banking and insurance sector, for a total of 6 years. Before becoming an equity analyst, she spent more than two years at Finanzbank and Deutsche
Bank as a Financial Controller preparing financial reports, and was responsible for the consolidation of subsidiaries. Sevda holds an MSc degree in International Finance.