Rian Akey is the Vice President and COO of Cole Asset Management and is responsible for overseeing the firm's research and operations. He is a principal of the organization and on the Investment Committee. Rian was hired in 1999 by an affiliate, Cole Partners, where he has guided the firm's review and due diligence of investment managers, industry research, and operations. Rian’s research on the relative merits of commodities alpha and beta has appeared in a variety of academic journals and books and has been presented at investment conferences around the world. His paper “Alpha, Beta, and Commodities: Can a Commodities Investment be Both a High Risk-Adjusted Return Source and a Portfolio Hedge?” appears as a chapter in the book Intelligence Commodity Investing, published in March 2007. Prior to joining the Cole organization, Rian's experience includes tenure with Thomson Financial, a Boston, Massachusetts-based financial services firm; and with a Fidelity Investments subsidiary. Rian is a registered member of the NASD and the NFA. He received a BA cum laude from the University of Notre Dame.

Andrey Babenko, Managing Director, OTKRITIE Financial Corporation Andrey Babenko is a Managing Director of OTKRITIE Financial Corporation, member of the Board of Directors of the RTS Stock Exchange. Mr. Babenko is head of the business division engaged in providing investment services on the securities market to institutional clients. Prior to joining OTKRITIE FC, Mr. Babenko held senior executive positions at a number of leading Russian and international financial organisations such as ABN AMRO Bank, Troika Dialog Group, CentreInvest Group, Trust and Investment Bank, Antanta Capital.

Phillip Best joined Threadneedle in 2007 as Chief Risk Officer and in his role as head of the Quantitative Research team is responsible for measuring, monitoring and reporting investment risk.  Phillip has worked in the financial markets since 1985 and has held a number of positions in risk management, including director of credit and market risk at Hambros, director of market risk at Abbey National Treasury Services and head of risk at UFJI. n 1983, Phillip graduated with a BSc in Chemical Engineering from the University of Salford and in 1998 published one of the first books on VAR: Implementing Value at Risk. Threadneedle start date: 2007 Industry start date: 1985

Dr. Bromann, Ph.D. in physics (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne) and qualified actuary DAV, is responsible for the investment portfolio and risk management of the accounts and funds managed by Solidum Partners. From 1998 to 2005 he worked with Zurich Insurance Company as a pricing actuary, head of quantitative analysis, and vice-president and technical deal architect, responsible for Zurich Corporate Solutions‘ alternative risk transfer portfolio in Europe. In 2005 he joined as Chief Risk Officer Solidum Partners’ predecessor ISP ARA, which after a buyout in December 2006 was newly branded Solidum Partners AG.

Romy Cabrera has been in the financial industry for 11 years. In her role as a hedge fund specialist, she is the co-manager of two EFG Bank multi-strategy Fund of Hedge Funds as well as responsible for the analysis and selection of hedge funds placed on the platform used by EFG Bank's private bankers. Romy has a Bachelor of International Studies from the University of Miami double majoring in International Relations and Latin American studies. She also holds various NASD securities brokerage licenses - Series 24 (General Securities Principal), Series 7 (Registered Representative), Series 55 (Equity Trader), and Series 63 (Blue Sky Laws) and has passed the level one of the CAIA examination.

As a professional, Dominique Candrian invests since almost 20 years in energy related themes. He is the Managing Director and a co-founder of EIC Partners AG, an investment house focused on the electricity sector. The firm manages a variety of funds. Besides of this main activity, Dominique Candrian is a non-executive Director of Energiedienst Holding AG (www.energiedienst.ch) and Globeleq Ltd. (www.globeleq.com). Prior to joining EIC in 1999, Dominique Candrian worked for ten years with ABB Financial Services, focused on the development and the financing of energy related infrastructure assets. Dominique Candrian is a CFA Charterholder. Also, he holds a Doctor Degree from the University of Zurich in Economics.

Having studied science and engineering - including an emphasis on metallurgy and materials science while at Cambridge - Sean Corrigan began a 20-year career in financial markets as a fixed-income trader, working mainly in a proprietary function at various City institutions. Changing direction in the 1990s, he became chief strategist for the major markets division of a well-known third-party research provider, before striking out on his own and forming Capital Insight in late 1999, just in time to warn readers of his Capital Letter of the likely consequences of the impending tech & telecom crash. He recently joined Diapason Commodities Management as Chief Investment Strategist, having performed a similar role for Sage Capital, Zurich, manager of the Edelweiss fund, over the previous two years. As a long-time devotee of the Austrian School, Sean has been published by, and has spoken regularly at, the Ludwig von Mises Institute, and was honoured to deliver the Henry Hazlitt Memorial Lecture at its 2004 Scholars' Conference. He contributed a chapter to the book, “Mensch, Boerse!” by Markus Zydra. His article “Critics of Commodities: a dissent” was featured in May’s edition of the Hedge Fund Journal.

Rick Di Mascio established Inalytics in 1998, previously he was the MD and CIO of CINMan,and then Head of the UK Unit at GSAM. Rick has also been a Director of Olympus Capital Management, a European long/short hedge fund manager, and IMIGest, the leading Italian mutual fund company. Rick is also Chairman of the T-Charter group.

Celeste Dias joined Threadneedle in 2006 as senior product development manager. She became Head of Product Development in December 2006. Celeste is responsible for managing Threadneedle’s regulated product portfolio (retail and institutional) with a strong commercial focus and implementing a product strategy to further enhance the company’s reputation as an innovative asset manager. Prior to joining Threadneedle, Celeste was investment product director for Barclays Wealth Management where she had specific responsibility for the non-UK affluent and high-net-worth business. Celeste led the launch of the Barclays Multi Manager fund range (AUMs in excess of £6bn as at 2006). She also worked at Citigroup Asset Management, firstly as a product manager for their Luxembourg and Dublin fund ranges and later as product development manager for the EMEA region. Celeste holds a MA in Translation and Interpreting and a BA in European Languages both from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Threadneedle start date: 2006 Industry start date: 1996

Brett Diment is the head of emerging markets on the fixed income team. Brett joined Aberdeen via the acquisition of Deutsche Asset Management's London and Philadelphia fixed income businesses in 2005. Brett held the same role at Deutsche Asset Management since 1999. Brett joined Deutsche Asset Management in 1991 as a graduate and started researching emerging markets in 1995. Brett graduated with a BSc from the London School of Economics.

Mr. Djumanov has over 12 years of investment management, investment banking, and advisory experience in emerging markets of Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS countries including in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan. He has worked in major international financial centers such as New York, London and Zurich. Mr. Djumanov is Vice Chairman of Ansher Group AG, a Zurich-based holding group with extensive investments and presence in Central Asia and the Caucasus. Based in Almaty, Kazakhstan, he leads Ansher Fund Management, investment management firm and manages three regional funds, Central Asia Opportunity Fund, Eurasian Financial Institutions Fund and Central Asia Real Estate Fund. He was Vice President of Auerbach Grayson & Co., a brokerage house in New York advising US institutional investors on portfolio investments in emerging markets in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). He was Head of Corporate Finance in Central Asia and the Caucasus at Ernst & Young as well as investment banker at Renaissance Capital in Moscow and Credit Suisse First Boston in Zurich and London. Mr. Djumanov received his Master of International Affairs from Columbia University and an MBA from Oxford University.

Luc D. Estenne is Chief Executive of Partners Advisers S.A., a Geneva based family office which provides global hedge fund investment advisory services to a group of privately held investment companies and selected institutions in Europe. The family group behind Partners Advisers started to invest in hedge funds in 1987. Partners Advisers runs USD 1.5 billion in hedge funds. From 1994 to 1996, Mr. Estenne was an officer of Bank Brussels Lambert (BBL) in New York and Brussels, trading proprietary capital. Prior to joining BBL, he held different positions in the Global Technology and Operation group of JP Morgan Brussels. Mr Estenne received his MBA (Commercial Engineer Degree) with distinction from the Catholic University of Louvain in 1990.

Kim Golden joined HSBC in February 2004. Previously he was Managing Director of the T. Rowe Price Recovery Funds and Vice President of T. Rowe Price Associates. At T. Rowe Price he invested in financially distressed and bankrupt companies on behalf of the Recovery Fund and other investment funds at the firm, and traded a broad array of financial instruments including bonds, bank loans, trade claims, equities and derivatives. Prior to joining T. Rowe Price, Kim worked for Chemical Bank (now J.P. Morgan Chase) in investment banking and corporate finance, where he was involved in merger and acquisition advisory, structured leveraged buyouts, and was one of the bank’s principal valuation experts. Earlier at Chemical, he spent several years advising Fortune 100 companies on international finance issues, including foreign exchange exposure, forecasting, risk management, cross border flows, hedging, and the use of derivatives. Before joining Chemical, he was an officer at the U.S. Treasury in the Office of International Monetary Affairs. Kim is a CFA charterholder, and holds an MPA from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University and B.A. (High Honors) and a B. Mus.(performance) from Oberlin College. He received fellowships from the Center for European Studies at Princeton and the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood.

Christoph is responsible for the fund’s commodities and currency overlay investments and deputy for the hedge funds investments. PKZH have invested in hedge funds since 2000 and are recognized as one of Switzerland’s most sophisticated institutional investors allocating 6.5% via fund of funds.

Pierre Guillemin, as a Managing Director at SwissLife Asset Management , is responsible for Quantitative Asset Management and Alternative investments. Previously, he was Head of Asset Management at SwissLife Asset Management (France) where he developped Quantitative techniques for Asset allocation, credit management and directional trading. Pierre Guillemin is graduated from Ecole Centrale de Paris and from Université des Sciences de Paris (DEA, stochastic processes).

Peter is a senior consultant at Mercer Investment Consulting in Switzerland. Based in Zurich, his role is to provide advice on all aspects of investment to institutional investors. Peter is the designated researcher for Swiss equities, Swiss fixed income strategies and for all the Swiss-domiciled hedge fund managers. Before joining Mercer he worked at State Street Global Advisor (SSgA) as key relationship manager and product engineer. Peter has a master’s degree in business administration with a specialisation in financial consulting and auditing from the University of St. Gallen (HSG).

Dr. Elisabeth Hehn Chief Executive Officer, VIP Value Investment Professionals AG, Zug, Switzerland founded her independent company in Germany and since 1999 built up the institutional consultancy business, where she advises one of the most prestiguos insurance companies world-wide, substancial German institutions such as pension funds and collective schemes in the area of innovative investment concepts. Parallel to that she provides product solutions like investment funds and certificates from her office in Zug, Switzerland. Dr. Elisabeth Hehn earned a PhD in statistical economics from Hagen University, Germany focusing on analysing and forecasting global equity and derivative market-trends, and specialising in ARCH and GARCH models. Between 1989 and 1999 she was responsible at Dresdner Bank Group and UBS for asset management, derivatives and the marketing of structured products as Head of OTC-Equity Derivatives Sales. She has published numerous books and articles in the field of Asset Management as well as Hedge Funds and she is currently doing market research for the fund industry. Dr. Hehn is member of DVFA (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Finanzanalyse, the German Certified Financial Analyst Assiciation), DGF (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Finanzwirtschaft (DGF) e.V., German Finance Association), the committee of FinanzBetrieb, Handelsblattgruppe and she is working on projects in Behavioral Finance with Prof. R. Selten, Bonn University, Germany, Nobel prize winner, Prof. B. Rockenbach, Universität Erfurt, Prof. A. Sadrieh, Magdeburg University, Germany.

Alexander Ineichen is Managing Director and Senior Investment Officer for Alternative Investment Solutions, a business within the Alternative and Quantitative Investments platform, itself a part of UBS Global Asset Management. Alexander’s main responsibilities include asset allocation, risk management and other research initiatives. Alexander started his financial career in origination of risk management products at Swiss Bank Corporation in 1988. From 1991 to 2005, Alexander had various research functions within UBS Investment Bank related to equity derivatives, indices, capital flows and alternative investments.

Stéphane Jeannin joined Threadneedle in 2004 as an Investment Specialist for Threadneedle’s Hedge Funds. He is responsible for providing hedge fund clients, prospective clients and consultants with detailed information on Threadneedle’s capabilities and investment views. Prior to joining Threadneedle, Stéphane spent six years at JP Morgan Investment Management (now JP Morgan Fleming Asset Management) in a variety of roles, including Global and European Equities Client Portfolio Manager. Stéphane holds a MA in Political Science & Economics from Sciences-Po Strasbourg and an MSc in Corporate Finance from Dauphine University, Paris. Threadneedle start date: 2004Industry start date: 1998

David Keel started his career 1997 at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Zurich as a Corporate Tax Consultant. Prior to joining Harcourt in 2002, David Keel worked several years as an investment advisor at Merrill Lynch in Zurich. David Keel graduated from the University of Fribourg with a degree in Law. Since 2005 he is also certified as Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and since 2006 as Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA).

He started his own sugar brokerage company (Société J Kingsman) in France in 1990 and has now risen to fame being the editor of the seminal Sugar Trading Manual. The company began covering the ethanol and biofuels markets in 2000 and is now among the market leaders enabling Jonathan to offer a crucial opinion in examining the rise of investing in renewable energies.

Peter Letter is executive member of the Board of Directors and CEO of EPS Value Plus AG, Zurich. EPS is the investment manager of New Value AG, a stock exchange listed private equity investment company (www.newvalue.ch). Since 1995 he is professionally involved in various functions in the financial industry in the domains of corporate finance, private equity und investment management. A principal activity is the selection and counselling of growth-driven companies, among others in the function as investment manager for the investment company New Value AG. Besides to contributing to the development of enterprises in corporate governance functions or as investment manager, structuring of financial transactions in the field of corporate finance is one of his competences. He was responsible for IPO's of an investment company and a technology company in the field of renewable energy. Peter holds a master degree in business administration from the University of St. Gallen, majoring in finance and audit. During and after his university studies he worked in the insurance business, for a consulting company implementing MIS and as a controller in Switzerland and USA. Peter earned as well a degree as Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA®).

Mr. Mikdashi heads the Managed Accounts & Portfolio Services department (MAPS) at Optimal. He is responsible for the construction, management and monitoring of advisory and discretionary accounts such as private labels and tailor-made solutions for selected institutional investors. He joined Optimal in New York in May of 2004 and was transferred subsequently to the Geneva offices. Mr. Mikdashi worked for six years in the traditional asset management and the private banking field at Citibank and ABN AMRO. Mr. Mikdashi completed an MBA with honors at Babson College and was a Babson Fellow. He additionally holds a Master of Science in Finance at Boston College in Quantitative Finance and was a Dean Fellow. Mr. Mikdashi graduated from HEC Lausanne with a degree in Economics and a concentration in Applied Macro and Microeconomics.

Christian Nistler, a German citizen, graduated with a master’s degree in economics from Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich and is a CFA charterholder. Since October 2005 he is responsible for the investment strategy of Syngenta’s pension funds worldwide as Senior Investment Strategist. In this role he advises the various investment committees globally on asset allocation, the selection of investment managers and asset-liability management. Prior to joining Syngenta, Christian worked for Siemens in Munich. In 1998 he started his professional career in Financial Budgeting and Planning in Siemens Corporate Finance department. In 2000, he joined Siemens Kapitalanlagegesellschaft, the in-house investment management company for Siemens pension assets. Until 2003 he was portfolio manager of the group’s pension plan investments in US equities and from 2003 onwards he was responsible for managing the corporate bond portfolio.

Robert Rahbari is one of three co-founders of RAS Capital Management LLC, an India-focused fund-of-funds management firm. Rob is primarily responsible for manager due diligence, operational, legal and compliance areas for RAS. Prior to RAS, Rob served as Director and Chief Compliance Officer of Ferro Capital LLC, a global fund-of-hedge-funds management firm based in New York. At Ferro Capital (from 2004 to 2006), Rob was responsible for the manager due diligence process as well as various legal and compliance matters for the firm and its underlying managers. Rob’s prior experience includes practicing law in the investment management groups of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP (1996 to 2000) and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP (2003 to 2004), where he specialized in hedge funds, funds-of-funds and other private investment vehicles and their investment managers. He also served as Vice President of Strategy and General Counsel for Ondotek, Inc., a software firm, from 2000 until 2003. Rob received his JD from the University of Chicago in 1996 and his BA in Economics (Honors) from the University of Michigan in 1993.

Dr. Christian Raubach is Managing Partner and in charge of Wegelin Asset Management Client Service. His team serves large pension funds, family offices and UHNWI across Europe with focus on unconstrained high alpha equity strategies and hedge funds. Before joining Wegelin & Co., he was a partner at McKinsey & Company's Greater China office. In this role he was involved in several high profile banking turnarounds in Asia and has also advised several private equity funds in transactions in the Asian financial sector. He co-authored the book titled "Banking in Asia – Acquiring a Profit Mindset" and was a frequent columnist in the Asian financial press. Christian Raubach holds a doctoral degree in Finance from the University of St. Gallen and speaks German, English, French, Dutch, Japanese and Chinese.

Rob-Roy Roedel is the Chief Investment Officer of Plenum Group. He has multiple years of experience in international financial markets working in Switzerland, Turkey and the United States. Prior to joining Plenum he managed a portfolio of hedge funds for a family office located in Zurich and various other positions including internal consultant and securities analyst for a major US and Swiss bank. He holds a MBA from INSEAD and a bachelor degree in industrial management and German from Carnegie Mellon University. Additionally, he is an inactive reserve officer in the US Navy. Rob-Roy speaks fluent English, German and conversational Finnish.

Etan Silver is Head of Trading for Ifit Advisory. He currently runs four Hedge Funds, three focusing on Statistical/Volatility Arbitrage and one Equity Hedge. Previously he worked for the UK Active Value Fund and Coopers & Lybrand Corporate Finance.

Michael Stahel runs the Insurance-linked Investments unit at Clariden Leu Alternative Investments. Prior to joining Clariden Leu, Michael spent eight years with Swiss Re in various positions in Zurich and London; the last four years as a Vice President at the Retro and Syndication unit, structuring Cat Bonds and trading Risk Derivatives. Michael holds a BA in Economics from the Zurich University of Applied Science and an MBA in Corporate Finance from Rochester University (NY). He is married and has two children.

Mr. Thiel is Clarium’s President and the Chairman of the Manager’s Investment Committee, which oversees research, investment, and trading strategies. Before starting Clarium, Mr. Thiel served as Chairman and CEO of PayPal, Inc., an Internet company he co-founded in December 1998 and that was acquired by eBay Inc. for $1.5 billion in October 2002. Prior to founding PayPal, Mr. Thiel ran Thiel Capital Management LLC, the Menlo Park-based predecessor to Clarium, which started with $1 million under management in the fall of 1996. Mr. Thiel began his financial career as a derivatives trader at CS Financial Products after he practiced securities law at Sullivan & Cromwell. In addition to managing Clarium, Mr. Thiel is active in a variety of philanthropic and educational pursuits; he sits on the Board of Directors of the Pacific Research Institute and on the Board of Visitors of Stanford Law School. Mr. Thiel received a BA in Philosophy from Stanford University and a JD from Stanford Law School.

Mr. Vieira is Director of Investments and Head of Fund Advisory Services of Safdié Group in Brazil. He began his career as a fixed income sales & trading associate. In 1997, he joined PEBB Bank, one of the primary dealers of the Brazilian Central Bank. In 2002, he was hired by GPS - Global Portfolio Strategists, the biggest multi-family office in Brazil. There, he was responsible for the on-shore asset allocation and products. Mr. Vieira joined the Safdié Group in December, 2005. He holds a BA in business administration and post-graduate degree in finance from Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-RJ). He undertook an MBA program at Thunderbird, The Garvin School of International Management in Phoenix, AZ.

Ulrich Wlecke is a seasoned professional with extensive experience in corporate restructuring and turnaround. His background includes corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, privatization, cost management and reorganization. He is particularly adept at all aspects of developing restructuring or turnaround concepts, negotiating with all involved parties to achieve their support, implementation and controlling of the implementation process and served as interim-manager (CRO) in restructuring cases. Mr. Wlecke joined AlixPartners’ new Düsseldorf office from Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, where he was a senior partner in the Competence Center Restructuring and leader of the Corporate Finance consulting practice. Prior to Roland Berger Strategy Consultants Mr. Wlecke worked as investment banker at Westdeutsche Landesbank (WestLB) and was involved in many IPOs and private equity transactions. Working for numerous clients from medium size up to multi billion conglomerates from different industries, he focused on comprehensive corporate restructurings and turnarounds and M&A. He led many large-scale projects, such as: Turnaround of a German conglomerate (Dax30) Restructuring and sale of a chemical distribution company Turnaround of a packaging machinery group (no. 2 in its market segment on a global scale) Profit and cash flow improvement programmes for companies in M&A-situations in order to increase value (e. g. automotive supplier, waste management company, etc.) Privatization of the biggest Czech steel producer He holds a Dr. rer. pol. and a diploma, Diplom-Kaufmann, from the University of Münster, Germany. He has authored many publications and is co-author of the leading German compendium on turnaround, restructuring and insolvency administration.

Dr. S. Zaker is responsible for alternative investments at Julius Baer Asset Management. He started his career by applying Neural Netwoks to forecasting Markets at UBS where he was active in FX, and FI derivatives and later in Equities quantitative strategies. He then moved on to manage alternative portfolios for HNW individuals and managed a large Swiss FoHF before joining Julius Baer in 2004.

Julien Zornig is Vice Director within Berenberg Bank and Head of Berenberg’s global Hedge Fund activities. Berenberg’s neutral allocation to Hedge Funds is 30% for almost 15 years now, leading to a specific expertise in both selecting external managers and constructing Hedge Fund portfolios. Mr. Zornig joined Berenberg in 2003, previously he finished his Master programme at the University of St. Gallen.