Dr Akbar Z Ali,  Director, Undergraduate Finance Programme, The Business School University of Adelaide

Akbar has been a finance lecturer at University of Technology Sydney, Monash University and is currently at The University of Adelaide. He is the BCom and BFin Honours Coordinator and Finance (Undergraduate) Coordinator. In addition, Akbar is also a visiting lecturer at The University of Indonesia and The University of Management and Technology, Pakistan. Akbar has several papers published in academic journals, and has participated in various local and international conferences. In 2006, Akbar was the conference chair for the Second Australasian Business and Behavioural Sciences Association Conference. In addition he has worked with the financial planning industry on several consulting projects. His current research interests include financial planning and advice, financial institutions and customer relationships, market efficiency, socially responsible investments and contagions in financial markets.

Professor Les Balzer,  Head of Research,  HFA Research

Professor Les Balzer is currently Head of Investment Research and a Member of the Investment Strategy Committee of the Board of HFA Asset Management, a leading absolute return manager listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. He is also Professor of Finance in the School of Banking & Finance at The University of NSW. Prior to this, he was a Principal and Senior Portfolio Manager at State Street Global Advisors, the largest investment manager of institutional funds in the world, with $1,500 billion under management.

Roger Tallboys Product Specialist, Alternative and Quantitative Investments, Managing Director UBS Global Asset Management, Hong Kong

Roger Tallboys is a Product Specialist with Alternative and Quantitative Investments (A&Q), covering products managed by the O’Connor, Alternative Investment Solutions and Alternative Fund Advisory groups within A&Q. Roger’s responsibilities include marketing and business development in the Asia Pacific Region. His principle focus is on institutional and private clients. Prior to joining A&Q, Roger held various positions within Global Asset Management, including Deputy President of UBS Trust and Banking in Japan, Head of Institutional Marketing in Asia (ex Japan) and CEO of a UBS joint venture in Malaysia. Roger joined UBS in 1984 in the interest rate and currency swaps. Subsequently, he spent five years in London working for the Swaps and Eurobond groups of UBS Investment Bank; and eight years in Sydney in the Investment Banking and Asset Management business groups of UBS. Prior to joining UBS, Roger worked for Texas Commerce Bank, as an accounts representative and for BNP, focusing on Credit Analysis.

Mr Ross Bernays,  Chief Executive Officer,  Health Industry Plan

Ross Bernays, Chief Executive Officer, Health Industry Plan (HIP), although looks can be deceiving, has over 30 years experience in the superannuation industry. Firstly, with an extended career in NSW Public Sector superannuation before moving to REST Superannuation (Australia’s largest superannuation fund by members) as Customer Service and Marketing Manager. For the past 5 years he has led HIP, a renowned leader in innovative investment structures and member deliverables. At HIP, with 30,000 members and $450m in FUM, he has wrestled with the challenge delivery of differentiation and superior member results in comparison to the larger industry fund and retial options. HIP has met these challenges, from an investment point of view by the engagement of a range alternative investments and a more stringent categorisation of these investments.  Pivotal was the more appropriate placement of these investments within the Funds growth and defensive asset classes.  This has been done to remove a good deal of the direct correlation with Australian and international equity markets and to produce a sharper edge to the Fund’s Investment performance.

Mr Joe Bracken,  Head of Macro Strategies,  BT Investment Management

Joe joined BT Financial Group as Head of Macro Strategies in July 2007. He brings extensive experience in equities research, quantitative strategies and a strong track record running a AUS$6 billion country selection strategy for a global pension fund. Prior to joining BT Financial Group Joe worked 4 years for ABP, one of the largest pension fund in the world with over AUS$240 billion in assets under management. There Joe was a founding member of the Global Quantitative Strategies group, a team that runs approximately AUS$24 billion using multiple pure quantitative models. Prior to that Joe was a Vice President, Equity Research for J.P. 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).

Mr Michael Coop,  Head of Alternatives,  Intech Investment Consultants

Michael has 20 years experience as an investment manager and asset consultant. Currently Head of Alternative Investments at Intech, Michael is responsible for setting and implementing Intech and Skandia’s alternative investment policy.  He is also portfolio manager for two specialist alternative investment funds and has been pivotal in expanding Intech’s coverage of alternative investments since joining the firm in 2003. Prior to joining Intech, Michael spent eight years as an investment strategist and portfolio manager.  He worked at BT Funds Management as Australian Equity Strategist and was a member of the Asset Allocation Committee.  He also worked at UK insurer Sun Life Asset Management as Global Asset Allocation Strategist.  Michael commenced his career in 1987 as a fund manager analyst and investment strategist with IPAC Securities and subsequently moved to London to work as an asset consultant with actuaries Bacon & Woodrow.

Mr John Corr,  Managing Partner,  Fortitude Capital

John Corr has more than 20 years experience in the Australian financial markets with a specialization in equity derivatives and proprietary trading. From 1986 to 1995 John worked on the derivatives sales desk for a number of major investment banks, advising and executing for local and offshore institutions, corporates and trading houses. From 1996 to 2003 John worked on the Equity Proprietary Trading Desk at Citigroup Global Markets Australia covering a wide range of equity based products and strategies. In 1998 John was made Head of the Equity Proprietary Trading Desk, this expanded his responsibilities to include the overview and management of risk and strategy for a team of traders. In July 2004 John participated in a management buyout Fortitude Capital Pty Ltd. Fortitude  runs a market neutral hedge fund specialising in Australian Equities  focusing on listed derivatives, arbitrage and event opportunities with the objective of providing investors low volatility and uncorrelated returns.

Mr Keith Dickie,  Investment Manager,  Victorian Funds Management Corporation
Mr Dickie joined VFMC in May 1999 and is responsible for alternative investments, which includes private equity, infrastructure and hedge funds.  Prior to his appointment, he was Senior Investment Manager at Colonial Investment Management.  Mr Dickie has 19 years experience in investment markets.  His qualifications include Bachelor of Commerce and Master of Business Administration degrees.

Mr Simon Elimelakh,  Head of Quantitative Research,  BT Investment Management

Simon is Head of Quantitative Investment Strategies at BT Investment Management. Simon joined Rothschild Australia Asset Management, part of BT Financial Group, in 1997 as Head of the Quantitative Analysis team. In 2007 the team was re-named Quantitative Investment Strategies to reflect the new focus on quantitative alpha generation and portfolio management. Simon and the team are directly involved in management of several BT products including Alpha/Beta funds, BT SRI portfolios, both active and passive, Enhanced Equity funds and Private Portfolio Management model portfolios. Simon is also responsible for quantitative research underlying diversified funds SAA and TAA positioning. Prior to BT, Simon spent more than four years as a research consultant for BARRA International, two years as senior analyst for NZI Insurance Australia and several years as research consultant and head of the research laboratory at the USSR Academy of Sciences. Simon holds a Masters in Applied Mathematics, a Bachelor of Science, is a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia, a CFA charterholder and a member of The Q-Group Australia.

Mr Richard Gibbs,  Chief Economist,  Macquarie Bank

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Dr John Glass Director,  FineAnswers

Dr Jon Glass is a former pure mathematician (in which subject he holds a PhD) who has spent close to 25 years in financial markets: working in stockbroking, asset consulting and funds management. He now works for FineAnswers. FineAnswers Pty Ltd ABN 28 115 038 947 AFSL No 304818 is an investment advisory business for wholesale clients, specialising in the analysis of alternative equity and hedge fund strategies.

Mr Scott Haslem,  Executive Director and Chief Economist, Asia Pacific,  UBS

Scott Haslem is an Executive Director and the Chief economist for Australasia at UBS. He was rated the number one economist in the 2005, 2006 and 2007 Australian BRW Equities Market Report. Scott heads up the UBS economics team, which in 2006 ranked number one in the Australian BRW Equities, Asia Money and Australian & US Greenwich Institutional surveys. Prior to joining the firm, he spent seven years working for the Reserve Bank of Australia, primarily in the Economic Activity and Forecasting section. Scott holds an honours degree in economics (1990) and a masters of economics degree (1994) from the Australian National University.

Mr Warren Hogan,  Head of Financial Market Economics and Marketing Strategy,  ANZ

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Mr Richard Keary,  Head of Altenatives,  MFS

Richard is CIO Alternative Investmetns and MFS and CEO of MFS Alternative Asset Limited.  The firm manages the MFS Water Fund and invests in the equity of absolute return fund managers. Prior to joining MFS Ricahrd spent almost ten years with BT Financial Group where he oversaw almost $1.8 billion of investments in hedge funds and commodities.  He created the first comingled fund that specifically seeded local hedge fund managers in 2000 and lauched the first multi-manager commodity product in 2002.  He has an MBA from MBS and Degrees in Banking and Finance and Oriental Studies from CIT and the University of Melbourne.

Mr Glenn Langton,  Principal,  GCL Consulting

Glenn has had over 25 years of experience in the superannuation and investment consulting industry. He has had senior roles at Mercer, Coopers & Lybrand (now PriceWaterhouseCoopers), Buck Consultants and Rice Walker Actuaries. He also was National Manager, Client Service with ING Investment Management from 2000 to 2003. Glenn is currently a Principal at GCL Consulting, a small firm of consultants providing superannuation and investment consulting advice. During Glenn’s career he has provided asset consulting advice to a wide range of clients both in the public and private sector. He therefore has extensive experience in working with clients in identifying their investment needs and developing investment solutions that meet these needs. He also has been involved in the review and analysis of investment managers in the Australian market for over 20 years. During the three years that Glenn worked with ING Investment Management he was involved in the analysis of ING’s investment processes and communicating these processes to clients. He was also involved in developing and running a Socially Responsible investment vehicle. During this period, Glenn was also involved in the expansion of the ING Investment Management  Implemented Investment products into the wholesale investment market.

Mr Harry Liem,  Principal Mercer Investment Consulting

Harry Liem is a Principal with Mercer’s investment consulting business in Sydney, where he undertakes specialist research on hedge funds and various strategic issues. Harry joined Mercer in 2004 and has 14 years of international experience in the investment management industry working as a portfolio manager and strategist for a number of reputable companies, including ING, Perennial and Rabobank/Stroeve Investment Bank. He regularly presents at conferences and has lectured at institutions such as the University of Technology, Sydney. He is also author of the book “2020 Vision: Investment Wisdom for Tomorrow”. Harry holds a BSc and MSc in Computing Science from Delft University of Technology (the Netherlands), an MBA from Stirling University (UK) and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Mr Anthony Limbrick,  Chairman, Absolute Return Assocation of New Zealand Chairman/CIO, Pure Capital Director, 36 South Investment Managers

Anthony Limbrick is Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of Pure Capital, a quantitative investment manager providing bespoke portfolio solutions for wholesale market participants with pervasive beta or gap risk issues. Pure Capital also has a range of Japan-only returns-based products. Mr Limbrick has 18 years experience in the financial markets working for a variety of global financial organizations including Deutsche Bank (formerly Bain & Co.) and HSBC in Sydney, Calyon (formerly Credit Lyonnais) in Tokyo, and Bank of New Zealand in Wellington. Mr Limbrick is a Director and member of the Investment Committee of 36 South Investment Managers Limited, a hedge fund management company that specializes in “tail risk” long volatility funds. He is also Chairman of the New Zealand Absolute Return Association (NZARA), the New Zealand organization representing the alternative investment management industry in New Zealand. Mr Limbrick has a Master of Applied Finance degree from Sydney’s Macquarie University.

Mr Dominic McCormick,  Chief Investment Officer Select Asset Management

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Mr John Morrison,  Chief Executive Officer,  Man Investments

John Morrison is Chief Executive of Man Investments,  one of the world's largest providers of alternative investment products . Based in Pfäffikon, Switzerland, and in London, Man has offices in 13 countries and its parent, Man Group plc, is a constituent of the FTSE 100.   Since being appointed as Chief Executive in 2005, John has seen Man Investments’ funds under management grow from US$43bn to more than US$71.7bn. John, a pioneer of the Australian alternative investment industry, was awarded the Contribution to the Australian Hedge Fund Industry Award in 2007.   John was previously Managing Director of Man Investments Australia Limited and Chairman of Man Financial Australia Limited (now MF Global). With an extensive legal background, John moved in to the managed funds industry in 1986 with Elders Finance Limited, in Sydney as Head of Derivative Funds Management. He joined the Ord Minnett Group, of Australia, in 1989, becoming a board member and Head of Managed Funds for that group. He was chairman of the Managed Futures and Hedge Funds Association of Australia. John Morrison holds a Bachelor of Legal Studies from Macquarie University.

Ms Oriel Morrison,  Anchor,  CNBC Asia, Australia

Oriel Morrison is a CNBC Anchor, based in Sydney Australia, anchoring Trading Matters (Mondays to Thursdays 5:00pm – 5:30pm SYD time) and Australia This Week (Friday 5:00pm – 5:30pm SYD time). She also provides special reports on breaking business stories, live market updates and premier on the ground business events from Australia. One of Australia’s most prolific business journalists, Oriel Morrison has almost a decade of business and financial news reporting experience.  She joins CNBC from Bloomberg, were she was a reporter and producer for Bloomberg Television News and Bloomberg Radio.  Prior to that, she was with the Nine Network as one of the presenters of the Today Show and Business Sunday.  Oriel also regularly anchored Qantas National Nine News and National Nine News updates.  She has also been a regular Anchor for Sky Business News and produced and presented news for various Channel 7 news programs.

Ms Suzanne Murphy,  Managing director,  Acorn Partners

Suzanne Elizabeth Murphy joined Acorn partners as a managing director, due diligence and business development, and member of the investment committee in August 2003. Murphy, who has been in the investment business for more than 15 years, was most recently managing director in charge of alternative investments for CE Unterberg Towbin, a boutique investment bank in New York. While at CEUT, she developed the firm's brand in the alternative investment area and was instrumental in launching a hedge fund in partnership with Standard & Poor's and a fund of funds. She also has experience in the private equity and real estate areas of the investment business. Prior to joining CEUT, her career was in capital markets, where she developed expertise in convertible bonds and US equities at firms like Drexel Burnham and Morgan Stanley. Murphy received a BA, magna cum laude, from Wheaton College in 1988. She currently serves on the president's commission of the college as well as on its investment committee.

Mr George  Nikas,  Director, Research, Private Wealth Management,  Deutsche Bank

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Mr John Peterson CIO Everest Capital Limited

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Ms Janice Sengupta,  Head of Research,  Aon Consulting

Janice Sengupta began her career as an economist lecturing at University of Western Ontario in Canada. Over the past 16 years, she as worked in financial services in Canada and Australia. Janice began work with London Life Insurance in Canada in 1990 as an econometrician. Her development of useful tools for portfolio management led to an initiative in creating a quant-based process for filtering stocks and Janice was successful in obtaining seed capital from London Life to run a pilot portfolio. After a successful pilot, the quant process was used to manage both US and Canada stock portfolios for the company. Janice left London Life to manage pension funds totaling C$1 billion with a Canadian boutique fixed income specialist, Greydanus, Boeckh & Associates. After moving to Sydney in 1995, Janice was employed by IPAC as an investment strategist to manage the asset allocation for its diversified funds. Subsequently, Janice was successful in a career with National/MLC, managing the research function for financial advisory dealerships. As head of research at MLC's ThreeSixty, Janice was responsible for economic research, fund manager reviews and technical analysis. Most recently, she has been managing a research and product development team at ING Australia. Janice is now head of research at Aon Consulting.

Mr Anthony Serhan Head of Advice and Research  Morningstar

Anthony is Head of Consulting with Morningstar, a leading global provider of investment research, offering and extensive line of print, software, and web-based products and services. Anthony is responsible for developing Morningstar's consulting business in Australia, including advice on the creation and monitoring of multi-manager portfolios. Anthony has over 15 years' financial services experience in both institutional and retail capacities, gaining a strong understanding of investment markets and products. Before joining Morningstar in 2003, Anthony was an Associate Director at ASSIRT. Prior to that, he headed the Investment Consulting practice at AMP Consulting, where he also sat on the AMP Financial Services Investment Committee.

Mr Derek Sicklen,  Chief Executive Officer,  Platypus Capital Management

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Mr Karl Siegling Portfolio Manager Cadene Capital

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Daniel Liptak Founder & Partner Hatfield Liptak Advisors

Daniel Liptak is a founding partner of Hatfield Liptak Advisors, building on extensive financial industry experience including 15 years work in in the hedge fund environment. He established LCA Group Pty Lt, a hedge fund intelligence business in 2004. This business focused on the Australian industry and Australia based products providing league tables  and news to offshore and domestic investors. Daniel and his business partner sold LCA Group to ICAP Australia (a subsidiary of ICAP plc) in 2006.   Prior to LCA Group Daniel was head of Research and Portfolio Manager for Rubicon Asset Management Ltd. Previously he was Head of Alternative Research at ASSIRT (now Standard & Poor’s). Daniel was an Associate Director of Sales and Prime Brokerage at UBS Warburg and worked in risk management at the Goldman Sachs Prime Brokerage desk in London.   His strengths lie in combining quantitative and qualitative assessments, creating a sophisticated iterative model for that purpose. He has a special interest in new financial markets and innovative funds management strategies.   Daniel has contributed to various research studies by Australian government bodies including the Reserve Bank of Australia and to various international magazines.

Damien Hatfield Founder & Partner Hatfield Liptak Advisors

Damien Hatfield is a founding partner of Hatfield Liptak Advisors, a specialist Australian hedge fund advisory and marketing company. Previously, Damien was Executive Director of Pengana Hedge Funds an ASX Listed Company. Pengana incubated and seeded six Australian based hedge funds including the Pengana Absolute Return Real Estate Fund and Wallace Australia Opportunities Fund. Damien raised over US$200 million for the funds in an eighteen-month period. Prior to Pengana, Damien was Head of Hedge Funds for Colonial First State. Prior to CFS Damien assisted Basis Capital in their initial setup. Damien started an alternative business at Deutsche Bank (Sydney) in 1992. Damien also worked for Deutsche in Hong Kong until 1999. Damien was the founding Chairman of AIMA Australian Chapter and was the first recipient of the Australian Hedge Fund Industry Contribution Award in 2005.

Ms Dragana Timotijevic,  Global Head of Alternatives Research,  Mercer Investment Consulting

Dragana joined Mercer Investment Consulting in October 2004 as Principal, Alternatives Research Manager. She is primarily responsible for alternatives research and development and also provides some retail consulting advice.  Dragana was previously Head of Manager Research at vanEyk Research for 5 years.  Before joining vanEyk in 1999, she spent 11 years with State Super Investment Management Corporation, Axiom Funds Management and Deutsche Bank Asset Management as an economist and asset allocation analyst.  She holds a Bachelor of Economics and Masters in Statistical Economic Analysis from University of Belgrade and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment from the Securities Institute of Australia. Dragana also qualified as a CFA in 1998.

Mr Brian  Watt Divisional Director of Private Bank Bank of New Zealand

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Mr Martyn Wild Senior Consultant Russell Investment Consulting

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Mr Phillip York Chief Executive Officer,  Empyreal Investments Group

Mr York is a Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Empyreal Investments Group.  Mr York’s has been trading equities and derivatives for over 20 years. In 1992, Mr York commenced trading Managed Accounts.  In 1996 Mr York formed his first hedge fund and in 2004 merged with the Empyreal Investments Group to diversify his interests. As CEO of the Empyreal Investments Group Mr York manages a diverse range of funds with traders and advisors specializing in sectors from Commodity Arbitrage to Long/Short and Distressed Equities. Mr York strong background in trading remains a significant factor as he continues to be a principal driver behind the much of the research, development and implementation of the systems and methods employed by the Empyreal funds.