2025 IDEAS Webinar Series: EMEA & APAC Portable Alpha

James Esland

Head of Long Term Diversified Fund & Sustainability , QIC

James Esland is the Head of Long Term Diversified Fund & Sustainability in the State Investments team at QIC. James joined QIC from abrdn in August 2022 and has over 17 years experience, having previously worked in the Multi-Asset team at Standard Life Investments.

James earned an MA(Hons) in Philosophy at University of Edinburgh and is a CFA charterholder.

Tapio Koivu

Portfolio Manager, Veritas Pension Insurance Company

Tapio Koivu is a portfolio manager at Veritas Pension Insurance Company, which he joined in 2018. He is responsible for managing listed equity portfolios using a wide range of instruments, including active and passive funds, direct equity investments, and derivatives.

Prior to joining Veritas, he worked in asset management and has more than 10 years of experience in fund selection, analysis, and portfolio construction.

He holds a Master’s degree in Accounting and Finance from Turku School of Economics at the University of Turku and is a CFA charterholder.

Rishab Sethi

Director, External Investments & Partnerships, New Zealand Superannuation Fund

Rishab is Director, External Investments and Partnerships at the New Zealand Superannuation Fund with responsibilities for external investment manager selection, mandate design and opportunity evaluation.

He has previously worked in asset allocation and corporate strategy roles at the Fund. Prior to joining the Guardians, he was a research economist with the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and has been a research fellow at the Bank for International Settlements.

Rishab has Bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and economics from the University of Auckland and the Australian National University, and Master’s degrees in public administration and finance, from the London School of Economics and Columbia University.

Marco Aiolfi

MD, Head of Multi Asset , PGIM

Marco Aiolfi, PhD, is a Managing Director and Head of PGIM Quantitative Solutions’ Multi-Asset team. He spearheads the group’s strategic initiatives and is responsible for portfolio management, research, product development of the multi-asset platform. Prior to his current role, Marco was the Head of Systematic Multi-Asset Strategies, overseeing research, development and portfolio management of systematic total and absolute return investment solutions.

Before joining PGIM Quantitative Solutions, Marco was a Lead Portfolio Manager and Researcher for GTAA and volatility strategies for the Quantitative Investment Strategies team at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, and a Principal at Platinum Grove Asset Management. Previously, Marco was a research scholar at the University of California, San Diego, and a visiting scholar at the International Monetary Fund. Marco’s articles have appeared in several journals including the Journal of Econometrics, Journal of Financial Econometrics, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Forecasting, Journal of Investment Management and the Journal of Portfolio Management.

He earned a BA in economics and a PhD in economics from Bocconi University in Italy.