2026 Nordic Institutional Investor Forum

Markus Aho

Deputy CEO & CIO, Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company

Markus Aho, M.Sc (Eng.), born in 1980, serves currently as Deputy CEO and CIO of Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company. He has worked at Varma since 2014 in various positions; Head of Private Investments 1‒4/2022, Head of Private Equity and Infrastructure 2016‒2021, and Portfolio Manager, Private Equity in 2014–2016.

Prior to joining Varma he has held positions of Director, Head of Private Equity, at Pontos Group in years 2008–2013 and Consultant at Accenture in years 2005–2008.

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company is a responsible and solvent investor of pension funds. The company is responsible for the statutory earnings-related pension cover of 975,000 people in the private sector. Varma’s premiums written totalled EUR 6.9 billion in 2025 and pension payments stood at EUR 7.7 billion. Varma’s investment portfolio amounted to EUR 68.3 billion at the end of 2025.

Thomas Deinet

Executive Director, SBAI

Thomas Deinet was appointed Executive Director of the SBAI (previously known as the HFSB) in 2008. In 2007, Thomas joined the working group to project manage the development of practice standards proposed by 14 leading international alternative investment managers that led to the establishment of the SBAI.

Prior to joining the SBAI, he was a senior manager at Oliver Wyman, where he extensively worked with major financial institutions in Europe covering asset management as well as corporate and investment banking. Thomas also worked as an analyst in energy trading for a major commodities trading firm.

Thomas is a graduate of the University of Karlsruhe, Germany, with a major in industrial engineering and holds an MSc from Purdue University, USA. Thomas is a CFA charterholder.

Armi Taipale

Head of Department for Capital Markets Supervision , Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority

Armi Taipale is Head of Department for Capital Markets Supervision at the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA). She joined the FIN-FSA in 2019.

She has previously worked at the Ministry of Finance, Financial Markets Department as Head of the Unit for Capital Markets and Market Infrastructure and in various positions as economist and legislative counsellor. Prior to this she was also deputy board membership in the State Pension Fund of Finland and board membership in the Auditor Oversight Board of the Finnish Chambers of Commerce.

She has a master’s degree in Law from the University of Helsinki and a master’s degree in Economics from the Helsinki School of Economics (now part of Aalto University).

Kari Vatanen

Head of Asset Allocation, Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Company

Kari Vatanen is the head of asset allocation and alternatives at Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Company in Finland. Previously, he worked as a Chief Investment Officer at Veritas Pension Insurance, as a head of cross-asset derivatives and as a Chief Risk Officer at Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company. Mr. Vatanen is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of Portfolio Management, and he has written articles on asset allocation, risk management, and alternative risk premia investing.

He holds a M.Sc. in Engineering Mathematics from Aalto University and a M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Helsinki. He is a CFA Charterholder with the Financial Risk Manager (FRM) certification.

Mark Aarons

Head of Asset Classes, Victoria's Funds Management Corporation (VFMC)

Mark’s Absolute Returns role involves leading the team which covers Hedge Funds and Private Credit (circa 20% of VFMC’s AUM). His risk role encompasses total portfolio risk analysis, SAA and ALM modelling and defensive overlays. Mark is a member of the Investment Leadership Team and Investment Committee. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Centre for Quantitative Finance and Investment Strategies at Monash University.

Prior to working at VFMC, Mark was global Head of FICC Structuring at the National Australia Bank from 2010 to 2017, where he built a leading institutional derivatives structuring and sales business in Australia and the UK. Mark also spent four years in London with NAB working in both market risk and in front office on a rates trading desk.

Mark holds Bachelor degrees in Law and Science (both with Honours) from Monash University and a PhD in Mathematics jointly from the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics and the Free University of Berlin, Germany. Mark is also the co-author of a book on securitisation swaps which was published by Wiley Finance in 2019 and has published several finance papers.

Alex Preston

MD, Head of Portfolio Management Advisory, Man Group

Alex Preston is Managing Director and Head of Advisory at Man Group, responsible for Portfolio Management Advisory and for the firm’s client research collaboration with Oxford University, OMI Advisory. He was previously Head of Content at Millennium. Prior to that, he was a Client Investment Strategist at Man Group, working for the firm from 2013 to 2020.

Alex started his career in 2001, working for a credit hedge fund before moving to The Carlyle Group, where he was Head of Global Trading. He is a prize-winning author and journalist, writing regularly for The Economist, Financial Times, and The Guardian.

Alex graduated from the University of Oxford with an MA in English Literature and holds a PhD from University College, London. He is also a CFA charterholder.

Rishab Sethi

Director, Alternative Investments, New Zealand Superannuation Fund

Rishab is Director, Alternative Investments 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 holds Bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and economics from the University of Auckland and the Australian National University, as well as Master’s degrees in public administration and finance from the London School of Economics and Columbia University.

Greg Conlon

Chief Executive Officer, High Ridge Aviation

An experienced business leader with deep and positive relationships across the industry, Greg is High Ridge Aviation’s Chief Executive Officer. Established in 2022 by PIMCO, High Ridge Aviation (HRA) is an asset manager principally focused on arranging and structuring financing and liquidity solutions to commercial airline operators. Greg’s extensive aviation finance experience spans Leadership, Capital Markets, Asset Trading, OEM Management, Sales, and Debt Financing.

Prior to HRA, Greg served as President & CEO of GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS), President & CEO of Milestone Aviation, EVP of GECAS’ Aircraft Trading, SVP & Regional Manager for GECAS’ US Sales and Marketing Operations, and as SVP of Originations for PK AirFinance.

Previously, Greg held various finance and sales positions with Boeing Capital Corporation and McDonnell Douglas Finance Corporation.

Markus Hunold

Co-CIO & Partner of Cheyne Strategic Value Credit, Cheyne Capital Management

Markus Hunold is Co-CIO and Partner of Cheyne Strategic Value Credit, where he co-leads the team managing c. EUR 4bn of commitments across European mid-market credit strategies, including sponsor-less lending, special situations, and asset-based finance.

He has 20 years of experience in private credit and alternatives, having previously been at KKR, where he invested across European private credit and structured situations, and prior to that a member of the Principal Investment Area at Goldman Sachs. At Cheyne he sits on the Investment Committee across the SVC platform and oversees portfolio construction, origination, and fund strategy.

Charles Fattouche

Managing Director, Global Stock Selection, AQR Capital Management

Charles Fattouche is a Managing Director on the Global Stock Selection team at AQR Capital Management. In this role, he conducts research and portfolio analysis for stock selection investment strategies. Charles received a Bernstein Fabozzi/Jacobs Levy award for the paper “Fact, Fiction, and Factor Investing”. Prior to joining AQR, Charles served as a Director on the Quantitative Investment Strategies Structuring team at Barclays.

Charles earned a B.S. in applied mathematics and computer science and an M.S. in financial mathematics from Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussees.

Mika Jaatinen

SBAI EMEA Committee Member; Portfolio Manager, Hedge Fund Investments, Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Company

Mika Jaatinen is a Portfolio Manager of Elo’s Hedge Fund investments. Mika joined Pension Fennia (Pension Fennia and Pension Tapiola merged in 2014) in 2004 as a risk analyst covering Fennia’s capital market investments. Mika became portfolio manager of hedge fund investments in 2007. Mika has also been responsible for equity mutual fund selection in Fennia from 2010 until the merger with Pension Tapiola.

Mika holds an MSc in economics degree from the Jyväskylä University.

Simon Thwaite

Head of Securitised Credit, Man AHL

Simon Thwaite is Head of Securitised Credit at Man AHL. Since joining Man AHL in 2015, Simon has held several research positions and made significant contributions to Man AHL's systematic futures and over-the-counter strategies.

Simon holds a D.Phil. in Atomic and Laser Physics from the University of Oxford and a Master of Science from the University of Auckland.

Joris Jan de Vlieger

Investor Relations, Transtrend

Joris Jan de Vlieger (born 1995) graduated in 2019 with a Master’s degree in Quantitative Finance from Erasmus University Rotterdam. Following two internships at APG and Robeco, he joined Transtrend in 2019 as a Research Analyst. In January 2025, he joined the Investor Relations team as a Strategy Specialist.

Razvan Remsing

Chief Product Strategist, Aspect Capital Limited

Razvan Remsing is Aspect Capital’s Chief Product Strategist and a member of the Investment Committee. The Investment Committee is responsible for reviewing and approving all research leading to new or improved trading strategies, as well as for the ongoing monitoring of existing strategies and client portfolios. Razvan’s role spans the product development and research functions at Aspect. He chairs Aspect’s Product Committee and heads the Investment Solutions team, who provide quantitative expertise to clients on the investment process and the development of new product ideas. His primary responsibility is client engagement on matters relating to strategies, products, performance, and research.

Prior to joining Aspect in 2010, Razvan worked at Skybound Capital, Clear Horizon Capital, and PeregrineQuant in various quantitative research roles.

He graduated with distinctions in Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, and Physics from Rhodes University (2001). He holds a BSc (Hons) in Theoretical Physics from Wits University (2002) and an MSc in Financial Mathematics from the University of Cape Town (2004), and he is a CFA Charterholder.

Matt Rowe

Managing Director, Solutions, Man Group

Matt is a senior portfolio manager at Man Group, and part of the team responsible for the investment management and strategy development of multi-strategy portfolios. He has a particular focus on leading portfolio overlay strategies.

Prior to joining Man Group in 2025, Matt was Head of Portfolio Management and Cross-Asset Strategies at Nomura Capital Management, where he served as Senior Portfolio Manager for a private credit interval fund and managed custom volatility overlays. Before that, Matt was Chief Investment Officer at Headwaters Solutions, where he was managing portfolio overlay strategies for institutional investors and was awarded “Global Overlay Manager of the Year” by EQ Derivatives. Matt has over 25 years of global multi-strategy portfolio and risk management experience.

He holds a BA in History from Wittenberg University.

Philip Seager

Head of Portfolio Strategy , Capital Fund Management

Philip is the Head of Portfolio Strategy and advises on portfolio development across CFM investment programs. He chairs the monthly Investment Committee and participates in many steering committees.

Philip originally joined CFM in 2000 to work on the Discus CTA program and to build its intraday component. He was named Head of Directional Strategies in 2004 and then subsequently took responsibility for the development of CFM’s efforts to diversify away from core offerings.

Prior to his work at CFM, Philip obtained a two-year European Fellowship to work at the CEA, France, working on a search for the charged Higgs boson at CERN, Switzerland.

Philip has a PhD in experimental particle physics from Lancaster University.

James Munro

Senior Portfolio Analyst & Deputy Head of the Portfolio Group , Albourne Partners

James Munro, CAIA, is a Senior Portfolio Analyst and Deputy Head of the Portfolio Group at Albourne Partners. With 19 years' experience in alternative investments, his expertise lies in portfolio strategy, manager selection, and risk advice. James serves a diverse client base across investor types, including prestigious European and Middle Eastern investors.

In between his two stints at Albourne, he spent five years performing a pivotal role at Bloomberg as Hedge Fund Business Manager in New York, focusing on total portfolio analysis. James's finance experience is complemented by a six-year career as a Mechanical Design Engineer, and with an MBA from a top university in Ireland.

Antti Ilmanen

Principal & Global Co-Head of Portfolio Solutions Group, AQR Capital Management

Antti Ilmanen is a Principal and Global Co-head of the Portfolio Solutions Group at AQR Capital Management. In this role, he manages the team responsible for advising institutional investors and sovereign wealth funds and develops the firm's broad investment ideas.

Prior to joining AQR, Antti spent seven years as a senior portfolio manager at Brevan Howard and a decade in a variety of roles at Salomon Brothers/Citigroup. He began his career as a central bank portfolio manager in Finland. Over the years, he has advised many institutional investors, including Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global and the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation.

Antti has published extensively in finance and investment journals and has received a Graham and Dodd award, the Harry M. Markowitz special distinction award, and multiple Bernstein Fabozzi/Jacobs Levy awards for his articles. He has written two books, Expected Returns (2011) and Investing Amid Low Expected Returns (2022).

He has received the CFA Institute's Leadership in Global Investment Award (2017) and was appointed as an Honorary Fellow at Cambridge Judge Business School (2026). Antti earned M.Sc. degrees in economics and law from the University of Helsinki and a Ph.D. in finance from the University of Chicago.

Thomas Deinet

Executive Director, SBAI

Thomas Deinet was appointed Executive Director of the SBAI (previously known as the HFSB) in 2008. In 2007, Thomas joined the working group to project manage the development of practice standards proposed by 14 leading international alternative investment managers that led to the establishment of the SBAI.

Prior to joining the SBAI, he was a senior manager at Oliver Wyman, where he extensively worked with major financial institutions in Europe covering asset management as well as corporate and investment banking. Thomas also worked as an analyst in energy trading for a major commodities trading firm.

Thomas is a graduate of the University of Karlsruhe, Germany, with a major in industrial engineering and holds an MSc from Purdue University, USA. Thomas is a CFA charterholder.

Tom Doris Ph.D

Head of Quantitative Analytics, Carlson Capital

Mr. Doris joined Carlson Capital in February 2022 and brings over 20 years of experience in quant trading, technology, and finance. He started as an R+D engineer at Intel and holds patents for his work on optimizing compilers and multicore processors.

He worked at Marshall Wace in optimizing alpha capture and quant trading. In 2011 he co-founded and was CEO of the fintech startup OTAS, specializing in real-time market analytics for traders, and led the firm to a successful exit in 2017. Prior to joining Carlson, he spent four years as Chief Data Scientist at Liquidnet.

Tom holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science specializing in Computational Neuroscience & AI.

Muzo Kayacan

Director & Head of EMEA Product Strategy, BlackRock

Muzo Kayacan, CFA, Director, is a Portfolio Manager and Head of EMEA Product Strategy in the Systematic Active Equity division of BlackRock's Portfolio Management Group. He is responsible for managing Global and European funds as well as overseeing the EMEA Product Strategy team, who provide a link between investment teams and clients.

Prior to joining Blackrock in 2010, Mr. Kayacan was a Senior Associate Portfolio Manager at AllianceBernstein, where he was responsible for implementing investment decisions in Global Developed and Emerging Markets institutional equity portfolios, as well implementing active and passive currency hedging strategies. From 2005-2007 he completed a graduate training scheme with M&G, followed by a role in the product development team. Before joining M&G he was a futures trader.

Mr Kayacan earned a bachelors degree in Psychology from Warwick University in 2003. He is a CFA charterholder.

Nick Thomas-Peter

Deputy Chief Investment Officer , Winton

Nick helps guide Winton’s investment and research activities. He is a member of the firm’s risk and allocation committees and works closely with the Chief Investment Officer on strategy development, portfolio construction, and risk management.

A senior member of Winton’s investment team for more than a decade, Nick was promoted to Deputy CIO in 2025 after five years dedicated to building and scaling medium-frequency futures and equity trading systems. Since joining Winton in 2012, his responsibilities have encompassed the day-to-day management of Winton’s CTA strategies, the implementation of bespoke client mandates, and leading the firm’s expansion into alternative markets from 2017.

Nick holds a PhD in atomic and laser physics and a Master’s degree in physics from the University of Oxford.

Louis Bourrousse

Chief Executive Officer, Scor Investment Partners

Louis joined SCOR in 2013 as Head of Strategy & Development at SCOR Global Investments, before being appointed as Head of Strategic Planning & Investments in 2017 and Head of Investment Business Performance in 2019. In November 2021, he was promoted to Head of Business Development and member of the Executive Board of SCOR Investment Partners to oversee sales and marketing functions. Since November 2023, he is Chief Executive Officer of SCOR Investment Partners.

He started his career in 2006 as an investment banker specializing in mergers and acquisitions at Oddo BHF and Nomura.

Louis is a graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique and holds a Master’s degree in Finance from ENSAE ParisTech.

Tom Dedman

Head of EMEA, Partner Capital, Nephila Capital

Tom is the Head of EMEA for Nephila's Partner Capital Team. Previously, Tom worked in Corporate Finance, specialising in the insurance sector, in roles at Willis Capital Markets and Numis. In his early career, he worked across asset classes at Credit Suisse's Private Bank.

He is a CFA Charterholder and has a BA (Hons) from the University of Bristol.

Tanja Wrosch

MD, Head of Cat Bond Portfolio Management, Twelve Securis

Tanja is Head of Cat Bond Portfolio Management at Twelve Securis, where she manages diverse catastrophe bond strategies and serves as Portfolio Manager of the Twelve Capital Parametric ILS mandate. Tanja is a member of the Twelve Securis Cat Bond Investment Committee.

Prior to joining Twelve Capital in June 2024, Tanja co-headed the ILS Chief Investment Office and Portfolio Management Team at Credit Suisse ILS in Zurich, overseeing the full suite of ILS products and managing both public funds and dedicated mandates. She was a member of the ILS Investment Oversight Committee and led the platform’s ESG investment policy. From 2013 to 2020, she held various roles across the investment value chain at Credit Suisse, primarily within ILS, from Client Advisory and Portfolio Management to Head of Cat Bond Trading.

Tanja holds a Bachelor in International Business Studies from Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany, supported by a DAAD fellowship at the University of International Business Studies and Economics, Beijing, China, and a Master of Accounting and Finance from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. During her studies, she was a Research and Teaching Assistant at the Institute for Information Management with a focus on Design Thinking. Tanja is a CFA Charterholder, CAIA Charterholder, and FRM certified professional.

Toni Pajari

Senior Portfolio Manager, Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company

Toni Pajari is a senior Portfolio Manager at Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company based in Helsinki, Finland. He works at Varma’s Hedge Fund and Credit team covering variety of hedge fund and illiquid credit strategies.

Prior to joining Varma in 2020, Toni was a portfolio manager at Rettig Group, where he managed the family’s wealth via wide variety of asset classes from liquid to illiquid assets. Before Rettig he was hedge fund and illiquid credit portfolio manager at Nordea Investment Management.

Toni holds a Master of Science in Economics from Helsinki School of Economics, current Aalto University. He is a CFA and CAIA charterholder.

Mark Carhart, PhD

CIO, Kepos Capital

Mark Carhart is the Chief Investment Officer and a founding partner of Kepos Capital LP. Prior to founding Kepos in 2010, Mark was a Partner and the Co-Chief Investment Officer of the Quantitative Investment Strategies Group at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, and prior to GSAM he was an Assistant Professor at the Marshall School of Business at USC and a Senior Fellow at The Financial Institutions Center at The Wharton School.

Mark’s publications include articles in The Journal of Finance, The Review of Financial Studies, and the Financial Analysts Journal, and he received the FAJ’s Graham and Dodd Award in 2014. He is also a co-author of Modern Investment Management: An Equilibrium Approach.

Mark earned a B.A. from Yale University in 1988, became a CFA Charterholder in 1991, and received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 1995. Mark is a member of the Investment Committee at Carnegie Corporation of New York. He is also a member of the Booth Council at the University of Chicago and serves as the Chairman of the non-profit board of InTandem Cycling, as well as an investment committee member for the Aldrich Museum.

Martin Källström

CEO & Partner, Lynx Asset Management

Martin Källström holds a MSc degree in Finance from Stockholm University. After having started his career as an actuary at Watson Wyatt, Källström later created and headed the in¬vestment and actuarial consulting business for Aon in the Nordics for three years.

Prior to joining Lynx, Källström worked for The First Swedish National Pension Fund (AP1) for 11 years as Head of Alternative Investments. At AP1 he built a team and a USD 10 bn portfolio of Hedge Funds, Private Equity and Real Assets. Källström joined Lynx in September 2018 as Senior Managing Director and Partner. In 2023 he became the Deputy CEO at Lynx and in September 2024 he transitioned to the role as CEO of Lynx.

Trevor Mottl

Portfolio Manager, AI Quant Equity, Magnetar

Trevor Mottl is Magnetar's Head of AI Quant Equity and a Portfolio Manager. He recently joined the firm to lead the development of its AI Quant strategy, bringing over 20 years of experience at the intersection of finance, technology, and AI with deep expertise in AI-driven quantitative strategies.

Prior to joining Magnetar, Mr. Mottl pioneered LLM-based quantitative strategies as a Portfolio Manager at Walleye Capital from 2023 to 2024. From 2019 to 2023, he served as a Managing Director at Lazard Asset Management, where he built and led the firm's AI-driven investment platform. Earlier in his career, Mr. Mottl held senior leadership positions at Balyasny, Man GLG, and Susquehanna. He also served as a partner at Fusion Fund, a Palo Alto venture firm focused on early-stage companies in enterprise AI, healthcare, and industrial technology.

Mr. Mottl graduated from Brown University and currently lectures at the University of California, Berkeley.

Mikael Anveden

Head of Strategic Investment Analysis, AP4

Mikael has an engineering background and spent 15+ years on the sell-side where he was responsible for the institutional advisory offering of SEB before shifting to the buy-side and AP4 early 2023.

He now heads a team of analysts addressing AP4's portfolio from several perspectives, including asset liability management, benchmark portfolio design and external management analytics. Mikael also heads AP4’s efforts in thematic investment strategy.

Kevin Bong

MD, Head of Portfolio Design & Construction, CPP Investments

As Head of Portfolio Design & Construction, Kevin leads the team responsible for portfolio construction, investment targets, and top-down sustainable investing integration across the organization. His group focuses on systematic risk factors that underpin performance and diversification, portfolio construction and optimization, and the overall design of total fund decisions.

Kevin joined CPP Investments in 2025. He was most recently Executive Managing Director and Chief Investment Strategist at AIMCo, where he led the development and execution of the Total Fund and Total Portfolio strategies, as well as the creation of dynamic capital projection models for long-term portfolio value creation. Prior to AIMCo, Kevin spent over a decade in various investment roles across Investment Policy and Strategy, Economics, and External Fund Management at GIC in Singapore and NYC. He currently holds several committee and board roles at the Pacific Pension & Investment Institute, the National University of Singapore, the Toteboard, and the Singapore Labour Foundation.

He holds a BSc in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science as well as a BSc in Management Science (Finance) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Alex Preston

MD, Head of Portfolio Management Advisory, Man Group

Alex Preston is Managing Director and Head of Advisory at Man Group, responsible for Portfolio Management Advisory and for the firm’s client research collaboration with Oxford University, OMI Advisory. He was previously Head of Content at Millennium. Prior to that, he was a Client Investment Strategist at Man Group, working for the firm from 2013 to 2020.

Alex started his career in 2001, working for a credit hedge fund before moving to The Carlyle Group, where he was Head of Global Trading. He is a prize-winning author and journalist, writing regularly for The Economist, Financial Times, and The Guardian.

Alex graduated from the University of Oxford with an MA in English Literature and holds a PhD from University College, London. He is also a CFA charterholder.