James Esland

Head of Diversified Alternatives, QIC

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

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

Damian Graham

Group Chief Investment Officer, Challenger

Damian was appointed Group Chief Investment Officer in January 2026.

Prior to this, Damian was Chief Investment Officer at Aware Super for 10 years. Damian has also held investment leadership roles at StatePlus, Macquarie Group and J.P. Morgan.

Hugh Murray

Interim Chief Investment Officer , Future Fund

Hugh Murray was appointed as interim Chief Investment Officer for the Future Fund from September 2025. He joined the organisation in 2011 as Director, Strategic Risk Management before being promoted to Head of Overlays in 2015 then Deputy Chief Investment Officer in 2023.

Hugh was previously employed as the Head of Asia-Pacific Equity Derivative Trading at Nomura and prior to that, worked with both Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs.

Hugh holds a Bachelor of Engineering and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Melbourne.

James Esland

Head of Diversified Alternatives, QIC

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

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

Shikha Gupta

SBAI Oceania Advisory Committee; Executive Director, Alternatives, Future Fund

Shikha Gupta is the Executive Director, Alternatives, at the Future Fund, where she brings over a decade of experience in investment management. In her current role, she oversees the fund’s diverse alternative investment strategies and previously focussed on the portfolio’s Credit exposures.

Shikha serves as a member of the Investment Committee and the Manager Review Committee. Before joining the Future Fund, Shikha was a Principal at Partners Capital in London, where she led public equities research and provided strategic investment advice to institutional and high-net-worth clients. Her career began at the Boston Consulting Group, where she gained extensive experience in management consulting, delivering impactful solutions across various industries.

Shikha holds a Bachelor of Commerce with First Class Honours in Actuarial Studies (Dean’s List) from the University of Melbourne and an MBA with Distinction from INSEAD. She is also a member of SBAI’s Oceania Committee.

François Rivard

Chief Executive Officer, Innocap Investment Management Inc.

As Chief Executive Officer, François is responsible for establishing and delivering the overall vision, mission and growth strategy of Innocap. Francois drives Innocap’s vision of enhancing the way value is created for the communities represented by our clients while maintaining Innocap’s position as the industry-leading technology-enabled Dedicated Managed Account platform.

During his 25 years in the investment industry, François has held various senior functions in capital markets, wealth and asset management in Toronto, Montreal and London. Notably, in his role as Head of the Financial Products Group at National Bank of Canada, he was responsible for engineering and distribution of structured derivative-based investments globally. François is the recipient of Bishop’s University Top 10 Under 10 award, a standing YPO member (and past chapter board member), and has contributed or been featured in Bloomberg, the Globe and Mail, Derivatives Week, Structured Products Magazine as well as a featured speaker at various conferences in North America, London, Paris, Zurich, Abu Dhabi and Singapore. Since 2014 François has been a board member and active contributor to the CHU Sainte-Justine Foundation, one of the largest sick kids hospitals and research centers in North America.

François received a BBA from Bishop’s University and an MBA from HULT Business School in London.

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.

Daniel Stone

Co-Founder & Portfolio Manager, Ionic Capital Management

Dan Stone is one of the co-founders of Ionic Capital Management LLC, where he focuses on managing the interest rates, currencies and credit strategies. He has over 27 years of experience managing relative value arbitrage and long volatility strategies across multiple asset classes.

Mr. Stone was formerly a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager in the U.S. and European Volatility and Credit Arbitrage Group at Highbridge Capital Management LLC. He joined Highbridge in 1996 where he managed convertible bonds and equity, interest rate and credit derivatives.

Mr. Stone earned an AB in Economics Magna cum Laude from Harvard College.

Myles Engelen

Partner & Deputy Head of Private Debt, PAG

Mr. Engelen is a Partner and Deputy Head of Private Debt, overseeing Asia Pacific (ex-China) private debt investments. Mr. Engelen joined PAG in 2014 and was formerly with the consumer and industrials team at Rothschild. Prior to that, he was with the industrials and sponsors team at Macquarie.

Mr. Engelen holds a Bachelor of Business (with Distinction) and a Bachelor of Law (with Honours) from the University of Technology, Sydney.

Stephan Ruoff

Co-head of Private Debt & Credit Alternatives , Schroders Capital

Stephan Ruoff is the co-head of Private Debt & Credit Alternatives (PDCA) as well as Chairman of Insurance Linked Securities (ILS) at Schroders Capital. He joined Schroders Group in 2019 and is based in Zurich.

Stephan has 27 years of management, underwriting & investment experience. Immediately prior to joining Schroders Capital, he spent 8 years with Tokio Millennium Re (TMR) where he was the Group CEO from 2015. Prior to that, he was the Group Chief Underwriting Officer and Head of Europe. For three years he was also a Non-executive Director of Tokio Marine Kiln, a sister company within the Group.

Prior to this he spent 14 years with Munich Re as Executive Client Manager in Munich, Managing Director of the Paris branch office and Chief Engineer of the liaison office in Taipei.

During his career Stephan has specialised in balance sheet and company management, reinsurance underwriting and investment strategy implementation.

His initial academic degree has been in “Chemical Engineering”: Double Diploma from TU Berlin (Technical University) and the Ecole des Mines de Saint Etienne. Additionally Stephan holds a diploma in Management of Insurance Companies from the University of St. Gallen.

Jason Tan

Head of APAC, Orchard Global

Mr. Tan is Head of Asia Pacific of Orchard Global. He also serves as Chief Executive of Orchard Global Asset Management (S) Pte Ltd, the firm’s Asia affiliate and heads the firm’s legal structuring group globally.

Prior to joining Orchard Global, Mr. Tan held various origination, structuring, and distribution leadership roles. He established and led the fund solutions group in the securities division at Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong as well as the structured funds business at HSBC Global Markets in London, before co-heading the same group in Asia. Mr. Tan began his career at Allen & Overy LLP in London, specializing in structured finance and derivatives law.

Mr. Tan has an MA in Jurisprudence from Trinity College, University of Oxford, and is an alumnus of Harvard Business School. He is a qualified Solicitor in England and Wales and an Advocate and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore.

Leo Yang

Associate Portfolio Manager, Aware Super

Leo is an Associate Portfolio Manager at Aware Super, one of Australia's largest superannuation funds with over A$200 billion in FUM. He invests in global credit across public and private markets, with responsibilities spanning deal origination, external manager allocation, and portfolio construction across loans, bonds, securitised assets, real estate, and infrastructure.

Prior to joining Aware Super, Leo spent the majority of his career at ANZ across leveraged finance, loan syndication, and corporate advisory.

He holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws from UNSW.

Lincoln Smith

SBAI Oceania Advisory Committee; Partner, Albourne Partners

Lincoln Smith is a Partner at Albourne having joined in 2007 and works as a Consultant at the firm. He helps clients construct customized hedge fund and private market portfolios that meet their Investment Guidelines and also works on the firm’s simulation and analytical tools. Mr. Smith’s clients spanned public and private pension plans, endowments and foundations, and family offices. More recently his client focus has shifted from the US to Australasia.

Prior to Albourne, Mr. Smith started his career at a New Zealand fund manager.

Mr. Smith has a Post Graduate Diploma in Finance from Otago University (NZ) and a Degree in Economics also from Otago University. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Brian Digney

Research and Content Director, SBAI

Brian Digney joined the SBAI in March 2023 in the role of Research and Content Director. He is responsible for content development and co-ordination of the ongoing and future working groups on a wide variety of topics, including valuation of private assets, ESG & carbon footprinting, governance, insurance linked strategies, digital assets, asset management regulation and compliance as well as new topics to be determined in the future.

Prior to joining the SBAI, Brian was the Head of Due Diligence & Governance Oversight at Innocap Global Investment Management (Ireland) Ltd (2018-2023) in Dublin, a subsidiary of Innocap Investment Management Inc., a US$50bn hedge fund platform. He acted as Designated Person for Operational Risk Management, a regulated role by the Central Bank of Ireland. He also sat on Innocap’s Irish Risk Oversight and Valuation Committees. In 2017, Brian joined Albourne Partners in London as a Senior Operational Due Diligence Analyst. From 2015 to 2017 he was employed as an Operational Due Diligence Analyst at Mercer Sentinel in London. From 2010 to 2015 he held various Associate level roles at Decura LLP, Morgan Stanley and Citi.

Brian holds an LLB Hons in Law with Criminology and an M.Sc. in Management and Corporate Governance from University of Ulster. Brian is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst.

Ben Poole

Head of Sales, Australia & New Zealand, Bloomberg

Ben Pool is the Head of Sales for Australia and New Zealand at Bloomberg, overseeing and guiding the firm’s strategy in the region. He has years of experience supporting clients in optimizing their operational efficiency and data transformation.

Throughout his career, Ben has held various leadership roles at Bloomberg, including Head of Hong Kong and China Buyside Sales teams. He started his career in Bloomberg's London office before moving to Hong Kong in 2014. Ben holds a bachelor’s degree in Financial and Business Economics, and is actively involved in various committees at Bloomberg.

Stewart Brentnall

CIO, NSW Treasury Corporation (TCorp)

Joining TCorp in 2017 as the Chief Investment Officer, Stewart leads our investment management business, responsible for advice and management of $105bn of funds across the NSW Government, including pension assets, insurance reserves and state infrastructure and Debt Retirement funds.

To strengthen TCorp’s investment management framework for delivering superior risk-adjusted returns to clients, Stewart led a transformation program evolving our investment model to a risk-based Total Portfolio Approach.

With over 30 years’ investment management industry experience in Australia and the UK, Stewart has held senior roles at ANZ’s Australasian Wealth business, BT Financial Group, Queensland Investment Corporation, Goldman Sachs, and Schroders.

Stewart holds a BEc (Hons) from Bristol University, UK. He is a Chartered Accountant, a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and Fellow of FINSIA.

Kate Misic

Head of Alternative Investments and Real Assets, Telstra Super

Kate Misic, Head of Alternative Investments and Real Assets, joined Telstra Super in May 2010. Telstra Super is an Australian corporate superannuation fund with around 85,000 members and over A$25b under management. The fund has defined benefit, accumulation and allocated pension divisions within the fund. Kate is responsible for the Property, Infrastructure, Opportunities, Hedge Fund and Private Markets programs. Kate has had more than 20 years of experience in investment manager research and performance analysis. Prior to joining Telstra Super, Kate was Senior Portfolio Analyst for the Australian Equities funds at Warakirri. Kate also spent time at Frontier Investment Consulting, a leading asset consultant and Wilshire Associates, a Private Equity specialist.

Kate is a CFA Charterholder. Kate co-authored Portfolio Management for Institutional Investors in CFA Level III Curriculum 2020 (2019). Kate is Past President, CFA Society Melbourne and Past Chair of the Global Investment Performance Standards Asset Owner Subcommittee. Kate also completed the Company Directors Course Diploma provided by the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a Graduate Diploma of Applied Finance and Investment provided by FINSIA and a Bachelor of Science (Mathematics) at the Australian National University.

Will Goodwin

Co-Chief Investment Officer, New Zealand Superannuation Fund

Will joined the Guardians in 2016 and was appointed Co-Chief Investment Officer in 2024. He was previously Head of Direct Investments with responsibility for leading the Fund’s global direct investments, internally managed listed equities and machine learning strategies.

Prior to joining the Guardians, Will held executive roles in finance and private equity. He is currently Co-Chair of the NZ Super Fund Investment Committee, Director of Kaingaroa Timberlands, Chair of The Institute of Financial Professionals NZ (INFINZ) and has previously served on listed and unlisted boards in New Zealand, Australia, and the UK.

He holds a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Economics and a Master of Applied Finance from Victoria University of Wellington and has completed INSEAD's Advanced Management Programme.

Stuart Fiertz

SBAI Trustee; Co-Founder, President and Director of Research, Cheyne Capital Management

Stuart Fiertz is the Co-Founder, President and Director of Research of Cheyne Capital. From 1991 to June 2000, and prior to establishing Cheyne Capital, Stuart worked for Morgan Stanley where he was responsible for the development and implementation of customised portfolio strategies and for credit research in the convertible bond management practice.

Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Stuart was an equity research analyst for the Value Line Investment Survey, and a high yield credit analyst in Boston at Merrill Lynch and in New York at Lehman Brothers. Stuart is a CFA® charterholder and a CAIA designee. He is chairman of the Alternative Credit Council (ACC) and a Founder & Trustee of the Standards Board for Alternative Investments (SBAI). From 2014 until 2020, Stuart was also a council director of the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) board.

Stuart has been awarded the CFA Certificate in ESG Investing. Stuart was educated at the International School of Geneva and at Dartmouth College where he was awarded a BA degree in Political Science and Economics.

Alistair Boyd

CEO & CRO, Astignes Capital

Mr. Boyd is Chief Executive Officer and Chief Risk Officer of Astignes Capital. In his role as CEO, Mr. Boyd sets the strategic direction of the Firm and oversees the day today running of the business. In his role as CRO, he is responsible for the Firm’s risk management framework and its implementation. Mr. Boyd worked at Alphadyne Asia for six years, most recently as CRO Asia and before that as a Portfolio Manager.

Prior to joining Alphadyne Asia, Mr. Boyd co-managed all fixed income and commodity risk at Artradis Capital in Singapore. Before returning to Asia to join Atradis Capital in 2009, Mr. Boyd was Head of Local Markets Trading, Structuring and Risk Management for the Americas at RBS and ABN AMRO based in New York. In that capacity, he also served as Chairman on trading, management and ALM committees for the Americas. Prior to that, Mr. Boyd was a Partner at Teleos Capital as the Head of Emerging Markets. Mr. Boyd entered banking in 1995 when he joined Bankers Trust Proprietary Trading based in Singapore for 5 years. Prior to that, he was an Economist at the World Bank in Washington DC and the Treasury Department in Australia.

He holds a Bachelor of Business in Economics from Charles Darwin University and a Masters in Economics from Columbia University. Mr. Boyd serves on Boards related to Astignes Funds and the Advisory Board of StashAway – a Singapore-based fintech company.

Mr. Boyd serves on Boards related to Astignes Funds and the Advisory Board of StashAway – a Singapore-based fintech company.

Belinda Cheung

Director, Global Macro & Asset Allocation, Future Fund

Belinda Cheung is Director - Global Macro & Asset Allocation at the Future Fund, Australia’s sovereign wealth fund. She is part of the Investment team, with responsibility for generating macro and capital markets insights to inform portfolio-wide investment strategy, asset allocation, and risk management decisions.

Prior to joining the Future Fund, Belinda was a Senior Economist at Aware Super, a Director in the Fixed Income and Currency Strategy team at Commonwealth Bank, and a Senior Economist and Manager at the Reserve Bank of Australia where she started her career.

Belinda holds a combined Bachelor of Economics/Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Sydney, and a Master of Economics from the University of New South Wales.

Ken LeStrange

Managing Director, Macro Strategies, AQR Capital Management

Ken LeStrange is a Managing Director on the Macro Strategies team at AQR Capital Management. In this role he conducts research and portfolio analysis for macro and multi-strategy investment strategies, and is a product specialist for trend following, global macro, risk parity, commodity, and multi-strategy portfolios.

Previously, he held a similar role within AQR’s Global Stock Selection group, which included covering multi-strategy offerings that incorporate global macro strategies. Prior to joining AQR in 2016, Ken was a member of the client management team for the Financial Institutions group at PIMCO.

Ken earned a B.A. in economics and a B.A. in history from Middlebury College. He is a CFA charterholder.

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.

James McIntyre

Economist, Bloomberg

James McIntyre is Bloomberg Economics economist covering the Australian and New Zealand economies.

He has previously covered the Australian and New Zealand economies at Macquarie Bank and Commonwealth Bank. He also has a background across economics, public policy, and politics through his roles in the Australian Treasury, the Australian Banking Association, and as an economic advisor in the Office of the Prime Minister. He is based in Sydney.

Michael Bowden

Head of ALM & Income Strategies, QIC

Michael Bowden joined QIC’s State Investment team in December 2008 and focuses on the fixed interest exposures across the various multi-asset portfolios and asset and liability modelling. His responsibilities include capital market research in fixed interest markets (across inflation, nominal, credit, emerging markets, and alternative credit), ongoing valuation monitoring, and portfolio management. As part of the Public Markets team, Michael is also involved in researching liquid alternative strategies and selecting and monitoring managers to implement these strategies.

Michael has 26 years of fixed interest experience in a variety of roles including front office, market risk and quantitative analysis. Prior to joining QIC Michael spent 14 years at the Queensland Treasury Corporation (the firm responsible for debt issuance for the Queensland State Government). Michael has a Bachelor of Applied Science majoring in Mathematics from the Queensland University of Technology and a Master of Applied Finance from Macquarie University.

Dominik Hagedorn

Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer, Tangency Capital

Dominik Hagedorn has over 15 years of expertise in reinsurance and investment banking. He began his career at Munich Re, where he specialized in underwriting and alternative risk transfer. During his tenure, Dominik successfully executed a series of catastrophe bond transactions, benefiting both insurance clients and Munich Re. Thereafter, he served as Director at UBS Securities LLC, overseeing a diverse range of structured reinsurance transactions, including catastrophe bonds, sidecars, hedge fund reinsurance vehicles, and similar transactions across property, casualty, and life insurance risks.

Before founding Tangency in 2017, Dominik was with Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. in New York, where he held global coverage responsibility for alternative capital of insurance and reinsurance companies. In this role, he executed catastrophe bonds, sidecars, and other structured financing transactions.

Dominik holds a Master of Sciences degree in Financial Economics from Maastricht University, with a major in finance, economics, and econometrics. He is also a published author in the Handbook of Insurance-Linked Securities, originally published in 2009 by Wiley’s.

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.

Jehan Sukhla

Co-Head of Alternative Strategies, MLC Asset Management

Jehan Sukhla is Co-Head of Alternative Strategies at MLC Asset Management, one of Australia’s largest diversified wealth management firms. He jointly leads a team responsible for sourcing and managing investments across public and private markets, including private credit, asset-based lending, hedge funds and insurance-linked strategies.

With over two decades of experience, Jehan began his career at BT Funds Management before joining MLC in 2003. He has held senior roles across fixed income, currency, and alternative strategies, and today oversees over A$7billion in client assets. Jehan holds a Bachelor of Accounting (Finance major) from the University of Technology Sydney, is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Pierre Wiart

Senior Business Manager APAC, Swiss Re Alternative Capital Partners

Pierre is responsible for the Development of Swiss Re ILS strategies in the APAC region with a strong focus on Australia and New Zealand investors. Pierre's career has been focused on portfolio insurance risk transfer through reinsurance and insurance linked risk transfer acquired in London, Bermuda, Paris and Sydney.

After leading the cat modelling and analytical team at AON Australia, Pierre spent five years as Portfolio Manager at White Mountains Re Bermuda. He oversaw the group Property Cat risks that encompassed the supervision of Sirius International property portfolio. Pierre spent two years at the SCOR ILS fund in Paris before heading back to Australia where he offered consultancy for Australian ILS investors. Pierre was Managing Director of Risk Management Solutions Australia New Zealand before the acquisitions by Moody's.

Pierre hold a PhD from Cambridge University, UK, and he is a Senior Associate of the ANZIIF and a Graduate from the Australian Institute of Company Director (GAICD).

Jeff Gebler

Head of Total Portfolio Analytics, QIC

Jeff brings over 20 years of experience in financial risk management across superannuation, asset management, and insurance sectors. At QIC, he leads the Total Portfolio Analytics team, focusing on delivering insights that support portfolio construction, risk oversight, and strategic investment decisions.

Prior to joining QIC, Jeff held senior roles including Head of Investment Risk Compliance at Rest Super and Head of Risk at Ardea Investment Management. He was also a Principal at Milliman and a founding member of its Australian practice, where he advised institutional clients on dynamic hedging strategies, derivative overlays, and retirement products.

Jeff has a Bachelor of Arts from Northwestern University and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Financial Risk Manager (FRM) designations.

Andrew Korbel

Head of Hedge Funds, Absolute Returns Team, Victoria Funds Management Corporation

Andrew has over 30 years of experience in the investment and finance sectors, the majority working on institutional investment portfolios. He joined VFMC in 2009 to lead the management of the external managers in VFMC's fixed interest and non-traditional portfolios, and evaluating new managers and strategies. Over this time he has built up VFMC’s hedge fund portfolio from 2 managers managing under $1b to around a dozen managers covering ~$8b, and established and evolved VFMC’s now ~$9b private credit portfolio from scratch. Andrew has also led VFMC’s insurance investments for the past 10 years, and contributed to the establishment of VFMC’s EMD and completion portfolios. Most recently Andrew was appointed as VFMC’s inaugural Head of Hedge Funds.

Prior to joining VFMC, Andrew spent 13 years at Intech Investment Consultants (now Morningstar Investment Management Australia) in a variety of roles, including Senior Consultant, Head of Manager Research and most recently Head of Fixed Interest and Currency. Before Intech, Andrew worked as an investment analyst at TAC Insurance and VFMC, and in commercial lending at Commonwealth Bank.

Andrew has completed a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) at University of Melbourne, and the Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance at the Securities Institute of Australia (now Finsia).

Ali Parker

Head of Investment Research & Strategy, NSW Treasury Corporation (TCorp)

Ali Parker is the Head of Investment Research and Strategy in TCorp’s investment team. The team is responsible for TCorp’s risk-based Investment Model, Capital Market Assumptions, top-down design of the listed and unlisted strategies, and researching risk and return behaviours of risk factors and assets.

Ali previously led TCorp’s Investment Advisory team, the unit that was responsible for developing a deep understanding of clients’ investment goals, risk appetite and reporting on portfolio strategy outcomes.

Bruce Tomlinson

Investment Director, Minderoo Foundation

Decades of portfolio management and asset allocation experience on both alternative and traditional asset classes.

Buy side experience with investment manager, insurance company, pension fund and foundation. Passionate about not for profit sector.

Portfolio management experience: Single asset coinvestments and funds across private and alternative credit, event driven, macro, relative value strategies, Australian equities, and asset allocation (derivative) overlays.

Responsible for investing and managing direct private equity stakes in mid risk companies across energy, transport, agriculture, and insurance sectors.

Governance/Board experience from various direct investments and coinvestments, and various not-for-profit Boards/committees.

5 years overseas experience in US and UK.

Alistair Jones

Head of ESG Committee & Senior MD BD, Leadenhall Capital Partners

Alistair has over 25 years of experience in asset management and investment consulting, advising institutional investors on investment strategies including on ILS, credit, and fixed income.

Alistair has worked with a range of investors including DB pension funds, DC pension funds, charities, endowments, corporates, wealth managers and other institutions over his career at Aon, WTW, Schroders and Leadenhall. Alistair heads Leadenhall’s ESG Committee integrating sustainability considerations into Leadenhall’s investment process.

Jason Phung

Senior Portfolio Manager, Challenger Life

Jason Phung is a Senior Portfolio Manager at Challenger Life, where he leads external manager selection for the Alternatives portfolio, focusing on absolute return hedge funds and cat bonds.

Prior to joining Challenger, Jason was a Portfolio Manager at Two Trees, a systematic global macro boutique within Pinnacle Investment Management. Earlier in his career, he worked as a quantitative researcher on GMO’s systematic global macro team.

Michael Sullivan

Senior Director, North America & APAC, Nephila Capital

Michael Sullivan is a Senior Director at Nephila Capital, a leading investment manager specializing in insurance-linked strategies. With over 15 years of experience across public and private markets, he is responsible for business development and strategic client relationships across North America and the Asia Pacific region, working with institutional and private wealth investors on ILS portfolio construction, allocation sizing, and integration within broader alternative investment portfolios.

Prior to joining Nephila, Michael was a Senior Product Specialist at First Eagle Investments, covering equity and alternative credit strategies. Earlier in his career, he spent more than a decade at Rothschild and Co as a Lead Client Portfolio Manager, advising institutional and private clients on bespoke alternative investment programs across hedge funds, private markets, and real assets.

Michael holds dual MBAs from Columbia Business School and London Business School, both with Dean’s Honors and Distinction. He is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst and earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Seton Hall University.

Brian Digney

Research and Content Director, SBAI

Brian Digney joined the SBAI in March 2023 in the role of Research and Content Director. He is responsible for content development and co-ordination of the ongoing and future working groups on a wide variety of topics, including valuation of private assets, ESG & carbon footprinting, governance, insurance linked strategies, digital assets, asset management regulation and compliance as well as new topics to be determined in the future.

Prior to joining the SBAI, Brian was the Head of Due Diligence & Governance Oversight at Innocap Global Investment Management (Ireland) Ltd (2018-2023) in Dublin, a subsidiary of Innocap Investment Management Inc., a US$50bn hedge fund platform. He acted as Designated Person for Operational Risk Management, a regulated role by the Central Bank of Ireland. He also sat on Innocap’s Irish Risk Oversight and Valuation Committees. In 2017, Brian joined Albourne Partners in London as a Senior Operational Due Diligence Analyst. From 2015 to 2017 he was employed as an Operational Due Diligence Analyst at Mercer Sentinel in London. From 2010 to 2015 he held various Associate level roles at Decura LLP, Morgan Stanley and Citi.

Brian holds an LLB Hons in Law with Criminology and an M.Sc. in Management and Corporate Governance from University of Ulster. Brian is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst.

Cameron Mitchell

Head of Geopolitical Risk, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ)

Cameron Mitchell joined ANZ in 2021 to set up and manage the bank’s geopolitical risk function. In this role he coordinates the production of tailored geopolitical risk assessments and advises management and clients. He supports portfolio and exposure reviews, stress tests, and crisis and response planning, as well as developing and employing tools to enhance ANZ strategic risk management.

He is also an invited member of the National Security College Futures Council within the Australian National University and lectures on the theory and application of geoeconomics.

Previously, Cameron worked for HSBC in Hong Kong and London, where he was Global Head of Geopolitical Risk.

Cameron is a former Australian public servant and Australian Defence Force reserve officer, where he worked on defence and security issues. He also served on operational deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan providing support to operational-level commanders and national-level agencies.

Cameron was born in Surrey, UK and grew up in Nigeria and Brunei before completing secondary school in Australia. He has completed a Master of Studies in International Relations at the University of Cambridge, a Master of Arts by research in Political Science from the University of New South Wales, and a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Political Science and History from the University of Sydney.

He is the author of articles and a book about the Russian defence industry, published through the UK International Institute for Strategic Studies and the Australian Strategic and Defence Studies Centre.

Brian Parker

Chief Economist, Australian Retirement Trust

Brian joined Australian Retirement Trust in June 2015 as Chief Economist. Prior to joining, Brian worked in a series of economics, asset allocation, and communications roles with a range of firms, including Rothschild, JP Morgan, Citigroup, MLC, and the Reserve Bank of Australia, in a career spanning nearly 35 years.

Brian has an honours degree in economics from the University of Queensland, where he also taught macroeconomics, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst. In addition to his investment day job, he presents on economic and investment matters to a wide range of audiences across Australia.

Lincoln Smith

SBAI Oceania Advisory Committee; Partner, Albourne Partners

Lincoln Smith is a Partner at Albourne having joined in 2007 and works as a Consultant at the firm. He helps clients construct customized hedge fund and private market portfolios that meet their Investment Guidelines and also works on the firm’s simulation and analytical tools. Mr. Smith’s clients spanned public and private pension plans, endowments and foundations, and family offices. More recently his client focus has shifted from the US to Australasia.

Prior to Albourne, Mr. Smith started his career at a New Zealand fund manager.

Mr. Smith has a Post Graduate Diploma in Finance from Otago University (NZ) and a Degree in Economics also from Otago University. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Dr David Bell

Executive Director, The Conexus Institute

Dr David Bell is the Founding Executive Director of The Conexus Institute, a philanthropically funded research think tank focused on improving retirement outcomes for Australians. David is an active researcher (industry and academic) in the areas of retirement, superannuation, investment management, and governance.

David’s industry career experiences include the role of chief investment officer at Mine Super, founder and director of his own consulting firm (St Davids Rd Advisory), and 12 years at Colonial First State Global Asset Management (now First Sentier), mainly leading the fund-of-hedge-funds investment team. David was a co-founder of financial newsletter Cuffelinks (now Firstlinks), and developed and for 12 years taught, the hedge funds elective at Macquarie University’s Applied Finance Centre.

David completed his PhD at UNSW, with a focus on intertemporal asset allocation.