Day 2 | 12th March

• What impact has 2024’s election result had on the capital markets industry and how can Buy Side firms best respond to new market conditions?  
• What are the Geo-Political considerations business leaders need to bear in mind when it comes to strategizing for 2025 and beyond? 
• Is the global macro-economic environment showing signs of recovery following the black swan events of Covid, Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine and the Middle East conflict?

• Beyond technical capabilities, what are the processes and mindsets that you need to have in place to become a truly data-driven organisation? 
• How does data ‘flow’ around your organisation and how can you set up robust processes and structures that ensure data standards are maintained at a high level? 
• How can you effectively manage the cost pressures of external data sourcing?  
• Which tools and technologies should you leverage to build a culture that facilities greater data democratisation and boosts data usage across your firm? 

Patty Aenchbacher

Director, Enterprise Data Governance
American Century Investments

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Evan Fire

Chief Operating Officer
Pzena Investment Management

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• How can you build a roadmap for effective cross-functional collaboration that works for your front-to-back set-up? 
• How are closer levels of collaboration enabling your Ops team to drive higher levels of performance and what have been the outcomes of taking a more collaborative approach?  
• What tools and platforms can you equip your Ops function with, to break down operational siloes and take a more collaborative approach towards manual tasks? 
• How can you implement performance metrics to best measure output and use these insights to create a plan that drives continuous improvement across your operations function? 

Walter Joyce

Head of Investment Services
TIAA

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Kim St. Hilaire

Managing Director, Operations and Trading
Aristotle Investment Services

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Known as “Tipper X,” Tom became one of the most prolific informants in securities fraud history, helping to build over 20 of the 80+ individual criminal cases in “Operation Perfect Hedge,” a Wall Street house cleaning campaign that morphed into the largest insider trading investigation of a generation. Join Tom’s keynote talk to get the insights into how he helped the FBI bring down some of its biggest targets in the industry. 

Tom Hardin

Former Buy Side Trader and FBI Whistleblower 
Independent

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• What initiatives or industry transformations would benefit the Buy Side which would require participation from the wider capital markets eco-system? 
• What role do regulatory bodies play in facilitating cross-industry collaboration, and what changes in regulation could further drive transformational progress and standardization across the financial industry? 
• Leveraging AI, blockchain and the cloud: How can greater adoption of new technologies promote greater cross-industry transformation and what are the key challenges and opportunities? 

Olga Sudvarg

COO Data
Invesco Ltd

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Aruna Parthiban

SVP
Goldman Sachs

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• How can investment operations teams identify and attract new skillsets that are increasingly important in today's digital and data-driven environment, such as expertise in AI, machine learning, and data analytics? 
• How can you implement effective development programs to ensure continuous upskilling of your investment operations function and drive performance in the face of rising industry demands? 
• What are examples of successful talent pipeline initiatives that have resulted in both high retention rates and the successful integration of new skillsets, and what key factors contributed to their success? 

Vince Pasqualicchio

COO Investments
American Family Insurance

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Join our InvestOps innovators during this exciting Shark Tank style session, where you will hear from four new and disruptive start-up FINTECH firms as they present their offerings in a bid to win first place. Listen up as the ’Shark’s’ review the technologies’ benefits to your business, predict their future success and deliver their verdicts. The ultimate decision is in your hands though, as the audience get to vote for their favourite. Will you find the next big thing?

Mark Blakey

Head of Financial Services
TextQL

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