The 21st Annual Competitive Challenges Conference
October 9-10, 2024   |  The Langham   |   Chicago

Adam Spector is Executive Vice President and Head of Global Distribution for Franklin Templeton. In this capacity, Adam is responsible for global retail and institutional distribution, including marketing and product strategy. He is a member of the Franklin Resources' Executive Committee, a small group of the company's top leaders responsible for shaping the firm's overall strategy.

In addition to his role as Head of Global Distribution, Adam is Managing Partner of Brandywine Global, where he is responsible for the overall management of the firm, including infrastructure, legal and compliance, business strategy, and sales and client service. He serves as the Chair of Brandywine's Global Management Committee and as a member of its Executive Board. He works with each of Brandywine Global's investment teams to make sure they have the resources and personnel necessary to achieve client objectives.

Before joining Brandywine Global in 1997, Adam was a Director in the international investment management group for SEI Investments (1991–1997) and Managing Director for Ameritek Business Systems in Prague, Czechoslovakia (1990–1991).

Adam earned an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in public policy and anthropology from Brown University, where he graduated magna cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Tony has over 25 years of investment management experience. He joined American Century Investments® in 2009 to build Asian business as head of Asia Pacific. Tony joined from Morgan Stanley, where he was Managing Director for their Asian institutional advisory business. Prior to that, he was CEO of AXA Rosenberg's Asia Pacific business. Tony has a Bachelor of Economics and M Ec (prel) from Monash University in Australia, and a Graduate diploma in Computer Science from Monash University.

Simon Bailey is the Global Head of Brand at abrdn plc. Simon has over 25 years Marketing experience across financial services sectors covering General Insurance (BUPA), Life & Pensions (AEGON), Adviser Platforms and Asset Management (abrdn). Throughout this time Simon has led functions across the Marketing spectrum covering Insight, CRM & analytics, Product Development, Content and Channel Marketing.

As a member of the abrdn Global Leadership Group and Global Brand Marketing and Corporate Affairs leadership team Simon works closely with colleagues across Distribution and Regions to drive Marketing Strategy, Planning and the development of the operating model. In his latest role Simon is the accountable lead for the development and implementation of the Brand Strategy, one that reflects the renewed purpose and ambition of the FTSE 100 business.

Mr. Blute is a managing director and head of PIMCO’s global wealth management business in EMEA. Previously, he served as both the head of PIMCO’s Munich office and as the head of the firm’s product strategy group in EMEA. Mr. Blute joined PIMCO in 2000 as an institutional account manager at the firm’s headquarters in Newport Beach. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and an undergraduate degree from the University of Arizona. He also holds the certified public accountant designation.

Joseph Boateng is the Chief Investment Officer of Casey Family Programs, where he is responsible for managing the Foundation's $2.9 billion endowment. Before joining Casey, he was a member of the Johnson & Johnson Investment Committee responsible for managing over $17 billion in employee benefit assets worldwide. He also spent 13 years at Xerox Corporation, where he was a member of the Trust Investment team that managed $10 billion in retirement assets.

In addition to his role at Casey, Joseph is Chair of the Investment Advisory Committee for the Seattle City Employees' Retirement System and a member of The Seattle Foundation's Investment Committee. Joseph is a board member of the Lumina Foundation and a member of the CREF Board of Trustees. He also serves on the Advisory Councils of NASP Africa Institutional Investors and the African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association.

Joseph received his MBA degree from UCLA and BSc. Administration from the University of Ghana. He is an alumnus of the Saïd Business School at Oxford, a CFA Charterholder, and a Certified Public Accountant.

Onur Erzan oversees AB's institutional and retail businesses where he is responsible for all client services, sales and marketing, as well as product strategy, management and development worldwide. He joined AB from McKinsey where he was a senior partner and Co-leader of the firm's Wealth Management & Asset Management practice. In addition, he co-led McKinsey's Banking and Securities Solutions (a portfolio of data, analytics and digital assets and capabilities) globally.

He has spent nearly two decades at McKinsey developing deep client relationships and overseeing a significant portfolio of clients, including asset managers, wealth managers, banks, private equity firms, hedge funds and insurance companies. Erzan holds an MBA from Columbia University Business School. He also serves as a board member at two New York non-profit organizations (Graham Windham and TPF).

Since joining Dodge & Cox in 1994, Mr. Gorski has had roles on the firm's research and communications teams, but has focused on its client service effort over the past 20 years. As Director of Client Service, he is responsible for coordinating the firm's Client Service and Communications teams and chairing the firm's Joint Client Service Committee. Steve is also a member of the firm's Business Strategy Committee.

Mr. Gorski received his B.A. degree with honors from California State University, Sacramento in 1992. He is a shareholder of the firm.

Ralph Haberli is president of the Institutional Retirement Client Group at Capital Group. He has 20 years of industry experience and has been with Capital Group for four years. Earlier in his career at Capital, Ralph was a sales director. Prior to joining Capital, Ralph was head of distribution for Defined Contribution at BlackRock. He holds an MBA in finance and accounting from the Kellogg School of Management and a bachelor's degree in history from Yale University. Ralph is based in Los Angeles.

As director of the firm's Client Group, Stefan is responsible for Wellington Management's business development, relationship management and marketing functions around the world. In addition, he is a part of the firm's Senior Leadership Team and a member of the Compensation Committee, Capital Commitments Committee, Strategic Relationship Advisory Committee, and the board of directors of Wellington Management International Limited (WMIL).

Stefan is based in the London office and was director of the EMEA region within the Client Group prior to assuming his current role. He began his career in the firm's Boston office, where he served as director of the Eastern region within the Americas Institutional Group, responsible for the Eastern United States, Latin America and Canada.

Before joining Wellington Management in 2007, Stefan was a senior associate at Bain Capital, where he evaluated and executed private equity transactions in retail, health care and other sectors (2005 – 2007). He has prior experience as a management consultant with Bain & Company (2001 – 2003) and in equity capital markets with Goldman Sachs & Co. (1999 – 2000).

Stefan earned his MBA from Harvard Business School (2005) and his BSc, with first class honors, from the London School of Economics and Political Science (1999).

Taimur Hyat is the Chief Operating Officer for PGIM. PGIM manages public equity, public fixed income, private fixed income, real estate and alternative strategies for a broad array of institutional and retail clients. Mr. Hyat has global oversight for Strategy, Thematic Research, Operations & Innovation, Marketing and Communications across PGIM. He also oversees the Institutional Advisory & Solutions group, which provides portfolio-level advice to institutional clients globally.

Mr. Hyat joined PGIM from Credit Suisse Asset Management, where he was global Head of Strategy & Product Development, as well as a member of the Operating Committee. Prior to Credit Suisse, he was Head of Joint Ventures and Americas Strategy for Lehman Brothers. Earlier in his career he was an associate partner at McKinsey & Company in New York.

Mr. Hyat received a Ph.D. in Economics from Oxford University, where he was also a Lecturer in Economics at St John's College.

Russ serves as Aon Investments' Global Chief Investment Officer (CIO). As Global CIO, Russ manages our investment manager research teams in equities, fixed income, liquid alternatives, private equity, infrastructure and private credit; the Global Asset Allocation Team and our discretionary client portfolio management teams. Russ also serves as the lead strategist for several of the firm's largest retainer clients and has advised on over $1 trillion in client assets over the course of his career. He previously led the development of our alternatives investment capabilities and our U.S. Client Solutions team.

Russ' recent activities include:

•  Assisted the U.S.'s largest retirement system, a $600 billion public fund defined contribution plan, completed a comprehensive investment program review, which included evaluating the appropriateness of adding new asset classes/fund types and assisting with a strategic investment operations review.

•  Completed a Benchmarking and Best Practices Review of Mexico's $180 billion and 55 million participant National Retirement System.

•  Assisted multiple billion dollar plus clients conduct searches for U.S. equity, international equity, fixed income, and alternative investment managers, including infrastructure, real estate, and private equity.

•  Worked with Central Bank of Chile to review best-practices in securities lending, foreign exchange transactions and custodian services.

•  Lead the launch of an Opportunistic Credit Strategy to take advantage of dislocations across the credit spectrum during the COVID induced market volatility in the spring of 2020.

•  Frequent speaker on the topic of institutional investor trends, alternative investments, and the evolution of the investment and investment management consulting industry at industry conferences.

•  Co-Chaired the Chicago Children Museum's (CCM) 2020 Virtual Gala – Play Never Stops. He also serves on CCM's Development Committee and Board of Directors.

Prior to joining the firm in 1994, he spent nearly two years in SEI Corporation's performance evaluation area.

Russ holds a B.S. degree in Finance from Northern Illinois University and an M.B.A. degree from DePaul University's Kellstadt Graduate School of Business.

Stacy Jennings is Vice President and Chief Investment Officer for Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City, Utah. In her role at Intermountain, Stacy oversees the investment of $14 billion in corporate and pension assets. She also oversees the investment options available in the organizations $5 billion defined contribution plans. She is also responsible for treasury services for all intermountain entities. She joined Intermountain Healthcare in 2005 as a senior member of the investment team and became the CIO in 2021. She serves on several advisory committees.

Stacy is a graduate of Weber State University with Bachelors and Masters degrees in accounting. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst, a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Cash Manager. She passed each of her certifications on the first sitting. She resides in Utah with her husband and two children.

Noriko is the Head of Sales, Japan for New York Life Investment Management Asia Ltd. She is responsible for all sales and marketing activities of New York Life Investments in Japan, including financial institutions and pension funds.

Noriko joined the firm in 2016. Previously, she served as Managing Partner at Tanden Research Institute where she led consulting services for the U.S.-based asset management companies for its Asian business development. She also worked at Mariner Capital Investments leading the marketing and business development initiatives in the Asian/Pacific region for Mariner Group products and Head of Asian Marketing team for Rock Maple Funds. She began her career working in the Tokyo offices of Goldman Sachs and Nikko Securities, as well as Merrill Lynch in Japan and New York. She has worked in the financial services industry since 1987.

Noriko earned a B.A. with Honors in Political Science/Pre-Law from Michigan State University and a B.A. in International Law from the International Christian University in Tokyo, Japan.

Mr. McCourt joined Meketa Investment Group in 1994 and has over 25 years of investment experience. Mr. McCourt is a Managing Principal and Co Chief Executive Officer of the firm. He serves as the lead consultant for several institutional funds, with public, Taft Hartley, endowment, and non profit plan sponsors. His consulting work includes investment policy design, strategic and tactical asset allocation modeling, asset liability modeling, investment education, and investment manager analysis. In addition, Mr. McCourt sits on our firm's Board of Directors and is a member of our Private Markets Policy, Meketa's Fiduciary Management (OCIO) Investment, and Diversity Leadership Committees.

Mr. McCourt sits on the Steering Committee of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Economics Roundtable. He is also a member of the UCSD Economics Leadership Council, which strives to bridge research theory with practical real world experiences. He speaks at numerous industry events including the Investment Education Symposium, the Corporate Funds Summit, the Endowment and Foundation Forum, the Global Investing Summit, the Private Equity Summit, and the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP) Annual Employee Benefits Conference. Mr. McCourt's research papers entitled “Monitoring Investment Managers” and “Pension Fund Investing and the State of American Public Finance” have been published in the IFEBP's Employee Benefit Issues publication.

He received his graduate degree, a Master of Liberal Arts (ALM) in History, from Harvard University, and his undergraduate degree in Economics and Political Science from the University of Vermont. Mr. McCourt received the Chartered Financial Analyst designation from the CFA Institute and is a member of the CFA Society of San Diego. He is also a member of the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans.

Rajeev Mittal is Managing Director, Asia Pacific ex Japan at Fidelity International. Based in Hong Kong, Mr. Mittal is responsible for managing the firm's distribution business in the region, where we have a range of wholesale, institutional and retail clients served through our offices in Seoul, Taipei, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, Sydney and several other satellite offices. Mr. Mittal sits on the Global Operating Committee (GOC), and chairs the Asia Operating Committee (AOC).

Prior to joining Fidelity, Mr. Mittal was CEO, Asia Pacific for PineBridge Investments. He held this role for eight years and has wide experience of all the region's markets including China and India. By discipline Mr. Mittal is an investor and, earlier in his career, he spent 17 years in a variety of investment roles primarily focused on Emerging Markets and International Fixed Income both as head of the team and as a portfolio manager. In addition, he also served as CEO, Europe for Pinebridge before his move to Hong Kong.

Euan Munro is Newton's new CEO. Euan is a seasoned investment management executive with a background in macro investing. He arrives from Aviva Investors where he was chief executive officer and a member of the Aviva plc group executive team for seven years. Prior to this, Euan spent nearly 20 years at Standard Life Investments (SLI) where he was head of multi-asset and fixed-interest investing and was latterly a member of that company's board. He joined SLI as an inflation-linked portfolio manager from Scottish Provident in 1995.

Euan has a first class honours degree in Physics from the University of Edinburgh and is a Fellow of the Faculty and Institute of Actuaries. He is also a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at Wharton Business School, Philadelphia.

Joined Newton: 2021
Joined industry: 1992

Desmond Ng is Head of Asia Pacific with Allianz Global Investors, based in Hong Kong. He joined the firm in 2014 and is responsible for the overall leadership of AllianzGI's retail and institutional businesses in the region. Previously, he was the CEO, Greater China and South East Asia and Head of Institutional Business, Asia Pacific.

Desmond has over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry. Before joining AllianzGI, he was the CEO, Greater China at Invesco, overseeing its retail, institutional and exchange-traded fund businesses. Desmond has previously held a number of senior positions in institutional marketing, business development and product management at JP Morgan Asset Management.

He was appointed Chairman of the Hong Kong Investment Funds Association from 2009 to 2011 and was Vice Chairman of the Association from 2008 to 2009.

Desmond holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in business management and a Master of Business Administration degree from Clark University, USA.

Rich Nuzum is President of Mercer's Investments & Retirement business and a member of Mercer's Executive Leadership Team. Rich is also the Executive Sponsor for Mercer's Pride Business Resource Network.

Rich is responsible for Mercer's delivery of investment consulting, open architecture manager-of-managers investment management, and retirement actuarial consulting services and solutions globally. During the past 25 years, Rich has provided investment advice to clients in more than 20 countries, including many of the world's largest institutional investors.

Rich's prior roles include President and Global Business Leader for Mercer's Investment Management business and global Chief Investment Officer for Mercer's Investment Management business. He also held a variety of other leadership roles while based in Tokyo, Singapore and, later, New York.

Rich holds an MBA (with high honors) in analytic finance and accounting from the University of Chicago and a bachelor's degree (with honors) in mathematical sciences and mathematical economic analysis from Rice University in Houston, Texas. Rich also did graduate work in international economics at Tokyo University. He is a CFA® charterholder and a member of the CFA Institute.

Antonio Rodriguez is currently Director of Investment Strategy at the NYC Board of Education Retirement System where he works with the Executive Director and Board of Trustees on creating and implementing investment policy and strategy. Prior to his role at BERS he was Senior Pensions and Investments Officer at the New York City Mayor’s Office of Pensions and Investments where he represented the Finance Commissioner as Trustee on the New York City Police Pension Fund board and New York City Fire Department Pension Fund board.

He was also a designated alternate trustee for the Mayor on the New York City Employees Retirement System and Teachers Retirement System of New York City. Prior to working in the Mayor’s Office of Pensions and Investments, he was Research Director at SEIU Local 1107 in Las Vegas and a Financial Analyst with the SEIU Capital Stewardship program in New York. Antonio is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Karine Szenberg is the Head of Europe at Schroders, responsible for Schroders business across Continental Europe and the Middle East, based in Paris. She is a member of the Group Management Committee, Director of Schroder Real Estate (France) and a member of the Supervisory Board of Schroder Aida (infrastructure finance). She is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of Schroder Investment Management (Switzerland) AG.

Karine joined Schroders in 2014 as Country Head France, which involved responsibility for the management and strategy of the firm in France and membership of the Global Distribution Executive Committee, the Global Institutional Management Team and the European Management Team.

She was the Head of France at J.P. Morgan Asset Management from 2005 to 2014, which involved defining and implementing the strategy for the French and Monaco markets. Karine was also a member of the Executive Committee of J.P. Morgan Chase Bank France and a member of the J.P. Morgan AM European Country Head Committee. She was the Head of Institutional and Wholesale department at J.P. Morgan Asset Management from 2000 to 2005, which involved the definition of the strategy for the Institutional and Wholesale segments in France.

She was a Senior Sales - Institutional Clients at Société Générale Asset Management from 1998 to 2000, which involved the development of French institutions relationships, and the elaboration and animation of a cross-selling strategy within the SG group (private banking, capital markets and bank networks).

Qualifications: MSc in Finance from ESLSCA Business School.