Speakers

Phil Torres is global co-head of emerging markets and director of emerging markets research. As co-head of emerging markets, Phil is a portfolio manager for the firm’s international fixed income portfolios investing primarily in emerging market debt and local markets. He is also responsible for overseeing the Emerging Markets Research team. Prior to his current role, Phil was the founding partner and co-portfolio manager of the Harbert Macro Fund, an emerging markets global macro hedge fund. Prior to that, Phil worked as a portfolio manager at UBS Asset Management, JBS USA, Vara Capital Management, and Ritchie Capital Management. He has 23 years of industry experience and has been with the firm since 2016. Phil received his BA from Tufts University and his MBA from the University of Chicago.

Pablo Goldberg, Managing Director, is Head of Research and Portfolio Manager for BlackRock's Emerging Market Debt Team. Mr. Goldberg's responsibilities include formulating alpha generating research, developing investment strategies and a voting member of the team's investment committee. Based in New York, Mr. Goldberg also has a particular focus on engaging with the Americas-based clients and growing the firms' Emerging Market Fixed Income business in the U.S. and rest of the Americas.

 

Mr. Goldberg joins BlackRock from HSBC, where since 2010 he was Managing Director and Global Head of Emerging Markets Research. He was responsible for HSBC's view on the emerging markets, risk analysis and portfolio allocation. Prior to joining HSBC, he was Global Head of Emerging Market Debt Strategy, and Chief Economist for Latin America at Merrill Lynch & Co, a position he held for eight years. Mr. Goldberg brings 20 years of experience focusing on the emerging markets.

Mr. Goldberg graduated in 1996 with an MSc in economics from the London School of Economics and in 1993 with a Master's Degree in economics from Instituto Di Tella in Argentina.

Win Thin is the Global Head of Emerging Markets Strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman (BBH). He has a broad international background with a special interest in developing markets.  Prior to joining BBH in June 2007, he founded Mandalay Advisors, an independent research firm providing sovereign emerging market analysis to institutional investors.  Previously, Dr. Thin was a vice president and international economist covering major emerging markets in Asia and Latin America for Alliance Capital Management and HSBC. Earlier in his career, he worked at the U.S. Treasury and Columbia University.

Dr. Thin received a PhD in economics from Columbia University in 1995, specializing in International and Development Economics.  He received an MA from Georgetown University in 1985 and a BA from Brandeis University in 1983. His current research projects focus on developing and refining portfolio allocation tools for institutional investors.

Eric Jayaweera is a senior portfolio manager at Emso Asset Management, a specialist alternative asset management firm focusing on emerging markets fixed income.

Prior to Emso, Eric ran EM credit trading globally for UBS Investment bank, and the CEEMEA region for Goldman Sachs.  20+ years in the EM debt space also included a stint in Moscow at Renaissance Capital.

Eric holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, and a BA in economics from the University of California.

Mr. Smedley joined Guggenheim Investments in 2015 as Head of Macroeconomic and Investment Research, reporting to the firm’s Global CIO. He leads a team of economists and investment strategists who help to formulate the firm’s macro and asset allocation views and communicate them to internal and external audiences. Their publications have been ranked among the industry’s most-read and most-shared.

Previously, Mr. Smedley was Head of U.S. Short Rates Research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. In this role, he covered Treasuries, interest rate derivatives and money markets, as well as Fed policy and financial regulation. He was ranked 2nd in the Short Duration Category of the Institutional Investor Fixed Income Research Survey. Mr. Smedley joined BAML in 2010 from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where he worked in the Markets Group covering FX, commodities and buy side relationship management. He began his career at the New York Fed in 2006 as an economist in the Emerging Markets and International Affairs Group.

Mr. Smedley earned bachelor’s degrees in Economics and Finance from Utah State University, where he graduated summa cum laude with honors in Economics. He earned a master’s degree in International Development Studies from The George Washington University. As a graduate student, he worked at the U.S. Treasury Department and the White House Council of Economic Advisers

David Saab is the global head of fixed income and absolute return funds This is including 40act and UCITS vehicles. Prior to joining J.P. Morgan in 2011, he was working as a Portfolio Manager at Banque Privee Edmond de Rothschild. He headed their Fixed Income and Absolute Return fund research as well as their broader multi-manager team, developing expertise in High Yield, Leveraged Loans and Emerging Markets debt David was a member of the investment committee at BPERE and had built tailored asset allocation solutions for high net worth clients. He started his career at J.P. Morgan where he worked on the Masterswap desk. David holds a master’s degree in Finance from Audencia Nantes Business School and has attended the MBA program of Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA

Russ Budnick serves as the US & EMEA Head of Credit Trading for Global Wealth Management at J.P. Morgan. In this role, he oversees a twenty-five person team responsible for fixed income strategy, trading and investment solutions within taxable fixed income products including Corporate Bonds, Emerging Markets and Securitized Products for high net-worth individuals. In addition to trading, strategy and single name idea generation, the team advises private clients on the implementation of fixed income investing strategies within the context of their overall investment portfolios. Mr. Budnick is a member of the Capital Markets Investment Group which formulates investment views and identifies tactical brokerage opportunities. Prior to joining Global Wealth Management in 2009, Russ worked at JPM Investment Bank on the Investment Grade Syndicate Desk focusing on structuring and distribution of new issue investment grade debt transactions. Russ began his career in 2005 within the fixed income department of Bear, Stearns & Co Inc on the corporate syndicate desk. Mr. Budnick received a bachelors degree from Middlebury College with a double major in Economics and Political Science. He currently lives in Connecticut with his wife and two children.

Thomas A. Smith is Managing Director and the Senior Portfolio Manager responsible for MIM’s Emerging Markets portfolios. Mr. Smith has 18 years of EM investing experience and has managed MetLife’s EM portfolio since 2012. Prior to his current role, Mr. Smith was based in Latin America, serving as Regional Strategist for Latin America sovereign credit, Global Market Strategist for MetLife Afore and head of research for Latam Financial Institutions. Mr. Smith received his B.A. in International Studies and Spanish from Southwestern University and earned a Masters in Finance from the Center for Macroeconomic Studies (CEMA) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Mr. Smith is Fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.

Mr. Lee is a Local Markets Strategist for the TCW Emerging Markets Group. Prior to joining TCW in 2015, Mr. Lee was a Director at Standard Chartered Bank in New York, where he oversaw Asian foreign exchange trading. Before Standard Chartered, he was Head of Local Markets Trading in Asia for Commerzbank. Jae started his career at Bank of America Merrill Lynch where he held FX and Rates trading positions in New York, Hong Kong and Singapore. Mr. Lee is a graduate of Georgetown University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in finance, as well as a master’s degree in international relations.

John is a Managing Director and the Head of Global Sovereign & Emerging Markets Research. He is responsible for managing the organization’s global sovereign, rates/fx, and emerging market corporate fixed income analysts. John is also the lead analyst for covering sovereigns and local markets in CIS, Africa, and the Middle East, and serves as a Co-Portfolio Manager for the TIAA-CREF International Bond Fund and EM Debt strategies.

He was previously the lead Emerging Markets analyst for Asian fixed income markets, and covered corporate debt in the EMEA region. He has also managed the organization’s Municipal Finance Research team.

John joined the TIAA organization in 2004 as a quantitative analyst and associate portfolio manager for the CREF Bond Total Return group, where he managed the Supranational, Agency and Sovereign sectors. He has 15 years of industry experience including a position at Nomura Securities International. He was selected for The Asset Magazine’s “Most Astute Asian G3 Bond Investors” list in 2017 and for seven consecutive years from 2008-2015, ranking number one in the US in 2011.

John holds a B.B.A in Economics and International Business from Manhattan College, an M.A. in Economics from Fordham University, and a Certificate in Advanced Risk and Investment Management from the Yale School of Management.

Alex Sedgwick is a market structure analyst in Fixed Income Trading at T. Rowe Price. Mr. Sedgwick is responsible for performing custom research and analysis pertaining to market structure, liquidity, and trade cost/execution analysis across the various fixed income sectors. He is a vice president of T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc.

Mr. Sedgwick has 14 years of investment experience, one of which has been at T. Rowe Price. Prior to joining the firm in 2014, he spent eight years at MarketAxess Corp. in New York, where he was most recently head of research.

Mr. Sedgwick earned a B.A. in economics and politics from Washington & Lee University. He also has earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a Series 7 and 63 registered representative.

Alejo is a director, emerging markets strategist at the Chief Investment Office of UBS. His primary focus is emerging markets macroeconomics, sovereign credit and asset allocation. Alejo is frequently quoted and contributes to columns in the Financial Times, Bloomberg, Reuters, WSJ, among other publications. Alejo earned a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University. He also holds degrees in economics and finance from Tilburg University and Universidad del CEMA. He has taught courses at Columbia Business School, Columbia College, and Universidad del CEMA.

Garth Appelt is a Managing Director, Head of Foreign Exchange Mizuho Americas. Prior to Mizuho, Appelt was President and Director of Markets for Marto Capital, an asset management and financial services firm. Prior to that, he was a Managing Director at UBS Investment Bank where he was the Global Head of Emerging Markets Trading and the Global Head of G10 Foreign Exchange Spot and Precious Metals Trading. Garth was a member of the FRC America's Executive Committee and FRC Global Management Committee. He also served as a board member for the Emerging Markets Traders Association (EMTA). Prior to joining UBS, Appelt was a Portfolio Manager at Moore Capital Management specializing in emerging market directional and relative value strategies in foreign exchange, Interest Rates, Credit and Equities. Over a 25 year career, Appelt has also held positions at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan.

Fabio M. Natalucci is a Deputy Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department with responsibility for the IMF’s global financial markets monitoring and systemic risk assessment functions. He is responsible for the Global Financial Stability Report that gives the IMF’s assessment of global financial stability risks. Prior to joining the IMF, Fabio was a Senior Associate Director in the Division of Monetary Affairs at the Federal Reserve Board, where he conducted research and current analysis on the relationship between monetary policy, financial regulatory policy, and financial stability.  Between October 2016 and June 2017, Mr. Natalucci was Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Financial Stability and Regulation at the U.S. Department of Treasury. His responsibilities included leading U.S. engagement on financial regulatory cooperation in the G-20, representing the U.S. Treasury at the Financial Stability Board, coordinating between domestic and international post-crisis regulatory reforms, and monitoring developments and vulnerabilities in global financial markets. Fabio holds a PhD in Economics from New York University. 

Marber has taught at major universities since 1993. He currently directs the Global Economy program at NYU’s Center for Global Affairs, teaches at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, and has taught at Harvard University and  Columbia University.  He has lectured at dozens of international conferences, and has been a market commentator for CNN, the Financial Times, CNBC, Barron’s, Reuters, Bloomberg, and the Wall Street Journal. He serves on various boards for New America, World Policy Institute, Columbia University, and the Emerging Markets Traders Association, and is a Fellow of the RSA in London. Marber has authored more than 100 articles and columns on international finance and globalization and has authored or edited six books.

Thanos is Founder & CIO of ABP Invest, established in 2015 to provide strategic outlook and research on geopolitics, economics, financial markets and FX.  He works with asset management and private equity companies, hedge funds and family offices as well as a number of non-financial organisations. Previously he was in asset management for 20 years with Credit Suisse Asset Management and Investec Asset Management across fixed income, emerging markets, currency management and multi-asset.  

He managed assets throughout the 1997 South-East Asian crisis, 1998 Russian and LTCM crises, dotcom bubble in 2000 and the more recent Financial and Eurozone crises, all of which helped provide a broader perspective of geopolitical developments and macroeconomic impacts to financial markets. 

Thanos managed portfolios for a number of FTSE, Dow and DAX pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, local authorities and family offices. His team was presented with the “Currency Manager of the Year" award twice, in 2004 and 2010.  He began his career working as an Economist for the UK Government Economic Service coincidentally amidst the outset of the ERM Crisis of 1992.  

Thanos was also the Co-Founder and CIO of Equant-Analytics and Founding Partner and strategic advisor to EMFC Loans Syndication. He is a frequent guest on BBC, CNBC and Bloomberg as well as a regular speaker at business and investment conferences.  

Thanos has been awarded the CFA Charterholder designation and is a member of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House). He holds an MSc Economics from Birkbeck College, University of London.  Born in Athens, he has been living in London for over 30 years. He is married to Babette, which gave him an unparalleled insight to the Greco-German relations during the recent eurozone crisis, and during the weekend they both provide a parallel taxi service for their two boys

Constantinos Antoniades is Head of Liquidnet Fixed Income and is responsible for the day-to-day operations and expansion of the fixed income business globally. Liquidnet has introduced an industry-wide solution that brings together Liquidnet’s experience, scale and global reach within the institutional investment community with a proven trading platform that is accelerating efficiencies within the corporate bond market. The platform is currently available to all approved market participants in the US and Europe.

Antoniades joined the company following Liquidnet’s acquisition of Vega-Chi, a bond trading platform that he founded in 2008. As CEO of Vega-Chi, Antoniades led the launch of the first all-to-all electronic trading platform for the US corporate bond market as well as Europe's first multilateral trading facility dedicated to high yield and convertible bonds. At the time of Vega-Chi’s acquisition, the platform had more than 150 participant firms, including some of the largest institutional investors.

Prior to Vega-Chi, Antoniades spent over a decade at Goldman Sachs where he held various roles as part of the Fixed Income business in New York and London, and also three years as a buy-side trader/portfolio manager. Antoniades is a Fulbright program scholarship recipient and holds a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin where he graduated with the highest honors with a degree in Management Information Systems.

Prior to joining Algomi, Scott was the COO of MarketAxess Europe and Trax. He was formerly Global Head of Emerging Markets Trading with UniCredit. Before that he held a variety of senior leadership roles within credit trading and structuring at ABN Amro, RBS, Deutsche Bank and UBS.

David Krein joined MarketAxess as Head of Research in August 2014. 

Mr. Krein is responsible for spearheading the firm’s market research and analysis for the institutional credit markets. MarketAxess Research leverages the firm’s extensive real-time and historical fixed-income trade data, as well as market data from FINRA TRACE and Trax®, to develop market insights that help inform trading and execution strategy. 

Mr. Krein joined MarketAxess from NASDAQ OMX Global Indexes where he was Head of Research. In this capacity, he led the research and development of index methodologies across asset classes, which were used as benchmarks for active and passive investment funds globally. Prior to this, he held a senior position in product development and analytics at S&P Dow Jones Indices. He also founded DTB Capital to develop trading and investment products for derivatives exchanges and the OTC marketplace within equity, commodity and multi-asset class portfolios. Before establishing DTB Capital, Mr. Krein spent more than 10 years in various trading, structuring and technology positions at leading investment banks, including UBS and Merrill Lynch.

Mr. Krein earned an MBA with Honors from The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering with Distinction from Cornell University.

Manuel Villar leads Tradeweb’s efforts across emerging markets. In the Americas, he has been instrumental in building client interest and demand for trading via Bond Connect, which enables investors in Mainland China and overseas to trade bonds in each other’s market. Tradeweb is the first offshore electronic bond trading platform to offer access to Bond Connect.

Previously, he served as a Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager at Millennium Partners managing a global credit trading strategy. Prior to that, Villar was a Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager at RBC Capital Markets where he led proprietary credit trading. During his career, he has held senior roles in portfolio management and trading at Bear Stearns Asset Management, Moore Capital Management and UBS Asset Management.

Manny received a bachelor of science in finance and business economics from Fordham University. He is a member of Fordham President’s Council and also serves on the advisory board of the Gabelli School of Business.

Elisabeth Seep is an Executive Director within MSCI ESG Research, based in New York.  Elisabeth joined MSCI in 2018 and leads fixed income product development within the ESG team.  

Elisabeth previously held positions in investment banking and credit research since 2001.  In her last role at BNP Paribas, she trained fundamental credit analysts on ESG risks and opportunities, provided ESG thought-leadership, created the firm’s Corporate Social Responsibility team within North America, and contributed to the growth of the green bond and social impact bond markets.

Ric Marshall is Executive Director and senior corporate governance research analyst with MSCI ESG Research. He is also Co-Chairman of MSCI’s ESG Editorial Committee, which coordinates the planning and publication of all of MSCI’s ESG and corporate governance research efforts. 

Ric was previously Chief Analyst at GMI Ratings, which was acquired by MSCI in 2014, and led the original development of what is now MSCI’s corporate governance scoring model. Over the past twenty years Ric has provided training and support in the use of corporate governance research by both equity and fixed income investors, and has written extensively on the importance of corporate governance for investors. On behalf of securities class action plaintiff investors Ric has helped develop guidance for remedial corporate governance reform at a number of major corporations.

Ric has been involved with corporate governance research full-time since 1996. Prior to the founding of first The Corporate Library and then GMI Ratings he was the Chief Information Officer of Lens Investment Management, and worked closely with that firm’s British partner, the Hermes Focus Fund (formerly Hermes Lens). Before this he was active in the fields of computer consulting and computer-based graphic design, and worked as a consultant for The Corporate Library’s predecessors, Lens Investment Management and Institutional Shareholder Services, beginning in 1989.

Ric has been a guest speaker and panelist at corporate governance and sustainable investment conferences throughout the United States and Europe.