1 Jonathan Asante Joint Deputy Head of Global Emerging Markets, First State Investments Jonathan Asante joined First State Investments Global Emerging Markets team as Senior Analyst in November 2004 and in August 2006 was appointed Joint Deputy Head of Global Emerging Markets. His primary area of research is the entire emerging markets universe and he acts in the capacity of Co-manager for a number of portfolios. Jonathan joined from Framlington where he was Global Emerging Markets Fund Manager and Group Economist. Prior to joining Framlington in 1995, he was employed by NatWest Group where he was an Assistant Researcher, analysing the UK economy and UK credit markets. Previous to this Jonathan taught classes in economics and econometrics at the London School of Economics whilst doing postgraduate research. Jonathan graduated from the London School of Economics with BSc and MSc in Economics. He is an Associate member of the UK Society of Investment Professionals. Geoff Balzano Chief Executive Officer, Morningstar UK Ltd Geoff Balzano is chief executive officer of Morningstar in the United Kingdom, where he is responsible for strategy and operations for all of Morningstar s business lines in the UK market. Geoff was previously vice president of enterprise solutions for Morningstar s Adviser business, where he was responsible for strategy, development, and product marketing for all enterprise software products including the Adviser Workstation Enterprise Edition, a Web-based investment planning platform that integrates asset allocation, portfolio analysis and monitoring, investment research, and investment planning for financial advisers. Before joining Morningstar in 2001, Geoff worked for Accenture in the technology solutions development area. He also has considerable online product management experience. Geoff holds a bachelor s degree in history and Asian studies from Indiana University and a master s degree in business administration with a concentration in finance and marketing from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. Jackie Beard Director of Fund Research, UK, Morningstar UK Ltd Jackie Beard joined Morningstar in September 2008 as Director of Fund Research for Morningstar UK. Before joining Morningstar, Jackie spent seven years at Forsyth Partners where her role included fund research, the management of the group s broker client funds and the development of proprietary research and information tools. Jackie started out in the financial services industry in 1991, initially at private bank Hill Samuel, before moving to stockbrokers Albert E Sharp and ultimately into fund research. At Morningstar she heads up the UK research team and has helped to launch the Morningstar Qualitative Rating TM Service into the UK. Jackie is a fellow of the Securities Institute, and an MSI Diploma holder.
2 Simon Brazier joined Threadneedle from Schroders in March 2010 as Co-head of UK Equities with responsibility for all non-income products. Simon has responsibility for the 1.2bn Threadneedle UK Fund. He began his career at Schroders in 1998 and since 2002 was a member of the Schroder UK Specialist Equity team with responsibility for running a variety of institutional mandates as well as the Schroder UK Equity Fund. Simon Brazier Co-Head of UK Equities, Threadneedle Investments Services Ltd James Clunie Investment Director, UK Equities, Scottish Widows Investment Partnership James joined SWIP in 2007 and is responsible for analysing banks and utility stocks, and for managing client portfolios. He is also responsible for developing SWIP s short selling capabilities. Previously, James spent four years at The University of Edinburgh, conducting research into stock lending and short selling. He also set up and ran their Masters programme in Finance and Investment. Prior to this, James worked at Murray Johnstone International (Head of Asset Allocation), and at Aberdeen Asset Management (Head of Global Equities). James holds a BSc (Hons) in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Edinburgh and recently completed his PhD on short selling and risk. Edward Fishwick Managing Director, Co-Head of Risk & Quantitative Analysis Group (RQA), BlackRock Edward Fishwick is Managing Director and co-head of BlackRock s Risk & Quantitative Analysis Group (RQA). He also oversees the fiduciary risk management function for equity products and is a member of both the Operating and Leadership Committees. From 2006 to 2009, Mr. Fishwick was co-head of BlackRock s Risk & Quantitative Analysis Group. In addition, he was cochair of the New Product Committee. Mr. Fishwick s service with the firm dates back to 2003, including his years with Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM), which merged with BlackRock in 2006. At MLIM, Mr. Fishwick was head of performance and risk management. Prior to joining MLIM, Mr. Fishwick was the head of the risk management and process development group at AXA Investment Managers. Earlier in his career, he was the director of research at Franklin Portfolio Associates and the director of research at Quantec.
3 Paul D. Kaplan, Ph.D., CFA Quantitative Research Director, Morningstar Europe Paul D. Kaplan, Ph.D, CFA is vice president of quantitative research for Morningstar, responsible for the quantitative methodologies behind Morningstar s fund analysis, indexes, advisor tools, and other services. He has served as chief investment officer of Morningstar Associates, LLC, a registered investment advisor and wholly owned subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc., where he developed and managed the investment methodology for Morningstar s retirement planning and advice services. Before joining Morningstar in 1999, he was a vice president of Ibbotson Associates and served as the firm s chief economist and director of research. (Morningstar acquired Ibbotson in March 2006.) Prior to that, he served on the economics faculty of Northwestern University where he taught international finance and statistics. Kaplan holds a bachelor s degree from New York University and a master s degree and doctorate in economics from Northwestern University. He received the 2008 Graham and Dodd Award, the highest honor given by the Financial Analysts Journal, and was a Graham and Dodd Award of Excellence winner in 2000. Bradley Kay Associate Director, European ETF Research, Morningstar, Inc. Bradley Kay is associate director of European ETF research for Morningstar. He was previously an ETF analyst, covering broad market and alternative investment ETFs. He also served as an equity analyst for Morningstar, covering the healthcare sector, and worked as a data quality analyst in Morningstar s data services group. Kay holds a master s of arts in mathematics from the University of Cambridge and is currently pursuing a master s degree in business administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Paul Lambert Director Macro Strategies, Polar Capital Paul joined Polar Capital in November 2005 as Director of currency and macro strategies. He joined from Deutsche Asset Management (DeAM) where he was Global Head of Currency and the senior investor on a wider global macro platform. In addition to these roles, Paul was also the chair of DeAM s economic forum and a member of the fixed income portfolio selection team. Paul began his career in 1990 as an economist with the Bank of England. He has since held positions at UBS as a senior currency and proprietary desk strategist and with Citibank where he was the European Chief Currency Strategist.
4 Dan Lefkovitz Director of Business & Operations, Pan European Research Team, Morningstar Europe Dan Lefkovitz has coordinated Morningstar s pan-european fund analysis effort since February 2008. Previously, he served as a senior mutual fund analyst for Morningstar, Inc. in Chicago. He was Morningstar s lead analyst for Fidelity Investments and edited the monthly online newsletter, Morningstar Fidelity Fund Family Report since 2006. He has also specialised in European equity funds and international strategies more broadly. He spent six weeks as an analyst in Morningstar Australia and has made media appearances on CNBC, Bloomberg Television, and the Wall Street Journal. Prior to joining Morningstar in 2004, Dan served as the Director of Country Analysis for Marvin Zonis + Associates, a Chicago-based country risk analysis firm, and co-authored The Kimchi Matters: Global Business and Local Politics in a Crisis-Driven World. Lefkovitz holds a bachelor s degree from the University of Michigan and a master s degree from the University of Chicago. George Luckraft Portfolio Manager, AXA Framlington Group Ltd George joined Framlington in 2002 and is the lead fund manager for the AXA Framlington Equity Income, AXA Framlington Managed Income and AXA Framlington Monthly Income Funds. Previously he worked for Carrington Pembroke (subsequently ABN AMRO and now Artemis Unit Trust Managers) where he was Head of UK Equities. George graduated from Cambridge with a degree in Engineering and Land Economy in 1980. Charles Montanaro Chief Executive and Chief Investment Officer, Montanaro Asset Management Ltd Charles graduated with an honours degree in Anthropology from Durham University in 1976. He spent four years in industry before joining Merrill Lynch in 1980 as a private client broker in London. He joined Dean Witter Reynolds in 1984 and Drexel Burnham Lambert in 1987 as a Senior Vice President, where in both cases he was their top institutional broker in the UK, joining the high yield bond department in 1989. In 1990, Charles joined MMG Patricof (now Apax Partners) as a Director of investment banking working with UK smaller companies. In August 1991, he founded Montanaro to specialise in analysing and investing in European smaller companies on behalf of leading institutions. He has been managing SmallCap portfolios and leading the business since then.
5 Peter Oppenheimer Chief European Equity Strategist, Co-Head of ECS Research in Europe, Goldman Sachs Peter is chief European equity strategist and co-head of ECS (Economics, Commodities and Strategy) Research in Europe. He is also a member of the Research Operating Committee. Peter joined Goldman Sachs in 2002 as European and global strategist and was named managing director in 2003 and partner in 2006. Prior to joining the firm, Peter worked as managing director and chief investment strategist at HSBC and was previously head of European strategy at James Capel. Prior to that, he was chief economic strategist at Hambros Bank. He began his career as an economist at Greenwells in 1985. Peter is a trustee of the Anne Frank Trust UK, an education-based charity working against prejudice, racism and persecution. He is also a trustee of The Anna Freud Centre in London, a research and clinical organization for psychoanalytic child psychotherapy. Peter earned a BSc, first class, in Economics from the London School of Economics in 1985. John Rekenthaler, CFA Vice President, Research, Morningstar, Inc. John Rekenthaler, CFA is vice president of research for Morningstar, Inc. In this role, he oversees Morningstar s research methodologies and is involved in a variety of new development efforts. His recent projects include the launches of the Morningstar Target-Date Fund Series Rating and Research Reports, and the Morningstar Global Fund Investor Experience Survey. Rekenthaler previously served as president of Morningstar Associates, LLC, a registered investment advisor and wholly owned subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc. Rekenthaler joined Morningstar in 1988. Prior to his position at Morningstar Associates, he was the firm s director of research, where he helped to develop Morningstar s quantitative methodologies, such as the Morningstar Rating TM for funds, the Morningstar Style Box TM, and industry sector classifications. He also served as editor of Morningstar Mutual Funds TM and Morningstar FundInvestor TM. Rekenthaler holds a bachelor s degree in English from the University of Pennsylvania and a master s degree in business administration with high honors from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation, and he is a member of the Investment Analysts Society of Chicago. Christopher Traulsen, CFA Director of Fund Research, Europe and Asia, Morningstar Europe Christopher Traulsen joined Morningstar in 1997 and has been Head of European Research since early 2006. Christopher has specialised in qualitative fund analysis for the past decade, and previously led Morningstar s coverage of large fund houses such as Fidelity and Legg Mason in the US. Before taking on his current role, Christopher authored Morningstar s monthly Fidelity report; launched the firm s coverage of ETFs; and co-developed Morningstar s Stewardship Grade for Funds. Christopher holds bachelors degrees from the University of California at Berkeley, and a master s degree from the University of Chicago. He is a CFA charterholder.