Jim Leggate

Head of UK Institutional & Middle East, Russell Investments

Jim joined Russell Investments in 2011 and is based in London as Managing Director responsible for the U.K. Institutional, Middle East & Africa businesses. Jim is responsible for all business development, leading teams in London and Dubai and overseeing the day-to-day relationships with clients. He is also a member of the EMEA Executive Committee. Jim has over 26 years’ experience in financial markets serving a range of different institutions, including pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies and private banks and was instrumental in driving business growth in the Middle East, founding the Dubai office.

Thimon De Jong

Futurist in Business, Society and Technology

Thimon is an expert in changing human behaviour, societal and cultural trends and the effects they have for businesses and nations. He looks beyond the gimmicks of what the future might hold and considers how it will actually affect our lives, our jobs and our customers. He is an experienced trend specialist and consultant who puts societal changes and the dynamic behaviour of people in a strategic business perspective.

David Rae

Head of Strategic Client Solutions, Russell Investments

David Rae is Head of Strategic Client Solutions with Russell Investments. Based in London, he leads the team responsible for developing investors’ portfolio strategies in light of their specific circumstances. David works with pension fund, insurance, and other clients across EMEA to build portfolio solutions to manage risks, including liability hedging, and generate the required level of returns.

Joe Linhares

Head of EMEA, Russell Investments

Joe is Head of EMEA for Russell Investments. Based in London, he is responsible for leading and developing all aspects of the firm’s business in the UK, Ireland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Nordics, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the Middle East. Russell Investments’ core offerings include multi-asset solutions, asset allocation, manager selection, transition management, overlay services, and an array of funds and products.

Michelle Seitz

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Russell Investments

Michelle is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Russell Investments. She is passionate about solving clients’ needs and about purpose-driven leadership. With more than 30 years of experience in asset management, Michelle previously spent 22 years with William Blair, 16 of which were on the firm’s executive committee and as head of William Blair Investment Management (WBIM), which had more than $70 billion in AUM under her leadership. Prior to leading WBIM, Michelle led the firm’s private wealth management business. Her previous experience also includes senior portfolio management roles with WBIM, Concord Investment Company and NationsBank.

Roger Bootle

Chairman of Capital Economics

Roger is a former HSBC Chief Economist and winner of the Wolfson Prize for his and his team's study on how a country would leave the Euro. Speaking without hyperbole, Roger weighs up the arguments for ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ outcomes, explores how trading relationships might work and considers the concerns of key industries and the implications for Scotland. He also looks at the potential impact of technology and AI on business, policy making and the wider economy.

Van Luu

Head of Currency, Russell Investments

Van Luu is Director and Head of Currency, Customised Portfolio Solutions. Based in London, he leads all portfolio management, research and client advice on currency for Russell Investments. Prior to assuming his current responsibilities, Van was Head of Currency and Fixed Income Strategy.

Andrew Pease

Global Head of Investment Strategy, Russell Investments

Andrew Pease is the Global Head of Investment Strategy for Russell Investments. He is responsible for the cycle, value and sentiment framework that guides the tactical positioning of Russell Investments’ actively managed funds. Andrew oversees Russell Investments’ global team of investment strategists in Seattle, London and Sydney. He is based in London and joined the firm in 2006.

Alain Zeitouni

Head of Multi-Asset, EMEA, Russell Investments

Alain Zeitouni is Director and Senior Portfolio Manager on the Multi-Asset team. In September 2020, his role expanded to leading the EMEA Multi-Asset team where he co-manages the EURO Fund, as well as the Multi-Asset Growth Strategy risk-rated retail fund range. He also manages custom mandates for clients located in Continental Europe and Asia and is a founding member of the Investment Division’s Risk On/Risk Off subject matter expert team.

Mark Hedges

Chief Investment Officer, Nationwide Pension Fund

Mark leads the implementation of the asset allocation and liability management strategies set by the Trustees. Mark is responsible for the performance of a £6.5 bn asset portfolio; with investment manager selection and monitoring across liquid assets (equities, liability hedging, credit) and a particular focus on illiquid investment (infrastructure, real estate, distressed, opportunistic and buyout equity funds, real estate debt and private credit) as well as the Fund’s directly owned property investments. Previous experience includes leading the implementation of both covered bond and RMBS funding programmes, synthetic CDO and student loan securitisations, structuring social housing, commercial and PFI financing.

Robert Haynes Brown

Global Chief Investment Officer, Univest Company

Robert has worked in the investment industry for 39 years and currently is the Global Chief Investment Officer of Univest Company (Unilever) with overarching responsibility for the investment activities of Univest Company. He provides leadership oversight of the Univest funds and is Chair of Univest Strategic Investment Committee and the FCP Investment Committee. In addition, he is Chair of the Scheme Investment & Funding Committee for Reed Elsevier UK’s Pension Scheme, Chair of the British Heart Foundation’s Investment Committee and a Non-executive director at Circulor Ltd. He is also Chair of the Advisory Panel of INQUIRE and a member of the ESMA FISC Consultative Working Group. In the non-finance arena, he is Chairman of the Governors of Ardingly College. Prior to this he spent 16 years with Willis Towers Watson as a managing director advising some of its largest clients and as Chairman of its Global Investment Committee. Before that he spent seven years at First Quadrant where he was involved in managing equity market neutral and GTAA strategies and latterly headed its European operations. Prior to that he spent eleven years at NatWest Investment Management (now Gartmore) where he was a director in charge of their structured equities group. Robert is a graduate of the University of London and holds BSc and MSc degrees in economics.

Adele Blakebrough MBE

Chief Executive Officer, Social Business Trust

Adele is CEO and Co-Founder of Social Business Trust, a charity which supports high-potential social enterprises and charities to grow and become more sustainable. She has helped companies such as Sony, Coca-Cola, and O2 to implement corporate social responsibility strategies. She strongly believes that big businesses can learn lessons from the third sector, as well as charities learning from the corporate world.

Jihan Diolosa

Head of Responsible Investing EMEA, Russell Investments

Jihan is the Head of Responsible Investing in EMEA and chairs Russell Investments’ Global Responsible Investing Steering Group. She has 20 years of industry experience and helps clients achieve their ESG goals, whilst also integrating Russell Investments’ approach to ESG across the investment process, and also at a firm-wide level to help ensure our corporate governance and sustainability efforts are reflected in our business strategy.

Joe Hemmant

Global Head of Equity Research, Russell Investments

Joe became the Global Head of Equity Research in 2016. Based in London, he is responsible for leading the team that performs equity manager research in support of Russell Investments’ client base. Joe continues to be active as a senior research analyst with specific research and rank ownership responsibilities in Global equity.

Olivier Rousseau

Executive director, FRR - Fonds de réserve pour les retraites

Olivier Rousseau is executive director at Fonds de réserve pour les retraites (FRR), France’s pension reserve fund, where he also chairs the asset manager selection committee. He is also chairman of Investment board of the newly created Pension Agency of Georgia (Tblissi). Before joining FRR in 2011, he was attached to the French Embassy in Sweden as an economic advisor, a position he took up after two years on the board of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London. Olivier Rousseau began his career at the French Treasury, eventually joining BNP Paribas where he spent 11 years working in international banking and finance in Paris, Tokyo, London, Singapore, Hong Kong and Sydney offices. He graduated from the French National School of Administration (ENA) in 1986. He also holds a degree in political sciences and master degrees in law and economics from the University of Aix-en-Provence.

Will Whitehorn

President, UKspace and Chair, Good Energy PLC

As Richard Branson’s right-hand man, Will took the space tourism venture, Virgin Galactic, from a vague dream to a project with real spacecraft and its own spaceport. Now involved in businesses from communication to tech to cutting-edge transport systems, including as a long-term non-exec with online estate agents Purplebricks, Will also considers brand, disruption and innovation in a world of fast-changing technology and increasing customer expectations.

Julian Brown

Head of Consultant and Trustee Relations, Russell Investments

Julian is the Head of the Consultant and Trustee Relations team at Russell Investments. With over 20 years of industry experience he joined the EMEA Institutional Group to lead the relationships with intermediaries, and is responsible for driving the delivery of Russell Investments’ services to our investment consultants and professional trustees partners in the institutional market.

Leigh Hazelton

Private Markets Research, Russell Investments

Leigh Hazelton is a Private Markets Research Analyst based in our London office. He is part of a global team responsible for manager selection across EMEA, North America and Asia Pac regions. The team is very focused on impact investing, a topic of high interest among institutional investors. Leigh joined Russell Investments in 2018 from a multi-family office where he was responsible for acquisition of real estate and private equity investments into leisure businesses.

Theo Delia-Russell

Managing Director, Mediobanca

Theo Delia-Russell is Managing Director of Mediobanca, where he is Deputy Head Private Banking Division and member of the Private Banking Management Committee at Mediobanca.

He is also the Head of Products & Services and Head of Mediobanca Insurance Distribution.

He achieved this role thanks to well-established and international experience and complex portfolio management in the most important European banking and investment groups.

His experience passes through academic teaching, as Professor of Private Banking at Catholic University of Milan, scientific publications, which makes him one of the most important experts in Private Banking and Asset Management in Italy, according to AIPB Associazione Italiana Private Banking.

Ruth Kent

Managing Partner and Chief Operating Officer, Brookfield’s Renewable Group

Ruth Kent is a Managing Partner and Chief Operating Officer in Brookfield’s Renewable Group. In this role, she directly oversees renewable power operations and the execution of commercial strategies.

Ms. Kent joined Brookfield in 2014 as the Head of Power Marketing and Trading for Brookfield’s renewable power business in Europe, followed by Chief Financial Officer, Europe, covering funding, financial and reporting activities. Most recently, she was the Chief Executive Officer of TerraForm Global, overseeing the integration of that business into Brookfield’s global renewable power portfolio. Ms. Kent has over 20 years’ experience working in the automotive, financial services and power sectors.

Ms. Kent holds an MBA from Henley Management College and is a qualified accountant.

Mark Prybutok

Managing Director, GI Partners

Mark Prybutok is a Managing Director at GI Partners, and co-Head of the GI Data Infrastructure Fund platform, which manages $1.8 billion in investor commitments. GI Data Infrastructure invests in businesses providing essential services in data centers, data transport, wireless access, and tech-enabled infrastructure.

Mark has been an infrastructure private equity investor for 13 years, leading investments totaling over $2.7 billion of equity in that time. Prior to joining GI, Mark was a Partner at Alinda Capital Partners, where he led the firm’s telecom infrastructure strategy.

Mark started his career as an investment banker at Citigroup, focusing on project finance and structured commodity derivatives. He holds a J.D. and an M.B.A. from Georgetown University, and a B.A. from Penn State University.