Conference Fund Managers

Babak Poushanchi
Founder and Managing Partner
Cota Capital

Babak Poushanchi is a Founder and Managing Partner of Cota Capital, an investment firm based in San Francisco, focused on the technology sector.

Babak has spent the majority of his career investing in private and public companies. Prior to Cota, he was a a Co-Founder and Co-Portfolio Manager of Newbrook Capital, a global long/short equity fund based in New York City, and a Venture Partner at Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator, an early stage technology accelerator, in New York City.

Babak spent the early part of his career on the investment teams at Karsch Capital, a global long-short equity fund based in New York City, and at Indosuez Capital, a merchant banking fund based in New York City focused on private investments across the capital structure.

Babak holds a B.A. in Economics from Northwestern University.

http://cotacapital.com/

Beeneet Kothari
Managing Partner and Principal Portfolio
Tekne Capital Management

Beeneet Kothari is the Managing Partner and Principal Portfolio Manager of Tekne. Prior to founding Tekne, Mr. Kothari was a managing director and portfolio manager at PointState Capital, a multi-billion-dollar global macro investment firm. Before joining PointState at launch in January 2011, Mr. Kothari was a managing director and portfolio manager at Duquesne Capital Management, a thirty-year old investment firm founded by Stanley F. Druckenmiller. At Duquesne, Mr. Kothari managed a global technology, media and telecom portfolio and helped manage the fund’s overall technology exposure. He joined Duquesne as an analyst in September 2005 and became managing director four years later in 2009. Prior to joining Duquesne, Mr. Kothari worked at Morgan Stanley as an investment banking analyst after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 2004.

He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s joint-degree program in Management and Technology with dual degrees from Wharton and Engineering, and also earned a Master’s in Biotechnology, in four years. He graduated with honors including the prestigious Dean’s Award for excellence from Wharton, awarded to the top student in each graduating class.

Blake Henricks
Deputy Managing Director and Co-Portfolio Manager
Firetrail Investments

Blake is the Deputy Managing Director at Firetrail Investments and co-manages the Firetrail Australian High Conviction Fund.

Prior to establishing Firetrail, Blake worked at Macquarie for over a decade and was responsible for managing the highly successful Macquarie High Conviction Fund, which delivered 10.6% p.a. (after fees) since inception in 2005. The Macquarie High Conviction Fund was one of the top performing Australian equity funds over the medium and long term.

https://firetrailinvest.com/

Christina McGuire
Founder and Portfolio Manager
Elephant Asset Management

Christina is the founder and portfolio manager of Elephant Asset Management – an investment firm focused on publicly listed small-/mid-cap companies in emerging Asia and Africa. Before that, she was a founding partner and the Chief Investment Officer of Aperios Partners Investment Management, which had a similar investment strategy. Prior to founding Aperios, Christina was a Portfolio Manager at Goldman Sachs Asset Management (“GSAM”) specialising on international small-/mid-cap companies and China A-shares. In 2004, Christina was selected by the CIO of GSAM as the only non-Chinese national to help establish a Shanghai office and to set up the GSAM A-Share China Fund. She remained in Shanghai until 2008 when she took over GSAM’s International Small-/Mid-cap funds as a co-portfolio manager. Christina began her financial career in 2001, joining GSAM initially as a research analyst before taking on portfolio management responsibilities. She has been a CFA charterholder since 2004 and received her MBA from Harvard Business School in 2001.

Christina started her career in the medical profession, received her Doctor of Medicine from the Technical University in Munich in 1997 and practiced in various emerging countries across Asia and Africa. Christina also obtained a Doctorate in Psychiatry from the Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich. She is a member of 100 Women in Hedge Funds.

Christopher Demasi
Portfolio Manager
Montaka

 Christopher joined Montaka in January 2015 after spending more than four years at LFG, the private investment group of the Lowy family, where he was a senior member of the research team based in New York. Prior to this Christopher worked at One East Partners, a hedge fund based in New York, and as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs in Sydney.

 Christopher holds a Bachelor of Commerce with Distinction, majoring in Actuarial Studies and Finance, from the University of New South Wales, Sydney, under the Co-Op scholarship program.

https://www.montinvest.com/mga

Emma Goodsell
Portfolio Manager
Airlie Funds Management

 Emma is a portfolio manager for the Airlie Australian Share Fund at Airlie Funds Management, a value focused Australian equities manager. Prior to joining Airlie, Emma worked in Fidelity International’s Australian investment team in Sydney for a number of years. She commenced her career at Nomura Securities as an equity research analyst, and holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Liberal Studies) from the University of Sydney.

https://www.airlieaustraliansharefund.com.au/

Geoff Wilson, AO
Founder, Chairman and Chief Investment Officer
Wilson Asset Management

 Geoff Wilson, AO has over 38 years’ direct experience in investment markets having held a variety of senior investment roles in Australia, the UK and the US. Geoff founded Wilson Asset Management in 1997. Geoff created Australia’s first listed philanthropic wealth creation vehicles, Future Generation Investment Company and Future Generation Global Investment Company. Geoff is Chairman of WAM Capital, WAM Leaders, WAM Research, WAM Active and WAM Microcap.

 Geoff holds a number of additional directorships with investment companies and non-profit organisations.

 https://wilsonassetmanagement.com.au/

Jun Bei Liu
Co-Portfolio Manager
Tribeca Investment Partners

 Jun Bei is the co-portfolio manager of the Tribeca Alpha Plus Fund, one of Australia’s longest running equity long short funds.  She has over 16 years of investment experience. She joined Tribeca in 2005 initially as an Analyst covering consumer discretionary, staple, healthcare and REITs sectors.  Since 2015, Jun Bei has expanded her coverage to include international equities and regularly visits China and other Asian markets as part of her investment research Prior to Tribeca, Jun Bei spent four years as an fundamental analyst covering the Australian consumer sectors at Morningstar and Foster Stockbroking.

 Jun Bei holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance & Economics) from the University of New South Wales. She is also a CFA charter holder and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

 https://tribecaip.com/

Nick Griffin
Founding Partner and Chief Investment Officer
Munro Partners

Nick is a founding Partner and the Chief Investment Officer of Munro Partners.

Nick is responsible for the investment management of Munro’s key investment funds and the formulation and implementation of the proprietary investment process.

Nick has been managing global long / short equity mandates for over 12 years.

Key career highlights include:

• Over 20 years working in financial services with 13 years funds management experience.
• 2005-2015, Head of International Strategy on the K2 Select International Absolute Return Fund.
• Member of the K2 Asset Management asset allocation and currency exposure committee.
• 2000-2005, Senior Analyst (Global Oil and Gas) at Deutsche Bank UK.
• 1996-1999, Manager Australian Equities for Commonwealth Financial Services.

Nick holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) degree from the University of Melbourne, a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment and a Registered Representative of the Sydney Futures Exchange.

http://munropartners.com.au/

Paul Mason
Portfolio Manager and Senior Analyst
Paradice Investment Management

Paul Mason is a Portfolio Manager and Senior Analyst on the Paradice Global Small Cap Fund.

 Paul started his career with KPMG 13 years ago in a Corporate Advisory and Taxation role before joining Paradice Investment Management in 2009. Over the past 9 years, Paul has worked in both the Sydney and Denver offices of Paradice, with a dedicated focus on global small cap opportunities.

Paul holds degrees in Commerce and Business Law from the University of Wollongong.

http://www.paradice.com/

Peter Cooper
Founder and Chief Investment Officer
Cooper Investors

Peter founded Cooper Investors in 2001. As Chief Investment Officer, Peter created and implemented the firm’s VoF investment philosophy which is applied across the international, domestic and Asian equities strategies. He is responsible for mentoring investment team members and the standardisation and integration of the process across the investment teams.

Peter has over 30 years of investment management experience. In 1987 he joined the NSW State Superannuation Investment and Management Corporation as a specialist industry analyst and progressed to deputy portfolio manager of the $7bn portfolio. In 1993, Peter ran the Australian equities portfolios for BNP and then joined Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (formerly Mercury Asset Management) where he worked for 7 years, culminating in his position as Head of Australian Equities and Managing Director where he oversaw a team managing $7.5bn in Australian equities.

http://www.cooperinvestors.com/

Steven Glass
Deputy Portfolio Manager and Analyst
Pengana Capital Group

Steven is the Deputy Portfolio Manager and Analyst of the Pengana International Fund, the Pengana International Fund - Ethical, the Pengana International Fund - Ethical Opportunity and the listed investment company Pengana International Equities Ltd. He has over 15 years’ experience as a portfolio manager and equities analyst.

Prior to joining Pengana, Steven spent seven years at Hunter Hall International as an investment analyst and portfolio manager. He previously worked as an equities analyst at Tricom Securities and as an investment analyst at Platinum Funds Management.

Steven was awarded a Co-op scholarship at the University of New South Wales, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce (Merit), majoring in Accounting and Finance, and a Masters of Commerce, majoring in Advanced Finance.

He has completed the Chartered Financial Analyst Program and has been awarded the CFA Charter.

https://www.pengana.com/

Tim Carleton
Portfolio Manager
Auscap Asset Management

Tim Carleton is the Portfolio Manager at Auscap Asset Management, a value focused long short Australian equities manager based in Sydney. Tim has a proven track record in long short investing having co-founded Auscap and, prior to that, having managed a proprietary portfolio at Goldman Sachs.

Tim is a CFA charterholder, a CMT charterholder, a Senior Associate of FINSIA, and has a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws from the University of Sydney.

http://www.auscapam.com/