Man Group European Investment Symposium 2025

 

 
 

Welcome to the Man Group European Investment Symposium 2025

Our eleventh annual Man European Investment Symposium will take place on Tuesday, 20th May, at the Ham Yard Hotel, London, and will provide an opportunity to hear from leading figures from across Man Group.

Our primary objective is to provide a thought-provoking and informative day that will help frame your thinking and assist you in developing your investment strategy.

We look forward to seeing you there.

 

Steven Desmyter
President, Man Group

Robyn Grew
CEO, Man Group

Chris Parker
Head of UK and Ireland Institutional Clients, Man Group

 

Register now

Agenda

Tuesday, 20th May, 2025

Time Topic Speakers
10:30-11:00 Registration & Refreshments  
11:00-11:05 Welcoming Remarks Robyn Grew, CEO, Man Group
11:05-11:45 The Road Ahead: Market Outlook Henry Neville, CFA, Portfolio Manager, Solutions, Man Group
11:45-12:15 The Mag-1000: Diversifying Equity Exposure Tracey Nilsen-Ames, Associate Portfolio Manager, Man Numeric
12:15-13:15 Lunch  
13:15-14:20 Breakout Session 1:
  • Recent Trends in Private Credit and Potential impact on investor Portfolios
  • Crypto: To the Moon... With a Map


Breakout Session 2:
  • Building Better Homes: Bricks, Data and AI
  • Chips Wars – Investing in Technology

Putri Pascualy, Senior Managing Director and Client Portfolio Manager for Private Credit, Man Varagon
Tarek Abou Zeid, Partner and Global Head of Client Portfolio Management, Man AHL



Shamez Alibhai, Head of Community Housing and Managing Director, Man Group
Sumant Wahi, Portfolio Manager, Man Group
14:20-14:40 Break  
14:40-15:10 Has Quant Credit’s Time Finally Come? Paul Kamenski, CFA, Co-Head of Fixed Income, Man Numeric
15:10-15:40 Responsible Investment Under the New Trump Administration Jason Mitchell, Head of Responsible Investment, Man Group & Elena Bignami, Head of Stewardship, Man Group
15:40-15:50 Closing Remarks Steven Desmyter, President, Man Group
15:50 onwards Drinks  

Speakers

 

Shamez Alibhai

Head of Community Housing and Managing Director, Man Group

Shamez Alibhai is Head of Community Housing and Managing Director. He leads a team that aims to provide viable housing investments that deliver significant social and environmental benefits to communities.

Prior to joining Man Group in January 2019, Shamez spent 12 years at Cheyne Capital, where he was a partner and portfolio manager of the UK’s first institutional affordable housing strategy. He previously co-ran the firm’s real estate debt business.

Shamez holds Master’s degrees from Yale University and McGill University.

Elena Bignami

Head of Stewardship, Man Group

Elena Bignami is Head of Stewardship at Man Group. In her role, she is responsible for developing Man Group’s investment stewardship strategy through effective advocacy, stakeholder management, engagement & dialogue efforts and proxy voting.

Previously, Elena worked in the Sustainable & Responsible Investment arm of Mirabaud Asset Management, where she liaised with portfolio managers to develop ESG integration strategies and active ownership frameworks for financial products. Elena also held various roles in the Governance and ESG businesses of Institutional Shareholder Services, where she worked with clients on their custom voting policies and evaluated corporate governance standards, ESG shareholder proposals and say-on-climate votes against available market practice.

Elena is a director on the Board of the Investor Forum, a not-for-profit, practitioner-led membership organisation that aims to position stewardship at the heart of investment decision-making by facilitating dialogue, creating long-term solutions, and enhancing value.

Elena graduated from the London School of Economics with a Bachelor’s degree in Environment and Development and holds a CEMS Masters in Management from the London School of Economics and Rotterdam School of Management.

Tracey Nilsen-Ames

Associate Portfolio Manager, Man Numeric

Tracey Nilsen-Ames is an associate portfolio manager at Man Numeric.

Prior to joining Man Numeric in 2020, Tracey worked as a risk and modelling analyst at Thinking Capital, a fintech firm based in Montreal, Canada.

Tracey received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from McGill University and a master’s degree in finance from MIT Sloan School of Management.

Steven Desmyter

President, Man Group

Steven Desmyter is President at Man Group, a member of the Man Group Executive Committee, and Chair of the Man Group Charitable Trust. As President, Steven oversees Solutions, our dedicated client research and customised asset allocation and portfolio construction service. He also leads Man Group’s approach to responsible investment and research, and manages the global sales and marketing distribution strategy.

Steven was previously Global Head of Sales & Marketing and prior to this, responsible for Man Group’s institutional and retail client relationships. Before joining Man Group in 2002, Steven was at Goldman Sachs, covering institutional clients in the European Equities Division.

As leader of Man Group’s sustainability and responsible investing efforts, Steven is a member of the Man Group ESG Leadership team and serves on the SASB (Sustainable Accounting Standards Board) Investor Advisory Group and the SBAI (Standards Board for Alternative Investments) Investor Advisory Group.

Steven holds Master’s degrees in Economics and Finance from the University of Ghent and the University of Kiel. He also holds an MBA from SDA Bocconi.

Robyn Grew

CEO, Man Group

Robyn Grew is CEO of Man Group, a global alternative investment management firm with USD 174.9 billion* assets under management that is listed on the London Stock Exchange. As CEO, she leads the firm’s Executive Committee and is an executive director on the Man Group Board. Her strategic priorities include expanding and enhancing the firm’s investment content, driving technology-enabled client solutions and building out its distribution capabilities.

Since joining Man Group in 2010 through its acquisition of GLG, Robyn has served as Group COO, Head of ESG, General Counsel, and most recently, President. Robyn led Man Group’s corporate reorganisation in 2019 and has also spearheaded the firm’s diversity programme.

As CEO, Robyn leads the firm’s Executive Committee, which is focused on ensuring the firm continues to evolve to meet the needs of its clients and the millions of pensioners and savers they represent.

Robyn has worked in the investment industry since 1994. Previously, she held senior global positions at investment banks in London, New York and Tokyo, including Barclays Capital and Lehman Brothers, as well as what is now the ICE Futures Europe exchange. She is a qualified barrister and member of the Standards Board for Alternative Investment (SBAI) Board of Trustees.

*As at 30 September 2024.

Paul Kamenski, CFA

Co-Head of Fixed Income, Man Numeric

Paul Kamenski is co-head of fixed income at Man Numeric. He is responsible for the development and day-to-day portfolio management of all credit strategies.

Paul began his tenure at Man Numeric in 2012 as a portfolio analyst. In 2014, he became a member of the strategic alpha research team where he took the lead in Man Numeric’s research efforts into the fixed income corporate bond strategy space. Before joining Man Numeric, Paul was a corporate analyst at MF Global. Prior to that, he worked at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Paul received a bachelor’s degree in materials engineering from the University of Wisconsin, and a master’s degree in materials modeling from the University of Oxford. He is a CFA charterholder.

 

Henry Neville, CFA

Portfolio Manager, Solutions, Man Group

Henry Neville is a multi-asset portfolio manager, Solutions at Man Group.

Prior to joining Man Group in 2016, Henry completed the graduate program at Hoares Bank. Henry writes The Road Ahead, a regular series of macroeconomic commentary, published on Man Institute. He is also the co-author of The Best Strategies for Inflationary Times, winner of the prestigious 2022 Bernstein Fabozzi/Jacobs Levy Best Article Award.

Henry studied History and Economics at St. Andrew’s University. He is a CFA charterholder.

Putri Pascualy

Senior Managing Director and Client Portfolio Manager for Private Credit, Man Varagon

Putri Pascualy is a Senior Managing Director and a client portfolio manager for private credit at Man Varagon. She joined Man Group in 2024 from TPG Angelo Gordon, where she was the senior Product Specialist leading the firm’s product and strategy effort for Credit Multi-Strategy and Performing Credit verticals. Prior to that she was a Partner and Portfolio Manager for the Credit and Co-Investment Portfolio PAAMCO Prisma, part of KKR’s Hedge Fund solutions platform.

Putri is the author of “Investing in Credit Hedge Funds”, a practical guide for investing in credit alternatives, published by McGraw-Hill.

Putri received her BA and MBA from the University of California, Berkeley.

Jason Mitchell

Head of Responsible Investment, Man Group

Jason Mitchell is Head of Responsible Investment Research at Man Group and Chair of Man Group’s Stewardship Committee. Previously, Jason was Co-Head of Responsible Investment at Man Group.

Jason worked at Man GLG from 2004 to 2008 as a portfolio manager. Between 2008 to 2010, he advised the UK government on infrastructure development across Sub-Saharan Africa. He returned to Man GLG in 2010 as a portfolio manager, before becoming a sustainability strategist across Man Group in 2017. Prior to Man GLG, he was a Vice President at Andor Capital Management and an investment research analyst with Pequot Capital Management.

Besides having managed environmental and sustainability strategies, he speaks and publishes widely on responsible investment. Jason’s articles and comments on sustainable investing have been quoted in a number of top-tier publications, including Financial Times, Institutional Investor, Wall Street Journal, CNBC Squawk Box, Responsible Investor, Aftenposten and Global Times. He has written widely on the European refugee migrant crisis. He also hosts the award-winning podcast series, A Sustainable Future.

Jason is Chair of the Board of the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF). He serves on the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation Investment Committee, ISSB (International Sustainable Standards Board) Investor Advisory Group, the CFA Institute’s ESG Technical Committee, the World Bank Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition (CPLC) Advisory Group and the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) Academic Advisory Committee. He previously served on the EFRAG (European Financial Reporting Advisory Group) Lab Steering Group and chaired the PRI Hedge Funds Advisory Committee. He is a contributing author to: CFA UK’s Certificate in ESG Investing Textbook (Ed. 2 & 3, 2021); Responsible Investing: A Guide to Environmental, Social, and Governance Investments (Routledge: 2018); Sustainable Investing: Revolutions in Theory and Practice (Routledge: 2017) and Evolutions in Sustainable Investing: Strategies, Funds and Thought Leadership (Wiley Finance: 2012).

Jason holds a MSc in International Political Economy from the London School of Economics and a bachelor’s degree in English literature and classics. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and the British-American Project. He was named one of Institutional Investor’s 2011 Hedge Fund Rising Stars and one of the 50 most influential people in sustainable finance by Financial News in 2022.

Sumant Wahi

Portfolio Manager, Man Group

Sumant Wahi is a Portfolio Manager at Man Group, focusing on technology equities.

He joined Man Group in 2024 and was formerly a partner at Gladstone Management, where he was responsible for long/short technology strategies. Prior to that, he spent seven years at Fidelity International where he launched and ran a global TMT thematic long-only strategy and seven years at Redburn Atlantic where he was Head of Tech Hardware Research. He began his career in 2003 and worked as a chip design engineer for five years.

Sumant holds an MSc in Microchip Design from Imperial College London and an MBA from London Business School.

Tarek Abou Zeid

Partner and Global Head of Client Portfolio Management, Man AHL

Tarek Abou Zeid is a Partner and Global Head of Client Portfolio Management at Man AHL, and is a member of the investment and management committees. He has overall responsibility for investor engagement, new product development, and client communication across Man AHL’s range of quantitative strategies.

Prior to joining Man AHL, Tarek was at Amundi/Pioneer, where he advised clients on cross-asset portfolio construction and institutional solutions. Before that, Tarek worked for Quant Capital researching and implementing systematic strategies.

He holds a degree in electrical engineering, majoring in signal processing and optical communication, from RWTH Aachen University and has worked at Stanford University researching optical modulation techniques.

Venue

 
 
 

Ham Yard Hotel

In the midst of Soho and moments from Mayfair, Ham Yard has an urban village feel. The hotel revolves around a tree-filled garden with a bronze sculpture centrepiece by Tony Cragg. Interiors are designed by Kit Kemp in her award-winning modern British style.

There are a range of private rooms and event spaces at The Ham Yard Hotel, each notable for their striking and surprising interiors.

The Man Group European Investment Symposium will be taking place in the main theatre, with additional breakout rooms in Archer, Sherwood and Windmill. Registration and refreshments will be provided in the lobby (Dive Bar).

 
 
 

 

Registration

Fill in the form below to register for the event

 

Contact us

Chris Parker

Head of UK Institutional Sales

Tel: +44 20 7144 3547

 

Charles Elson

Director, UK Institutional Sales

Tel: +44 20 7144 3583

 

Saachi Sharma

Director, UK Institutional Sales

Tel: +44 20 7144 2808