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Tara Doyle is a partner and head of the Asset Management and Investment Funds Department at Matheson. She practises Irish financial services law and advises many of the world's leading financial institutions, investment banks, asset management companies, broker-dealers and corporations carrying on business in Ireland or through Irish vehicles. Tara has extensive experience in advising a wide range of domestic and international clients on the structuring, establishment, marketing and sale of financing and investment vehicles and products in Ireland and other jurisdictions. In particular she specialises in advising on the legal and regulatory issues surrounding the establishment of private and public investment funds.

Tara was a member of the Council of Irish Funds, the representative body for the Irish funds industry from 2015 to 2019 and served as Chair for the 2017 / 2018 term. Tara currently serves as Chair of the Irish Funds ESG Sustainability Working Group and in that capacity leads the Irish Funds ESG Policy, Legal & Regulatory Workstream. 

Michael D’Arcy is Fine Gael TD for Wexford and in June 2017 was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform with special responsibility for Financial Services and Insurance.

Michael D’Arcy previously served as a Senator on the Administrative Panel from 2011 to 2016 where he was appointed Government Spokesperson on Finance in the Seanad and served on the Oireachtas Banking Enquiry. He also served on the Oireachtas Committees on Finance and Agriculture, Food and the Marine

He was first elected to Dáil Éireann in 2007 and was appointed Deputy Spokesperson on Justice, with special responsibility for Equality. During the 2007-2011 term, he served on the Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources.

Michael D’Arcy is a graduate of University of London.

Tara Newbery is Corporate Counsel at PGIM Investments, advising on European UCITS and Alternative Funds. Tara has extensive experience in the fund industry having held a number of senior legal positions at global asset managers, including as general counsel at a leading hedge fund. Tara qualified as a solicitor in 2004 and is a member of the Society of England and Wales. Tara is a member of the Certified Investment Fund Director Institute having attained the certification in 2016.

Ankul Daga  is an Investment Strategist at Vanguard. His responsibilities include research on portfolio construction, writing articles and meeting clients to provide a Vanguard perspective on longer-term investment strategy implications. He covers a broad range of investment topics, including multi asset investing, passive and active investments and advisor best practices.

He has over 10 years of investment experience. He joined Vanguard from Coutts, the largest wealth manager in UK where he was the Asset Allocation Director. Prior to that, he has been a Strategist with Merrill Lynch and Barclays, which is complimented with direct experience in trading and relationship management. He earned a Masters from Warwick Business School and is a CFA® Charterholder.

ina Fordham is Managing Director and Chief Global Political Analyst at Citi, the first to hold this position. Named a “Changemaker” in the London Evening Standard’s 2016 Progress 1000 list, as well as three times in the “Top 100 Most Influential Women in Finance", Fordham joined Citi in 2003, where she advises corporate boards and institutional investors on the implications of macro political, security and socio-economic factors. In 2016, Fordham was appointed to the UN's first High-Level Panel on Women's Economic Empowerment, which also included IMF president Christine Lagarde. She serves on the International Advisory Boards of the think tank Carnegie Europe and the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, where she earned her Masters degree in International Affairs. Previously, she served as senior advisor in the UK Prime Minister's Strategy Unit and head of global political risk at Eurasia Group, where she started the firm's financial markets research business in 1999. She is a frequent commentator in the international press.

Nick Fenn is a managing partner at Beechbrook Capital, a specialist fund manager providing debt and equity capital to small and medium-sized businesses in northern Europe. Beechbrook is currently investing its third fund and has recently established a separate UK SME credit fund. Nick co-founded Beechbrook in 2008 with Paul Shea and sits on the Investment Committee. The business has an experienced, international team of investment professionals Prior to establishing Beechbrook Nick qualified as an ACA and spent 14 years in the banking industry, working in leveraged finance and asset management.

Nick Miller is head of the Asset Management Department within the Investment, Wholesale & Specialist Supervision Division at the Financial Conduct Authority. In this role, Nick is responsible for the FCA’s oversight of over 3,000 firms across the asset management and custody bank sectors. Previously, Nick was head of the EU & Global Department, responsible for managing the FCA's strategic relationships with counterpart regulators and other stakeholders throughout Europe and globally. He was also responsible for the FCA’s strategy in relation to the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

Prior to joining the regulator, Nick was Executive Director and Head of Public Policy, EMEA at Morgan Stanley, where he spent four and a half years. He previously worked in a government relations role at Thomson Reuters and as a trade policy expert at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). He holds an MSc in Finance from the London Business School and an MA in European Politics from the College of Europe in Belgium. He holds a BA in Modern European Studies from University College London (UCL).

Martina Kelly is Director of Funds at the Institute of Banking having joined the IoB in January 2020. Prior to that she was Head of Markets Policy Division within the Central Bank of Ireland with responsibility for the formulation of policy in relation to investment funds, investment firms, markets and market infrastructure.

Martina has considerable experience in investment funds policy and regulation having led the Central Bank’s work in this area for many years at both a domestic and international level.

Gary Conroy serves as Chief Commercial Officer with TransferMate Global Payments, helping businesses and banks across the world to send and receive cross-border payments. TransferMate has processed over $10bn worth of international business payments for nearly 10,000 business customers via its global network of over 200 local bank accounts, eliminating international wire fees for its clients. Gary has over twenty years’ experience across technology and financial services companies such as Goldman Sachs, Misys Financial Software Systems and Axway. Prior to TransferMate Global Payments, Gary served as Managing Director of Realex Payments following the company's acquisition by Global Payments in March 2015 for 115m EUR in one of the largest deals in European FinTech. Subsequent to the transaction, Gary led the growth of the platform transaction volume, processing in excess of 1 million transactions per day.

Tom has over 25 years’ experience in the financial services industry and has extensive knowledge in the area of regulated funds. Tom joined Davy in 1999 and was appointed to the board in 2006. He is a director of Davy Investment Fund Services, a member of the Irish Stock Exchange and of the Institute of Bankers. His current activities include providing advice with regard to the regulatory, structuring and management aspects of Irish regulated investment funds. Tom is a Certified Investment Fund Director through the Institute of Bankers in Dublin. Prior to joining Davy, Tom worked at a director level with Alexander & Alexander and The Aon Group

Ross joined FundRock Management Company S.A. (“FRMC”) (at the time RBS (Luxembourg) S.A.) in June 2013, responsible for the oversight of the Administration function. Soon after joining FRMC, the due diligence and distribution functions were also moved under his supervision, closely followed by Investment management and depositary oversight, completing the suite of delegated functions. Over the years, Ross has increased the distribution services FRMC can offer their clients focusing on distributors due diligence and distribution networks. In September 2016 Ross moved to Ireland to set up and manage a branch of the management company in Dublin. This was a strategic decision to expand FRMC’s offering to a second jurisdiction in Europe and to become part of the thriving Irish market. Prior to joining FundRock, Ross worked in the hedge fund administration sector for 13 years before moving to the management company sector. Ross spent 10 years at Citco Fund Services both in Luxembourg and Toronto and held the position of Head of Operations. In addition to this, Ross also held a senior position in IFS / State Street in Toronto before returning to Luxembourg. Ross holds a BA (Hons) in Business Studies and a MSc (Econ) in Finance and Investment Management from the University of Aberdeen. Ross has also been approved by the Luxembourg Regulator as a Conducting Officer and non-executive Director.

As a partner in the firm’s Banking & Financial Services Department and Head of the Investment Management Group, Mark advises a wide variety of clients who are engaged in the promotion and management of investment funds (including UCITS and alternative investment funds) and in the provision of funds administration and custodial services. Clients include some of the largest fund managers in the domestic and international funds market, large institutional seed investors such as pension schemes and many of the large prime brokerage houses. Mark also advises on investment business regulation and financial services law.

Mark was also a member of the Council of the Irish Funds Industry Association Limited, retiring in 2015 upon completion of his term of office.

Michael Lee is the Deputy Director and Head of Investment Origination &Co-Investment Partnerships with the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (formerly the National Pensions Reserve Fund). The fund is currently ~€8bn in size. Michael is responsible for combining investment origination and strategy with co-investor development, and therefore is particularly focused on developing and structuring transactions for which co-investment can be identified and executed. Previously Michael worked for 17 years at Goldman Sachs, mainly in New York and also spending some time in Sydney, Australia, where he was the Head of Financial Sponsor Coverage. His most recent role at Goldman Sachs was as Head of Investment Idea Generation (Financial Sponsors / Private Equity) in the Investment Banking Division in New York. Michael is a Chartered Accountant (ex PwC) and has a Master of Business Studies (Finance) degree and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from University College Dublin.

Richard leads Greencoat Capital's overall investment strategy and is a member of the investment committee. Richard previously enjoyed a long career in the City, first at Morgan Grenfell and then at Merrill Lynch where he led the EMEA Energy and Power Team. On leaving Merrill Lynch in 2007, Richard joined the Shareholder Executive, part of the UK Government, with responsibility for British Energy, BNFL and Urenco. Richard is a non-executive director of Urenco. He sits on the boards of two of ESB NM LP's investments: Airvolution and Aveillant Richard has a BA in Geology from Oxford University.

Dan Thompson leads the UK alternative asset management tax team at EY, working with alternative funds and managers of all description, and also with investors and associated financial services boutiques. Dan is a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Advisor with over 12 years’ experience at EY. 

Jennifer Hoopes serves as General Counsel and Head of Global for Foreside Financial Group. Jennifer has been with Foreside for 10 years and is responsible for oversight of all legal, risk and compliance matters as well as Foreside’s global services and outreach. Jennifer has particular expertise in broker-dealer regulatory compliance and the intersection of fund marketing and broker-dealer obligations and has worked with numerous U.S. and non-U.S. investment managers to both registered and unregistered funds as they navigate the U.S. market. She has most recently relocated to London to open Foreside’s first European office.

Ms. Hoopes has served on multiple FINRA committees as both an elected and appointed member and presents regularly at conferences and on webinars on US fund and asset manager matters. She is also a member of the Investment Company Institute’s Principal Underwriter Advisory Group. Prior to joining Foreside, Ms. Hoopes worked at a large law firm in Maine where she practiced general corporate and securities law.

David Allen is the Head of Risk Analysis for Amundi (formerly Pioneer Investments) Fund of Hedge Funds business where he is responsible for operational due diligence and risk. David has been a member of the Fund of Hedge Funds Investment Committee since 2010, prior to which he served as Chief Administration Officer for the alternatives business from 2004 to 2010. Prior to joining Pioneer in 2004, David served as the Finance Manager for KBC Alternative Investment Management in London and Head of Hedge Fund Administration for Deutsche Bank in Ireland. David qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PwC in 1997 and holds a B.Comm and M.Acc from University College Dublin.

Bryon Lake is Managing Director, Head of International ETFs for JP Morgan. In this capacity Bryon is responsible for leading JP Morgan’s International ETF business with a particular focus in Europe and Asia. Mr. Lake is based in London.

Bryon is one of the industry’s most respected and accomplished ETF executives. As one of PowerShares earliest employees, he held various leadership positions with the firm as it advanced from an independent start-up to becoming the fourth-largest ETF provider globally with more than $100 billion in assets under management as part of Invesco. Most recently, he was Head of Invesco PowerShares EMEA, where he led the firm’s efforts to expand its EMEA team, evolve its portfolio set and maximize growth opportunities. During his 12-year tenure with the firm he also served as Head of Global Business Development and was one of the company’s top sales people.

Mr. Lake Graduated from Taylor University with a Major in International Business and Minors in Finance and Economics.

Pinar Emirdag is a senior executive at State Street Corporation which is a global financial services institution. Pinar leads the digital product development and innovation team with the objective of enabling the next generation in financial services. Pinar has worked on a number of industry changing initiatives, building new marketplaces and capital markets offerings throughout her career at London Stock Exchange, ICAP, Liquidnet, Citigroup and Lava Trading which was a successful financial technology firm which was acquired by Citigroup. In the recent years, she has been working on emerging business models and technologies such as peer to peer financial services. She has worked on entrepreneurial initiatives as an executive, founder, advisor and board member. These include Clearmatics, Senahill Partners, R3, Hyperledger, Quantave, UK Digital Currency Association, Complymatic and Mathmoneyfx (now Symbiont). Pinar started her business career at management consultancy, Oliver Wyman. Pinar holds Ph.D and M.Sc. degrees in Physics and a M. Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from Brown University. Pinar’s research field was development of new numerical techniques in theoretical particle physics. She continues to have academic collaborations and regularly presents at events, conferences, workshops on regulation, technologies and market structures. 

Dave has spent 17 years in Retail Banking in Ireland after graduating from Trinity College. David also holds an MBA from Manchester Business School. 

He has extensive experience across digital banking, the payments industry and innovation in financial products. He has been responsible for Credit Card, Deposits and Current Account product strategies and has delivered multiple new retail products to the Irish market.
His recent role in Bank of Ireland looks at long term planning, consumer behaviour changes, market planning and incubation and the integration of fintech and innovative start-ups. He is responsible for Bank of Ireland workbench and Startlab initiatives and is a member of the Fintech Payments Association of Ireland.

Ranesh Ramanathan is a Managing Director at Bain Capital and serves as General Counsel to the Capital Markets Businesses at Bain Capital. Mr. Ramanathan received a Bachelor’s Degree from The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and a Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law.

Prior to working at Bain Capital, Mr. Ramanathan was General Counsel of Citi Private Equity. Citigroup’s diverse and global private equity business. Mr. Ramanathan’s career at Citigroup started in 2004 as General Counsel of Tribeca Global Management, Citigroup’s multi-asset hedge fund. Launched in 2004, Tribeca was Citigroup’s foray into the direct (rather than fund of funds) hedge fund market and was built from the ground up using market leading technology. As one of the first employees at Tribeca, Mr. Ramanathan was involved in all aspects of the establishment of this business and helped it grow organically to 22 distinct strategies. Mr. Ramanathan started his legal career at the New York office of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton LLP.

Mr. Ramanathan joined Bain Capital in 2008 as its second lawyer. In 2010, Mr. Ramanathan focused his attention on, and became General Counsel to, the Capital Markets Businesses of Bain Capital. Bain Capital’s Capital Markets Businesses are comprised of Bain Capital Public Equity and Bain Capital Credit. Together, these business units manage a variety of fund types from closed-ended to open-ended to managed accounts, in a wide variety of strategies, and have almost $40 billion of assets under management. 

Peter Stapleton heads the Investment Funds group in Maples and Calder's Dublin office. He regularly advises investors, promoters, fund managers and investment banks on the establishment, structuring, financing, public and private distribution and ongoing operation of UCITS and AIFs, including hedge funds, funds of funds, master-feeders, private equity funds, managed account platforms and bespoke structures. Peter also has significant expertise advising in the areas of derivatives, prime brokerage, investment services and securities law. His clients include a wide range of financial institutions carrying out business in Ireland or transacting with Irish-domiciled counterparties from other jurisdictions.

Peter is widely recognised as a leading lawyer in the financial services arena in Ireland and has been recommended by industry journals including IFLR1000, Legal 500, Chambers and Partners and Who's Who Legal. Peter has been nominated as one of the outstanding practitioners in investment funds in the Guide to the World's Leading Banking, Finance and Transactional Lawyers. Clients commend him for his "superior understanding of all issues related to funds formation" and have described Peter as "the AIFMD guru".

Peter sits on several senior industry steering groups including for Irish Funds and AIMA as well as charitable bodies. He is also an active contributor to legal journals, has lectured on Financial Services Law at private conferences and for the Law Society of Ireland, and has advised the Commercial Law Centre of University College Dublin on developments in Financial Services Law.

The Asset Management Exchange (AMX) is an independent institutional asset management marketplace designed to fundamentally transform institutional investment. It is creating a smarter, easier and cheaper way to connect asset owners to those who manage their money. Eoin leads the AMX Investment Operations team and is based in Ireland. His team are responsible for Delegate Oversight and the on-boarding of Investment Managers & Investors to the Digital Platform. His previous roles include Head of UK & Ireland Fund Accounting at BNY Mellon, EMEA Head of Private Equity at State Street and Senior Accounting Officer for Goldman Sachs International. He started his career with Deloitte. Eoin sits on the board of Cork Chamber of Commerce and is Chair of Cork Financial Services Forum. He is an independent director of Shine Ireland, a charity for autism. He is the EMEA Champion for Inclusion & Diversity for his firm.