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Yvonne is a Principal with Carne Global Financial Services Limited and CEO of Carne’s Irish business. Carne employs 180 people across 9 global locations and is a governance and substance provider for asset managers with $700 billion in Assets Under Management. Yvonne is currently Chair of Irish Funds Council, the official representative body for the Irish investment fund industry. She also acts as a Chairman and Director to traditional funds, hedge funds and management companies domiciled in Ireland and Cayman. Yvonne has over 25 years’ experience within the funds industry and is a specialist in governance, product development, compliance, financial reporting and operations. She also has experience in assisting fund managers and service providers with various aspects of operational development, control and risk management. She is a recognised expert in back office operations and change management and regularly speaks at fund industry conferences. Prior to joining Carne, Yvonne was Head of Operational Development at State Street (International) Ireland (formerly Deutsche Bank), where she looked after new business take on, product development, system implementation and change management. As a member of the senior management team at State Street, Yvonne reported directly to the CEO and was a key contributor to the overall strategy and direction of the business. Yvonne trained as a chartered accountant with KPMG, specialising in corporate taxation. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. Yvonne is a member of multiple industry associations including Irish Funds, the Institute of Directors in Ireland, 100 Women in Finance and the 30% Club.

As an Associate Director within the on boarding division of DMS Investment Management Services (Europe) Limited, Vanora manages a portfolio of clients, assisting with the design and implementation of internal controls and operating procedures associated with the on boarding of new clients and offers them corporate governance advice and support.

Vanora brings with her a background in both legal and client relationship management with over six years spent at Fidelity Worldwide Investment in Dublin, servicing corporates, banks, pension funds and financial institutions. Prior to joining DMS she worked as a stockbroker with Cantor Fitzgerald and as part of the Investment Management team at Lehman Brothers. She is a member of the Law Society of Ireland, a Chairperson of the Irish Funds Communications and Publications Working Group and a member of the 100 Women in Finance, Dublin steering committee

Susie Shahab is a Director at Lord Abbett on the International distribution team. She is responsible for managing and expanding relationships with the firm’s largest broker dealers and wealth management clients with a specific focus on the Americas region. Susie also works with the team to implement specific strategic initiatives as they relate to the growth of the International business. She has been in the industry for over 20yrs with a specific International focus for 18yrs. 

Craig J. Peretz has been the Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Compliance Officer as well as a Consultant to Sierra Global Management, LLC since 1998. Mr. Peretz is responsible for the non-portfolio management side of the business at Sierra, including operations, compliance, investor relations and risk monitoring. Mr. Peretz joined Sierra in 1998 from International Fund Administration (1995-1998), where he was in charge of client administrative operations, financial review/preparation, fund set-up and investor/manager relations.

Prior to that, Mr. Peretz worked in the private equity, corporate finance and investment recovery divisions of Equitable and Alliance Capital Management for seven years (1988-1995), also serving as a member of Equitable’s demutualization team. Mr. Peretz completed his undergraduate studies at Alfred University in 1988 and received his MBA from The Stern School of Business at New York University in 1993.

Mr. Peretz also serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of Alfred University, Senior Advisor to Global Communication Systems, Alternative Investment Consultant as well as a member of the Board of Directors of the Sierra Funds.

Niamh is a Senior Institutional Relationship Manager for BBH Investment Management’s equity and fixed income investment management activities in the U.S. Prior to joining BBH in 2018, she spent several years in a client portfolio manager role focused on equity and alternative investments at B.T. Financial Group in Australia. Niamh previously worked as a global equity trader at Dublin-based Irish and Italian banks. Niamh earned a BA in Economics from University College Dublin and a Masters of Business (Business Economics) from University College Cork.

Daragh Maher is HSBC's Head of Research for the Americas and FX Strategy US, based in New York. He originally joined HSBC as a currency strategist in London in 2012, reporting to David Bloom, the global head of FX research.

Prior to joining HSBC, Daragh worked for an international investment bank for seven years, most recently as the deputy global head of FX strategy, where the team was frequently ranked first for 1M forecast accuracy in both Reuters and FX Week surveys. Prior to 2004, Daragh worked for 12 years for another investment bank. He was initially based in Hong Kong and Singapore as a regional economist before moving to London in 1998, where he concentrated on G10 market economics and strategy, increasingly focused on foreign exchange. He holds a B.Comm (Econ) from University College Dublin.

Lisa Kealy leads EY’s Wealth and Asset Management (WAM) Practice and is a member of EY’s European WAM Leadership Committee. Lisa is EY’s Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) leader for Europe and chairs our global ETF Committee. She has been an assurance partner with the firm for the past 12 years and has extensive experience in advising clients on various aspects of accounting, regulatory and operational change.

Lisa is the current Chair of Irish Funds and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences in Europe and contributor to leading financial services industry publications.

Lisa holds a first class honours degree in Pure Mathematics from Trinity College Dublin and is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland, from which she holds a practicing certificate.

Brendan Ahern is the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) at KraneShares where he is in charge of the firm’s research, education and investor outreach efforts. He was an early pioneer of the US exchange traded fund (ETF) industry as one of the first 20 employees of iShares by BlackRock. Within iShares, Brendan experienced the proliferation of ETFs and the growth of the ETF industry firsthand.

During his tenure at iShares he saw AUM grow from a few billion to $1.5 trillion. This “from the ground up” experience forged his comprehensive expertise with all aspects of the ETF industry including product development, marketing, branding, and business strategy. Brendan’s role at KraneShares ensures he visits China frequently. He is a veracious consumer of Chinese financial news and is in regular contact with the firm’s Chinese partners.

Brendan is considered a preeminent expert in global financial markets with a particular focus on China, and is often sought after by leading business and financial outlets including but not limited to CNBC, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal and Investor’s Business Daily.

Brendan graduated from the College of the Holy Cross and has a Master of Science in Financial Analysis from the University of San Francisco.

Eric is the Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) Product Specialist for the Northeast region within Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s Third Party Distribution business. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs in 2015, Eric was a Director and Emerging Market Portfolio Specialist at EGShares, an emerging market ETF provider. Eric also spent five years at UBS Wealth Management Americas in a variety of product, sales and strategy roles including Strategic Analyst within the Office of the CEO. Eric earned his BBA in Political Science from the University of Miami and his MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business.

Brendan McCarthy, Managing Director, is responsible for the US Markets Coverage team and the Institutional Product Consulting team.

The US Markets Coverage team delivers trading and market structure expertise to clients, advising on the most effective way to access liquidity for a desired exposure, relative value of ETFs compared to other financial instruments, and how to utilize ETFs as the reference asset in derivatives. The US Institutional Product Consulting team supports institutional clients in providing in-depth investment and product expertise for iShares offerings as well as customized comparative product analytics.

Brendan joined Blackrock in December 2016 after 15 years working in the Securities Division at Goldman Sachs where he was a Managing Director on the Portfolio Sales & Trading team. During his time at Goldman, Brendan worked with institutional accounts implementing equity strategies around the globe, having been responsible for portfolio trading, ETF's, and synthetic products. He has experience in market microstructure, algorithmic trading, index constitution, hedging instruments, and risk management. Brendan's experience also includes several years (2006-2013) working in both Tokyo and Hong Kong where he helped build and manage Goldman's regional team focused on equity portfolio products.

Brendan earned a BA in Economics from College of the Holy Cross.

Aidan Bailey joined KKR in 2013 and is the Chief Compliance Officer for the Firm in Ireland. Previously, Mr. Bailey held various roles in regulatory compliance, risk and finance at KPMG and Barclays. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant and holds a degree and a masters in Accounting from Dublin City University and a Executive Masters in Risk Management from the Institute of Banking Ireland.

Raj Tanden is a partner and business lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP, where he represents clients in corporate and tax matters across a broad spectrum of domestic and cross-border transactions. Raj chairs the firm’s New England and Southern California Tax Practices. Raj focuses his practice on investment management transactions, including newly enacted qualified opportunity funds/opportunity zones. He devotes a substantial portion of his practice in assisting sponsors establish tax-efficient investments funds for non-U.S. and tax-exempt investors. Raj also assists private equity funds in M&A transactions.

Raj is a fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel, comprised of the leading 700 tax lawyers nationwide, and of the American Bar Foundation, which consists of the top one percent of lawyers in each state. Raj is recognized by The Best Lawyers in America© and listed with Southern California Super Lawyers®.

Trish is an assurance partner and leads PwC's Asset & Wealth Management practice in Ireland. She has more than 20 years’ experience in the asset management industry, five of which were spent working in Bermuda, New York and London.

She works with a large cross section of asset management clients including asset managers, administrators and mutual and hedge fund clients. She also advises both corporate and fund clients on a range of audit, accounting and consulting engagements.

Trish is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland, a CFA charter holder, and holds a Bachelor of Economics (Hons) degree from Trinity College, Dublin.

Pat Lardner joined Irish Funds as Chief Executive in April 2012. He has over twenty five years’ experience in the global asset management industry and has held executive/leadership positions in Ireland and overseas with firms managing a broad range of both traditional and alternative investment strategies. Pat is an active participant on all significant Government sponsored groups relating to funds in Ireland, is a member of the Board of the European Fund and Asset Management Association and is an Advisor to the Asset Management Association of China’s International Partners Committee. He is a past Council Member of the Irish Association of Pension Funds and a former Director of both the Irish Association of Investment Managers and the International Investment Funds Association. He attained honours undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from University College Dublin.