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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.

Jorge is a partner in the Financial Services Group. He has over 15 years’ experience providing audit and advisory services to asset managers, domestic and international banks and capital markets divisions. He has worked with a variety of European and global asset management clients, including the alternative investment product groups of multinational financial institutions and diversified asset managers, large entrepreneurial asset management firms, and start-up asset managers. Jorge has extensive knowledge in risk management and control practices across the funds and banking industry and he has also advised on IPOs, complex financial instruments, Private Equity investments, loan portfolios and reviews of risk pricing models. He is a member of the European Fund and Asset Management Association’s (EFAMA) ETF and Irish Funds (IF) Loan Origination working groups, and he is also head of the central valuations team (CvT) in Ireland.

Anthony Shapiro is a corporate and securities lawyer with experience in corporate finance, investment management, private equity and M&A gained over 20 years as an associate and partner at leading law firms as well as in-house. Anthony is admitted to practise law in Canada (Ontario) and the U.S. (New York). 

Anthony began his legal career at Torys LLP and also practised at Macleod Dixon LLP, which is now part of Norton Rose, before joining Aird & Berlis LLP as a partner. Anthony went in-house to another investment manager in 2013.

Anthony then joined Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd. in 2016 as General Counsel (Chief Legal Officer) and, later the same year, he also assumed the role of Chief Compliance Officer. In January 2018, Anthony was appointed to Sprucegrove’s Business Management Committee, which oversees the day-to-day management of the business.

Established in 1993, Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd. is an employee-owned, bottom-up value manager focused on global equities. Registered as a portfolio manager (and investment fund manager) with Canadian regulators and as an investment adviser with the SEC, Sprucegrove provides investment management services on a fully discretionary basis to institutional investors in Canada and the United States. Earlier this year, Sprucegrove established two UCITS with a view to serving institutional investors in additional jurisdictions.

Tim Huver is head of intermediary sales for Vanguard Investments Canada Inc. Prior to this role, Mr. Huver was our head of product in Canada. He joined Vanguard in 2000 and has held roles in the United States and the United Kingdom, working with Vanguard's global ETF platforms for more than a decade.

Before joining Vanguard Canada, Mr. Huver was head of product management in Europe, where he supported the establishment of Vanguard's ETF platform and managed the launch of Vanguard's first European ETFs. Previously, as a member of Vanguard's U.S. ETF Product Management team, he coordinated launches and provided capital markets support for ETF trading.

Mr. Huver earned a BS in marketing from Saint Joseph's University and holds a number of U.S. investment licenses.

Mr. Ruthard is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Orchard Global Asset Management. He is responsible for external and internal reporting, the control environment, managing back-office personnel and operations and other standard duties associated with the CFO role. Mr. Ruthard joined Orchard from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), where his practise focussed on audit clients in the financial services industry and providing advisory services on SEC and OSC reporting and regulatory compliance. While at PwC, Mr. Ruthard was twice seconded to Barrick Gold Corporation, once to its Treasury Group and once to its Corporate Development Group. Mr. Ruthard began his career at the Royal Bank of Canada in global equity securities lending. He holds a BA in Economics and Political Science from the University of Toronto and an MBA from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. Mr. Ruthard is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CA) in Canada.

Dawn Desjardins joined the Royal Bank Economics team in January 2006 as a senior economist. She is responsible for the macroeconomic and interest rate forecasts for Canada and the U.S. Previously, Dawn worked as a reporter for Bloomberg Financial News in Toronto covering the Canadian bond and currency markets. She was also the Canadian bond market strategist for a major U.S. bank for ten years. Dawn is a graduate of the University of Toronto.

Andrea is a Director with FundRock Management Company S.A. with over 18 years' experience in the financial services sector. Andrea has held roles ranging from senior operational and client services roles within global and capital markets institutions; to roles in relationship and business development within large European and US fund services providers. Andrea possesses deep domain knowledge of UCITS structures (including Ireland, the UK and Luxembourg), alternative investment vehicles such as QIAIFs, SIFs, Part II Funds; as well as Cayman domiciled products, Irish SPVs and structured funds.

Andrea supports FundRock’s blue chip client base through oversight and management of large complex operating models and has responsibility to protect and generate revenue through building and retaining relationships and marketing the full array of services to complex mutual fund managers.

Lynn McGrade is a partner at the Toronto office of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP. She is the Toronto Regional Leader of the Investment Management Group and National Leader of the Firm's United Kingdom Group.

Lynn practises corporate law, specializing in issues relating to the investment management industry. She represents both Canadian and foreign investment fund managers on ongoing legal issues relating to the provision of advisory services, the distribution of securities and the establishment, operation and administration of investment products in Canada. Lynn has been involved in the creation of many investment products including mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, segregated funds, hedge funds, closed-end funds and pooled fund products. Lynn is also a recognized authority on securities registrant regulation, compliance and fund governance, and has extensive experience in merger and acquisition transactions in the investment industry.

Lynn is the past Chair of the National Society of Compliance Professionals (NSCP) and is a past Chair of the Investment Funds Committee of the IBA. She is the recipient of the Women’s Executive Network’s (WXN) 2013 Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Awards and the 2013 Lexpert® Zenith Awards – Celebrating Women Leaders in the Legal Profession. Lynn is a recipient of the Ontario Bar Association Award of Excellence in the Promotion of Women's Equality and has been recognized as a 2019 Acritas Star.

Aneet Shah is the Managing Director, Head of Global Client Experience at RBC Investor & Treasury Services.

Shah has responsibility for enhancing client experiences and will focus on ensuring that product and technology developments are fully coordinated with client and industry needs.

Shah joined RBC from J.P. Morgan where he spent 11 years in senior product management positions for its securities services business. His most recent role was as Regional Head of Product for Investment Operations Middle Office Outsourcing in EMEA where he led the development of strategy and client pipeline for this business. Prior to this, Shah held senior product roles with BNP Paribas and UBS.

Mark Dillon focuses his practice on the establishment, authorization and operation of investment funds, including all forms of Irish regulated UCITS, alternative investment funds, and private equity funds. Mr. Dillon advises clients on international funds in jurisdictions across Asia and Europe, providing bespoke investment strategies and regulatory compliance guidance, and more recently has been advising clients on Brexit strategy.

Mr. Dillon has considerable experience advising on all stages of new investment funds, giving insight on prime brokerage agreement; overseas securities lending agreements; cross margining and netting agreements; ISDAs; and accompanying ISDA Annexes. Mr. Dillon also has knowledge of insider dealing, licensing, retail, listing, and private placement requirements in multiple jurisdictions, with an emphasis on Hong Kong. Mr. Dillon is well placed, given his experience, to assist global clients in establishing funds internationally.

Prior to joining Dechert, Mr. Dillon worked in the international financial services group of a well-known firm in Hong Kong, a leading Irish firm in Dublin, and a major corporate firm in New York.

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.