2013 - 2014 Speakers

Speaker:

Rashique Raham is currently Morgan Stanley's Chief Strategist and Head of Emerging Markets Strategy. Previously Mr. Rahman headed up global strategy for Emerging Markets at RBS in London and prior to this had a similar role at HSBC, based in New York. He has also held positions at Citigroup, both as a senior Emerging Markets Strategist and as a principal trader in London, and at Deutsche Bank as a global Emerging Markets Strategist. He also worked as a portfolio manager for local Emerging Markets (rates/FX) at Armored Wolf, a west-coast based global macro hedge fund. Throughout his career, he has led or been an integral part of top-rated teams for EM strategy and research. His background also includes work as a sovereign analyst at Standard & Poor's in the sovereign ratings group.

Speaker:

Martin Fridson, CFA is the CEO of FridsonVision, LLC, He is “perhaps the most well-known figure in the high yield world,” according to Investment Dealers’ Digest.  Over a 25-year span with brokerage firms including Salomon Brothers, Morgan Stanley, and Merrill Lynch, he became known for his innovative work in credit analysis and investment strategy.

Fridson received his B.A. cum laude in history from Harvard College and his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.  He has served as president of the Fixed Income Analysts Society, governor of the Association for Investment Management and Research (now CFA Institute), and director of the New York Society of Security Analysts.

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Speaker:

Larry Seruma is the Managing Principal of Nile Capital Management LLC, the Advisor of the Nile Africa Funds. Mr. Seruma has over 20 years of experience in portfolio management, investment research and quantitative investment strategies.

In 2004, Mr. Seruma founded Nile Capital Management, where he began his tenure as Portfolio Manager for the Nile Master Fund, a global long/short equity hedge fund. In 2005, the Nile Fund was integrated into Proxima Alfa Investments (USA) LLC (formerly VegaPlus Capital Partners), a subsidiary of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, and Mr. Seruma was named one of the firm's Managing Directors. Currently, Nile Capital Management serves as the Advisor for the Nile Africa Funds, which seek opportunities for investment across the Africa continent..

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Speaker:

Aaron Zitner is the national politics editor for The Wall Street Journal. He is based in the Journal’s bureau in Washington, D.C. In this position, he works with reporters who cover the White House, Congress and national politics.

Previously, Mr. Zitner was deputy chief of the Washington Bureau for the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and other Tribune newspapers. He helped lead the 2008 presidential campaign coverage for The Los Angeles Times and served as the paper’s White House and Washington economics editor.

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Speaker:

John Silvia is a managing director and the chief economist for Wells Fargo. Based in Charlotte, N.C., he has held his position since he joined Wachovia in 2002 as the company’s chief economist.

Prior to his current position, John worked on Capitol Hill as senior economist for the U.S. Senate Joint Economic Committee and chief economist for the U.S. Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. Before that, he was chief economist of Kemper Funds and managing director of Scudder Kemper Investments, Inc. John was awarded a National Association of Business Economics (NABE) Fellow Certificate of Recognition in 2011 for outstanding contributions to the Business Economics Profession and Leadership Among Business Economists to the Nation. In 2010, he was recognized for the Best Overall Forecast, Best Inflation Forecast, and Best Personal Consumption Expenditures Forecast by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. John is on the Bloomberg Best Forecast list for his forecasts of GDP, the Institute of Supply Management (ISM) manufacturing index, housing starts, and the unemployment rate

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Speaker:

Kristi Craig is the Director of Private Markets at the Georgetown University Investment Office, where she is responsible for the endowment’s private equity, real estate, infrastructure and energy portfolio.

Prior to joining Georgetown, Craig led business development for the Small Business Investor Alliance, the premier organization of lower middle market private equity funds and investors. Craig was the Senior Investment Officer in the Investment Division of the U.S. Small Business Administration, where she was primarily responsible for due diligence and review of private equity and mezzanine funds on behalf of the Small Business Investment Company (“SBIC”) Program, a public-private investment fund with $9 billion under management.

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Speaker:

Dan Fuss has 53 years of experience in the investment management industry and has been with Loomis, Sayles & Company since 1976. He is vice chairman of the firm and manages the firm’s flagship Loomis Sayles Bond Fund—which won the 2009 Morningstar Fund Manager of the Year award in the fixed income category—in addition to the Loomis Sayles Investment Grade Bond, Investment Grade Fixed Income, Strategic Income, Fixed Income, Institutional High Income and Global Markets funds. In 2000, he was named to the Fixed Income Analysts Society’s Hall of Fame in recognition of his contributions and lifetime achievements in the advancement of the analysis of fixed income securities and portfolios. He has twice been President of the Boston Security Analysts Society. Dan earned a BS and an MBA from Marquette University. He served in the US Navy from 1955 to 1958 and held the rank of Lieutenant.

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Speaker:

Mr. Antoine van Agtmael is Senior Advisor at Garten Rothkopf. Prior to joining Garten Rothkopf, he was the principal founder, CEO and CIO of Emerging Markets Management LLC (and later chairman of AshmoreEMM), a leading investment management firm for emerging market equities.

He is the man who coined the term “Emerging Markets” and ran his own firm, Emerging Markets Management, has shifted his focus recently to the U.S., more specifically the Rust Belt. He is working on a book titled "Back in Business: From Rustbelt to Brainbelt" which will be published in June 2014.

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