Speakers
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Adil Manzoor Head of Private Markets, Merseyside Pension Fund
Adil is an investment professional and a Fellow Chartered Accountant, combining a solid foundation in finance and accounting with extensive experience in investment management focusing on maximising investment opportunities while managing risk.
As part of the investment management team at Merseyside Pension Fund Adil is involved in asset allocation, risk management and portfolio construction decision making and developing investment strategies that align with long-term objectives of the Pension Fund focusing on generating stable returns while managing risk effectively. Adil is also member of the Fund’s Investment Committee.
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Trevor Castledine Chief Commercial Officer, LGPS Central
Trevor joined LGPS Central in 2024, bringing with him extensive LGPS experience as well as expertise in private markets and broader pension fund management. Before joining LGPS Central, he was Managing Director in bfinance’s private markets team, where he was responsible for research and manager selection across private debt, including Corporate Direct Lending, Real Estate debt, and other niche strategies. In this role, Trevor advised clients on over $5 billion of allocations to private credit investments. He also served as an Independent Advisor to the £10 billion South Yorkshire Pension Fund and has provided advisory and consulting services to various institutional investors and investment managers.
A Chartered Accountant and former Investment Banker, Trevor was already part of the LGPS community as Investment Director for Private Credit at the UK LGPS pooling entity LPPI, having previously held the role of Deputy CIO at Lancashire County Pension Fund (LCPF). During his time at LCPF, Trevor played a pivotal role in creating a pioneering £1.5 billion allocation to alternative credit, earning numerous industry accolades, including the Institutional Investor European peer-to-peer award for ‘Best Use of Private Markets’. His influence in the private debt space was further recognized when PDI magazine named him one of the 30 most influential investors in the asset class globally. Trevor holds an MA from Queens’ College, Cambridge University.
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Patrick O'Hara Head of Responsible Investment and Stewardship, LGPS Central
Patrick is the Head of Responsible Investment & Stewardship at LGPS Central, where he leads the team responsible for ESG integration and stewardship. His role involves overseeing the monitoring and due diligence of external managers' responsible investment activities, as well as engaging with policymakers and investee companies on the pool's core engagement themes.
Before joining LGPS Central at the beginning of 2021, Patrick headed up ESG integration in Public Markets at USS Investment Management. Prior to that, he was an ESG Analyst at Aviva Investors, where he developed extensive experience in ESG and risk analysis. Patrick's ability to incorporate ESG risk factors into investment risk reporting has been a valuable asset to his roles.
With over 20 years of experience in the investment management industry, including more than a decade focused on ESG, Patrick’s expertise is increasingly vital as climate concerns and sustainable finance become central to investment decisions. He is responsible for overseeing the internal ESG metrics at LGPS Central, ensuring that the company invests responsibly while meeting client investment objectives.
Patrick holds a degree in Economics and Public Policy, as well as an MSc in Sustainable Development from Surrey University’s Centre for Environment and Sustainability.
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Mark Davies Head of Public Markets, LGPS Central
Mark joined LGPS Central's Public Markets team at its inception in 2018, following a two-year tenure at Derbyshire Pension Fund, where he managed equity investments both directly and through funds. Mark’s earlier career includes a significant contribution to Sanlam FOUR Investments in London, where he was an integral member of the UK equity team. He joined FOUR Capital during its startup phase and continued with the firm through its acquisition by the Sanlam Group. Before his time at Sanlam FOUR Investments, Mark gained valuable experience at Schroders Investment Management Ltd in London. He also has international experience, having worked at JPMorgan in New York as a Business Analyst. With over two decades of industry experience, Mark is known for delivering top quartile returns, particularly in the Global Equity Asset class, and for his expertise in designing and implementing direct investment strategies.
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Max Townshend Head of Investment Strategy, Local Pensions Partnership Investments (LPPI)
Max is Head of Investment Strategy and oversees a team of six, undertaking both advisory work and implementation of client strategic asset allocations and overlays. Max joined LPPI in 2016 from London Pensions Fund Authority, one of LPP’s founding clients, where he was an Investment Manager for liquid strategies, focusing on internal global equity management and hedge fund due diligence. Max has over 17 years investment experience; prior to working in pensions he had a background in quantitative research across FX, rates and options markets. He graduated from the University of Bristol with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering.
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Mark Watts Partner, LCP
As a Partner in LCP’s investment team, Mark supports the provision of investment solutions for our clients as they grapple with the energy transition and the path to net zero. He and the team work to ensure seamless advice is offered to clients to help them navigate the critical issues and deploy their capital effectively.
Although he has a technical background, he enjoys busting through the jargon to explain complex financial issues in a digestible manner. Having managed money over a number
of economic cycles globally, his advice to clients is based on first-hand experience of managing money in both rising and falling rate environments.
During his career he has had the pleasure of living and working in both the US and the Middle East and has held CIO and CEO roles in a number of firms and served on a number of boards.
