Speakers
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Nikesh Patel Head of Client Solutions - Van Lanschot Kempen
As Head of Client Solutions, Nikesh is responsible overall for the key client-facing groups providing fiduciary management in the UK, in account management, implementation and investment strategy. Nikesh has been with Kempen since 2016, and was our Head of Investment Strategy in the UK, responsible for designing and developing the strategic and tactical asset allocation strategies for our UK clients, including research of innovative asset classes.
Prior to joining Kempen, Nikesh was a senior corporate-side investment consultant at PwC, where he advised FTSE100 and FTSE350 companies on investment and funding strategies to manage their defined benefit pension funds. Prior to this, Nikesh managed several of BlackRock’s largest and most sophisticated UK pension funds. Nikesh began his career within Mercer’s UK investment consulting business, where he advised a portfolio of defined benefit and defined contribution pension schemes, insurance companies and sovereign wealth funds on the full spectrum of investment issues.
Nikesh is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries as well as a Chartered Enterprise Risk Actuary. He was recognised as the Investment Manager of the Year 2021 by Professional Pensions and was recognised by Financial News as a Rising Star of Asset Management in Europe in 2019. He holds a degree from the London School of Economics and a qualification in private markets investing from Oxford University’s Said Business School. In addition, Nikesh is a trustee of the Church of England Pensions Board and a trustee and chair of the investment committee for Smart Pensions, a leading DC master trust.
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Simon Bentley Head of Solutions Client Portfolio Management - Columbia Threadneedle Investments
Simon is Head of UK Client Portfolio Management, responsible for the investment outcome delivered to a range of our Investment Solutions clients. He focuses on our UK and Irish client base and has signifi cant experience working with many pension and insurance clients of all sizes, implementing a range of LDI, fixed income and derivative based portfolios. Simon joined the group in 2011.
Previously Simon worked at UBS Global Asset Management and Insight Investment where he covered a range of asset classes, focusing in particular on derivative and fixed income mandates. He started his career at Lazard Asset Management. Simon holds a BEng in Manufacturing Engineering from Loughborough University.
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James Edwards Director, Sales - Columbia Threadneedle Investments
James is a Director within the UK Institutional team with a particular focus on Corporate DB pension schemes. Prior to joining BMO Global Asset Management. in May 2018, James worked at BlackRock for 10 years as both an institutional client director and a fixed income product specialist, with a focus on global credit. James is a CFA Charterholder.
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Harriet Steel Partner & Global Head of Clients - Pemberton Asset Management
Harriet joined Pemberton in April 2023. She leads the development of the client business globally and oversees business development, investor relations, marketing, communications and sustainable investing.
Prior to joining Pemberton, she was Head of Business Development, International, at Federated Hermes where she spend 11 years and served as a member of the Executive Committee and a Board Director of the international business.
Harriet’s commercial leadership was key to the transformation of Hermes from its origins as the internal asset manager of British Telecom Pension Scheme to an independent investment management business serving more than 800 institutional and distribution clients globally. Her contribution to the growth of the business led to the successful sale of Hermes Investment Management to Federated Investors to become Federated Hermes in 2020.
Harriet brings with her over 30 years’ experience in financial services including senior client roles in capital markets, hedge funds and private equity. She has a Bachelor’s in Architecture from Princeton University.
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Thomas Duetoft Partner, Senior Loans & Multi-Strategy Solutions - Pemberton Asset Management
Thomas Partner, Senior Loans & Multi-Strategy Solutions at Pemberton. His responsibilities include the selection, due diligence, structuring of investments, and the management of the Senior Loan Strategy to achieve its investment objectives. He is a member of the Direct Lending Operating Committee of Pemberton Capital Advisors LLP and a member of the Credit Review Committee.
Thomas joined Pemberton in 2014. Before that, he was a managing director at RBS where he held a number of roles including head of European loan trading and head of credit trading, Asia ex-Japan.
He has over 25 years of experience in loan and credit markets. Previously he was a managing director at Dresdner Kleinwort, where he was responsible for European Loan Trading from 2001-2006. He began his career in finance in 1998 at Citibank.
Thomas graduated from the University of Copenhagen with a Master of Law.
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Sammy Cooper-Smith Head of Business Development -Rothesay
Sammy heads up the Business Development team at Rothesay where he has been since 2011. Sammy has worked on close to 100 transactions covering in excess of £50bn of liability ranging in size from 600k to £12.4bn.
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Roisin O'Shea Business Development - Rothesay
Róisín is part of Rothesay’s Business Development team. She has spent most of her career focused on pension de-risking and has worked on a wide range of transactions both at Rothesay and during her time in Aviva and Legal & General’s bulk annuity teams.
Róisín is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and has received the Chartered Enterprise Risk Actuary accreditation.
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Simon Partridge Director, Head of UK Fiduciary Management - Russell Investments
Simon is Head of UK Fiduciary Management and leads the evolution and growth of the firm’s fiduciary management offering for UK pension schemes. Based in London, he works with prospective clients to design custom solutions, bringing together our fiduciary strategy, investment and client teams.
Simon is a qualified actuary and has 20 years’ experience serving UK defined benefit and defined contribution pension schemes.
He joined Russell Investments in 2021 from BlackRock where he worked in a variety of client-facing roles for 11 years. There, he co-founded the fiduciary client team and was responsible for business development and served as relationship manager on key accounts.
Before that, Simon was an investment consultant at Mercer where he advised UK pension schemes on setting objectives, strategy design and manager selection. He started his career as a pensions consultant at Watson Wyatt.
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Aqib Merchant Client CIO, EMEA Clients Team - Russell Investments
Aqib is a Client CIO in the EMEA Clients team based in London. He provides fiduciary management services to institutional clients in the UK and Middle East, focusing on investment strategy and the design and implementation of investment solutions. Aqib has a particular interest in developing sustainable investment solutions that are resilient in different market environments.
Prior to joining Russell Investments in August 2021, Aqib worked at Isio (formerly KPMG) as an investment consultant, advising clients on investment strategies for defined benefit pension schemes as well as supporting them with oversight of fiduciary managers. He also served as assistant head of fiduciary manager research, contributing to multiple research papers on the UK fiduciary manager market. Aqib began his career as a pensions actuarial consultant at EY in 2015.
Aqib is a member of the Multicultural Associates Resource Group at Russell Investments, working on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives. Outside the office, Aqib enjoys cycling and watching sports (football, cricket and tennis). He also enjoys volunteering and has worked worked on different engagements over the last few years.
