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Laura Merlini, CAIA is Managing Director EMEA for the CAIA Association since March 2012. She is a senior alternative investment professional with experience in strategic leadership, management skills and alternative investment knowledge in market outreach, brand development, reputation and member engagement. She formerly worked at Fortis Bank in Milan, Madrid, and Geneva. Since obtaining her CAIA Charter Certification in 2007, she has been an active member-volunteer, not only as the co-founder of the CAIA Iberia Chapter in Madrid in 2008, but also as the co-Head of the CAIA Switzerland Chapter in Geneva as of 2010. Additionally, she chairs the 100 Women in Finance Educational Committee in Geneva. Laura earned a BA in Business Administration at Bocconi University in Milan, received the CEMS MIM (Community of European Management Schools) MSc in International Management in 2002, and is a member of the Inaugural Class (2014) of the Executive Master in Positive Psychology, Leadership and Strategy from IE in Madrid. She strongly believes that governance is the core of a healthy financial industry, and this conviction led her to become a Certified Investment Fund Director accredited by the CIFD Institute in Ireland in 2015.  Laura is also currently a member of the UN PRI HF Advisory Committee as well as a NED at Agave Advisors, an independent wealth manager firm based in Geneva. She is often invited to speak at conferences, roundtables and webinars on alternative investments. Having earned a Sommelier diploma, in her free time, she enjoys wine tasting as well as opera and art. 

Alex is a built environment economist with special interests in private financing of public infrastructure, procurement strategy and supply chain dynamics. Starting his career in the Corporate Finance function at KPMG in London, his development of methods to collate and apply public datasets to monitor operational infrastructure provide the foundations for his PhD research on infrastructure asset whole life cost and value. Alex spent 8 years as a researcher and lecturer at UCL’s Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, where his research on the corporate finance strategies of contractors fed into a 2013 commission on supply chain finance practices in the construction industry, published along-side the 2013 UK Government construction strategy. Until recently, Alex was a Senior Analyst at the UK Government Cabinet Office, Infrastructure and Projects Authority. Alex joined Preqin as Vice President in the Research Insights team in 2020 and specialises in coverage of the Infrastructure asset class.

Steven Novakovic, CAIA, CFA is the Managing Director, CAIA Curriculum for CAIA Association. In this role, he is responsible for managing the CAIA Charter curriculum, ensuring the content remains relevant and reflects current trends in the institutional asset allocator space. He joined CAIA Association in 2022 and has been a Charterholder since 2011. Prior to CAIA Association, Steve was a faculty member at Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY, where he taught a variety of finance courses including: Cryptocurrencies, Alternative Asset Management, and Wealth Management, among others. Before entering academia, he worked at his alma mater, Cornell University, (B.S. 2004, MPS 2006) in the Office of University Investments. In his time at Cornell University, Steve invested across a variety of asset classes for the $6 billion endowment. His twelve years at Cornell generated substantial insight into endowment management and fund investing across the alternatives and traditional landscape.

Kevin is currently a Portfolio Manager & Head of Alternative Investments at Old Mutual Investment Group (OMIG). He is also a member of the Alternative Investment Committee at the Fund Managers Association, Kenya. Prior to OMIG, he held a number of leadership positions as Investment Manager at Jubilee Financial Services and Portfolio Analyst and Senior Accountant at Dyer & Blair Investment Bank. Kevin holds a BA and a Master’s Degree in Economics from Kenyatta University and a BSc in Applied Accounting from Oxford Brookes University, UK. Additionally, Kevin is a CFA Charter Holder.