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- Date: May 20, 2026
- Location: Mandarin Oriental Savoy, Zurich
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Speakers
Alex Ball
Organization: Aberdeen
Camille Biancheri
Organization: Penta Advisory Monaco
Since completing the graduate program at UBS Zurich, where she spent a total of five years, Camille Biancheri has focused her career on fund selection and cross-asset strategy. She later joined Cape Capital in Zurich as part of the cross-asset team, co-managing a suite of funds - including two Funds of Hedge Funds and a Multi-Asset Impact Fund of Fund which now have about USD 500m AuM all together. She continues to serve as an advisor to Cape Capital for two specific funds. A year and a half ago, Camille returned to her home in Monaco to join Penta Advisory Monaco as a Senior Analyst and Portfolio Manager. In this role, she manages both advisory and discretionary portfolios, overseeing security and fund selection in the broadest sense. Camille holds a Bachelor’s degree from Cass Business School and a Master of Finance from MIT Sloan. Outside of work, she is a passionate traveler and cook who stays active with skiing, football, volleyball, and Hyrox. She is a CFA charterholder.
Federica Cazzaniga
Organization: Partners Group
Federica Cazzaniga is a Senior Portfolio Manager and Head of Mandates Portfolio Management at Partners Group. She manages private market portfolios across bespoke mandates, as well as evergreen and closed-ended funds. Prior to joining Partners Group, she was a portfolio manager at J.P. Morgan Asset Management and a portfolio advisor at Aksia, a global alternative investment consultant. Miss Cazzaniga holds a BSc and a MSc in Finance from Bocconi University and she is a CFA and CAIA Charterholder. Beyond private markets, her passion for alternative investments extends to wine: she holds the WSET Level 3 Award in Wine and the WSG Champagne Masters and she’s a WSET Diploma Candidate.
Mayeul de Margerie
Organization: Quaero Capital
Mayeul de Margerie joined the Quaero European Infrastructure team in 2019.
He previously worked at AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets since 2014 within the infrastructure finance team, based in Paris and London. He notably led deal teams allowing the provision of direct financings to ca. 20 infrastructure assets across Europe. This translated into a growth in assets under management by more than two billion euros. He also actively contributed to the management of funds and separately managed accounts for European institutional investors.
Prior to AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets, Mayeul worked in the project finance team of EY Advisory in Paris. As such he was involved in the financial structuring of several social and transportation projects, as advisor to private consortia or public bodies.
Mayeul is an engineer from the Ecole Centrale de Lille (France).
Ioannis Galetsas
Organization: Zurich Insurance Company
Tim Gascoigne
Organization: HSBC
Timothy Gascoigne is a senior investment specialist in AM Alternatives at HSBC Asset Management in London. He has worked in financial services since 1992 and is responsible for developing the hedge fund business. Before joining HSBC in June 2022, he led hedge fund advisory at DWS in London, building and managing their hedge fund offering. In 2013 he headed alternatives at Allenbridge Investment Solutions for pension fund clients. He previously held senior research and portfolio management roles at HSBC and trained at Mercury Asset Management. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Monetary Economics from London School of Economics and is a CFA charterholder.
Francesco Gonzaga
Organization: Andera Partners
Francesco is a Partner and member of the Andera MidCap Investment Committee. He heads the Milan office of Andera Partners, and is responsible for originating, executing, and monitoring investments in Italy and, previously, France and Belgium. Francesco joined Andera Partners in 2018, initially based in Paris. Before joining Andera Partners, Francesco was part of the Integrated Strategies Group at GIC in London. He began his career at Goldman Sachs in London within the Investment Banking Division. Francesco holds a MSc in Finance and BSc in Management from Bocconi University.
Oliver Grimm
Organization: Pension Fund of the City of Zurich
Oliver Grimm joined City of Zurich Pension Fund (Pensionskasse Stadt Zürich) in November 2010 and has been Head of Mandates of the investment department since 2018. His key areas of focus include private market investments, infrastructure, real estate, currency hedging, and fixed income investments. Since 2023, Oliver has been a trustee of the Adimora Investment Foundation (Swiss real estate) and a Board of Director at the CFA Society Switzerland. Additionally, he represents the PKZH on the boards of infrastructure operating companies. Oliver is a member of the Capital Market Investments Expert Group (VPS), and an advisory board member of the Vision PK2030 initiative at ZHAW. He was a Post Doc at ETH Zurich in macroeconomics, and studied economics at the University of Heidelberg, where he also earned a PhD in economics in 2007.
Kalyani Harar
Organization: Wellington Management
As director of alternatives on Wellington's Private Investments Capital Formation Team, Kalyani leads capital formation and client coverage for our private investment strategies across EMEA. In this role she is responsible for our engagement with clients and prospects on Wellington’s privates platform in the UK, Switzerland and Middle East, partnering closely with business developers across the broader EMEA region to identify new clients for our private investment capabilities, across both private equity and private credit. She is based in London. Prior to joining Wellington in April 2022, Kalyani spent over 11 years at Intermediate Capital Group in a distribution role, where she held direct institutional relationships with both local and global clients, including consultants, pension schemes, insurance, family office, wealth and FoF clients. Prior to ICG, she worked in the Corporate Finance Team at KPMG in the M&A and valuations practices. Kalyani holds a BSc in economics from the University of Birmingham (2006).
Daniel Holtz
Organization: Swiss Life Asset Managers
Francois-Serge Lhabitant
Organization: Kedge Capital Fund Management Ltd.
Francois-Serge LHABITANT is the CEO and CIO of Kedge Capital where he runs a multi-billion portfolio allocated primarily to hedge funds (private and public markets) and risk-controlled strategies on behalf of a small group of investors. His funds have won several awards for their performance and risk-adjusted performance. On the academic side, Francois-Serge is currently a Visiting Professor of Finance at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (China). He was formerly a Professor of Finance at HEC Lausanne and the co-director of its Master in Banking and Finance, and an Associate Professor of Finance at the EDHEC Business School (France). Francois-Serge holds an engineering degree from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, a B.Sc. in Economics, a M.Sc. in Banking and Finance, and a Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Lausanne, and a LL.M. in Tax Law from the University of Geneva. He is the author of several books and articles in the areas of risk management, asset management, alternative investments (hedge funds, commodities), tax law and emerging markets.
Elena Manola-Bonthond
Organization: CERN Pension Fund
Elena Manola-Bonthond, PhD, MBA, CAIA, is Chief Investment Officer of the Pension Fund of CERN. She is responsible for investment of over CHF 4 billion in assets across public and private markets using a risk driven investment approach. Prior to joining the CERN Pension Fund in 2011, Elena worked in CERN's engineering sector where she was responsible for safety and risk management systems of the Large Hardon Collider (LHC). Elena started her career as a research physicist at CERN, specializing in Higgs research and in neutrino physics. Elena is a member of the Pension Fund Committee of the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) and also serves on the Investment Committee of UNESCO as an external member. Elena is a Trustee of the Standards Board for Alternative Investments. Elena earned a PhD in Particle Physics from the University of Savoie, France, for a research conducted at CERN. Elena holds a MBA from the University of Geneva, Switzerland, and a dipl.ing. degree in physics from the University of Zagreb, Croatia.
Laura Merlini
Organization: CAIA Association
Laura Merlini, CAIA, CIFD, 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 chaired the 100 Women in Finance Educational Committee in Geneva between 2016 and 2018. 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 and 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.
Luca Michienzi
Organization: Wellington Management
As an account manager, Luca supports the relationship management and business development efforts for Wellington Management’s clients and prospects in Switzerland’s wealth management channel. His responsibilities include assisting clients with long-term investment strategy and resolving day-to-day client issues, as well as regularly participating in meetings with clients to discuss new investment- and business-related issues. He is located in our Zurich office.
Prior to joining Wellington Management in 2017, Luca worked at UBS Asset Management in Zurich (2012 – 2016), where most recently he was an authorized officer in the Product Management Team of UBS’s Infrastructure & Private Equity Department, supporting both the investment and sales teams. Before that, he completed an apprenticeship at Citibank (Switzerland) AG.
Charles-Henry Monchau
Organization: Syz Group
Olivier has more than 18 years of financial services industry experience, and also broad leadership experience. He holds a Master of Science in Business and Economics, has been a CFA Charterholder since 2006, is a CAIA Charterholder as well as a a FRM Charterholder. Oli has been with Credit Suisse since 2002 in many roles, including portfolio management, trading research, equity and credit research, investment strategy and most lately he was Head of Investment Delivery, working on advisory and discretionary solutions as well as investment communication. He has been a volunteer since 2009 with CFA Society Switzerland and CFA Institute, working with two colleagues on the CFA Institute Research Challenge and University Relations, as well as on smaller assignments. He is a Swiss citizen, lives in the city of Zürich, speaks German and French, both native, as well as English.
Steven Novakovic
Organization: CAIA Association
Steve Novakovic is the Managing Director, Educational Programs at CAIA Association. In this role he leads the creation, development, implementation, and execution of the charter, certificate and other professional development programs offered by CAIA Association. Steve joined CAIA Association in 2022 and has been a Charterholder since 2011. Prior to CAIA Association, he was a faculty member at Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY, where he taught a variety of finance courses, including alternative investments. Before entering academia, he worked at his alma mater, Cornell University, (B.S. 2004, MPS 2006) in the Office of University Investments.
Lela Prodani
Organization: Pension Fund of Credit Suisse Group
Lela Prodani is a seasoned investment professional with extensive experience in managing multi-asset institutional investor portfolios. She currently serves as a Senior Portfolio Manager at Pensionskasse der Credit Suisse Group (Schweiz), responsible for the oversight of a multi-billion Alternatives portfolio for the pension fund. Previously, Lela held the position of Investment Director at a multi-family office / OCIO in New York, as well as at a healthcare endowment in Saint Louis, Missouri. In these roles, Lela spearheaded due diligence efforts across various asset classes with a focus on private markets. Lela holds the CFA and CIPM certifications. She earned a BA in International Business / Finance and an MBA from Webster University.
Vesa Pursiainen
Organization: University of St. Gallen
Prof. Dr. Vesa Pursiainen is Associate Professor of Finance at the University of St.Gallen and the Swiss Finance Institute. Before entering academia, he worked as an investment banker at J.P. Morgan and as an investment professional at Oaktree Capital Management. His research on behavioral finance, entrepreneurial and corporate finance, and fintech has been published in various top journals, such as Journal if Finance and Review of Financial Studies, and featured in major financial media outlets, including The Economist, Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg.
Gabriele Quargnali
Organization: Aquis Capital Ltd.
Gabriele works as an Investment Manager at AQUIS Capital, covering hedge fund solutions and managing two global multi-strategy fund of hedge funds portfolios, being a member of the investment committee. He joined AQUIS Capital in May 2021 as an Investment Analyst focusing on hedge fund research. Prior to this experience, he worked as an ESG Project Analyst at Vontobel Asset Management, after starting his career in the Global Asset and Wealth Management Research Department at PwC Luxembourg. Gabriele holds a Master of Science in Finance from HEC Lausanne, a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from the University of Trieste and is a CAIA Charterholder.
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