Event Speakers

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Elena Manola-Bonthond, PhD, MBA, is Chief Investment Officer of the Pension Fund of CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, based in Geneva, Switzerland. The Fund manages approximately 4 billion Swiss francs in assets, both internally and externally. Elena has played an instrumental role in defining and implementing an investment governance framework optimised for dynamic risk management. Before joining the CERN Pension Fund, Elena worked in CERN’s science sector where she was in charge of safety and risk management systems of CERN’s flagship installation, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Before that, she worked as a research physicist at CERN. Elena holds a PhD in particle physics from the University of Savoie, France and an MBA in international management from the University of Geneva, Switzerland. She is a CAIA charterholder.

Laura Merlini, CAIA is Managing Director EMEA for the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) Association. Laura joined the CAIA Association in March 2012 with over seven years of business development and sales experience throughout Europe in the alternative investments industry mainly in the areas of fund set-up, administration, banking and custody. She formerly worked at Credit Suisse (previously Fortis Prime Fund Solutions) in Milan, Madrid and Geneva. She earned the CAIA charter in 2007 and has been an active CAIA proponent and member-volunteer. Laura co-founded the CAIA Iberia chapter (based in Madrid) in 2008 and she has led the Geneva committee of CAIA Switzerland since 2010. She is also a member of the Educational Committee of 100 Women in Hedge Funds Association 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 completed the Executive Master in Positive Psychology, Leadership and Strategy form IE, Madrid in 2014.