Innovation and Resilience Forum

October 24 - 26, 2022
Pillar and Post | Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON

The current rising inflation environment, complicated by geopolitical tensions, is driving global economy into turbulent and uncertain times, which investors have not encountered in recent decades. How do institutional investors innovate to stay focused on building resilient portfolios in the era when geopolitical, market, and climate risks are converging?

This October join your fellow institutional investors and industry practitioners, at (3rd annual) Innovation and Resilience Forum, taking place at Niagara-on-the-Lake ON, for a series of forward-looking discussions and peer-to-peer conversations. 

Featured Speakers

Sohini Chowdhury

Sohini Chowdhury

Ph.D, FRM

Director, Senior Economist

Moody's Analytics


View Bio
Ju Hui Lee 1

Ju Hui Lee

CFA, CAIA, FSA, FCIA, CERA, FRM

Head of Market Risk

United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund (UNJSPF)

View Bio
Winston Ma

Winston Ma

CFA, Esq

Managing Partner

CloudTree Ventures
( ex-Managing Director, China Investment Corp)

View Bio
Steve Mahoney 1

Steve Mahoney

CFA, FSA, CAIA, PRM

Chief Investment Officer

Nova Scotia Pension Services Corporation

View Bio
Alison Loat

Alison Loat


Managing Director, Sustainable Investing and Innovation

OPTrust

View Bio
Veena Ramani 1

Veena Ramani


Research Director


FCLTGlobal

View Bio
Marco Salerno

Marco Salerno

PhD

Principal, Total Portfolio


HOOPP

View Bio
Kevin Zhu 1

Kevin Zhu

CFA

Managing Director, Head of Portfolio Construction Group

OPTrust

View Bio
View All Speakers

Media Partner

CAIA

CAIA Association

View Profile

The Event Experience

Participate in peer-to-peer discussions addressing forward-looking topics facing institutional investors

Network with your peers and investors through a series of breaks and roundtable exchange discussions

Hear from a vast array of industry experts through interactive discussions

Extend connections at the off-site reception and dinner, hosted at a premier winery

Interact with speakers and make connections through use of an event app

Experience the luxurious atmosphere at Niagara-on-the-Lake, one of Canada’s most beautiful towns

Dinner Experience

A networking reception and dinner will be hosted at Peller Estates, on the evening of October 25, with wine-pairing course to be served at dinner.

Sustainability

Institutional Connect strives to be a responsible event organizer. The following measures will be in place to reduce or offset carbon associated with operating this event:
  • An event app will be used for attendees to access agenda, make connections, and participate in session polling and Q&A. No event agenda or brochure will be printed.
  • We will offset carbon generated from travel, accommodation, meals (from the data that we gather).
  • Our lanyards are made of recycled materials.

Impact

Institutional Connect works with clients on donations to foundations. We have made donations to 12 foundations in 2021 and 2022 so far. At this event, we welcome all participants to join gamification through event app, and Institutional Connect will donate CAD$1,000 combined to top 3 winners’ preferred foundations.

Ways to Participate

1 1

Speak

Propose a speaker for a topic aligned with the conference theme

2 1

Attend

Complimentary passes available for qualified institutional investors

3 1

Sponsor

Limited sponsorship opportunities available for provider firms

Connect with us

  • 647-948-3250
  • connect@institutionalconnect.com

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Sohini Chowdhury

Ph.D, FRM

Director, Senior Economist

Moody's Analytics

Sohini Chowdhury is a Director and Senior Economist with Moody’s Analytics. She specializes in applying macroeconomic forecasts, scenarios, and models in different industries such as banking, insurance, government, and asset management. These applications include stress testing such as CCAR/DFAST and ORSA, impairment accounting such as CECL/IFRS9, and asset allocation. She also works on incorporating climate scenarios and ESG metrics in underwriting and portfolio management. Previously, she led the global team responsible for the Moody’s Analytics market risk forecasts and modeling services while managing custom scenarios projects for major financial institutions worldwide.

An experienced speaker, Sohini often presents at global industry conferences, roundtables and client meetings on topics such as the global and regional macroeconomic outlook and risks, and industry best practices for managing credit and market risks, portfolio modeling and meeting regulatory mandates. Sohini holds a PhD and a master’s degree in economics from Purdue University, and a master’s degree in applied statistics from West Chester University in Pennsylvania. She is a GARP® certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM) and has been working at Moody’s Analytics since 2011.

Ju Hui Lee

CFA, CAIA, FSA, FCIA, CERA, FRM

Head of Investment Risk and Performance

United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund (UNJSPF)

Ju Hui Lee is Head of Market Risk of UNJSPF (United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund), responsible for market risk oversight and asset-lability management. The fund manages assets of US$91.5 billion as of 31 December 2021.
Before joining UNJSPF, Ju Hui worked on the asset-liability analysis of the Canada Pension Plan and the factor studies at Canada Pension Investments (CPP Investments). In addition, she led modelling groups in the Global Risk Management at Scotiabank and ALM consulting, pension investment strategy development and risk management activities for financial institutions, model vetting, and actuarial valuation reporting for clients at KPMG and Mercer and developed the LDI methodology and was responsible for the strategic asset allocation at Manulife Financial.
Ju Hui holds a BSc. Mathematics, an MBA from the Yonsei University in Korea, and an MSc in Financial Mathematics from the University of Chicago. Ju Hui holds the CFA, CAIA, FSA, FCIA, CERA, and FRM designations.

Winston Ma

CFA, Esq

Author of Blockchain and Web3
(ex-Managing Director, China Investment Corp.)

Winston Ma, CFA & Esq., is an investor, attorney, author, and adjunct professor in the global digital economy. He is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of CloudTree Ventures, a seed to early growth stage venture capital firm empowering interactive entertainment companies. He is currently the board Chairman of Nasdaq-listed MCAA, a European tech SPAC, an advisory board member of Capgemini, and an Adjunct Professor at NYU Law School. Most recently for 10 years, he was Managing Director and Head of North America Office for China Investment Corporation (CIC), China’s sovereign wealth fund. Prior to that, Mr. Ma served as the deputy head of equity capital markets at Barclays Capital, a vice president at J.P. Morgan investment banking, and a corporate lawyer at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP. He was selected a 2013 Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum (WEF), and in 2014 he received the NYU Distinguished Alumni Award. Mr. Ma is one of a small number of native Chinese who have worked as investment professionals and practicing capital markets attorneys in both the United States and China. A nationally certified Software Programmer as early as 1994, Mr. Ma is the book author of eight books, including The Digital War: How China’s Tech Power Shapes the Future of AI, Blockchain and Cyberspace (2021) and The Hunt for Unicorns: How Sovereign Funds are Reshaping Investment in the Digital Economy (2020). His new book is “Blockchain and Web3 – Building the Cryptocurrency, Privacy, and Security Foundations of the Metaverse” (Wiley, September 2022).

Steve Mahoney

CFA, FSA, CAIA, PRM

Chief Investment Officer

Nova Scotia Pension Services Corporation

Steve Mahoney was appointed NS Pension’s Chief Investment Officer on April 1, 2022.
Steve was born and raised in Nova Scotia. His career started with the Maritime Life Assurance Company as an Investment and Actuarial Analyst. He then moved on to Keel Capital as a Risk Manager and then to the Halifax Regional Municipality Pension Plan also as a Risk Manager. Steve worked for six years at Morneau Shepell (now LifeWorks) as a Partner in their investment consulting division. He was then with Connor, Clark & Lunn Financial Group in Toronto as Vice President of Institutional Sales prior to joining NSPSC in 2022 as Chief Investment Officer.
Steve’s education includes a Bachelor of Science (Mathematics) degree from Mount Allison University and a Bachelor of Education degree from St. Francis Xavier University. He also holds several professional designations including Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA), Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA), and Professional Risk Manager (PRM). 

Alison Loat

Managing Director, Sustainable Investing and Innovation

OPTrust

Alison Loat is the Managing Director, Sustainable Investing and Innovation at OPTrust where she leads OPTrust’s responsible investment program, its total fund climate change strategy, and oversees an investment portfolio focused at the intersection of sustainability and innovation.

Previously, she was the Senior Managing Director of FCLTGlobal where she worked to advance long-term investing. She also worked at McKinsey & Company, a healthcare technology company and was on the founding team of the MaRS Discovery District.

Alison has a deep commitment to public service. She co-founded the Samara Centre for Democracy and was a Senior Fellow at the University of Toronto. She is on the boards of the Max Bell School at McGill University, Ridley College, the think tank CIGI, Ai-Media, an ASX-listed technology company, and privately held media company.

She received the Queen’s Gold and Diamond Jubilee Medals and was named one of the 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada. She has degrees from Queen’s University and the Harvard Kennedy School. 

Veena Ramani

Research Director

FCLTGlobal

Veena Ramani is an expert in corporate governance, climate change and ESG issues. Veena comes to FCLTGlobal after 15 years at Ceres, a leading sustainability nonprofit. During this time, Veena played a number of roles including launching a program on corporate governance, creating online training curriculum for board directors on ESG (in partnership with the Berkeley School of Law), jumpstarting efforts to engage financial regulators on the systemic risk of climate change and engaging with large global companies on their sustainability and climate change strategies and disclosures.
Veena has published and presented extensively on these topics. Key publications include Turning up the Heat: The need for urgent action from US financial regulators on climate change (2021); Addressing Climate Change as a Systemic Risk: A role for financial market regulators (2020); Running the Risk: How corporate boards can oversee ESG issues (2019) and Systems rule: How board governance drives sustainability performance (2017).
Prior to Ceres, Veena held roles at CDM Smith and Integrative Strategies Forum. Veena has also practiced law in India.
Veena is a board director of Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary and Foundation, which is an 8000 acre refuge created to preserve, protect and propagate native flora and fauna in Western Massachusetts. She holds a BA (Hons) LL.B degree from the National Law School of India University and an LL.M degree from the Washington University School of Law.

Marco Salerno

PhD

Principal, Total Portfolio

HOOPP

Marco Salerno joined the Total Portfolio team at HOOPP in May 2021. His main focus at HOOPP has been on asset-liability management, portfolio construction and investment research (e.g., application of machine learning to asset allocation). Prior to joining HOOPP, Marco completed his PhD in Finance at the University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management. His research interests are on empirical and theoretical asset pricing with a focus for portfolio allocation. He has several research papers on the topics of stable equities, portfolio tilting, factor investing, measuring economic policy uncertainty, and portfolio construction theories. He presented his work in major Finance conferences (e.g., American Finance Association and European Financial Association annual conferences). He also presented to the Pacific Center for Asset Management in the CIO advisory panel in 2021 on the topic of portfolio tilting.

Kevin Zhu

CFA

Senior Managing Director, Head of Portfolio Construction

OPTrust

Kevin Zhu is Senior Managing Director, Head of Portfolio Construction at OPTrust, one of Canada’s largest defined benefit pension funds with net assets of almost C$25 billion.

Kevin has over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, including both central banking and total portfolio investment
framework and strategy design for large Canadian defined benefit pension plans.

Kevin joined OPTrust in 2016 where he has been leading Total Fund portfolio management functions, including portfolio construction research and innovation, capital and risk allocation across asset classes and strategies, total portfolio management framework design, and dynamic total portfolio management.

Prior to joining OPTrust, Kevin held the position of Director, Strategy & Asset Mix at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Prior to this appointment, Kevin was Senior Economist at the Bank of Canada focusing on monetary policy research and model development. He holds a MA in Economics from Carleton University and is a CFA Charterholder. In 2017, Kevin was named to Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute’s Public Investor 100.

About CAIA Association

The CAIA Association, a global professional body, pioneers a new era in investment management. At the forefront of the shifting of alternative investment asset classes from ‘alternative’ to mainstream, CAIA embraces diverse expertise and interdisciplinary knowledge essential for responsible capital allocation and client stewardship. A Member-driven organization representing professionals in more than 100 countries, the organization seeks to prepare investors for a dynamic future, disrupting traditions, creating opportunities, and fostering long-term sustainability. To learn more about the CAIA Association and how to become part of a professional network that is shaping the future of investing, please visit https://caia.org/.

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