Quant Strats 2025

March 11, 2025

Quorum by Convene, NY, USA

Tuesday 11th March agenda


8:00 am - 8:50 am REGISTRATION AND NETWORKING

8:50 am - 9:00 am Chair’s opening remarks

Hear from a large institutional investor about their strategic posture and priorities at the mid-way point of the decade and how these translate into their processes when selecting fund managers and investment strategies. 

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Winston Ma

Executive Director and Adjunct Professor
Global Public Investment Funds and NYU

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Elina Ploskin

Associate Director
LGT Capital

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Chris Solarz

CIO of Digital Assets
Amitis Capital

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Amrita Tiwari

Investment Analyst
New York Life Investment Management LLC

This ‘state of the union’ type panel deciphers just what has happened over the past year, with volatility, uncertainty and seismic technological advancements garnering speed, this panel has a look at what that means for the Quant Strats community. 


  • What strategies and tools have generated alpha over the past year? How does an organisation allocate assets and who have been the winners? 
  • How will self-learning technological advancement be scaled and impact global financial markets? Are we starting to see a shift? 
  • Where are the risks in the wider market, funds and diversified portfolios? How is this exposure being managed? 
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Farouk Jivraj

Portfolio Manager & Head of Alternative Risk Premia
FMR Investment Management (UK) Ltd.

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Laura Serban

Principle, Global Stock Selection Research Group
AQR Capital Management

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Irina Bogacheva

Director of Research, Systematic Global Macro
Millburn

This fireside chat will be centred around streamlining functions and processes within organisations and will cover the following key internal stakeholder relationships critical to enhancing investment decision making and ultimately, executions. 

 

  • Streamlining decision making between data, quant and investment functions to get usable data into quants hands at pace and the analytics into the investment managers in trays to construct, manage and optimise their portfolios. 
  • Building long term partnerships between researchers and engineers to turn ideas into useable investment tools 
  • Integrating systematic and fundamental thinking across asset classes, merging the capabilities of man and machine to improve fund performance 
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Paul White

CEO and Co-Founder
Quantbot Technologies

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Budha Bhattacharya

Head of Systematic Research
Lombard Odier Investment Manager

10:40 am - 11:15 am NETWORKING BREAK AND REFRESHMENTS

This session will focus on the first step of the investment journey, selecting and onboarding data and will centre around the following points...  


  • Does novel data exist in familiar geographies? 
  • How does one refine internal infrastructure to seamlessly onboard data? 
  • Does a one stop shop exist, or is it even preferable?  
  • How does one determine the criteria companywide when sourcing data? 
  • How does one navigate the compliance framework effectively? 
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Evan Reich

Head of Data
Verition Fund Management

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Eugene Miculet

Director, Data Sourcing and Strategy
WorldQuant

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Rich Brown

Global Head of Market Data
Jain Global

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Michael Koegler

Managing Principal
Market Alpha Advisors

12:00 pm - 12:30 pm 5x5 QUICK FIRE PRESENTATIONS

Nicolas Hourcard - Co-founder & CEO, QuestDB

This part of the programme will consist of 5, 5-minute presentations with each presenter showcasing how their data offering, platform, software or tool which can you the edge in and increasingly competitive market. 

 

Presentation 1: High-Performance Database for Quants, built on Open Formats,Nicolas Hourcard, Co-Founder and CEO, QuestDB

Presentation 2:  Revelio Labs

Presentation 3:  

Presentation 4: 

Presentation 5: 

 

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Nicolas Hourcard

Co-founder & CEO
QuestDB

12:30 pm - 1:30 pm NETWORKING BREAK AND REFRESHMENTS

This session will explore if, how, when and where A.I’s applications are both in reality and potentially when it comes to asset management. From workflows to automation to unlocking unique signals not spotted by the human eye, this session is centred upon the practical applications of A.I. 

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Renee Yao

Founder and CIO
Neo Ivy Capital

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Iro Tasitsiomi

Head of AI and Investments Data Science, AI Labs
T. Rowe Price

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Dhagash Mehta

Head of Applied Artificial Intelligence Research for Investment Management
BlackRock

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Christos Koutsoyannis

CEO
Atlas Ridge Capital

Track A: AI, ML and LLM/NLP Innovation

2:10 pm - 2:30 pm Integrating and Applying LLMs in Quant Finance
Petter Kolm - Professor, NYU Courant
Sheedsa Ali - Managing Director - Head of Systematic Strategies, PineBridge Investments
  • How can LLMs be best levered in forecasts, risk management and ultimately, alpha generation? 
  • What level of sophistication has sentiment analysis reached? 
  • What is the selection process when using different LLMs for different tasks? 
  • How can a defense layer be built for high quality misinformation?
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Petter Kolm

Professor
NYU Courant

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Sheedsa Ali

Managing Director - Head of Systematic Strategies
PineBridge Investments

  • Assessing the potential of ML and identifying opportunities where it can truly surpass human performance. 
  • Examining the real-world applications of machine learning, is its primary value in optimizing routine tasks, or is it being leveraged to drive alpha generation? 
  • Making ML accessible across an organization to boost productivity at all levels 
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Andrew Gelfand

Quant, L/S Equity Alpha Capture
Balyasny Asset Management LP

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Alisa Rusanoff

Head of Credit / Trade Finance
Crescendo Asset Management

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Judith Gu

Managing Director, Head Equities Quantitative Strategist
Scotiabank

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Christos Koutsoyannis

CEO
Atlas Ridge Capital

Track B: Building and maintaining a high performing Quant Shop

1:30 pm - 2:10 pm Leveraging the best-in-class tools when allocating and optimising your portfolio
Yesim Tokat-Acikel - Head of Dynamic Risk Multi-Asset Strategies,, Principal Asset Management
Pam Vance - Head of Axioma Portfolio Construction Products, SimCorp

This session is focused on the nuts and bolts of effective portfolio construction, allocation and optimisation and execution and will be centred around the following key questions: 

 

  • What does effective allocation look like? 
  • Are all signals created equal? 
  • To diversify or not to diversify? 
  • What would trigger a re-balancing? 


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Yesim Tokat-Acikel

Head of Dynamic Risk Multi-Asset Strategies,
Principal Asset Management

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Pam Vance

Head of Axioma Portfolio Construction Products
SimCorp

Track B: Building and maintaining a high performing Quant Shop

2:10 pm - 2:30 pm Portfolio optimisation under discrete constraints


Track B: Building and maintaining a high performing Quant Shop

2:30 pm - 3:20 pm Agile Architecture: Streamlining the Data to Portfolio Pipeline
Giovanni Beliossi - Senior Advisor, Astarte Capital Partners
David Mascio - Founder, CEO and CIO, Della Parola
Revant Nayar - Principal and CIO, Princeton AI and FMI Tech

In an era of metadata, with a plethora of data sources out there, both structured, unstructured and coming in all shapes and sizes, how can your organisation ensure the operational agility and necessary architecture to extract the most value from data? 

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Giovanni Beliossi

Senior Advisor
Astarte Capital Partners

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David Mascio

Founder, CEO and CIO
Della Parola

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Revant Nayar

Principal and CIO
Princeton AI and FMI Tech

Track C: Alternative Data and Alternative Assets: Mapping the Quant Spread

1:30 pm - 2:10 pm The Alternative Data Offering
Jason Koulouras - Research Data Ranger and Market Data Leader, Bridgewater Associates
Yossi Cohen - Research Scientist, Wellington Management
  • What’s the alt-data landscape look like? 
  • How does one merge alternative and traditional data sources?  
  • What does a cross asset-data offering look like?  
  • How re-usable is a data set in a multi-asset strategy?  
  • Which markets suffer from the ‘lack of data’ myth? 
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Jason Koulouras

Research Data Ranger and Market Data Leader
Bridgewater Associates

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Yossi Cohen

Research Scientist
Wellington Management

Track C: Alternative Data and Alternative Assets: Mapping the Quant Spread

2:10 pm - 2:30 pm The Systematic Spread: Private and physical assets in focus
Konstantinos Vamvourellis - Director of Data Science, ITE Management

This presentation will delve into how quant techniques can be applied to more illiquid assets, from commodities to infrastructure to private equity and debt spheres and will discuss practical ways to overcome the following challenges: 


  • Limited/inconsistent market data 
  • Long-term investment horizons 
  • Pricing inefficiencies 
  • Lack of transparency and liquidity 
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Konstantinos Vamvourellis

Director of Data Science
ITE Management

Track C: Alternative Data and Alternative Assets: Mapping the Quant Spread

2:30 pm - 3:20 pm The Case for Fixed Income: From automating analytics to enhancing execution
Samir Shah - CEO/CIO, MBS Mantra, LLC - Alpha Through Analysis
Justin Xu - Managing Director - Head of Risk, Millennium Global Investments Ltd.
  • How does the market structure and dynamics differ from traditional assets? 
  • How can AI and ML be levered effectively across the fixed income landscape? 
  • Do LLMs herald more risk than reward in this space? 
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Samir Shah

CEO/CIO
MBS Mantra, LLC - Alpha Through Analysis

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Justin Xu

Managing Director - Head of Risk
Millennium Global Investments Ltd.

3:20 pm - 3:50 pm NETWORKING BREAK

Track A: AI, ML and LLM/NLP Innovation

3:50 pm - 4:10 pm Leveraging exponential technologies for frontier market investing
Ole Jorgensen - Director of Research, Global Evolution USA

This presentation will discuss how technologies can be used with a particular focus on diverse frontier markets. 

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Ole Jorgensen

Director of Research
Global Evolution USA

Track B: Building and maintaining a high performing Quant Shop

3:50 pm - 4:10 pm Enhancing and determining quality trade executions
Henrik Neuhaus - Co-Founder & CIO, CataMetrics Management
  • Enhancing transaction cost analysis techniques, including the opportunity cost of not making the trade 
  • Discussing what determines a quality trade execution process, in addition to being faster and cheaper 
  • Exploring the nuances and difference across asset classes when executing trades 


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Henrik Neuhaus

Co-Founder & CIO
CataMetrics Management

Track C: Alternative Data and Alternative Assets: Mapping the Quant Spread

3:50 pm - 4:10 pm Alternative data for Alpha generation
Dmitry Novikov - Head Of Equity Research, Franklin Templeton

This presentation will focus on the unique properties from a wide range of alternative data sources and how they can create models and gain a competitive edge, the presentation will be centred around the following points: 


  • Understanding the unique angles and insights which alternative data can provide 
  • Merging different types of alternative data sets from across the landscape 
  • Strategies to find and structure the ‘diamonds in the rough’ 
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Dmitry Novikov

Head Of Equity Research
Franklin Templeton

4:15 pm - 4:55 pm PANEL: Quantitative Techniques in Multi-Asset Investing: Unlocking Alpha Across Equities, Commodities, and Fixed Income

Bernd Wuebben - Global Head - Fixed Income Systematic Investing and Quantitative Research, AllianceBernstein
Arun Assumall - Head of EMEA Commodities, Macquarie Group

This session will explore how quantitative techniques are applied across equities, commodities, and fixed income, with an emphasis on similarities and differences in application across asset classes, topics will include

 

Equities – factor modelling, machine learning and portfolio optimisation

Commodities – trend following and volatility modelling

Fixed income – yield curve modelling and credit risk analysis

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Bernd Wuebben

Global Head - Fixed Income Systematic Investing and Quantitative Research
AllianceBernstein

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Arun Assumall

Head of EMEA Commodities
Macquarie Group

4:55 pm - 5:25 pm Systematic & Discretionary: A match made in heaven?

Jhe Yun - SVP, Portfolio Manager, PIMCO

This session will bring together a systemic and discretionary portfolio manager, to discuss how they interact and collaborate, from deciphering signals to constructing portfolios, this session analyses and discusses some of the common themes when active and passive strategies come together. 

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Jhe Yun

SVP, Portfolio Manager
PIMCO

5:25 pm - 6:25 pm DRINKS RECEPTION