Funds of the Future Europe 2025

Florian Bardong is a Senior Portfolio Manager at Allianz Global Investors, Advanced Fixed Income. Previously, he was Director of Portfolio Management at ansa Capital Management and held senior roles at Citadel and BlackRock. Florian founded two companies, focusing on quantitative investment strategies. Florian's expertise spans fixed income, global macro, and market-neutral strategies, leveraging quantitative analytics and statistics to streamline and systematize the investment processes. He holds a Ph.D. in Accounting & Finance from Lancaster University and a Master's in International Business from Maastricht University.  

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Dr. Helen Belopolsky is HSBC’s Global Head of Geopolitical Risk. Helen previously held a variety of strategic roles with HSBC in Compliance and Risk in Asia and the Middle East.  Helen holds a doctorate in international relations from the University of Oxford focussing on Russian foreign policy, and is a published author. Prior to joining HSBC, she spent a number of years working in public safety and security functions within the Government of Canada. Most recently, she was responsible for providing strategic analysis of Russia and Central Asia to the Canadian Prime Minister and the National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister at the Privy Council Office of Canada. Helen has also deployed to Afghanistan and has worked for the Canadian Embassy in Moscow. 

Neil provides a top-down view of the world to complement fundamental research and help traders anticipate and interpret geopolitical events with market impact. He leverages a global network of academia, think tanks, and open-source intelligence developed over 9 years in the private sector and before that a full career in the Royal Navy that included logistics command at sea, legal advisory roles on operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and strategy roles in Whitehall. He focuses on changes underway to globalisation and the impact of domestic politics, notably in weakened democracies, and geopolitical realignment. He tracks long-term transitions underway in global energy and commodities, supply chains, macro-economics, and technology, on top of ongoing risk in Ukraine, Iran, Taiwan and North Korea.

Neil graduated from Queens University Belfast in Law, was commissioned into the Royal Navy at the Britannia Royal Naval College, called to the Bar at the Middle Temple, was a Visiting Fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford University, is a Distinguished Fellow at the Council on Geostrategy, and is on the organising committee of the London Defence Conference. 

Anna Colombatti is a Chartered Investment professional with broad experience in Asset Management and Financial Services as an executive and non executive. Anna has two decades global experience in the selection, allocation and oversight of investment products, firms and service providers. She is passionate about digital transformation ,AI, sustainability and D&I. Currently Anna is the functional COO for the Front Office department of the AXA IM multi managers business, responsible for investment, operational and ESG research, due diligence and all global operational initiatives.

Timothée Consigny is the CTO of H2O Asset Management, with 14 years of experience at the firm across roles in quantitative research, options and volatility trading, and in-house software development. Driving the development and implementation of innovative technology solutions, Tim is leveraging generative AI to address the needs of the firm.

Caroline joined Preserver in 2023. As Chief Investment Officer and Co-Portfolio Manager, Caroline oversees all investments for the firm’s managed portfolios, focusing on portfolio construction, manager selection and risk management.

Prior to joining the firm, she managed multi-asset class and multi-manager portfolios with a focus on alternatives, particularly hedge funds and private equity. She worked as a senior executive and member of the Investment Committee of Appomattox, a New York-based OutsourcedChief Investment Officer firm. Caroline also founded of Rose Hill Park Alternative Asset Managers, whose core strategy is to direct seed and acceleration capital to new and emerging hedge fund and private equity managers, with a focus on diverse managers. She has advised, both informally and formally, nascent alternative investment managers on business strategy and operational issues. She was a founding partner and Co-Portfolio Manager of Pine Street Alternative Asset Management. Before Pine Street, she was Managing Director of Provident Group Asset Management ("PGAM") responsible for hedge fund research, portfolio construction, new manager selection, and oversight of the investment and due diligence process.

Caroline earned a B.A. in Economics from Harvard University and an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Caroline currently serves on the advisory board of a climate change-oriented hedge fund and advisory firm as well as the investment committee of an ESG-oriented foundation. Further, she co-chairs High-Water Women's ESG Webinar Series, Accelerating for Impact, now a part of 100 Women In Finance.

Thomas joined FERI in 2007. As the Head of Hedge Funds at FERI he is responsible for the portfolio management, manager selection and due diligence within FERI’s hedge fund department. Furthermore, he is responsible for hedge fund operations. Before joining FERI, Thomas worked as a researcher at the University of Munich, Department of Economics. He studied Mathematics and Economics at the LMU Munich and at the University of Cambridge, U.K., and holds a diploma in Mathematics and a PhD in Economics. Thomas regularly publishes research articles in industry and academic journals and teaches a course on Alternative Investments at the Frankfurt School of Finance. 

Victoria Snow is a finance professional with extensive experience across banking and hedge funds, specialising in European credit markets. Most recently, Victoria played a key role in launching Eicos, a specialised alternative asset manager focused on European credit investments, where she is COO, overseeing operational infrastructure and regulatory processes. Previously, she was Global Head of Middle Office at Varde Partners, a global investment firm specializing in credit and credit-related assets. Passionate about financial literacy, she volunteers to help individuals make informed financial decisions, and is an advocate for promoting STEM careers for girls and increasing diversity in traditionally male-dominated industries