Agenda

Recent market dislocations have shown how quickly volatility can move through portfolios, affecting liquidity, leverage and collateral requirements. As hedge funds operate across an increasingly complex investment universe, do managers have the visibility and tools to understand where vulnerabilities are building before they become a problem? 

The US commands over 70% of global hedge fund assets – yet political uncertainty, regulatory flux and market volatility are reshaping the landscape. How do managers navigate the next 12 months?

Is this the era of hedge funds back? Geopolitical tensions, mid-term elections, Middle East exposure, European fragmentation. Allocations to hedge funds is rising amid all this uncertainty. But when and how do top managers ride this tide? 

 Accessing and Using Alternative Data
• The current alternative data stack: What sits at the core, what has been dropped, and what has replaced it.
• Budgets and pricing pressure: Rising vendor costs, consolidation among providers, and the difficulty of attributing P&L to any single dataset.
• AI as the processing layer: Models making messy, unstructured sources usable at scale, moving the edge from acquisition to interpretation.
• Signal crowding: What happens to an edge once everyone owns the same dataset, and whether the answer is exclusivity, faster processing or collecting your own

Speakers 

• Nishant Gurnani, Partner, Versor Investments 

Trading Technology: Is Your Stack Ready for What’s Next?
Market volatility is here to stay, hedge funds are expanding into more complex, multi-asset and increasingly illiquid strategies, new markets are emerging and 24/7 trading is just around the corner. All this amounts to the exponential pressure on trading infrastructure. Liquidity management, valuation complexity, operational costs, compliance and fragmented data are all becoming more pressing as firms broaden their investment universe. 

This workshop helps you build the check points for discussion across all your teams (investment, trading, operations, technology and executive leadership) to help you define a transformation plan that will keep firm secure and agile.  

• Risk & visibility: Can you maintain a single source of truth across an increasingly complex investment universe? 
• Agility and change readiness: How quickly can you add a new strategy, asset class or market, and what slows you down? 
• Technology stack: Platform or patchwork? Where is fragmented infrastructure creating friction? 
• Emerging markets: From prediction markets to other new opportunities, is your infrastructure ready to trade, manage risk and adapt as markets evolve? 
• Operating model & talent: Is your technology allowing the whole organisation to focus on alpha? 

Speakers 

• Ronan Farrell, Global Head of Buy Side, FIS
• John Avery, Global Head of Front Office Pre-Sales, FIS
• DeWayne Louis, Founding Partner , Versor Investments

Telling Your Story to Allocators

• Crafting pitches that clearly articulate thesis, edge, and differentiation
• Highlighting performance data while addressing volatility, drawdowns, and strategy pivot
• Presenting a track record that builds confidence without defensive posturing
• Engaging allocators with a concise, memorable investment narrative.

Speakers 

• Oliver Bradley, CEO, Hedgeweek®

Beyond Compliance: Tax as a Strategic Advantage for Hedge Fund Growth 

• Cross-border growth in a fragmented regulatory environment: As hedge funds expand internationally, what operational, regulatory and structuring challenges are emerging across jurisdictions, and how can firms remain agile while managing complexity? 
• Scaling strategies without creating structural inefficiencies: As managers launch new products and enter new markets, how can firms ensure their legal, operational and tax frameworks are built to support long-term growth rather than requiring costly restructuring later? 
• Tax as a strategic differentiator: How can thoughtful tax planning and fund structuring support fundraising, investor alignment and business growth, rather than simply meeting compliance obligations? 
• Managing tax risk in a changing landscape: What are the key tax developments hedge fund managers should be watching, and what practical steps can firms take to mitigate risk while maintaining flexibility? 

Speakers 

• George Teixeira, Principal – Tax, Baker Tilly X Anchin 

Prediction Markets: A New Source of Alpha? 

• Are prediction markets becoming a legitimate institutional asset class? 
• How are hedge funds using event markets to generate signals and hedge risk? 
• What limits institutional adoption today: liquidity, regulation or market structure? 
• Can prediction markets outperform traditional forecasting models? 
• Asset Class vs Data Source 

Speakers 

• Tom Wakins, Multimedia Journalist, Hedgeweek® 
• Dan Berkovitz, Vice Chairman, External and Regulatory Affairs, Millenium 

A candid chat with current and former allocators. Listen as they explain the rationale on what usually gets a fund on the shortlist – and what kills a first meeting.