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Natasha Cazenave has been Executive Director of ESMA since 1 June 2021.
Before taking up her current role she was Managing Director, Head of the Policy and International Affairs Directorate at the French Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), where she worked for over 10 years in various roles.
During that period, at the international level, she was elected twice chair of IOSCO’s Policy Committee on investment management in 2012 and 2014. In February 2015, she was appointed co-Chair of the Financial Stability Board’s experts group on shadow banking.
Natasha Cazenave began her career at Ernst & Young Corporate Finance as part of the Valuation & Business Modelling team. She spent eight years working at Deminor, a consultancy firm specialised in the defence of minority shareholders rights, where she was in charge of collective actions for investors who suffered losses as a result of securities violations, and the promotion of best practices in the field of corporate governance. She holds a Master’s degree from the Paris Dauphine University in Banking, Finance and Insurance.
As Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, Ekaterina Zaharieva’s task is to drive the EU’s ambition to put research and innovation, science and technology at the centre of our economy. She will foster investment and cooperation, creating the right conditions for researchers to thrive and develop new skills, and the innovation needed for the EU’s competitiveness, security and sustainability goals.
She is responsible for:
Hester M. Peirce was appointed by President Donald J. Trump to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and was sworn in on January 11, 2018.
Prior to joining the SEC, Commissioner Peirce conducted research on the regulation of financial markets at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. She was a Senior Counsel on the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, where she advised Ranking Member Richard Shelby and other members of the Committee on securities issues. Commissioner Peirce served as counsel to SEC Commissioner Paul S. Atkins. She also worked as a Staff Attorney in the SEC’s Division of Investment Management. Commissioner Peirce was an associate at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering (now WilmerHale) and clerked for Judge Roger Andewelt on the Court of Federal Claims.
Commissioner Peirce earned her bachelor’s degree in Economics from Case Western Reserve University and her JD from Yale Law School.
Jonathan Cleborne, CFA, is Managing Director for Vanguard Europe, responsible for leading the operations and distribution efforts of the European business. Mr. Cleborne relocated to London from Vanguard’s global headquarters in the United
States in 2024.
Prior to this role, Mr. Cleborne was head of Personal Investor Advice leading a team that provides Vanguard’s U.S. clients with ongoing asset management and investment advice consultations with Certified Financial Planner™ professionals through Vanguard’s Personal Advisor offers. Mr. Cleborne and his team were also responsible for Vanguard Digital Advisor®. Collectively, the team stewarded over $300B on behalf of individual investors and 401(k) plan participants. Since joining Vanguard over 20 years ago, Mr. Cleborne has held a variety of roles in Personal Investor, Financial Advisor Services, Corporate Strategy, and the Investment Strategy Group. He was also the global head of Vanguard Portfolio Review Department, which oversees Vanguard’s 400-plus mutual funds, ETFs, and their advisors. The department is also responsible for developing the optimal fund lineup for investors, analyzing the health, usage, and competitive landscape of Vanguard’s funds and ETFs and serving as specialized product experts.
Mr. Cleborne earned a B.A. from the University of Virginia and an M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. He is a CFA® charterholder and a member of the CFA Society of the United Kingdom.
Samantha Ricciardi is CEO of Santander Asset Management since February 2022.
Samantha joined Santander Asset Management from BlackRock, where she had spent around 12 years in senior positions, most recently as Head of Strategic Coverage and Business development for EMEA. Prior to taking on that role in 2021, Samantha had spent seven years as the company’s Country Head of Mexico, a country for which she had previously been Head of Sales.
Prior to joining BlackRock in 2010, Samantha was the Mexico Country Head for Schroders, a company she joined in 2003 as a relationship manager GFIG in London. Samantha Ricciardi began her career working for Citi in London, where she was Head of EMEA Fund Selection.
Samantha is a member of the Boards of FCC Servicios Medio Ambiente Holding and Rassini.
Samantha Ricciardi holds a degree in International Relations from Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) and a Master’s degree from the London School of Economics (LSE).
Samantha is committed to diversity and inclusion and as such is a founding member of Mujeres en Finanzas (MeF) an organisation that promotes the development of women in LatAm.
Nicolas Calcoen is Deputy CEO, Head of the Strategy, Finance and Control Division at Amundi since 1st April 2022 and a member of its Executive Committee. He is in charge of Strategy, Finance and Control Division (Public and regulatory affairs, Human Ressources, Conformity, Risks, Audit, Legal, Security, Governance and Social Life).
He was until March 2022, Deputy General Manager Finance, Strategy and Public Affairs.
Before joining Amundi in 2010, Nicolas Calcoen worked in the public financial administration, both at national and international levels. He held various positions within the French Ministry of Finance, worked as an economist at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC from 2002 to 2005, and, after relocating to France, became deputy director of the office of the French Minister for the Budget, Public Accounts, Civil Service and State Reform in 2007.
A French national, Mr Calcoen graduated from the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA). He is also a graduate of the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris (1992) and holds a DEA post-graduate diploma in Economics and International Finance from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris (1994).
Marie Jacot joined Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management in November 2020 as Global Head of Distribution.
Marie Jacot has spent most of her career with Goldman Sachs, joining the bank in 2004 as a corporate treasury analyst. She joined the Group’s Asset Management division in 2008 where she helped develop the Global Liquidity Management business. She was subsequently appointed head of distribution for France, Belgium and Luxembourg.
Marie Jacot is a graduate of Sciences-Po Paris and holds a Masters in Economics from the Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne university.
Hélène Bussières is Head of the Asset Management Unit in the Directorate General on Financial Markets, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union (FISMA) in the European Commission. She was previously deputy Head of the Asset Management Unit and deputy Head of the Securities Market Unit, working on MiFID, MAR and the Prospectus Regulation.
Prior to joining the European Commission, Hélène spent 10 years working in different capacities in the private sector, in particular on M&A projects, deal structuring and financing and companies’ listings. She graduated from Sciences Po Paris with a major in economics and finance.
Gerry Cross is Director for Capital Markets and Funds at the Central Bank of Ireland. He joined the Central Bank as Director of Policy and Risk in May 2015. He is an Alternate Member of the ESMA Board of Supervisors and was up until recently a Member of the Board of Supervisors of the EBA where he co-chaired the EBA’s Regulatory Policy Standing Committee. He was also a Member of the Executive Committee of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) and chaired the ESAs Joint Committee Sub-Committee on DORA implementation.
Martin Parkes, Managing Director, is a member of BlackRock’s Global Government Affairs and Public Policy team based in London and a member of the Government Relations Steering Committee..
Prior to moving to this role, Mr. Parkes was a director in BlackRock’s legal team specialising in the regulation of BlackRock’s European-managed investment funds. Mr. Parkes’ service with the firm dates back to 2004, including his years with Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM), which merged with BlackRock in 2006. Prior to joining BlackRock, from 1999 Mr. Parkes was an associate in the financial services team of law firm of Eversheds specialising in the regulation of investment funds. Earlier Mr. Parkes worked in the financial services team of the law firm of Garretts from 1997 to 1999. He began his career in 1994, training at the law firm of Frere Cholmeley Bischoff.
Mr. Parkes graduated with a bachelor’s degree in European law from the University of Exeter in 1992 and completed the Law Society Final Examination at the College of Law in 1993. He is registered as a solicitor in England and Wales, qualifying in 1996.
Tanya Panova is the Head of the Securities Markets Unit in DG FISMA. Previously, she has been developing the capital markets strategy as the Head of the Capital Markets Union Unit and served in the private office of Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis where she was responsible for Capital Markets Union, securities markets, asset management, insurance, free movement of capital and competition. In her previous job, Tanya worked on aviation antitrust cases in DG COMP. Tanya is a trained economist with specialisation in financial services.
Biography to follow
Biography to follow
With 15 years of experience in asset management and a deep passion for sustainability, Thomas is currently head of sustainability standards & analytics at AllianzGI. His department, part of our Legal, Compliance, Risk & Finance function, serves as the firm’s independent trusted advisor on sustainability matters. Thomas steers the firm’s sustainability processes and provide solutions to enable strategic business decisions related to sustainable investing (e.g., market standards, regulation, data, and methodologies) and corporate sustainability (e.g., CSRD, quality assurance, and KPIs steering) while minimizing legal, compliance, and reputational risks. He is sustainability board member at EFRAG.
From 2016 to 2021, Thomas worked in the Investment function at AXA IM with his last role being head of responsible investment solutions, models & tools. From 2011 to 2016, Thomas worked in the Operations function at AllianzGI. He started his careers in 2010 as middle-office analyst at BNP Paribas.
Thomas holds a Bachelor degree from EDHEC Business School and a Master degree from ESLSCA Business School. He also graduated from Harvard Business School and ESMT Berlin. He is a CFA and CIPM charterholder, and is FRM certified.
Jyrki Katainen is a Finnish politician and executive with extensive experience in both national and European roles. In October 2023, he joined Nordea Bank as the Head of Group Public Affairs. Prior to his role at Nordea, Katainen served as the President of The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, focusing on climate policy, the circular economy, and the development of a fair data economy.
Katainen’s political career includes serving as the Prime Minister of Finland from 2011 to 2014 and as Minister of Finance from 2007 to 2011. He later became the European Commission’s Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment, and Competitiveness from 2014 to 2019.
At Nordea, he leads public affairs activities, engaging with policymakers and stakeholders across the Nordic region and the EU on sustainability and digitalization.
Biography to follow
Dr. Hyun-Ju Koh is heading the Investment funds and Sustainable Finance unit in the Federal Ministry of Finance. She has been with the Federal Finance Ministry since 2016 and has been spending four years at the International Monetary Fund as alternate executive director and (senior-) advisor for Germany. She holds a PhD in economics and has broad experience in the area in public finance, macroeconomics, and sustainable finance.
Born in Madrid in 1982, Isabel has a degree in Law and International Relations from the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas of Madrid (ICADE). She spent the first years of her professional career in Washington DC, where she worked at the World Bank, implementing transparency and accountability programmes for local governments in Latin America.
In 2011, after returning to Spain and spending one year in the International Relations Department of the FAES think-tank, she decided to undertake her first business project in the tourism sector, Greatness, which she ran until 2017. In December 2018, she became Deputy Chief of Staff of the President of the Spanish People’s Party (PP) Pablo Casado. She left this position when she was elected as a Member of the European Parliament in May 2019.
In this IX legislature, she is the Vice-Chair of the Committee on Regional Development. She is also a Member of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, a Member of the SME Intergroup and a Member of the URBAN Intergroup. Furthermore, she is a Member of the Delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee and of the Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly. She is also a Substitute Member of the Committee on Culture and Education, the Delegation for relations with Japan and the Delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly.
Isabel Benjumea is co-Founder of the Floridablanca Network, a Spanish liberal think-tank to which she has made numerous contributions and has written many articles about for national media. Currently, she teaches Entrepreneurial Thinking as part of the Degree of Entrepreneurship at the Francisco Marroquín University in Madrid.
MEP Since 2019.
Sandrine Menard has been serving for the French Treasury since 2014. Before starting her position on Financial Markets and Corporate Financing, she was posted in Brussels, as Deputy head of the economic, trade and financial department of the French Permanent Representation to the EU. She coordinated the works of the French Presidency on Financial services in this respect. Previously, she was heading the french Treasury’s unit for European coordination and strategy. Before her career in the French Treasury, she had worked as a civil servant on international climate and sustainable development negotiations in the French high civil service, especially as a cabinet Member responsible for the preparation of the Paris Climate COP21 in 2015. She graduated from Ecole Nationale d’Administration, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Sciences Po Paris and La Sorbonne.
Biography to follow
Fabio graduated in Finance & Economics from DES programme, Bocconi University, Milan in 1992. He worked for JP Morgan Guaranty Trust and Gemina Capital Markets in Milan and for UBS in London and Lugano.
In 1999 Fabio joined Assogestioni as head of research. He was appointed Director General in 2002. He has served in several self-regulatory and consultative bodies both domestically and at the EU level.
Since 1999 Fabio has been a member of the board of directors of EFAMA, the European Fund and Asset Management Association. Since 2011 he is a member of the board of Italian Corporate Governance Committee which is the main self-regulatory body for listed companies in Italy. At present he serves as member of ‘Comitato degli Operatori di Mercato e degli Investitori – COMI’, the stakeholder consultative body of the Italian regulator for financial markets, Consob. In October 2020 he joined the board of the IIFA, the international association representing fund investment associations across the globe.
Assogestioni is the Italian Investment Management Association. Members of Assogestioni manage more than 2.200 billion euro in the form of investment funds, segregated portfolios, pension funds and real estate funds. Assogestioni has a staff of 38 in Milan and Rome.
Biography to follow
A graduate cum laude in monetary and financial economics of Bocconi University, Milan, at the EIB Aldo has been Deputy Head of Funding, Euro, from 2001 to 2018 and Head of Sustainability Funding from 2018 to 2022, developing EIB’s core funding instruments in Euro: “EARNs”, “EPOS” and “ECoops”. In 2007, he shaped and executed the transaction with which the EIB inaugurated the green bond market, subsequently promoting best practice in working groups of ICMA’s Green Bond Principles (GBP), China and the EU. Within the framework of the Climate Bank Roadmap, he has driven the gradual alignment of EIB’s sustainability funding with evolving EU legislation on sustainable finance. These results have won Aldo several recognitions, e.g.: “most impressive Green/SRI bond funding official” by Global Capital in 2015/16/17/19; “Personality of the Year” by Environmental Finance in 2018; and “Australasian Market Person of the Year” by Kanganews in 2021.
In the EU Platform on Sustainable Finance, he presently chairs the workstream on the gradual application of the Taxonomy to public sector green bonds.
Wim Mijs was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the European Banking Federation in 2014.
Between 2007 and 2014 Wim served as CEO of the Dutch banking association NVB. During this tenure he transformed the NVB into a modern industry association, positioning it as the key representative of the banking sector in the wake of the financial crisis.
Wim studied law at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, specialising in European and International law. After his studies he worked at the International Court of Arbitration at the Peace Palace in The Hague. In 1993 he joined ABN AMRO in Amsterdam before moving to Brussels to head up the bank’s EU liaison office. Wim moved back to The Hague in 2002 where he became the Head of Government Affairs for ABN AMRO.
Wim is a member of the Advisory Board of Leiden Law School and the Industry Chair of the European Parliamentary Financial Services Forum (EPFSF). He is also a Board Member of the Salzburg Global Forum and additionally, serves as a Board Member of the Dutch Royal Automobile Club (KNAC).
Between 2011 and 2018, Wim held various institutional roles within the International and European financial/banking community: Chairman of the International Banking Federation; Chairman of the Executive Committee of the EBF; and Chairman of the Board of Euribor, now known as the European Money Market Institute.
Chris co-heads the Impax Sustainability Centre and is the Global Head of Policy & Advocacy at Impax Asset Management, a specialist investor focused on opportunities arising from the transition to a sustainable economy. Chris advises Impax’s investment teams on the impacts of public policy and leads the firm’s work to support the development of new policies to accelerate a net-zero, nature-positive transition.
Prior to joining Impax in 2019, Chris played pivotal role in the UK Government’s climate policy efforts. He led the UK implementation of the European carbon trading system and the UK delegation to the international climate negotiations. Chris’s extensive experience also includes supporting over 15 countries in developing their national climate commitments under the Paris Agreement during his tenure as Director of Climate Change at Ricardo Energy and Environment.
Chris is an active member of the policy committees and advisory councils of industry associations including UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF) and Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), as well as co-chairing working groups of the Transition Plan Taskforce and the Investor Policy Dialogue on Deforestation.
Chris has an MA from the University of Cambridge and an LLM in Environmental Law from University College London.
Monica is the General Counsel of CaixaBank Asset Management since October 2013, Member of the Management Body of the company since 2006. Board member of the subsidiary asset management companies BPI Gestão de Ativos in Portugal and CaixaBank Asset Management Luxembourg in Luxembourg, as well as FOGAIN in Spain.
Her current responsibilities cover management of Legal and Non-Financial Risks departments (including Reputational, Technological and Operational Risks), matters related to the Board of Directors as well as Compliance of CaixaBank AM and the coordination of the same functions at its subsidiaries.
Active member of several groups at the Asset Management industry (eg. Women in Finance Group and the Advocacy Group at CFA Society Spain), as well as mentor at different organizations and teacher in several programs. Her financial academic background includes a Master Degree in Banking Law and Financial Markets and Institutions, Master degree in Financial Analysis and Asset Management, while her university background is Telecommunications engineering. Has obtained the CFA, FRM, CDPP, CESCOM and ICCP certifications, among others
As head of the conduct of business department, William Vidonja contributes to the global and European debates on legal and consumer protection issues, including insurance distribution, data protection, differentiation, contract law, competition issues and financial education. William is also part of the employers’ delegation of the Insurance Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee (ISSDC), the only forum at European level in which insurance employer and employee representatives discuss topics of common interest with the support of the European Commission. He joined Insurance Europe as a trainee in 2002. After his traineeship he was hired as deputy manager of the insurance of the person department before moving to the conduct of business department. William is a French national and holds a law degree from the University of Paris XII.
Stefan Ruenzi is a Professor of Finance at the University of Mannheim since 2009. Before, he studied Economics at the University of Konstanz, got his PhD in finance from the University of Cologne and was a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Austin.
Professor Ruenzi’s research areas are broad and cover empirical capital markets research, asset management, gender and diversity, sustainable finance, and financial advice. Methodologically, he mainly focuses on empirical research and machine learning applications.
He regularly publishes in the top finance journals (Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Financial Studies) and presents at the leading conferences in his field. He received various prizes for his research (e.g. the German Finance Association Best Paper Award and the Engelbert Dockner Memorial Award) and his results are regularly covered in the international public press (e.g., New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, NZZ, FAZ).
Professor Ruenzi teaches in the Bachelor, Master, and PhD program as well as in MBA programs in German and English.
Maximilian Bierbaum is head of research at New Financial, a European capital markets think tank. His recent research focused on widening retail participation in equity markets, the reform of pensions in the UK and the EU, and the simplification of the framework for financial services in the EU. Before joining New Financial, Maximilian worked at the City of London Corporation where his research evaluated the UK’s business environment for financial and professional services, and at pan-European economic consulting firm Oxera.
Tanguy van de Werve is the Director General of
the European Fund and Asset Management
Association (EFAMA), the trade body representing
the European investment management industry. In
that capacity, he leads in the formulation of industry
positions on the main policy developments and
engage with relevant EU and international
authorities.
Prior to joining EFAMA, he was Head of the Brussels
office of AFME (European investment banking
industry – 2015-2018), Director General of Leaseurope and Eurofinas (European leasing and
consumer credit industries – 2006-2015) and Head of Banking Supervision and Capital
Markets at the European Banking Federation (2001-2006). Other relevant roles include
positions at Euroclear and Dexia as well as non-Executive Director of Belgium-domiciled
UCITS (2006- 2018).
He holds a degree in law from the University of Louvain-la-Neuve (BE) as well as a diploma in
Political Sciences & International Relations and a certificate of specialised studies (DES) in
Financial Risks Management.
Biography to follow
Serge Weyland is the Chief Executive Officer of the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry (ALFI), a role he has held since December 2023.
He brings more than 25 years of experience in financial services, spanning asset management, private wealth management, fund administration and custody, institutional banking, and management consulting.
From 2010 to 2014, Serge served as Head of Regional Coverage North America & UK at CACEIS Group, followed by his role as Head of Financial Institutions at Banque Internationale à Luxembourg (BIL) from 2014 to 2017. Before joining ALFI, he was CEO of Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management (Luxembourg).
Serge also contributes to the wider financial ecosystem as a member of the Board of the Luxembourg Supervisory Authority (CSSF), the High-Level Committee of the Financial Centre established by the Ministry of Finance, and the Luxembourg Financial Industry Federation (PROFIL S.A.). At the international level, he sits on the boards of the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) and the International Investment Funds Association (IIFA).
He holds a Master’s degree in Finance from the Solvay Business School in Brussels, Belgium. A native Luxembourgish speaker, Serge is fluent in German, French, and English.
Rudolf Siebel is responsible for Legal, Statistics & Research and IT at BVI, the German Investment Funds Association.
Mr. Siebel represents the interests of the fund industry on the Technical Committee at the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) and on the DIN Standards Committee for Finance (NAFin). He is a member of the European Commission Expert Group on European Financial Data Space (EFDSEG) and the associated Open Fincance subgroup. Furthermore he is a member of the Trading, Reporting & Market Infrastructures Standing Committee (TMR SC), Benchmark- and Money Market Funds Working Group of the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA). He was appointed to the Product Advisory Committee of the Digital Token Identifier Foundation (DTI PAC) and to the Governance Advisory Committee (GAC) of The Derivatives Service Bureau. He is also a board member of the German Asset Management Standards Committee (GAMSC) the Country Sponsor of the GIPS in Germany.
He was a member of the ESMA Post Trade Standing Committee Consultative Working Group (PTSC CWG), the EU Commission European Post Trade Forum (EPTF), and the German SEPA payments council jointly organized by the German treasury BMF and Deutsche Bundesbank. Until April 2019 he served also as Vice Chair of the International Securities Market Practice Group (SMPG).
Previously, he was a Vice President – Senior Credit Officer – with Moody´s Investors Service and responsible for analysing and rating money market, bond investment funds as well as life insurance. Mr. Siebel started his career as counsel for securities investment and international law with BVI.
He is a trained German lawyer (Rechtsanwalt) and holds a Master of Law degree from Georgetown University, Washington D.C.
Biography to follow
Vincent joined EFAMA in September 2009. He is responsible for coordinating the association’s work on EU and international legislative and regulatory developments of relevance for European asset management companies and investment funds. He has more than 20 years’ experience in the asset management industry. Working previously at Fortis and as a lawyer in the field.
He speaks English and French.
Jonathan is Director of Policy, Strategy and Innovation at The Investment Association (IA) and a longstanding member of the IA’s Executive Committee.
Jonathan’s role focuses on helping the investment management industry to best serve its customer markets at a time of accelerating change. The PSI Division has evolved into a multi-disciplinary and diverse team that covers a wide range of policy and regulation affecting the industry, including competition, communication, financial stability and fund governance, as well as the broader shape of pensions and long-term savings markets. It also houses a specialist Innovation and Operations Unit to assist the industry in adapting to new technologies and help shape the broader landscape.
Jonathan joined the IA in 2005, becoming Director of Public Policy and a member of the IA Executive Committee in 2012. Prior to 2005, he worked for a number of years at Oxford Analytica, a geopolitical analysis and advisory firm. At OA, he led European political and economic analysis serving a wide range of corporate and government clients, both domestic and overseas.
Jonathan is a Board Member of the Cost Transparency Initiative, Chair of the EFAMA Pensions Group, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Centre for Asset Management Research at Bayes Business School.
He writes and speaks regularly both in the UK and abroad on investment management and pensions issues.
Christophe Gloser, Head of European Distribution, Fidelity International
Aldo Romani, Head of Sustainable Finance, European Investment Bank