Bruce Weatherill, Master of Ceremonies

Bruce is a Chartered Accountant with over 35 years’ financial services industry experience around the world. He was a partner in PwC for 20 years and is now a non-executive director of Compeer as well as other companies.

James Brown – Director of Client Services, Compeer

James joined Compeer in October 2006 as an analyst following his graduation from The University of Warwick, where he studied Mathematics, Operational Research, Statistics and Economics.  Today he manages Compeer’s team of analysts. He has widely presented key trends in the UK Wealth Management Industry, with in-depth experience of providing statistical analysis of firms’ business performance. He regularly provides recommendations during presentations to Executive boards, and is actively involved in bespoke research projects.

Sasha Batica – Founder, Mara Invest

Sasha is the Founder of Mara, a platform breaking down the technological and regulatory barriers to enable individual investors and private wealth access to private funds with ease. Mara is funded by senior executives from the private funds world and has worked with top-tier private funds like Notion Capital and Holyport Capital.

Mara’s platform solutions encompass efficient investor onboarding, SPV structuring, compliance checks, and ongoing administration, enabling qualified investors to invest as little as £500 into private funds, delivering game-changing levels of access. Mara has onboarded investors from the UK, Switzerland, the EU, the Middle East, and the USA.

Prior to founding Mara, Sasha worked in investor relations for a private equity real estate fund called Europa Capital, where he was involved in establishing new funds, raising capital for those funds, and other commercial projects.

Prior to Europa Capital, Sasha worked for Cambridge Associates, the private markets-focused investment consultancy. Here, Sasha advised institutional investors on allocating to top private market funds across buyout, venture capital, and private credit strategies. Sasha is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a graduate in International History and Politics from the University of Leeds.

Mark Foulds – Associate Consulting Director, Nagarro

Mark is a seasoned problem solver with a track record in strategic business transformation and leadership across premier Investment Banks and Asset Management firms globally. He started his career on the London Stock Exchange, progressed to trading FX for international banks, before founding an Equities Hedge Fund.

Mark’s pivot toward technology brought him to IBM’s Consulting Practice, where he honed his skills as a certified Management Consultant and Change Management expert. He has held pivotal roles, such as leading Business Strategy & Change for RBS’s Equities division, directing global equity transformation programmes at Deutsche Bank, and overseeing the implementation of eCommerce platforms at finance giants like JP Morgan and BNP Paribas. More recently, at Dassault Systèmes, Mark steered the Financial & Business Services Consulting unit, liaising with prominent clients across the UK, Europe, and North America.

Currently, Mark brings his expertise to Nagarro, where he continues to leverage his deep industry knowledge and consulting acumen, delivering customer-centric solutions that address the dynamic challenges of today’s Asset Management, Wealth Management, and Private Banking industries. Mark’s mission remains to forge personalized solutions that generate unparalleled customer value. ​

Benjamin Reid – Director, Technology and Innovation, CBI

Benjamin leads the CBI’s policy team and programme on technology and innovation. The team works closely with both business and government to: strengthen the UK’s R&D and innovation ecosystem, ensure the UK leads on AI and emerging technology regulation, support business to effectively adopt technology to boost productivity, and make the UK the most effective place to grow and scale an innovative business.

Prior to the CBI, Benjamin held roles as Head of Capability Development at the Behavioural Insights Team, Head of International Innovation at innovation charity Nesta where he designed and directed the influential 16-country ‘Global Innovation Policy Accelerator’ programme, and as Head of Open Innovation at London-based think tank the Big Innovation Centre He started his career as a MBA tutor at Henley Business School where he also gained his PhD for work in innovation, leadership and impact assessment.

Roger Portnoy – Chief Strategy Officer, Objectway

Roger is currently Objectway’s Chief Strategy Officer, shaping the company’s platform evolution and corporate development. With over 30 years of diverse experience in the financial technology sector, he has improved his competences across investment banks, financial information providers, software vendors and outsourcing firms. Passionate about leveraging technology to create value for every endeavor, including wealth management, investment research and payments.

Nina Manning – Partner & Head of Digital Delivery, Killik & Co

Harriet Griffin – Chief Operating Officer, Kingswood

Nick Rosser – Head of Information Technology, Saunderson House