Beyond the Great Wall

Davide joined UBS Asset Management in August 2018 in the UBS ETF Research & Analytics team. In this role, he is primarily responsible for researching new passive investment solutions and assess the performance of the existing UBS ETF shelf. Prior to UBS, Davide worked at the European Central Bank in various department (e.g. Money Markets, Economics). He holds a M.Sc. in Economics and Finance from the University of Padova.

Philippe joined UBS Asset Management in March 2018 in the ETF Platform Management team before moving to the UBS ETF Research & Analytics team. In this role, he is primarily responsible for the development and maintenance of an agile environment to ensure that high-quality data-driven contents can be delivered timely to investors and clients. Prior to UBS, Philippe gained index-business experience working for the index provider STOXX. He holds a M.Sc. in Financial Engineering and Risk Management from the University of Lausanne.

Pravin joined UBS Asset Management in January 2020 to run the ETF Capital Markets team. In this role, his team is the central conduit for the primary and secondary market trading of UBS ETFs. They are available to advise on bespoke ETF trading strategies to maximize liquidity and access tight pricing through NAV and risk methodologies. By way of background Pravin was a Delta One Trader (ETFs, Swaps, Futures, etc.) for the past 15 years at various investment banks including JPMorgan, Credit Suisse, UniCredit and HSBC. Pravin read Economics at the University of Cambridge and graduated in 2004.

Marcin is an analyst in the UBS ETF Passive & ETF Investment Analytics team at UBS Asset Management since May 2016. He is responsible for research on innovative ETF solutions and contributes to development of new products. He also provides insights, analysis, and thought leadership around our product offering including ESG and factor-based solutions.  Prior to his current role, Marcin worked in Risk Validation department of UBS. He holds a Ph.D. in Finance from the VU University Amsterdam and a M.Sc. in Economics from the University of Amsterdam.

Jaspreet is Managing Director and Head of EMEA Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Indices at S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI). Jaspreet is involved in the design, methodology, and strategic direction of S&P DJI ESG Indices within EMEA, as well as working closely with the Global Research & Design, Sales, and Marketing departments to bring new indices to market. S&P DJI caters to a diverse spectrum of ESG investing needs, from best-in-class approaches like ESG Elite, to broad-market ESG alternatives to mainstream indices like the S&P 500® ESG Index. Before joining S&P DJI in 2019, Jaspreet worked as an ESG Product Specialist at ISS, as the Head of the UK office at oekom research, and in business development, account management, and analyst roles at Eiris. Jaspreet holds a BSc in Geography and Geology from the University of Manchester and an MSc in Environmental Technology (Business & Environment) from Imperial College London.

As a Climate Change Specialist Consultant, Anja heads a European-based climate specialist team that works with clients on climate risk and opportunity analysis such as TCFD disclosure reporting and 2-degree alignment strategies. In 2018, she got closely involved with the 2018 UNEP FI investor pilot project, working with 20 of the world’s leading investors to assist with the implementation of forward-looking climate scenarios, models, metrics and tools. Anja joined MSCI in 2018 via the acquisition of Carbon Delta where she initially was in charge of business development activities.

Prior to joining Carbon Delta AG and MSCI, she worked 15 years for global market data provider FactSet in various business development roles across continental-European markets, helping institutional investors and FinTech companies to evaluate financial content and quantitative analytics solutions and assisting with the implementation of digital innovation projects in the financial markets.

Anja holds an MSc in International Business from London South Bank University and currently studies Carbon Management (MSc) at The University of Edinburgh. She is also a CFA charterholder.

Pete heads up the global Vol Strategy and Content team at UBS (within Derivatives and Solutions Structuring), responsible for identifying attractive multi-asset trade opportunities and systematic portfolio overlays for institutional accounts, hedge funds and family offices globally. Pete ran a similar trade-floor-based derivatives strategy team at Citi, and prior to that he worked at DrKW within Research. Pete began his career as a strategy consultant with Accenture, advising oil and utility multinationals on a range of topics including B2B marketing, post-merger integration and corporate governance. He graduated from Cambridge in 2001 with a Masters in Chemical Engineering.

Spyros is an industry pioneer in Quantitative Research and the Dynamic Strategies arena. His applied research in the area of factor investing and his collaboration with global asset owners has helped to define the framework for Alternative Risk Premia investing. He has significant experience in the creation of Systematic strategies and Portfolio Solutions across asset classes, with expertise in Primary Research, Risk Premia, Data Science and Natural Language Processing. In addition, his academic research has been showcased in several publications including the Journal of International Money and Finance, and the Journal of Asset Management.

Prior to joining UBS in 2019, Spyros spent the last 10 years at Deutsche Bank and was most recently their Global Head of Quantitative Strategy and Quant Investment Solutions Research Groups. He was also responsible for creating their Data Science Research unit. He has been frequently named the top-ranked Quant in client surveys such as Institutional Investor and Extel. Prior to Deutsche Bank, Spyros worked as a quantitative equity analyst for four years at Citigroup. He holds a BA in Economics from Cambridge University, an MSc in Mathematical Trading and Finance, and a PhD from Cass Business School, London.

Virat is a Cross-Asset QIS (Quantitative Investment Solutions) Structuring Specialist and Head of Commodities Structuring at UBS. During his time at UBS, Virat has established market leading ETCs / ETFs with over 300 listed products across multiple exchanges, structured unique cross-asset UCITS client solutions and is currently heading the commodities investor structuring business where he spearheaded the development of UBS Commodities QIS platform. Before joining UBS, Virat was a research advisor for the IBM Watson Research Center, focusing on designing innovative products using pattern recognition in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Defense. Virat holds a PhD in Algorithms from Georgia Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science and Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India.

Christopher joined UBS as Head of SI Research, Sustainable and Impact Investing team, in February 2017. He led the sustainability research efforts at RobecoSAM, as Head of Sustainability Investing Research where he managed a team of sector specialists responsible for the integration of sustainability into the investment process. Previously, he headed the Sustainability Application and Operations team, overseeing RobecoSAM’s sustainability assessment for the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices. Prior to joining RobecoSAM, Christopher was Director of ESG Content Strategy for ASSET4 at Thomson Reuters.

He holds an MBA from HEC Lausanne, a Certificate in Financial Asset Management Engineering from the Swiss Finance Institute, a Ph.D. in political science from Duke University and has previously taught at the University of Chicago.

Valeria joined UBS in Sustainable Investment Research and Engagement in December 2017. She is responsible for coordinating and undertaking the strategic engagements with investee companies on a range of ESG issues.

Prior to joining UBS, Valeria was Associate Director at the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) where she led the work of the ESG Engagements team.

Her recent publications include a report on "engaging for a low-carbon world" (UBS, 2019), a white paper on "Adding value through active engagement" (UBS, 2018) and a "Practical guide to active ownership in listed equity" (PRI, 2018).

Her research on the effectiveness of shareholders’ collaborative engagement activities with companies on ESG issues has also been published by the Business & Society Journal and Emerald Group Publishing and was selected by the editors as an Outstanding Author Contribution in the 2014 Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence.

Valeria is currently a member of the PRI Academic Network Advisory Committee, the IA Stewardship Reporting Working Group and the IA working group on climate change. She holds a Master of Arts in Corporate Social Responsibility from University of Nottingham Business School (2008) and a University Degree in International Public Administration and Development at the Luigi Bocconi Business School (2002).

Til is an emerging markets analyst at the UBS Chief Investment Office. His focus lies on emerging market currencies, rates and macroeconomics. He is responsible for the Emerging Market FX strategy for EMEA and Latin America. Prior to joining the CIO, he gained experience in equity derivatives and FX trading at different investment banks. Til holds Master degrees in Finance and in Economics from Universidade Nova de Lisboa and INSPER São Paulo, and is a CFA Charterholder.