Kate Dressel

Kate Dressel, CRCP, is President and founder of Strategic Compliance Solutions, LLC, a consulting firm based in Essex, Connecticut. Formed in 2003, SCS assists alternative investment firms with a wide range of regulatory compliance and operational issues. Ms. Dressel is a member of National Society of Compliance Professionals and 100 Women in Hedge Funds. She holds the Certified Regulatory Compliance Professional designation from Wharton School of Business/NASD. She has over 20 years experience in the alternative investment industry and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences. Ms. Dressel has served on committees and in the mentoring program of Managed Funds Association, the leading hedge fund industry association. For further information, please visit www.StrategicComplianceSolutions.com.

 

Kristin M. Fox

Kristin M. Fox is the Founder and Principal of FoxInspires LLC, a firm specializing in providing unbiased investor education. FoxInspires provides access to intelligence and information, which helps investors and managers understand each other better and assists them in making wise choices based on that knowledge. FoxInspires’ clients include hedge funds, ultra-high-net-worth investors, institutional investors and wealth management advisers. FoxInspires was formed in August of 2008.

Previously Kristin was Vice President of News & Research, as well as Executive Editor for HedgeWorld. Kristin was responsible for building the news and research at HedgeWorld, which was sold to Reuters in 2005. Her responsibilities included all aspects of the daily news, and any publications and other information products affiliated with HedgeWorld. Prior to joining HedgeWorld, Kristin was an editor for Crain’s Pensions & Investments, where her duties included editing and producing P&I Daily. Before her tenure at Crain’s, Kristin was President of Hedge Fund Research, Inc., Chicago, IL.

 

Buck Haworth

Buck Haworth is founder and CEO of Born Technology Solutions, a provider of infrastructure hosting and bespoke development for the trading community. In his 30+ year career in the futures industry Buck has worked in many of the segments of the the industry, including trading, audit, and exchange leadership. He served four terms as the Treasurer of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Board of Directors, working to make the CME the first publicly traded financial exchange in the United States. He was a member of the CME for 23 years as a floor broker and a local floor trader. In 1991, Buck established a proprietary trading group trading futures and options.

Previously Buck worked for Chicago Corporation where he established floor operations, and managed foreign exchange arbitrage operations at the CME. He worked for the CME as Vice-President of Audit where he implemented the transition to a professional staff of certified public accountants. He served as Controller of Ralph N. Peters & Co. managing the firm’s back office for both futures and securities operations. Buck holds a CPA and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Illinois CPA Society.

 

Ian Morley

Ian Morley is one of the leading global figures and pioneers in the development of the Hedge Fund Industry. He ran one of Europe’s first and oldest fund of funds and subsequently helped build one of Europe’s largest privately owned Fund of Funds. He founded and was elected the first Chairman of what is today known as The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA). The world’s only truly global trade association for the Hedge Fund Industry. He has advised Central Banks, International Regulators and other International Organizations, such as the EU and OECD on matters related to Economics, Markets and Regulation. He holds numerous positions across a broad range of companies.

Ian trained as an Economist at LSE where he was Vice President of the Students Union. He is a member of Gray’s Inn and one of the few fund managers to be accredited as a journalist. He has written extensively on a wide range of issues connected to financial markets including comment pieces in the Financial Times, Times, WSJ and IHT and a range of International newspapers and journals. He is a frequent guest commentator on TV and radio, a sort after public speaker and Chairman and author of Morley’s Laws on Business and Fund‘s Management. He taught at Kingston Business School where he is an Industrial Fellow and lectures for Fintuition on Understanding Hedge Funds.

 

Marc Nagel

Marc Nagel – Chief Operating Officer – Dorman Trading, LLC. After 25 years as a floor trader and broker I have combined my knowledge and experience in the futures industry with my training as an attorney and a CPA. As COO of Dorman Trading, LLC, I am focused on both operations and compliance as I work to transition Dorman from an FCM catering to floor traders into an FCM focused institutional and retail customers. I currently serve on the Kent College of Law- Financial Services Law Conference Advisory Board, and the NFA- FCM Advisory Committee. B.S. Accountancy- University of Illinois, CPA- University of Illinois, J.D. – IIT- Chicago Kent College of Law

 

Dermot Butler

Mr Butler who has over 40 years experience in the financial services industry, is the President of the Custom House Group of companies, the specialist alternative investment and hedge fund administrator, which he established in 1989. Prior to that Mr Butler has worked variously as both a stockbroker and stock jobber (market maker) on the London Stock Exchange, and subsequently, as a commodity broker and as aprincipal dealer in commodity options on the London Metal and London Commodity Exchanges, before moving into the alternative investment and hedge fund management and administration business. Mr Butler previously held the position of Chairman of McDonnell & Co. (London) Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bermudian based fund management group, McDonnell & Co. Ltd., of which he was a founder member.

Mr Butler is a regular speaker at international conferences and has authored numerous articles on the management, administration and regulation of hedge funds and was also the Deputy Chairman of the Alternative Investment Management Association Limited (“AIMA”) for sixyears to September 2008 and was Chairman of the AIMA Sound Practices Committee during that period, which was responsible for producing a range of Due Diligence Questionnaires and Guides on Sound Practices for Hedge Fund Managers, Administrators, Directors and Hedge Fund Valuations.

 

Bob Swarup

Bob is a respected international expert on macroeconomics, financial markets, alternatives and regulation. He is Principal at Camdor Global, an advisory firm that works with leading financial institutions, investors and policymakers around the world on strategic investment, risk, regulatory and business issues. He is Co-founder and Managing Partner at Alpha Governance Partners, a leading independent directors firm with over $15bn in assets under governance. He is also the founder of the Insurance Investment Exchange, the largest forum globally for insurance firms devoted solely to investment matters.

Bob was formerly a senior partner at Pension Corporation, a leading UK-based pension buyout firm with over $24bn of assets under management, where he oversaw alternative investments, was the Chief Risk Officer and ran Thought Leadership. In addition, Bob was a member of the Advisory Board of Adveq, a leading European PE fund of funds with $6bn AUM; a Member of the Board of CatCo, a $2bn reinsurance hedge fund that he helped seed in 2011; and has sat on boards and key committees for numerous other investment funds and industry bodies.

Bob holds a PhD in cosmology from Imperial College London and an MA (Hons) from the University of Cambridge. He is a Senior Visiting Fellow at Cass Business School in London, a Fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs and on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Alternative Investments. Bob has written extensively on diverse topics, with his work being featured in the Economist, Financial Times, Bloomberg, CNBC, Huffington Post, Guardian, Boston Globe and AllAboutAlpha.com amongst others. His most recent book is the critically acclaimed Money Mania: Booms, Panics and Busts from Ancient Rome to the Great Meltdown (Bloomsbury, 2014), which examines 25 centuries of financial crises and their common human drivers.

 

Mark E. Ruddy

Mark E. Ruddy is a securities and commodities attorney representing registered investment advisers, currency dealers, commodity futures registrants (including FCMs, CPOs, and CTAs), hedge funds, and other members of the financial community. His experience in the alternative investments industry spans over twenty years.

Prior to becoming a consultant and attorney in private practice, Mr. Ruddy worked for a Securities and Exchange Commission registered investment adviser and operator of several private investment partnerships, where he completed financial reporting and handled compliance matters. He also has experience as a former compliance examiner with the National Futures Association.

Mr. Ruddy has performed expert witness work in derivatives and brokerage related cases in arbitration and court. He has been a contributing writer to industry related publications, seminar speaker in the industry, and law school lecturer in the field of derivatives and hedge funds. He currently teaches at the Catholic University of America Law School.  Mr. Ruddy also serves as a board member of the Alliance of Business Lawyers, a global association of leading business law firms throughout the world and an advisory board member to the National Introducing Brokers Association, a trade association representing professionals in the futures and options industry.

Mr. Ruddy has been quoted in several newspapers and publications, including: The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, and the New York Post.