Following a rigorous global search, the Conference Fund Manager Selection Committee is pleased to share the managers for 2023. This year's suite of conference fund managers feature a wide range of investment specialists including experts in Asian equities, emerging markets, UK financials and Australian commodities.

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Ricky Sandler
Founder, CEO and CIO
Eminence Capital (USA)

Ricky Sandler founded Eminence Capital in 1999. Today, Eminence is a ~$7.0B global investment management organisation. As Chief Investment Officer of Eminence, Ricky is responsible for managing a team of over 20 investment professionals and a diversified portfolio across most sectors of the market. Ricky is returning to Sohn Hearts & Minds 2023 after New Relic, his 2022 stock pick, returned nearly 70% since he pitched it last year.

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Ravi Chopra
Founder and CIO
Azora Capital (USA)

Ravi Chopra is a new manager for HM1, Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Azora Capital based in New York. Azora Capital launched in 2017 and employs a fundamental long/short equity strategy focused on the U.S. financial services sector. More than just banks, the firm invests across the full spectrum of financial subsectors. Before founding Azora, Ravi worked at Goldman Sachs, Sigma Capital and Samlyn Capital.

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Jeremy Bond
Founder and CIO
Terra Capital (Aus)

Jeremy Bond is a local commodities expert and a new manager for HM1. West Australian by birth, Jeremy founded Terra Capital in 2010. Terra is a Sydney-based specialist fund manager who brings significant expertise to the resources and mining sectors. Well suited to the Hearts & Minds investment process, Terra Capital is a high conviction manager in listed and private resource-based companies.

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The Terra portfolio is currently heavily weighted towards gold, copper, lithium and uranium – with the bulk of exposure spread across Australia and North and South America. Prior to founding Terra Capital Jeremy worked in London at RAB Capital.

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Angela Aldrich
Founder & Managing Director
Bayberry Capital (USA)

Angela Aldrich is the Founder and Portfolio Manager at Bayberry Capital, a global long/short hedge fund manager based in New York. Angela currently manages about half-billion dollars in assets, typically holding around 15 long positions and 40 shorts in the portfolio. Previously, Angela held roles at Goldman Sachs, BDT Capital Partners, Scout Capital Management and Blue Ridge Capital. At Blue Ridge, she earned the moniker “Tiger grandcub” while working under Julian Robertson protégé of John Griffin. Learn more about Angela and how she approaches stock picking in this podcast episode with Columbia Business School. Listen here.

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Ashish Swarup
Founder & Portfolio Manager
Aikya Investment Management (UK)

Ashish Swarup is a new manager for HM1 and is the Founder, Portfolio Manager and Investment Analyst at Aikya Investment Management. Aikya is an emerging markets specialist based in London and backed by the infrastructure of Pinnacle here in Australia. Aikya has sustainability at the heart of its investment process and is B Corp certified. Prior to founding Aikya in 2020, Ashish worked at First State Stewart from 2014 to 2019, where he managed several emerging market and Asia-Pacific portfolios. Learn more about Ashish's career to date, the common pitfalls of emerging market investors and his investment approach in this podcast episode on Far From the Finishing Post.

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Rikki Bannan
Portfolio Manager
IFM Investors (Aus)

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Rikki Bannan is a local Australian small caps specialist and a new manager for HM1. Rikki manages the small cap fund for IFM Investors – a global fund manager with over $200bn of assets. She specialises in the healthcare, consumer, and technology sectors. She's always had a keen interest in the stock market and comes from a family with a long history of investing.

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 Martin Hughes
Founder and CEO
Toscafund Asset Management

Martin Hughes founded Toscafund in London in 2000 and is a new manager for HM1. As an investor, Martin runs a unique strategy that is focused on ‘collaborative activism’ whereby he aligns himself with founders, majority shareholders and boards of UK-listed (and unlisted) companies to reposition strategy around self-help or corporate activity (ie M&A) to correct material undervaluation.

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Martin is the largest investor in Toscafund with alignment of interest being a core principle of the firm such that each investment strategy and opportunity includes significant firm and partner capital invested alongside investors.

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Chris Kourtis
Director & Portfolio Manager
Ellerston Capital

Chris Kourtis is a new manager for HM1 and has served as a Portfolio Manager at Ellerston and has nearly four decades of investment experience. He is known as "Sir CK" to his friends and peers, and is a larger than life member of the Australian funds management community. 

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He is a very well-known “stock picker” and has never been afraid to take contrarian positions in unfashionable and bombed out companies. He is a “quiet activist” flying under the radar and has been instrumental in helping management teams turn their ships around. 

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Chris was inducted into the Australian Fund Managers Foundation Hall of Fame in 2018 in recognition of his contribution to the industry. Get to know Chris better on this episode of Livewire's The Rules of Investing podcast.

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Jun Bei Liu
Lead Portfolio Manager
Tribeca Investment Partners

Jun Bei Liu is returning to Sohn Hearts & Minds stage for the fifth time. She is the Portfolio Manager of Tribeca’s Alpha Plus Fund and since taking over managing the Fund, she has quadrupled AUM. She is a passionate, motivated, and dedicated investment manager having built an 18-year career at Tribeca, starting as an equity analyst in 2005 and spending several years as a Portfolio Manager, before taking over the Alpha Plus Fund in 2019. You can learn more about her journey here.

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Jun Bei is a TEDx speaker, has been appointed as a Core Fund Manager for Hearts and Minds Investments and volunteers for the Raise Foundation Board.

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Tom Naughton
Managing Director & CIO
Prusik Investment Management (UK)

Tom Naughton, another new manager, is an equities expert with a strong track record of finding hidden gems in the emerging markets of Asia. He is also a new addition to the HM1 line up this year. After starting his career in London nearly 30 years ago, Tom moved to Hong Kong in 2002 as one of the founding partners of PMA, a US$1.7bn multi-strategy hedge fund focused on Asia ex-Japan. Tom was responsible for launching the equity division and built one of the largest long/short funds in the region. He developed a research based, value biased approach to identify mis-priced opportunities.

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Tom moved back to London in 2010 and is now the Managing Partner and CIO of Prusik Investment Management which also specialises in Asian equities.

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Sharif el Khazen
Founder & CIO
Metronome Capital (UK)

Sharif el Khazen founded Metronome Capital in London in 2012 and is another new addition to the Hearts and Minds line-up this year. At Metronome he runs a highly concentrated portfolio of predominantly European stocks, with selected pockets of US exposure. He was formerly at Lehman Brothers before joining Parvus Asset Management where he was a partner.

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Sharif aims to invest in quality companies at an attractive valuation, with a particular focus on consumer discretionary where companies with brand power and emotional desirability can enjoy outsized long-term returns. Sharif's high conviction approach is well suited to the Hearts & Minds investment process.

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Kieran Moore
Partner & Portfolio Manager
Munro Partners

Kieran Moore joined Munro Partners at its inception in July 2016. 

Kieran is responsible for championing stock ideas and managing these positions within the portfolio. Kieran has specialised in global growth equities for the last 10 years. Over his career, Kieran has undertaken additional functions within the investment team, including risk management, portfolio analytics and trading. Munro Partners is a Core Fund Manager for Hearts and Minds Investments, and Munro's Founding Partner and Chief Investment Officer Nick Griffin has pitched at five previous Sohn Hearts & Minds Conferences.

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HM1 invests 35% of its portfolio in the highest conviction investment recommendations presented by local and global fund managers at the annual Sohn Hearts & Minds Investment Leaders Conference. These conference picks are held in the portfolio for up to twelve months. 

Attending the Conference is a great opportunity to discover more about some of the companies we invest in and to hear the investment rationale behind them, direct from presenting fund managers.