Speakers
Speakers
Keynote Speaker
Caroline Wheeler
Political editor of the i paper and former political editor of The Sunday Times
Thursday 10 September, 13:30 - 14:30
With more than 20 years’ experience reporting from Westminster, Caroline brings an insider’s understanding of government and Whitehall, supported by impeccable contacts across politics, business and the civil service.
Caroline has broken numerous agenda-setting stories, including Boris Johnson’s plans to ‘cancel Christmas’ and introduce tougher lockdown restrictions over the festive season in 2020; Operation Yellowhammer, the government’s secret contingency plan for a hard Brexit; Theresa May’s decision to call a snap general election, which ultimately wiped out her parliamentary majority; and the alleged Chinese spy ring in Parliament.
In 2024, Caroline was named Journalist of the Year at the British Journalism Awards in culmination of her 23 years of reporting on the NHS contaminated blood scandal, which she first covered as a reporter on the Sunday Mercury in Birmingham and later chronicled in her book Death in the Blood (Headline, 2023). Campaigners and politicians have credited her reporting with helping to secure the Infected Blood Inquiry.
Caroline is a regular political commentator for the BBC and Sky and has appeared as a guest analyst on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, The Westminster Hour and BBC Radio 4.
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Keynote Speaker
Alex Wood
Cybercrime, social engineering and counter fraud expert
Friday 11 September, 10:00 - 11:00
His early career was in the music industry. Aged just 13 he began to tour the world as a violin virtuoso and performed under the greatest conductors of the modern era. He was awarded prestigious scholarships to attend the Purcell School, the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music, won an array of major prizes and regularly performed for the Royal family.
Aged 24 his career was abruptly halted by the onset of Repetitive Strain Injury in his right hand and faced with mounting debts and no source of income, his criminal career began. His life spiralled out of control, culminating in several years spent in prison for a number of dishonesty offences - everything from impersonating the 13th Duke of Marlborough to committing multi-million pound cyber-crime.
Since his release from prison in early 2022 Alex has turned his life around and become a globally celebrated motivational speaker. Alex is a resident member of the BBC ‘Scam Secrets’ team and is a regular expert guest on mainstream television (including ITV’s ‘This Morning’, 'Good Morning Britain', 'ITV News' and TalkTV). Alex consults for the world’s largest financial institutions (including Tier 1 banks, insurance providers, law firms and risk experts) so as to enable a deep understanding of the ‘Fraud Mindset’ as well as sophisticated ‘Social Engineering’ techniques and the threat of emerging technology (such as AI and Quantum Computing). Alex regularly speaks for and advises a number of Government departments including the Home Office, the NHS, the FCA and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).
In 2025 Alex was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
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Workshops
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Workshops
Baillie Gifford
Ignore the Noise. Focus on Growth. Find Balance.
Speakers
Representatives
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In a world focused on the latest political and market headlines, Baillie Gifford looks at what a more thoughtful, long-term approach is designed to do: identify growth companies the market may underappreciate, combine them with fixed income, and build balanced portfolios that can compound through changing cycles.
Workshop Objective:
1. Understand how using growth equities and fixed income can be combined to create balance in client portfolios.
2. Explore why regional diversification matters when equity market leadership is narrow.
3. Assess why long-term earnings growth remains a key driver of stock-market returns.
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Capital Group
Despite higher valuations, is the US too big to ignore?
Speakers
Representatives
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The US equity market has delivered an extraordinary run in recent years, powered by resilient earnings, rapid innovation and one of the strongest economic recoveries in the developed world. But this success has also created challenges: valuations in several areas now sit meaningfully above their long term averages and at a clear premium to other global markets. For investors, this raises an important question: how do you participate in America’s ongoing growth story without simply buying into its most expensive corners? As one of the longest running US equity strategies, Capital Group Investment Company of America seeks to harness this next chapter of America’s growth in diversified and disciplined way.
Workshop Objective:
1. Understand why the US remains a powerful engine for long term equity returns
2. Explore the wide range of broadening opportunities across sectors that are driving the next phase of US market leadership
3. Learn how a core, diversified and research driven approach can best capture these trends by balancing resilience, participation and long term compounding
Company Profile: Capital Group is one of the oldest and largest asset management companies in the world, managing multi-asset, equity and fixed income strategies for different types of investors.
Since 1931, Capital Group has been singularly focused on delivering superior, consistent results for long-term investors using high-conviction portfolios, rigorous research and individual accountability. We build our investment strategies with durability in mind, backed by our experience in varying market conditions. Fundamental proprietary research forms the backbone of our approach, provided by our integrated global network of more than 480 experienced investment professionals, with an average portfolio manager investment experience of 28 years.
Today Capital Group works with financial intermediaries and institutions to manage more than US$3.2 trillion in long-term assets for investors around the world.
*All data as at 30 September 2025
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Causeway Securities
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Jupiter Asset Management
Fixed Income in an uncertain world
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Representatives
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The team at Jupiter will cover the investment case for a flexible and unconstrained approach to bond investing in an uncertain and volatile market environment.
The presentation will cover the fund’s yield and risk-return profile, and where the managers are finding tactical opportunities across government bonds, emerging markets and selected credit sectors, as well as portfolio construction, historical performance and current positioning.
The deck also outlines how the fund can support client objectives through diversification, income generation, downside resilience and active value creation.
Workshop Objective:
• Understand the investment case for strategic bonds in an environment of elevated equity valuations, persistent volatility and changing interest-rate expectations.
•Identify where opportunities exist across fixed income markets, including government bonds, investment grade credit, high yield and selective global opportunities.
•Assess how strategic bond funds can be used within client portfolios to enhance diversification, generate income and improve risk-adjusted outcomes.
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Orbis
AI from the bottom-up
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Representatives
AI is often discussed as a monolith. Either service providers, datacentre operators, frontier model developers, and chipmakers all make money and the buildout continues apace, or they don't and the buildout slows. For bottom-up stockpickers, this framing ignores the medley of partnerships and negotiations which define competitive strategy in the space. A customer in one area may be a supplier in another and a rival in a third. Picking stocks within AI is not the same as simply betting on AI. In this presentation, we unpack the dynamics at play within the broader ecosystem, and a range of scenarios that could affect the individual players in different ways. In doing so, we'll discuss where we have found opportunities, whether it be the underappreciated beneficiaries and enablers of AI, or businesses that are largely agnostic to the buildout altogether.
Workshop Objective: Understand key AI value chain players, assess scenario impacts, and identify underappreciated beneficiaries, overlooked companies, or AI agnostic businesses where market perceptions may create compelling investment opportunities for investors.
Company Profile: Orbis has been creating value for clients for more than 35 years.
We work to find opportunities others miss, but this means investing in unpopular areas of the market, which takes courage and patience. Our long-term approach is at the core of everything we do, from the way we invest, the company structure, and even the way we charge fees.
Our team of 60 investment professionals located around the world does comprehensive research evaluating businesses from the bottom up to identify businesses priced at less than they are worth with long-term prospects. Since it can take time for these companies to realise their true value, our business is structured to avoid pressure for short-term performance with no external shareholders. Our independence allows us to prioritise clients, make bold but considered decisions and to stand by them as long as we need to.
And our unique fee structure ensures we remain driven to deliver long-term returns.
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Rathbones
Hidden Champions: accessing quality growth businesses in the UK
Speakers
Representatives
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The UK market remains one of the most overlooked investment opportunities globally, yet beneath the headlines lies a universe of innovative, fast-growing businesses. Alexandra will explore how the Rathbones UK Opportunities Fund seeks to identify exceptional UK small and mid-cap companies capable of delivering long-term growth, often before they are widely recognised by the market. We will discuss why current valuations, muted investor sentiment and structural under ownership have created an attractive backdrop for active stock pickers. Alexandra will also highlight our disciplined, bottom-up investment process, key portfolio holdings and the long-term themes shaping future returns.
Workshop Objective:
By the end of the session, attendees will be able to explain why the UK small and mid-cap universe currently presents a compelling long-term growth opportunity despite subdued market sentiment.
Company Profile: Rathbones Asset Management is a UK fund manager, with 16.3 billion AUM (as at 30 June 2026). We offer actively managed equity, fixed income and multi-asset capabilities including a wide range of sustainable strategies.
We manage your investments with a clear goal: generate alpha consistently over time. Our long-term performance track record as an active, high conviction manager is built on a culture of empowerment, independent thinking, and institutional discipline.
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