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Allie Renison
Allie Renison is a seasoned trade and business expert with deep links into politics as well as regulatory policy on both sides of the Channel and the Atlantic.
A Washington D.C. native who studied in Canada, she worked in the UK Parliament for a number of years before moving to head up trade and EU policy at the Institute of Directors, Britain’s oldest business organisation. At the IoD, she served on a number of expert bodies including the European Economic and Social Committee in Brussels and the UK Government’s Brexit Business taskforce and Northern Ireland Technical Advisory Group on the border.
She was then appointed by the Department for International Trade’s Permanent Secretary to a senior role in government, before subsequently being named as a policy adviser to the Secretary of State for Business and Trade.
Since leaving government, Allie has taken up a position as Director at global communications and public affairs consultancy SEC Newgate, where she leads on trade and regulation for a wide range of clients from trade and infrastructure to financial services and energy policy. She splits her time between Scotland and London.
Allie has appeared extensively on media platforms across a diverse expanse of policy areas, and has 15 years of experience of working with stakeholders across Westminster and Whitehall, from the media and parliamentarians to officials and think tank leaders.
Speakers
Andrew McLean
Anna Macdonald
William Marshall
Workshops
Workshops
In a world of uncertainty, one thing remains clear: US disruption is reshaping the world
The rapid pace of change can be unsettling. Disruption is coming in a variety of forms; technological, political and cultural. America, the world’s dominant economy, sits at the centre of it. In this presentation, you will hear how the Baillie Gifford US Growth Team takes advantage of disruption via a portfolio of America’s most exceptional growth companies.
Workshop Objectives:
- Examine the role of US companies in reshaping the world order
- Gain insight into the frameworks to help navigate this environment
- Explore the trade-offs between risk, volatility and long-term returns
Speakers
Ben James
Investment Specialist
Ben is an investment specialist for our US Equity Growth Strategy. He also Chairs the US Equity Growth Product Group and has been a member of the team since 2016. He joined Baillie Gifford in 2015. Before his career in finance, Ben was an Infantry Officer in the British Army for eight years. During his service, he completed two combat tours of Afghanistan. Prior to this, Ben spent four years working as a professional musician. Ben graduated with a Masters in International Development focusing on sustainable investing and a BMus (Hons) in Music, both from The University of Birmingham.
Representatives
Kevin Mitchell
Client Relationship Director
Kevin is a client relationship director with a focus on intermediaries in Scotland, Ireland and North East England. He initially joined Baillie Gifford in 2006 to support the Intermediary Client Team. After achieving the IMC in 2010, Kevin took up his current role at the beginning of 2011. Before joining Baillie Gifford, he worked in a marketing role for the Edinburgh-based pensions provider, Scottish Equitable, for six years.
Nathan Evans
Intermediary Client Manager
Nathan is a Client Manager with a focus on Advisers across the UK. He joined Baillie Gifford in 2020 as a member of the UK Intermediaries Team. He graduated MA (Hons) in Business Studies from the University of Edinburgh in 2018.
UK Equities: The Tortoise and the Hare
UK large cap equities are known for their steady, dividend-paying companies but it's a market that offers so much more. Over the past five years, the FTSE All Share Index has delivered an annual total return exceeding 12%. Despite this performance, the market continues to be undervalued. Jo Rands will discuss with you how the UK presents outstanding value, backed by solid fundamentals and favourable prospects for future returns.
Workshop Objectives:
Learn about the key factors impacting the UK equities market. Including possible positive drivers at both a market and stock level.
Company Profile:
ClearBridge Investments is an active equity manager offering a broad range of strategies across global developed and emerging markets, local markets, and real assets. Our local market capabilities serve clients in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia. The firm manages more than $200 billion (as of September 30, 2025).
ClearBridge manages diversified, high-conviction portfolios through collaborative fundamental research to meet the needs of some of the world’s largest asset owners and financial intermediary platforms. We invest as long-term, risk-aware business owners and seek to deliver consistency of process and performance for our clients through market cycles. A focus on durability drives everything we do; from the business models of the companies we own, to the holding periods of our portfolios, to the stability and longevity of our investment professionals.
As Franklin Templeton’s largest equity specialist, ClearBridge operates with investment autonomy from headquarters in New York and offices in Baltimore, Calgary, Edinburgh, Fort Lauderdale, Leeds, London, Melbourne, and Sydney.
Speaker
Jo Rands
Portfolio Manager
Jo is a Portfolio Manager on the UK Equity Income, UK Managers’ Focus and UK Rising Dividends strategies at ClearBridge Investments. She joined the firm in 2021 and has over 20 years of investment industry experience.
Jo has been a Portfolio Manager in the UK equity team since 2021, over which time the ClearBridge UK equity team has been part of Martin Currie and Franklin Templeton. Prior to this, she was a Fund Manager at Rathbone Brothers Plc; Hermes Investment Management and HSBC.
Representatives
Jessie Wilson
Senior Client Portfolio Manager
Jessie is a Senior Client Portfolio Manager dedicated to the UK and EM Equities teams. She bridges the gap between our investors and clients, enabling the investment team to focus on what they do best. She has nearly 20 years of experience in the financial services industry with most of her career in client focused roles at investment managers.
Jessie has an BSc in Actuarial Mathematics and Statistics, is a Fellow of the Faculty and Institute of Actuaries and a CFA® Charterholder.
Dan Williams
Business Development Director
Dan Williams is a business development director at Franklin Templeton Investments, responsible for relationships and investment fund distribution in the North of England and Scotland.
He joined the Franklin Templeton Leeds office in 2013 as a Sales Support Executive. Prior to joining Franklin Templeton, he worked at RBS Global Banking & Markets in roles within Interest Rate Derivatives Operations and FX Prime Brokerage. Dan studied Virtual Reality Design at the University of Huddersfield and holds the CFA Level 4 Investment Management Certificate and the CISI Level 3 Certificate in Investments.
Positioning for attractive returns in fixed income
Equity markets at all-time highs, credit spreads at all-time lows – there is clearly nothing to worry about! Markets are looking through trade policy and other risks and anticipating rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. Strong recent returns from credit markets mean that investors must think deeply to identify meaningful return opportunities. Richard ‘Dickie’ Hodges, Citywire AA rated PM of the Nomura Global Dynamic Bond Fund, discusses the outlook for global fixed income markets and how he is positioning his Fund to earn attractive total returns, whilst protecting against risks.
Workshop Objectives:
Investors will learn how conviction risk positions can be balanced with simple hedging techniques to create a low volatility fixed income portfolio.
Company Profile:
The Nomura Asset Management Group is a leading global investment manager. Headquartered in Tokyo, Nomura has additional investment offices throughout the world including London, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taipei, Frankfurt and New York. Today Nomura Asset Management provides its clients with a wide range of innovative investment strategies including global, regional and single country equities, high yield bonds and global fixed income strategies.
Speakers
Richard ‘Dickie’ Hodges
Managing Director, Head of Total Return & Unconstrained Fixed Income
Dickie has managed the Nomura Global Dynamic Bond Fund since 2015. Prior to joining Nomura Asset Management, Dickie held the role of Head of High Alpha Fixed Income at Legal & General Investment Management, for 7 years and spent 18 years at Gartmore. Dickie began his career in 1986 at Chase Manhattan Bank in Fixed Income operations, before joining Natwest Investment where he was responsible for management of a number of specialist investment funds employing derivatives and cash instruments to implement quantitative strategies. He is responsible for all decisions on GDBF.
Representatives
Kevin McFarlane
Senior Client Portfolio Manager
Kevin McFarlane joined the EMEA Distribution team in February 2023 as Business Development Director, focusing on UK Wholesale in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the North of England. Kevin has previously worked at Standard Life, Schroders, Miton and SVM covering the Discretionary and Wealth Managers in his region. He will be supporting NAM’s strategy to develop its market share, predominantly with wealth managers, fund-of-funds, family offices and other financial institutions.
Capture the Renaissance in Nuclear Energy
Nuclear energy is undergoing a powerful revival. As the world builds energy-hungry infrastructure such as AI-driven data centres, demand for reliable and low-carbon power is accelerating. Governments are expanding nuclear capacity to strengthen energy independence, while private capital and Big Tech are investing in next-generation technologies such as small modular reactors. This shift positions nuclear energy as a critical enabler of sustainable growth, offering affordable, stable, and near-zero-emission power at scale. The result is a compelling long-term investment opportunity. The WisdomTree Uranium and Nuclear Energy UCITS ETF provides diversified exposure across the full value chain, from uranium miners to reactor innovators, allowing investors to capture this rapidly evolving theme.
Workshop Objectives:
To explore the latest policy, corporate, and technological developments driving the nuclear energy revival, and to understand how investors can approach this evolving theme through different parts of the nuclear value chain.
Company Profile:
WisdomTree is a global financial innovator and the world’s largest independent ETP provider, with $136 billion in assets under management globally (as of 29 October 2025). Since launching in Europe in 2014, WisdomTree has built one of the region’s most diverse and innovative UCITS ETF and ETP ranges across commodities, equities, fixed income, currencies, and digital assets. Combining research-driven design with industry-first products, WisdomTree helps investors access unique opportunities and diversify portfolios in a transparent and efficient way.
Speakers
Mobeen Tahir
Director, Research
Mobeen is a member of WisdomTree’s research team where he focuses on a wide range of asset classes to offer strategic and tactical insights to our clients on global markets and investment products.
Before joining WisdomTree in December 2018, Mobeen worked at Willis Towers Watson as an investment consultant advising institutional clients as well as their in-house fund business on asset allocation and portfolio construction with his research focus being equity and multi-asset smart beta.
Mobeen has a BSc (Hons) in Accounting and Financial Management from Loughborough University and an MSc in Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is also a CFA Charterholder.
Representatives
Ravinder Azad
Business Development Director, UK Invesco ETFs
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Ravi joined WisdomTree in January 2020 as Head of UK and Nordic Sales. Prior to joining WisdomTree, Ravi was Business Development Director for Invesco ETFs and has over 20 years’ experience in asset management, of which over 15 have been spent in Listed Fund Sales. Since 2007 Ravinder has been instrumental in the launch and on-going promotion of the Invesco Exchange Traded Funds business (formally PowerShares). Prior to this role, Ravinder was responsible for investor relations and sales for Invesco’s Closed-Ended Funds business. Ravinder holds a BA (Hons) degree in Financial Services, the Investment Management Certificate and is a member of the CFA Society.