Topic: Risk Management

Robin Horsfall

Robin Horsfall has led an amazing life. During his talks, attendees will discover fascinating stories from his extensive military career and how they relate to his underlying theme of overcoming adversity.

He was a boy soldier at fifteen, a paratrooper at seventeen and an SAS soldier at twenty-one. He fought in five wars as a front line soldier, was a Royal Marine Sniper and a top bodyguard. He was also one of the UK’s first Paramedics and ran clinics all over the world. He once built a medical centre in the centre of the Guyana Jungle, but there is more.

In 1992 he started to teach martial arts and for twenty years taught thousands of children karate in South West London building the largest independent children’s karate group in Europe. He broke his neck and while recovering went to Surrey University as a mature student (56) and graduated three years later.

He is currently active fighting for the Northern Ireland Veterans Movement a battle he has led for six years. He recently survived bladder cancer, writes books and now lives in South Wales. Robin is a great grandfather and has been married for forty years to his wife Heather. Robin condenses his considerable story into an hour and then allows time for questions.

Gabi Siboni

Gabi Siboni, director of the Military and Strategic Affairs Program and Cyber Security Program at INSS and editor of the journal Military and Strategic Affairs, joined the research team of the Institute for National Security Studies in 2005, complementing his wide-ranging activity in the realm of security and the military.

Colonel (ret.) Siboni served as a fighter and commander in the Golani Brigade and completed his service as the brigade’s reconnaissance unit commander. Within the scope of his reserve service, he served as the chief of staff of the Golani Brigade, and chief of staff of a division. He consults to the security establishment in a variety of fields.

In addition to his position at INSS, Dr. Siboni serves as a consultant in a wide range of fields, including: cyber and information systems; operational systems and military technology; risk management; water, energy and environmental engineering. He holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in engineering from Tel Aviv University and a Ph.D. in geographic information systems (GIS) fromBen-Gurion University of the Negev.

Lee Levy

Lee Levy is Founder and General Partner of Canid Asset Management LLC, a boutique asset management fund based in San Francisco offering a broad range of wealth management solutions. Launched in 2009, Canid successfully manages a liquid long/short equity portfolio that specializes in protecting investor capital during highly volatile markets using quantitative, fundamental & tactical investment approaches hedged with sophisticated option strategies. The firm posted 2013 returns 2000 bps greater than Hedge Fund Indices.

With more than eighteen years of professional investment and risk management experience, Lee is a seasoned and accomplished fund manager, having achieved high performance with low correlation to the Long/Short Hedge Fund Indices. In the height of the economic crisis, 2008 investor losses under Lee’s management were less than 4.98% vs. benchmark losses of 20 to 40%.

Prior to founding Canid Asset Management, from 2002 until 2008, Lee was Head of Trading, Operations & Risk Management at Pacific Edge Investment Management, a $400 million long/short value hedge fund, where he developed myriad stock selection models and disciplined investment strategies while trading stocks, options, convertible bonds and distressed debt. He managed the firm’s trading and research relationships with over 50 firms and acted as liaison between external and internal research, analysts and portfolio managers, handling infrastructure decisions including evaluation and selection of prime brokers, execution brokers, trading systems, platforms, soft dollars, best execution and other fiduciary responsibilities for the firm’s domestic and offshore funds.

From 1999 to 2001, Lee was Senior Trader and Risk Manager at Bowman Capital Management, a US$6billion long/short growth hedge fund complex, where he was responsible for trading international shares, educating portfolio managers and analysts on the differences in trading in various international markets vs. domestic markets, and implementing execution and risk management strategies. During his time at Bowman, Lee traded U.S. and international equities and equity options and evaluated capital structure arbitrage opportunities.

Prior to Bowman, Lee held key roles at Robertson Stephens, Piper Jaffrey and Refco International, trading a wide array of hedging products, futures, OTC equities and testing mechanical trading strategies.

Lee conducted his MBA coursework at the Carlson School of Business at the University of Minnesota (1998) and a in BA in Economics and International Relations from The American University (1993).

He is a frequent speaker on behavioural finance and investing, and lectures at various business schools including the Haas School of Business at the University of California-Berkeley.

Mark Gallagher

Mark Gallagher has held senior roles in the high performance environment of Formula 1 motor racing during a 30 year career. Today he is an author, broadcaster and industry analyst who continues to work with drivers and teams at the forefront of this global sport. He is also a renowned public speaker and since 1998 has provided compelling keynote presentations and insights to organisations worldwide.

Mark’s executive management career in Formula 1 included more than a decade on the management board of the successful Jordan Grand Prix team, running the world-famous Cosworth engine business and helping establish the commercial arm of Red Bull Racing.

Mark has been a member of the technical working groups within the sport’s governing body, the FIA, tasked with tackling challenges including environmental sustainability and safety, the latter being central to the sport’s regulatory environment. He spent two years working on the energy efficiency regulations adopted by Formula 1 in 2014.

His expertise covers the commercial and operational management of Formula 1 teams, and includes the sport’s regulatory, business and technology landscape. Since 1994 he has introduced some of the world’s leading technology companies to the sport, playing a key role in the digital transformation of Formula 1.

Mark’s career in Formula One commenced in 1983, working in media and communications before joining the start-up Jordan Grand Prix team in 1990. Mark joined the management board of Jordan in 1998, the team challenging for the World Championship in 1999.

In 2004 he was invited to join the Jaguar Racing organisation as it transitioned into becoming Red Bull Racing. In 2010 Mark was appointed head of the world-famous Cosworth Formula 1 engine company, supplying one-third of the teams in Formula 1 with engines and associated technologies.

Beyond Formula 1 Mark was the co-founder and owner of Status Grand Prix, competing in lower formulae and international sports cars racing.

Since 2012 Mark has focused on his Formula 1 consulting business, Performance Insights, working with a range of clients across the sport. He is also a columnist, feature writer and broadcaster for GP Racing Magazine and Autosport, part of the global Motorsport Network.

He has written three books, Grand Prix - The Last 25 Years (WH Smith, 1999) and two editions of The Business of Winning (Kogan Page, 2014) with a fully revised, 2nd edition published on 3rd October 2021. Mark also collaborated with David Coulthard on his Sunday Times Best Seller The Winning Formula (Blink Publishing, 2018). Between 2005 and 2010 Mark was a consultant to Pixar on its CARS and CARS 2 movies.

Steve Hanke

Steve H. Hanke is an American applied economist at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. He is also a Senior Fellow and Director of the Troubled Currencies Project at the Cato Institute in Washington, DC, and Co-Director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and the Study of Business Enterprise in Baltimore, MD, a Distinguished Professor at the Universitas Pelita Harapan in Jakarta, Indonesia; a member of the National Bank of Kuwait’s International Advisory Board (chaired by Sir John Major); a member of the Financial Advisory Council of the United Arab Emirates; and a columnist at Forbes magazine.

In the past, Prof. Hanke taught economics at the Colorado School of Mines and the University of California at Berkeley. He served as a Senior Economist on President Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers in 1981-82; as a State Counselor to the Republic of Lithuania in 1994-1996 and to the Republic of Montenegro in 1999-2003; and as an Advisor to the Presidents of Bulgaria in 1997-2002, Venezuela in 1995-96 and Indonesia in 1998. He played an important role in establishing new currency regimes in Argentina, Estonia, Bulgaria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ecuador, Lithuania and Montenegro. He has also advised the governments of many other countries, including Albania, Kazakhstan and Yugoslavia. In 1998, he was named one of the twenty-five most influential people in the world by World Trade Magazine.

Prof. Hanke is a well-known currency and commodity trader. He is Chairman Emeritus of the Friedberg Mercantile Group, Inc. in Toronto. During the 1990s, he served as President of Toronto Trust Argentina in Buenos Aires, the world’s best-performing emerging market mutual fund in 1995.

Hanke has received various honors in recognition of his scholarship on exchange rate regimes and his currency reform efforts.

Hanke began writing his “Point of View” column for Forbes magazine in 1997, continuing to do so through 2010. Initially, the column was co-authored with Sir Alan Walters. Hanke was also a contributing editor for Forbes Asia magazine. In 2007, Hanke became a contributing editor for Globe Asia, where he continues to write a monthly column covering a wide range of topics in international economics. He is also a regular contributor to the Huffington Post, Business Insider and Gulf News.

Prof. Hanke’s wrote “Zimbabwe: Hyperinflation to Growth”.