Laura Cooper

Laura Cooper is Head of Macro Credit and Global Investment Strategist at Nuveen where she provides directional guidance to internal portfolio managers and strategic insights to clients, helping to shape macro and top-down investment views. Prior to joining Nuveen, Laura led a team of multi-asset strategists at BlackRock dedicated to providing macro insights and tactical investment research.

Previously, Laura was the European macro strategist at Bloomberg, providing tactical trade ideas and market commentary. She also led an investment team as the Director and Head of FX Strategy at RBC Wealth Management, shaping the global house view for G10 currencies and rates while serving on the firm's Investment Committees and Global Portfolio Advisory Committee. Her career in the financial industry began as an economist with RBC Capital Markets in Toronto before transitioning to a thought leadership role within the Office of the CEO.

Laura holds a Master of Science degree in Economics from the London School of Economics. Her research contributions have been featured in publications such as The Economist and she has written columns for the Financial Times. Laura frequently shares insights and expertise across various media platforms, regularly appearing in broadcast and at major conferences. Beyond her professional endeavours, she supports a global initiative to transform the funding and support available to women-led ventures and mentors emerging talent within women in finance initiatives.

Wen-Fu Wu

Wen-Fu Wu is the Deputy Chief Investment Officer and Head of Fixed Income for the TIAA General Account (GA) portfolio. In his capacity as Deputy CIO, he supports the CIO in directing overall portfolio strategy and providing oversight across all of the General Account’s assets. As Head of Fixed income, Wen-Fu focuses on the GA’s more than $200bn of fixed income investments, developing and directing investment strategy within these mandates, which include public and private debt investments in investment grade, high yield, municipal debt, project finance and infrastructure, middle market direct lending, emerging markets, and structured asset classes.

Previously, Wen-Fu was at Susquehanna International Group, where he served as a quantitative desk strategist and corporate bond trader. Prior to Susquehanna, he was a quantitative analyst at The Hartford where he helped manage the general account portfolio there as well as third party institutional assets. He has also held positions as an interest rate strategist at Lehman Brothers and as a credit analyst at Putnam Investments.

Wen-Fu holds dual bachelor’s degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.B.A. from University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. He is a member of the Board of Directors at LEAP, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development and representation of Asian and Pacific Islanders. He also serves on the Advisory Board for AsianUpward and is a member of the Ascend Executive Network of pan-Asian leaders.

Dr. Oliver Grimm, CFA

Oliver Grimm has been working at the City of Zurich Pension Fund (PKZH) since November 2010 and has been heading the Investment Management Mandates Team since 2018. His key areas of focus are private market investments, infrastructure and insurance-linked securities, real estate, currency hedging, and fixed income investments. 

Since 2023, Oliver has been a trustee of the Adimora Investment Foundation and a Board Director of the CFA Society Switzerland. He also represents the PKZH on the boards of several infrastructure operating companies in the field of renewable energy. Before joining PKZH he was PostDoc at ETH Zurich.  

Oliver is a member of Fachgruppe Kapitalmarktanlagen (VPS), and an advisory board member of the Vision PK2030 initiative at ZHAW. He holds a PhD in economics and is a CFA charterholder.

Marc Schreier

Marc is a senior investment specialist within the manager & fund selection team of Helvetia Insurance Group. In his role he is responsible for manager selection in private markets, incl. private debt. Previously, he worked for a larger Swiss state pension fund as well as a smaller investment boutique, in both roles he had a focus on alternative investments.

Tony Appiah, CFA

Tony Appiah is a Managing Director and Client Portfolio Manager for Nuveen Equities & Fixed Income. In this role, he serves as an extension of the portfolio management team in articulating NEFI’s capabilities and investment views to European clients.

Prior to joining Nuveen in 2022, Tony spent seven years at UBS, five in the firm’s global wealth management business as lead funds analyst for taxable fixed income and two years as head of UK fixed income specialists within the asset management business. Prior to joining UBS, Tony worked at Brown Brothers Harriman Private Bank where he oversaw the firm’s platform of private and public credit strategies. Tony began his career at Clearbrook Global Advisors in Stamford, Connecticut as an investment analyst.

Tony graduated with a B.A. in Mathematical Economics and a minor in Applied Mathematics from Colgate University. He is also a CFA Charterholder.
 

Nicholas Travaglino

Nicholas Travaglino is a portfolio manager for Nuveen’s global fixed income team and lead manager for the Multi-Sector Fixed Income strategy. Nick also directs the securitized sector team, which selects residential mortgage-backed, commercial mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities for all portfolios. He is also the co-manager of the Inflation-Linked Bond strategy and the Multi-Sector Bond strategy. Nick is also a member of the Investment Committee, which establishes investment policy for all global fixed income products.

Prior to joining the firm in 2014, Nicholas worked for Royal Bank of Canada Capital Markets, where he managed a $2 billion Agency MBS position within RBC’s proprietary trading unit. He also worked for Citigroup Global Markets, where he was responsible for positioning and trading Citi’s long duration CMO book. Nicholas began his career in portfolio management at Freddie Mac and entered the investment industry since 1997.

Nicholas graduated with a B.S. in Commerce, with concentrations in Finance and Marketing, from the University of Virginia.

Gene Miao

Gene joined Churchill Asset Management in 2020 as Senior Investment Strategist, with over 30 years of financial services industry experience in leading strategic initiatives, investment and portfolio management, fund formation, and product development.  Gene works closely with Nuveen’s global distribution team to deepen Churchill’s relationships with and develop creative solutions to meet the unique needs of investors around the world.

Gene served in numerous leadership positions in investing, origination, and product development at numerous firms.  Gene began his career at Morgan Stanley, where he worked in the investment banking department and was a founding member of the High Yield Group.  He joined Merrill Lynch as a Managing Director in the investment banking department, focusing on working with private equity and alternative asset managers as well as serving on the both the equity and debt commitment committees.

Prior to joining Churchill, Gene served as the Chief Investment Strategist of KCAP Financial (Kohlberg Credit) and led the $1 billion alternative asset business at Emigrant Bank.  Previously, Gene oversaw the origination, structuring, and ongoing management of subordinated debt and structured equity investments at Highland Capital.  At Highland, he was also responsible for the planning and execution of new funds and the development of new products, as well as served on a number of investment committees.

Gene earned an A.B., cum laude with honors, from Harvard College and received an M.B.A. from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.

<meta charset="utf-8">Marcus Maier-Krug

Marcus Maier-Krug is a Partner and Co-Head of Portfolio Management at Arcmont Asset Management. Marcus was previously a Partner at BlueBay’s Private Debt group where he worked from 2016.

Prior to BlueBay, Marcus worked for direct lending firm European Capital as an Investment Director for 10 years where he helped set up and develop the European platform, investing across unitranche, mezzanine, PIK, and equity. Most recently, Marcus led the origination and investment effort for European Capital in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. He started his career in 2004 in Deutsche Bank’s Leveraged Finance team in London with a focus on high yield and leveraged loans. 

Marcus graduated from Boston University’s School of Management with a degree in Business Administration in 2002 and received a Master of Science in Management from the London School of Economics and Political Science in London in 2004.