Archives: Ambassadors

Frank McGroarty is a former fund manager who is now Professor of Computational Finance and Investment Analytics at the University of Southampton. He is the founder and Director of the Centre for Digital Finance which conducts research into the next generation of financial products, collaborating with academics from various disciplines and which hosts the annual Cryptocurrency Research Conference.

Frank has published more than 50 research papers in leading academic journals in finance and computer science, and has won multiple awards for his research. To date, his research has attracted around £4m in funding (17 research grants). His academic research builds on his investment analyst and fund manager background (UBS, Barclays, State Street), in which he utilised quantitative techniques for investment strategies to manage international investment portfolios. As an investment practitioner, he served on committees and working groups of the Institute of Quantitative Investment Research, the Global Association of Risk Professionals and the Fund Managers’ Association (Investment Association).

He has managed a number of academic research projects which were funded by industry partners and which produced decision support tools for fund managers and investment analysts. He mentors University of Southampton students who set up Silver Stag Investment Management, a student-run investment management venture. He supervises several PhD students and has previously supervised 10 to successful completion, who have gone on to develop careers in academia and in the investment industry.

He is a founding Director of the European Capital Markets CRC which is a collaboration between 8 European universities and 2 Australian institutions, aimed at promoting and facilitating research cooperation between member universities and industry in European capital markets. He chairs the Insurance Committee of the AI4people initiative of Atomium: European Institute for Science, Media and Democracy, which is tasked with writing a white paper on the social impact of the application of Artificial Intelligence systems within the insurance industry for the European Parliament. He is also a member of the AI4people Banking and Finance committee who have a similar brief for banking and financial services.

In recent years, Frank has worked with member of the Transparency Task Force on the issue of interoperability between platforms used by providers of pensions and personal insurance services. The lack of interoperability between these platforms stifles competition and masks costly, inefficient working practices.

He holds a PhD in finance from the University of Southampton, as well as BA and MA degrees in economics from University College Dublin.

Peter Young spent many years working with businesses and governments on green and sustainability issues. He is chair of the International Standards Organisation Committee on Sustainable Finance (ISO/TC322), and the Strategic Advisory Group for the BSI programme of sustainable finance standards. Peter is also former chair and a trustee of the Green Purposes Company which holds the special share in the privatised Green Investment Bank (now Group) to hold it true to its green purposes.

He was a co-founder and chair of Aldersgate Group and remains an active individual member. He sits on the advisory board of Queen Mary College’s School of Business and Management, and on the UK climate change risk assessment (CCRA3) expert advisory panel. He is a Trustee and Council member of The Wildlife Trusts and a member of the Our Natural World Advisory Panel to Esmee Fairbairn. He is a trustee of the Broadway Initiative pushing for ambitious new environmental legislation. Peter chaired the Business Interest Group for the Valuing Nature Programme, and sat on the Programme Advisory Board.

Like many people I’ve always chatted about politics but became much more serious a few years ago. Politics always seemed to come back to money and so with a friend , John Hipperson, I set out to discover the fundamentals – what was money, who created it, when and why, how did it move – simple stuff – or so I thought!

I’m a retired academic and public sector lecturer and manager with a degree in Electrical Engineering and a PhD in Physics which I gained part-time.

Coming from an engineering and science and background and thinking about macroeconomics is fascinating.

Listening to politicians and following the media I expected macroeconomics to be a coherent system but found major “holes”, loose ends and fundamental assumptions undiscussed and apparently unexplained. This was rather different from my experience in other fields so I investigated further and was shocked by what I found – or didn’t find!

Not being a professional I didn’t expect to understand all the subtleties – I don’t manage that in my own field, but I did expect some agreed basic principles – I’m still searching!

Part of the fun has been listening to and meeting people who are involved in macroeconomics in so many different ways including politicians and decision-makers, academics and of course many lay people. Also with John I continue to enjoy writing articles and contributing for instance to House of Commons Treasury Select Committees when they call for papers.

Despite still feeling something of an outsider I would like to contribute in assisting the general public as well as many politicians and policy-makers to acquire a more accurate understanding of macroeconomic systems which still too often seems absent. Among other benefits this would help spending decisions to be considered and explained against a more factual background, and open the way for new creative ideas on all sides.

It’s a great pleasure to be involved with the TTF and to work to try and make a difference in bringing transparency and awareness to as many people as possible.

Steve is the founder of Behind the Balance Sheet, an investment research and training consultancy, which produces bespoke research and runs training courses for a select group of institutional clients. Steve’s Forensic Accounting Training Programme launched in June 2018, and over 250 professional investment analysts and portfolio managers at some of the biggest funds in the UK have taken the course, which has been enthusiastically received. The course is unusual in that it looks at the issue of financial manipulation from a practitioner’s perspective and has over 150 real life examples of accounting chicanery from around the world. Steve also runs a popular online training school.

Steve spent some 20 years as an equity analyst at different investment banks, covering various sectors, and was consistently rated in the top 10 in his sector in Extel, II and Reuters surveys. He moved to the buy-side in 2005 and was a partner and head of research at two multi-billion dollar hedge funds; he specialised in using a deep dive research approach to identify special situation opportunities.

Steve trained as an accountant and lives in London; he enjoys reading, yoga, and skiing and is interested in investment theory, wine and classic cars. He is regularly featured in the press, including the Financial Times, the Times, Sunday Times and City AM as well as on Real Vision, The Acquirers Podcast and the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, talking about accounting issues at quoted companies. He writes regularly on accounting and governance topics, both in his blog and in his free to access members’ community.

David is Chief Executive Officer of the Fairbanking Foundation. He leads the charity’s strategy to increase the coverage of its Fairbanking Marks scheme and the range and impact of its growing advisory and research activities.

Previously David was Interim CEO of WAGGGS, the global movement for Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting. Before that David was Executive Director of Abbeyfield International (independent living and care homes provider), Director General of the International Psychoanalytical Association, and Executive Director of Orbis (blindness prevention organisation). Here he led the organisational transition from ‘Flying Eye Hospital’ to land-based blindness prevention programmes. He has also worked extensively as a Consultant and more recently, as an Executive Coach working with many charities and for-profit organisations on major change. He was also Chief Executive of the Soil Association, the organic food certifying and campaigning organisation.

 

Ben is head of Sustainable and Impact Investing at M&G Investments, where he leads the firm’s strategy on impact investing as well as covering sustainability issues such as climate change and circular economy. Since 2011 Ben has played a central role in the integration of ESG within M&G’s investment processes and has supported the development of ESG solutions for clients across asset classes. He is co-Lead on the M&G Positive Impact fund which supports the UN SDGs through investments in businesses providing solutions to major social and environmental challenges.

Ben plays an active industry role promoting sustainable and impact investing, participating in initiatives and collaborating with varied stakeholders such as corporates, policy makers and NGOs in addition to organisations such as the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), Impact Management Project (IMP) and the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN). He was a founding member of M&G’s Responsible Investment Advisory Forum, overseeing ESG-related activities at M&G, and is a member of the Investment Association’s Sustainability & Responsible Investment Committee.

Ben holds an honours degree in Classics from University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and a certificate in Impact Measurement from the Said Business School at the University of Oxford. He is a Trustee at Firefly International youth organisation, which provides educational and mental health support for young people in conflict-affected areas in the Balkans and Middle East.

James is one of the founders of the group of B2E Associate companies and now leads the Technology side of the business. He is an ex-partner with Watson Wyatt, where he led the European e-HR Practice, having also held senior management consultancy positions with KPMG and Price Waterhouse. He has over 30 years international experience in organisation design, HR and Reward technology, change management, and facilitation.