Global Private Banking Awards: Meet the judges
Judges
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Gerard Aquilina,
Partner, Cone Marshall
Based in Monaco
Gerard is a partner and Representative in Monaco with Cone Marshall, a law firm specialising in tax and succession planning. Gerard has had a successful 43 year career spanning law, investment banking and wealth management and has held senior management positions at the global level at UBS, Barclays, HSBC and Merrill Lynch.
His positions have included Vice Chairman, Global Emerging Markets at UBS, where he oversaw the bank’s relationships with key clients, Vice Chairman and before that Head of Europe, Middle East, Africa, and the Americas at Barclays Wealth. Previous roles included CEO HSBC Private Bank for Canada, the US and Latin America, Global Head for Product, Sales, Marketing and Communication at Merrill Lynch International Private Client, CEO Merrill Lynch International Trusts & Generational Planning, Country Head Merrill Lynch Private Client Brazil, and Associate Director at Merrill Lynch International Bank London for the Middle East, Western Europe and Latin America.
Gerard holds an LLM from the School of Advanced Legal Studies at the University of London, a Juris Doctor from the American University in Washington, D.C., and a BA in International Relations from Columbia University, NY. He is a citizen of Canada and Malta, is conversant in six languages and has lived in Lebanon, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Greece, the UK, the US, Brazil and Uruguay.
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Yuri Bender,
Editor-in-Chief, Professional Wealth Management
Based in London, UK
Yuri Bender is a journalist covering banking, asset management and capital markets. He has launched and edited several magazines and websites at the Financial Times group and is currently Editor-in-Chief of the Professional Wealth Management global magazine, website and events hub.
He moderates panel discussions on financial, business and cultural issues in Europe, the US, Middle East and Asia. He has reported from Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine for the FT Wealth magazine and writes regularly for FTfm, the fund management section of the FT newspaper. He studied Investment Management at the London Business School and International Relations at Cambridge University, writing his thesis on the economics of armed conflict.
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Kim Cornwall,
Founder and CEO, Cornwall and Co Consulting Ltd
Based in London, UK
Kim is the founder and CEO of Cornwall and Co Consulting Ltd, which provides learning and development training to banks and financial institutions in Europe and the Middle East. The focus is on private banking, motivational speaking and project management. Clients include SG Hambros London, Gulf Bank Kuwait, Markaz Kuwait, Boubyan Bank Kuwait and the Kuwait Institute of Banking Studies.
He is also advising non-UK citizens on the holding of UK real estate.
With 36 years’ experience in private banking, with a strong leadership and management track record, Kim retired from SG Hambros Bank in November 2013 after 10 years covering the Middle East and Europe.
He developed the Middle East private banking business in particular by using valuable contacts acquired by living and working in the area from 1977 to 1984 as a financial consultant. He opened up new markets in Kuwait, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, gathered more than $700m of new assets, and helped integrated the purchase of ABN Private Banking and Barings Asset Management
From 1984 to 2002, as a vice president at Merrill Lynch Private Banking in London, Kim acquired and serviced a broad base of UK and European clients.
Kim became one of the first persons in the UK to become fully RDR compliant and then guided and mentored others to achieve this necessary and important qualification. Kim holds a law degree from Queens’ College Cambridge, passed Bar Exams and became a barrister at the Inner Temple.
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Nicole Curti,
CEO, Capital Y
Based in Geneva, Switzerland
Nicole has successfully navigated her career on top of wealth management firms in a predominantly male environment of finance. She is CEO of Capital Y, an independent wealth manager in Switzerland. In addition to her executive role, Nicole gives her time and expertise to various corporate or community boards: she is president of the Alliance of Wealth Managers and a board member of a Private Bank and Swiss Athletics. She also is on the advisory board of the Kofi Annan Foundation and was recently elected as Delegate for Unicef Switzerland.
In 2015 and 2021 she was elected ‘Powerwoman’ by Citywealth (in the category Leadership, Mentor & Business Growth).
Nicole has a BA in Political Science from Université de Lausanne and an MBA from ESADE (Barcelona).
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Anant Deboor,
Head of Strategy at Wunderman Thompson Hong Kong,
Based in Hong Kong
Anant is a Hong Kong-based strategic marketer with over 25 years’ experience combining client-side brand development and consulting with agency-side roles in both Asia-Pacific and global capacities. As head of strategy at Wunderman Thompson Hong Kong, he has been helping develop HSBC’s brand and go-to-market strategies across product lines, in particular HSBC Global Private Banking as well as ESG.
He specialises in marketing to the high net-worth and premium business-to-business customers, having worked with luxury labels as well as financial brands, professional services and private equity. Over his career, he has worked extensively with high-end business-to-client brands such as Rolex, KEF, BMW and Ducati, and professional services businesses such as Allen & Gledhill and Deloitte.
He has also written and commented on the importance of strategic brand development across banking, luxury and city branding.
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Seb Dovey,
Independent wealth management consultant,
Based in London, UK
Seb has 25 years of experience in the commercial evolution of global private banking and wealth management. He is an independent advisor to various businesses and families across the globe alongside being an early stage investor. He is chairman of F2 Strategy in San Francisco and a non-executive director of FiComm in Los Angeles, Entrepreneurs Investment Office in Dubai and Milamber PLC in London.
He is also on the advisory board, specialising in data insight and consumer marketing for Moneyhub, Silver Lane and Align17. In addition to this, Seb has since 2018 been on the board of the London School of Economics Generate program for Entrepreneurship as well as thought leader in residence for Fitch Learning, while he continues to be a judge on various global wealth industry award programs for publishers including the Financial Times Professional Wealth Management Global Private Banking Awards and Wealth Tech awards.
Seb was co-founder of Scorpio Partnership, a multiple award winning global wealth management strategic insight consultancy, which was acquired by Aon PLC in 2014. His body of work was recognised by the industry in 2018 with the award of Industry Thought Leader (Wealth Briefing).
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Simeon Fowler,
CEO, Fowler Fox & Co group of companies,
Based in Hong Kong
Simeon Fowler is the Founder and CEO of Fowler Fox & Co, a global private banking executive search firm. Prior to Fowler Fox Simeon was in Financial services for over 10 years. Simeon holds qualifications with the Chartered Institute of Bankers, Chartered Insurance Institute and holds a diploma in financial planning and investment management.
Fowler Fox & Co Group of companies was established over a decade ago to offer the world’s best Private Banks a bespoke solution in the search for global talent. We have been tracking key talent for many years and advise when to approach these high caliber private bankers and to position their opportunities in a concise, compelling and thought provoking manner.
Fowler Fox has representation in London, Switzerland, Singapore and Hong Kong. Our market knowledge and embedded contacts enable us to offer wider ranging strategic advice to Private Banks as well as timely and targeted talent hiring solutions. Our reputation of innovative thinking and expert knowledge on talent acquisition is industry recognised.
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Kian Leong,
Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers,
Based in Singapore
Kian Leong is a Partner with the Financial Services Assurance (FSA) with PwC Singapore with more than 16 years of professional experience (including three years in the UK), during which he has serviced a wide range of financial institutions.
Kian is also responsible for driving the private banking industry within FSA. This involves advising clients of the regulatory expectations (AML/KYC, sales suitability, conduct etc) and having the read across of the industry in benchmarking of best practices.
In addition, he has also been involved in various advisory engagements. He spent six months on a client secondment to a prominent Japanese bank assisting in the integration of Middle/Back Office functions following its acquisition of European business of an US investment bank to operationally align and improve the processes for the transition. In addition, he was involved in advising the control environment of a leading European bank specifically in their shared services centres. More recently, Kian Leong led several financial due diligence engagements advising both the buy-and sell-side including assessment of regulatory conditions in certain specific territories including private banks.
Outside of PwC, Kian is an active grassroot volunteer and a mentor to the accountancy students in Singapore Institute of Technology. He is a certified Financial Risk Manager, a Chartered Accountant with Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants and member of Association of Certified Anti-money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS).
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Sharmil Patwa,
Founder, Opus Una Financial Services Consulting
Based in London
Sharmil is the founder and Managing Director of Opus Una, a consultancy founded in 2011, to help participants in the Wealth Management ecosystem build better products & services and scale their businesses. Clients range from Early Stage WealthTechs to Tier 1 Wealth Managers.
Previously, Sharmil held senior roles at Barclays Wealth and Deutsche Bank. He started his career at Accenture where he consulted across equities, fixed income, FX and money markets businesses.
He is a highly active mentor and investor in the fintech space and is particularly passionate about supporting early stage companies. He is a strategic advisor to a number of WealthTechs around the world and on the Advisory Board of The Wealth Mosaic. Sharmil has an MBA from Imperial College Business School.
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Shelby du Pasquier,
Partner, Head of Banking and Finance Group, Lenz & Staehelin,
Based in Geneva, Switzerland
Shelby R du Pasquier is a partner at Lenz & Staehelin where he is the head of the banking and finance group in Geneva. In this context, he advises Swiss and international financial institutions in all banking matters with a focus on regulatory issues and internal investigations. Mr du Pasquier is a frequent speaker at professional conferences. His publications include a number of contributions and articles on banking law and financial services, hedge funds and private equity. He has served as vice chair (2001-2005) on the IBA sub-committee I1 (private funds) and as expert on the SIX Swiss Exchange.
He is regularly distinguished by a number of nominations in professional directories, including Chambers, Who's Who Legal and IFLR in banking, capital markets and investment funds. He is a board member of the Swiss National Bank.
Mr du Pasquier has been a partner at Lenz & Staehelin since 1994. He completed both a business degree and a law degree at Geneva University in 1983. He also obtained an LLM from Columbia University School of Law in 1988. He speaks English, French, German and Spanish.
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Alois Pirker,
Director of Aite-Novarica's Wealth Management practice
Based in Boston, US
Alois Pirker is the founder and CEO of Pirker Partners. During Alois’s 25-year tenure in the wealth management industry, he had the opportunity to collaborate, discuss industry trends, and provide advice to many of the leading wealth management firms and financial-technology companies around the globe.
He is a recognised expert on the wealth management market and its structure, as well as many important trends that shape this industry, including financial-advisor processes and platforms, digital transformation in wealth management, the independent advisor market, and portfolio management processes (including separately managed accounts and direct indexing) to name a few.
Before starting his own firm in January 2023, Alois built and led Aite-Novarica Group’s market-leading wealth management research practice over 16.5 years. Prior to entering the market research world, he was an associate director of investment solutions at UBS Wealth Management in London and a data architect within UBS’s enterprise data warehouse program in Switzerland. While at UBS, Alois also completed the private banking diploma, UBS’s training program for financial advisors.
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Amin Rajan,
CEO, Create-Research,
Based in London, UK
Amin Rajan is the Chief Executive of the Centre for Research in Employment and Technology in Europe (CREATE) – a pan-European network of prominent researchers undertaking high level advisory assignments for the UK Government, City institutions, multinational companies and international bodies such as the EU, OECD and ILO.
He has also acted as a senior consultant to companies such as ABN-AMRO, Aegon Group, Barclays, BP, BT, Citigroup, Corning, Deutsche Bank, EDS, Fiat, Ford, GSK, HSBC, IBM, ICI, ICL, KPMG Legal & General plc, Lloyds TSB, Merrill Lynch Investment Management, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Motorola, Proctor & Gamble, Prudential, Rolls Royce, Royal Bank of Scotland, Royal SunAlliance, Shell, and UBS.
As well as appearing on radio and television regularly, he contributes feature articles to The Financial Times, Global Investor, The Guardian, The Sunday Times, and The London Evening Standard. He has published numerous books and articles on leadership, business cultures, socio-economic forecasting, globalisation, new technologies, diversity and new business models.
He has presented the results of his work at over 100 major events in the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific in the last five years. His expertise covers, amongst others, leadership and new business models in financial services. He is the author of 11 best selling research reports. He is a visiting professor at the Cass Business School, London Metropolitan University, Centre for Leadership Studies at Exeter University, President of the Scientific Committee at Audencia - Nantes Ecole de Management in France, and on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Asia-Pacific Business.
In 1998 he was awarded the Aspen Institute's Prize in leadership. It is a subject on which he has done extensive research involving some of today's outstanding business leaders. In two resulting publications, he has developed a close link between leadership, strategy and the emerging business models. His work has proved so influential that he now provides leadership coaching to Chief Executives, executive committees and investment specialists in different companies.
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João Miguel Rodrigues,
Principal, Financial Services, Private Capital, Oliver Wyman
based in Berlin Germany
João is a Principal in Oliver Wyman’s Berlin office. During his time at Oliver Wyman, he has worked on a diverse range of topics involving growth strategy, commercial effectiveness, M&A, and due diligences in the Wealth Management industry for clients across Europe, Asia, as well as North and Latin America.
Prior to joining Oliver Wyman, João worked as an M&A banker for an investment bank in Frankfurt. He holds a Master of Science in Finance & Economics from WHU-Otto Beisheim School of Management and has also studied Finance, Economics & Public Policy at Sciences Po in Paris, as well as the PUC Rio de Janeiro. He is fluent in German, Portuguese, and English.
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Malik S. Sarwar,
Senior Partner, Managing Director, Wealth Management, Global Leader Group, US
Based in New York, US
Malik has operated at the leading edge of the global wealth management industry for more than 30 years across the US, Asia, and MENA. He has led wealth management organisations to market-leading positions by helping their clients achieve their life goals and dreams. He deploys a genuinely passionate style based on his “war stories”, motivating leaders and frontline staff to become exceptional professionals and deliver an engaging client experience.
Malik is a noted speaker/panelist and chair at industry events on: wealth management best practices, including digital innovations and exceptional client experience; mega-trends like women’s empowerment, gen. wealth transfer; primary advisors and excellence in leadership.
As global head of sales management/wealth development at HSBC, Malik renewed the company’s wealth management business in 12 markets through a digital transformation program centred on client journeys that resulted in double-digit growth of client assets. Prior to that, he launched the wealth management proposition at ADIB. He has also served as a senior executive at Permal, Merrill Lynch, and Citi. During his seven years at Citi, he was the president of Citicorp Investment Services (US) and head of wealth management (Asia), growing their market share and profitability.
Out of his passion for moral leadership, he joined his current firm as a senior partner. He also serves as a senior advisor to Singapore Consultancy and is the co-author of “Mechanics of Wealth Management”, a post-graduate certificate programme with Informa/Middlesex University, UK.
Malik is an advisor to Acumen and active with Developments in Literacy, that provides education to underprivileged girls in Pakistan. Malik, Najmi, their two daughters, and two sons are avid hikers and scuba divers.
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Matthias Schulthess,
Managing Partner, Schulthess Zimmermann & Jauch
Based in London, UK
Matthias Schulthess focuses on board and senior appointments in financial services. He regularly advises global asset and wealth managers, insurance companies and investment and corporate banks on creating more diverse leadership teams at the top. He has been responsible for some of the most senior appointments in the global investment management industry and has extensive experience in leading searches across a multitude of functional disciplines, including chief financial officers, chief risk officers, chief operating officers, heads of human resources and general counsels. Matthias and the firm’s board practice are also engaged in succession planning, conducting board reviews and searches for non-executive directors.
Matthias previously held senior roles working in investment and wealth management as well as in capital markets.
Matthias holds an MBA from London Business School and he is a CFA charterholder. He completed the executive program Promoting Racial Equity in the Workplace at Harvard Kennedy School.
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Ray Soudah,
Founder, MilleniumAssociates
Based in Switzerland
Ray Soudah is the founding partner and chairman of MilleniumAssociates, the independent international M&A and Corporate Finance Advisory firm, based in Switzerland and the UK. Founded in 2000, MilleniumAssociates specialises in M&A and advisory services for the global financial services industry with particular focus on the global wealth and asset management sectors. As founding partner and chairman Ray takes a strategic advisory role, supporting the operational team and developing MilleniumAssociates' broad network of senior contacts with financial services companies, investors, institutions and sovereign funds globally.
Ray has enjoyed a long and varied career in the global financial services arena working in territories as diverse as the US, Asia, Middle East and Europe. Prior to forming MilleniumAssociates Ray was Managing Director and member of the Private Banking Management Board for SBC/UBS AG where he created and led the global corporate strategic acquisition and development team in asset/wealth management and private banking.
Earlier positions include; Chief Investment Officer, Chief Financial Officer and member of the Executive Board of Cedel Bank (renamed Clearstream); Chief Investment Officer for the National Bank of Bahrain including Head of International Banking and Private Banking; CEO of Hong Kong, CEO of Japan, Head of Global Capital Markets office (London) and head of FIG for Midland Montagu Investment Banking and MD/CEO of Midland Montagu Securities as well as various senior positions within Citigroup, including Head of Asia Pacific Treasury and Capital Markets.
Ray is a Harvard Business School & INSEAD Alumnus. He has multicultural, multilingual wealth management and private banking/investment banking expertise. Ray is a patron of the British Swiss Chamber of Commerce and speaks English, French, Greek and Japanese.
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William Sullivan,
Financial Services Executive Consultant
Based in Virginia, US
Bill is a financial services executive consultant and was president of Family Office Exchange (FOX) until January 2021. He is a thought leader who understands the role that disruption and innovation will play in transforming the wealth management and family office industry. He leads FOX in helping members to understand and plan for future transitions in the family enterprise, the family business, and the family office.
Prior to joining FOX, Bill served as the global head of Financial Services Market Intelligence at Capgemini, oversaw Capgemini’s Global Wealth Management Center of Excellence, and project managed the development of the World Wealth Report and Asia-Pacific Wealth Report for over 15 years. He is a distinguished financial services executive consultant and trusted expert in his field with over 20 years of experience in many globally diverse roles including two years in Paris, France and three years in Hyderabad, India. Bill brings exceptional leadership skills with nearly two decades of leading multi-cultural teams in the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific, as well as in his entrepreneurial background having successfully run his own start–up for three years.
He is a member of the Advisory Board of Ascent Private Capital Management (part of U.S. Bank) and Phronesis Partners, serves as Vice President on the Zeta Beta Tau International Supreme Council, is Chairman of the Board of Governors at The Dominion Club, and is a multiple recipient of Irish America Magazines Top 100 Business Leaders list.
Bill received a B.S. from Tufts University as a double major in Economics and Psychology. Bill is an avid golfer and Boston sports fan. He currently resides in the West End of Richmond, Virginia with his wife and two daughters.
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Helen Westropp,
Principal, Delphi Marques,
Based in London, UK
Helen is Principal of a Delphi Marques, a small independent branding and engagement consultancy with extensive international experience in many sectors, offering strategic branding, marketing, engagement and communications expertise. She is former head of corporate branding for Coley Porter Bell. Over a 30 year career, she has worked with and influenced many brands in Europe, America and Asia-Pacific, especially in financial services and b2b, repositioning them to create greater brand value.
Helen started her career in France at a marketing consultancy, then moved to the City of London into financial PR and communications. She was a director of branding agency Landor for many years before going on to run her own branding and comms consultancy.
At Ogilvy, Helen has led branding and engagement projects for Coutts, Man Group, Merck, Optegra, Philips, Lonza and Slaughter & May, among others.
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Cara Williams,
Senior Partner, Senior Partner, ESG Strategy Leader, Mercer
Based in London, UK
Cara Williams, Senior Partner, is ESG Strategy Leader for Mercer. Located in London, Cara leads the programme of work to articulate and amplify Mercer’s ESG value proposition and positioning, embed sustainability in the journey to a bright future, and drive highly-practical, relevant and value-added outcomes both internally and externally.
Cara oversees the Mercer’s Private Wealth businesses in Canada and India, and also works with Mercer’s multinational clients to deliver the best of Mercer’s broad Wealth solutions to assure positive financial outcomes for organizations and their employees. Cara presents regularly on global ESG, sustainability, diversity and investment trends. With over 25 years of experience in the investment industry, Cara began at Mercer’s investment consulting business as Global COO in April 2005.
Cara began her career in finance as a financial advisor with Merrill Lynch in New York. Prior to working in the investment industry, she was responsible for budgets and logistics for US Army and NATO MWR deployments. Cara is an active mentor for external programmes and internal colleagues supporting and promoting women and people of colour in their careers. She is member of the Board of Directors of The German School of London. Cara graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor with a BA, and from The University of Hartford with an MBA in Finance.
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Ian Woodhouse,
Lead Wealth Management Transformation and Thought Leader for Europe, Accenture
Based in London, UK
Ian is a trusted business and technology advisor to wealth management executives helping them meet industry trends and confidently change through focused reinvention. He helps solve issues ranging from revising strategic ambition and purpose through to meeting evolving client segment expectations and needs, digitising the client and advisor experience, innovating propositions, simplifying operations, and adopting modern technology platforms.
Additionally, he drives Accenture’s European wealth thought-leadership content covering key trends, emerging good practices, benchmarks and author-relevant surveys, blogs and articles. Ian also works to build future talent and capabilities through running executive awareness sessions and mentoring the next generation of diverse talent with PIFMA’s under-40 leadership committee. In recognition of outstanding contributions to the industry, Ian was honoured to receive the 2022 PBI London Industry Ambassador Award.
Before Accenture, Ian held senior roles with other leading firms, including EY, PWC, IBM and Orbium serving their global financial services clients.
