Speakers at Seminar 'What to own in a low-yield world?’

Bob Homan is sinds 2008 Hoofd van het Investment Office van ING en daarmee eindverantwoordelijk voor het beleggingsbeleid van ING voor haar Nederlandse klanten. Hij startte zijn carrière bij de Postbank en werkte voor zijn overstap naar ING bij diverse vermogensbeheerders. In de media is hij het gezicht van ING wanneer het om beleggen gaat. Homan studeerde Economie aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam.

Diana Choyleva is Chief Economist at Enodo Economics, an independent macroeconomic and political forecasting company she set up in 2016 to untangle complexity, challenge the consensus, and make sense of the future. Enodo’s focus is China. For 16 years prior, she worked at Lombard Street Research, most recently as Chief Economist and Head of Research. She is best known for her analysis of China, including the book she co-wrote in 2011, ‘The American Phoenix – and why China and Europe will struggle after the coming slump’.

Frans Verhaar is Senior Director Client Consulting at bfinance and responsible for institutional relationships in Benelux and Denmark advising on investment implementation topics such as manager selection, due diligence, portfolio monitoring and investment risk analysis. He joined bfinance in London as a Senior Associate Research in 2007 after a period of over 6 years at ING Investment Management. After graduating in Business Administration from Erasmus University, he successively completed the CFA, CAIA, FRM and FDP programmes.

Howard Sharp is Head of Origination, Direct Lending at Alcentra (part of BNY Mellon Investment Management). He leads Alcentra’s sourcing and sponsor coverage activities in direct lending in Europe. He was previously a Partner at Park Square Capital. Before Park Square, Sharp was Head of Origination and Sponsor Coverage at GE Capital’s European acquisition finance business and won awards in 2014 and 2015 as Debt Provider of the Year, pioneering the use of unitranche financing in European buyouts. Prior to this, he held senior roles at RBS and Société Générale, working in both Paris and London. Sharp started his career in finance in 1987 as a graduate trainee at NatWest.

Joachim Fels is a Managing Director and Global Economic Advisor at PIMCO based in the Newport Beach office. He is a Member of the Investment Committee and leads PIMCO's Secular Forum. Prior to joining PIMCO in 2015, he was Global Chief Economist at Morgan Stanley in London. Previously he was an International Economist at Goldman Sachs and a Research Associate at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. He has 34 years of macro research experience and holds a diploma in international studies from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Bologna, Italy; a master's degree in economics from Universität des Saarlandes in Saarbrücken, Germany; and an undergraduate degree from Christian-Albrechts-Universität in Kiel, Germany.

Luc Aben has been working in the field of asset management and asset advice in the Netherlands and Belgium since 1992, including 23 years at Van Lanschot Kempen. He started his career as an Equity Analyst, gradually moving towards macroeconomics and investment strategy. Since 2012 he is Chief Economist of Van Lanschot Kempen. In this role he is co-responsible for allocation choices in asset management and investment advice. He also provides economic input for steering the bank's own balance sheet.

Mary Pieterse-Bloem is Head of Investment Office (CIO) at Rabobank. Prior to joining Rabobank in June 2021, she was a member of the Global Investment Committee of ABN AMRO and Head of Fixed Income at ABN Amro Private Banking. Pieterse-Bloem combines her prominent investment management position with academia: on 1st September 2018 she was appointed Endowed Professor Financial Markets at Erasmus School of Economics. She started her career in financial markets in 1993 and worked for Paribas, DrKW, Lehman Brothers, ING Investment Management (now NN IP) and APG Asset Management. Pieterse-Bloem has an Msc in Economics at the London School of Economics and holds a PhD from Tilburg University.

Michael Krautzberger, CFA, is Head of Fundamental Fixed Income in EMEA at BlackRock and a member of BlackRock's Fixed Income EXCO. His service with the firm dates back to 2005, when he joined Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM) as Head of the European Fixed Income. From 2011 to 2014 he also served as CIO and member of the board of BlackRock Asset Management Deutschland AG. He was named Morningstar Fixed Income Fund Manager of the Year for Europe in 2014 and 2016. In 2019 he received their lifetime award as outstanding portfolio manager. Prior to joining MLIM, Krautzberger was Head of European Fixed Income at Union Investment. Previously, he managed global fixed income portfolios at DWS. Krautzberger earned a BA degree in business administration and computer science from the European Business School in 1994, and an MA degree in economics from the University of Hagen in 1996.

Roy Kroon joined PGB Pension Services in 2015 as Manager of the internal Fixed Income & Treasury team. Since 2023 he is responsible for the internally and externally managed credit- and Alternative Fixed Income portfolios. Prior to 2015, he was a Portfolio Manager Credits at MN and Credit Analyst with ABN Amro Asset Management. Kroon holds a master degree in Economics from the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam.

Steven Oh is Global Head of Credit and Fixed Income at PineBridge Investments. He joined the firm in 2000 and is responsible for coordinating and overseeing the firm’s global credit and fixed income strategies. Prior investment experience included serving as Head of High Yield and Special Situation Investments at Citadel Investments, Head of Leveraged Finance at Koch Capital and Vice President of High Yield and Distressed Debt Trading at BancAmerica Securities. Oh received a BSc from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Tonko Gast startte in 1998 als Obligatie-Analist bij SNS Asset Management en beheerde na een overstap in 2000 naar ABN AMRO Asset Management alternatieve vastrentende portefeuilles. In 2003 richtte hij Dynamic Credit op in New York en adviseerde hij DNB en het Ministerie van Financiën over de oplossing voor de Amerikaanse hypotheekproblemen waarmee ING Bank werd geconfronteerd tijdens de crisis van 2008-2009. Hij studeerde Monetaire Economie aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen en Credit Risk Modeling aan de Stanford Business School.

Walter Leering is Senior Portfolio Manager bij InsingerGilissen. Hij maakt deel uit van het Fixed Income-team van Quintet, dat verantwoordelijk is voor het beheer van single-line modelportefeuilles. Leering begon zijn carrière in 2008 als Fixed Income Analyst. Hij behaalde zijn masters in Business Administration en Investment Management aan de VU Amsterdam.