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Matthias Knab 
Opalesque is led by Matthias Knab, an internationally recognized expert on hedge funds and alternatives. Mr. Knab has frequently served as chairman of hedge fund conferences in New York, Greenwich, Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Miami, Bahamas, Stockholm, Dubai etc. In addition, he has presented or moderated at hedge fund events in London, Geneva, Zurich, Singapore, Sydney, Cape Town, Madrid, Moscow, Sao Paulo, San Francisco, Toronto, Cayman Islands, Auckland and Bombay, and lectured at numerous universities on the subjects of hedge funds and the state of the global alternative asset management industry.
He studied computer science and psychology in Freiburg i.Br. (Germany), graduated in economy in Munich and subsequently passed exams as a FSA (Financial Services Authority, UK) Securities Representative, FSA Futures and Options Representative and XETRA trader (Frankfurt). Mr. Knab is a member of the German Association of Technical Analysts (VTAD).
Since 1989 he has been working as a consultant for major German institutions, most notably Allianz and Vereinte Versicherungen. 1998 he created and served as CEO Boersenakademie AG - the first German institution directed at offering educational services on investing themes. Matthias Knab also served as Managing Director at TradeStream Global AG, a technology firm developing trading solutions for institutions and hedge funds.
In 2000 Matthias Knab started to publish a pioneering newsletter "Industry Report" which was focusing on the ascent of Electronic Trading within the online brokerage industry. It was at that time when he started to establish his first links into the hedge fund industry and became aware about the need of a daily, independent and encompassing news service on this thriving sector.
Mr. Knab speaks English, German, Spanish, French, some Italian and is currently learning Mandarin (Chinese). |
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Sona Blessing
Sona Blessing is author of Alternative Alternatives: Risk, Returns and Investment Strategy (Wiley) and an independent research specialist and consultant in ‘Alternative Alternatives’.
After authoring the book she launched; now manages and moderates Opalesque Radio.
Prior to which she served as senior adviser and Opalesque’s Director of Research as well as Editor of the weekly publication A SQUARE - which she conceived and launched in January 2007 - researched, authored and edited until the end of July 2009.
She is on the education committee of the 100 Women in Hedge Funds Zurich; has been a guest lecturer on Alternative Alternatives at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences and is also frequently invited to moderate panels and share her expertise as a speaker and author.
In the past she has held positions as a hedge fund research strategist, and a global market strategist. Sona also has extensive experience in business journalism worldwide.
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Greg Troccoli
Greg currently holds the position of Managing Director, Business Development at LUMA Managed Account Platform, which is part of the OFI Asset Management Group and the Gottex Fund Management Group. For many years, Greg held the position as First Vice-President - Chief Technical Analyst at Prudential Securities. During his tenure at Prudential, Greg was solely responsible for publishing in-dept analysis of all global markets (in excess of 60). This research was utilized by 3500 institutions worldwide, including eight central banks, proprietary trading desks, major oil companies, and a large contingent of retail investors. In addition, the author enjoyed an extensive media presence including bi-monthly appearances on CNBC and defined monthly time slot with Bloomberg network. |
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Mark Melin
Mark Melin is a managed futures practitioner whose specialty is recognizing a trading program’s algorithmic formula and mapping it to a market environment and performance driver. He provides analysis of managed futures investment performance and commentary regarding related managed futures market environment. A portfolio and industry consultant, he was an adjunct instructor in managed futures at Northwestern University / Chicago and has written or edited three books, including High Performance Managed Futures (Wiley 2010) and The Chicago Board of Trade’s Handbook of Futures and Options (McGraw-Hill 2008). Mark was director of the managed futures division at Alaron Trading until they were acquired by Peregrine Financial Group in 2009, where he was a registered associated person (National Futures Association NFA ID#: 0348336). Mark has also worked as a Commodity Trading Advisor himself, trading a short volatility options portfolio across the yield curve, and was an independent consultant to various broker dealers and futures exchanges, including OneChicago, the single stock futures exchange, and the Chicago Board of Trade. |
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Bernardo Vizcaíno
Bernardo Vizcaíno is Managing Director of Amsar Partners, an independent Islamic finance consultancy that provides research and due diligence services on Shariah compliant investments. Bernardo has previously worked at Citigroup Global Corporate and Investment Bank and Eurekahedge – a research firm on alternative investments – where he developed their Islamic funds platform as well as other areas of research (SRI, 130/30 and alternative funds). He has written and presented extensively on the topic of Islamic funds and lectured finance and statistics courses in both Singapore and Australia. Bernardo holds a Masters degree in Applied Finance from Macquarie University and is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA).
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Benedicte Gravrand
Benedicte Gravrand writes exclusive stories, special reports, co-edits Opalesque’s daily hedge fund publication, the Alternative Market Briefing (AMB), and moderates some of Opalesque’s Roundtables. She is also the editor of Opalesque’s NewManager, a monthly newsletter.
She is perfectly bilingual (French/English) and has lived in Paris, Geneva and London. She obtained a BA (Honours) in Philosophy from the University of London, worked in the publishing sector and the hedge fund industry before joining Opalesque in 2007.
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Beverly Chandler
Beverly Chandler is a financial journalist who has specialised in writing
about hedge funds for the last 20 years. She was the founding editor of the
Managed Derivatives newsletter in the early 1990s. Before that she was MARHedge's European
editor from 1996 to 2000 interviewing European hedge fund managers
for this prestigious title; the founding editor for Hedge Funds
Review and published a number of books on hedge funds, including Investing
with the Hedge Fund Giants for the Financial Times group.
She has also written for most of the national newspapers and specialist magazines in the
UK on hedge funds including The Financial Times, The International Herald
Tribune and Eurohedge. Most recently, she has been the roving reporter for
ICBI's GAIM, Fund Forum and SuperReturn conferences, filming, blogging and
tweeting from the events.
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Florian Guldner
Florian started as news editor for Opalesque's Alternative Market Briefing in late 2004. He graduated in economics from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, focusing on financial markets theory and game theory. |
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Bailey McCann
Bailey McCann is based in New York and has over six years of experience in media and journalism. In previous roles she worked as an editor and contributing writer on topics including finance, politics, defense, and women's issues. She also has experience providing media intelligence for financial services and the public sector. At Opalesque she will be member of the editorial team that produces the daily Alternative Market Briefing hedge fund publication. |
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Laxman Pai
Laxman Pai is part of Opalesque's Asia team. He has over ten years of professional experience in financial and international journalism and the media industry. Laxman Pai was Executive Editor for India Wealth News and India Investment News and also contributed to global industry publications like Investment & Pensions Asia, The Wealth Net, Financier Worldwide magazine, Global Investing, Asia Risk, International Pension News, Global Pensions etc. Prior to that he was a business journalist-contributor to VNU Business Publications (UK), Global Wireless (RCR group, USA), Internet News (USA) and Electronics News (RBI-US).
His academic credentials include a Bachelor in Science in Physics, Master of Arts in English Literature, Post Graduate Diploma in Journalism and an Honorary Doctorate in Journalism from the Cosmopolitan University, Missouri, USA. |
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Komfie Manalo
Komfie Manalo has over 18 years experience as a professional journalist in Asia, having held various positions in several major daily broadsheets. He has a bachelor in Accountancy and co-founded several newspapers circulating in the region and managed over 30 reporters at different news desks. As a former field reporter, he covered all major news categories including political, business, as well as stocks and Asian and U.S. markets.
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Preciosa Dumlao
Preciosa Dumlao is a Manila, Philippines-based writer with over 12 years of solid experience as a journalist. She will be joining Opalesque as a feature and Asian editor. Preciosa Dumlao has been a field reporter for several newspapers in the Philippines and also worked as a news writer for U.S.-based news firms.
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| Opalesque Marketing |
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Denice Galicia
Denice Galicia is Director of Marketing at Opalesque. With an extensive background in advertising, marketing, and business development. Denice manages the media sponsorships of Opalesque’s multiple publications and conferences. Her career began in print advertising and includes positions with Capital Cities ABC, Reader's Digest, and Time Inc. Her subsequent interest in the evolution of new media marketing led to an appointment as Director of Business Development for a division of CMGI, developing strategic alliances with major financial institutions. Directly prior to Opalesque she started, managed, and then sold a consulting service designing marketing strategies for web-based firms. |
| Opalesque Projects |
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Nisha Mittal
Nisha Mittal, MBA, is the Project Manager at Opalesque Ltd. She is responsible for the Opalesque Shop, Job Board, Shop, Event Listings and new product development.
Nisha is based in Opalesque's Asian office in Bangalore, India. She has completed her MBA from International School of Business and Media, Bangalore.. She has worked with Rotaract club as a treasurer and was awarded as the best treasurer in Maharashtra, India in 2005-06. |
| Opalesque Support |
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Kathy Philips
Kathy is a Senior Support Executive at Opalesque's operation in Bangalore, India and has a diploma in Retail Management. Before joining Opalesque, Kathy was working as a Senior Customer Sales Representative for CMG IT Enabled Services Bangalore, where she was one among the top 3 performers in the Organization serving US Customers. |
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James Gibbs
James doing his Bachelors in Arts joined Opalesque on April 7th 2010. James was working as Customer Support Executive for telecom, Banking and Media with more than 3 years of experience. He has also received Client appreciation certificate from British Telecom. |
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