Charles Genocchio

Head of Sales and Consultant Relationships

Prior to joining Vinva in August 2010, Charles was the Head of Global Investments at HSBC Australia from 2008-2010. Charles established the wholesale wealth management business in Australia and formulated and implemented the institutional and retail investment management strategy for the Group. Charles was a member of the bank management team and the Asia Pacific Executive Committee for HSBC Global Asset Management.  Charles was also a member of the retail risk management committee and a member of the HSBC superannuation fund oversight board.

Previously Charles was head of Sales and Consultant Relationships, for Barclays Global Investors (BGI) between 2003 and 2008, where he oversaw the sales effort and managed key client relationships for that business. His role also included formulating strategy to grow new business. Between 2000 and 2003, he held the position of senior manager, institutional business for BGI. Prior to this, Charles was at Westpac Investment Management for six years, working in various roles including portfolio manager, client manager and senior business development manager.

Charles has a Bachelor of Commerce from Macquarie University, Diploma of Technical Analysis, Master of Applied Finance, is a CFP (Certified Financial Planner) and has an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management.

Nick Burt

Portfolio Manager

Nick is a Principal of Vinva. Prior to Vinva, Nick was a Senior Portfolio Manager at Barclays Global Investors (BGI). In addition to managing Australian equity portfolios, he was also given the mandate to enhance BGI’s trading capabilities. This involved building trading and monitoring technology for BGI’s Australian equity products. In early 2007, Nick was given the additional investment responsibilities for BGI Australia’s long-short equity strategies. Nick has proven portfolio management capabilities, strong trading insights and a proven track record of delivering investment performance to clients.

Prior to joining BGI, Nick had been with JPMorgan for over 10 years. There he was the Head of Quantitative Research, where he managed a team of 6 research analysts and investment programmers. His team was rated consistently in the Top 3 teams in the Australian market by external surveys such as BRW and Greenwich. In his last role with JPMorgan before leaving to join BGI, he held the position of Head of Centralised Execution with responsibility for managing a team of 10 investment professionals in the JP Morgan proprietary trading team.

Nick has a Bachelor of Commerce – Majoring in Finance (Honours) from the University of NSW. His Honours thesis was “Pricing of SPI Futures Options using intraday prices".

Katherine Allchin

Head of Client Relationships and Marketing

Katherine joined Vinva in July 2010 after 11 years with Barclays Global Investors (BGI). At BGI, Katherine was a Managing Director and Head of Distribution, with accountability for approximately 35 sales and client service staff, over 300 institutional clients and retail intermediary platforms. She also had responsibility for functional reporting areas such as: Corporate Governance, Marketing & Communications and Performance & Reporting. Katherine was a member of the BGI Australia Executive Committee for over 10 years, founder of the BGI Women’s Initiative, and a Responsible Manager. She and her team were highly rated by clients in independent surveys such as Greenwich and Mirador.

Prior to joining BGI, Katherine worked for three years as Communications Executive with Legal & General – Financial Services Division. She commenced her career in financial services on the retail side, with Pembroke Financial Planners, and then had six years as Marketing Executive with Bain & Company/Deutsche Bank.

She has a Bachelor of Business and is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She has completed the RG 146 Compliance certificate.

Morry Waked

Managing Director and Head of Equity Investments

Morry is the Managing Director of Vinva.  Prior to Vinva being formed, Morry spent over 12 years with Barclays Global Investors (BGI).  Morry had joined BGI in 1997 as the Head of Australian Equities with a mandate to develop an active Australian equity business for BGI in Australia in long-only and long-short strategies. Morry put together a successful Australian equity team with an investment process that delivered outperformance in 11 out of 12 years and which had active Australian equity client assets of over $15bn. In 2007, he was given the dual role of Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer for BGI’s overall Australian business which had $50bn in assets for Australian and New Zealand clients. In January 2009 he was appointed Global Chief Investment Officer for BGI’s Global Active Equity Business which had client assets of over USD100bn.

Morry is a proven and experienced leader in the investment management industry who has a long term track record of innovation and delivery of investment performance to clients.  Prior to joining BGI, Morry was the Head of Quantitative Research at Rothschild Asset Management. He started in the industry at Legal & General in the Actuarial Research Division after they had put him through a 4 year university scholarship.  Morry holds a Master of Economics (majoring in Actuarial Science and Statistics) and a Bachelor of Economics, both from Macquarie University. He is also an Associate of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia.

Andrew Jackson 

Head of Research

Andrew is a Principal of Vinva. Prior to joining Vinva in September 2010, Andrew was the Head of Equity Investments at BlackRock in Australia. Previously, Andrew was the Head of Australian Equity Research at Barclays Global Investors (BGI) from 2003 to 2009. There he was responsible for developing new stock selection signals, enhancing and monitoring the existing suite of signals, and managing the Australian research team. Andrew was also a member of the BGI global equity research approval board.  Prior to BGI, Andrew worked as a portfolio manager and researcher for both SSgA and Lend Lease Investment Management, and has over 15 years experience in Australian equity portfolio management.

Andrew has a PhD in Finance from London Business School and a strong and proven research track record with papers published in leading international journals such as the Journal of Finance, Journal of Portfolio Management and the Journal of Business. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries, has a Masters of Finance, is a CFA charter holder and a Fellow of FINSIA, and has a first class honours degree with the university medal in actuarial studies and economics from Macquarie University.

Danny Lo

Research Analyst

Danny joined Vinva in January 2011. He focus is on researching new equity security selection models as well as looking for ways to enhance aspects of the existing investment process. Danny has over seven years experience in investment management including two years in London working as a portfolio manager in the fixed income team managing Macquarie's global sovereign fixed income funds. Prior to this, Danny worked as a quantitative research analyst responsible for all facets of research including alpha generation, risk analysis and performance attribution across a suite of products. Danny holds double degrees in Commerce and Science majoring in actuarial studies and mathematics, graduating with first class honours and the university medal. He is currently completing a PhD in Finance at the University of Technology, Sydney.

His PhD dissertation topic focuses on understanding the microstructure of the ASX market and explaining the cross-section of equity returns.

Gangeyan Ganesalingam

Investment Technology

Gangeyan joined Vinva in 2010 after 6 years at Barclays Global Investors (BGI) and BlackRock Australia. HIs experience was as a Senior Design and Development Engineer where he played a key role in developing and implementing an Australian ETF platform and was a lead in the development and implementation of back-to-middle-office applications. He then moved into the Australian equity investment team as an Equities Systems Analyst where he was involved in the design and development of signals as well as supporting the Investment Technology Platform.

Before joining BGI, he was Senior Development Engineer at British Aerospace Engineering in Adelaide where he received the Chairman’s Award for Innovation for designing and developing an Objective Management System.

Gangeyan started his career as an Analyst Programmer 16 years ago. Over the years he has worked in various industries including Manufacturing, Logistics, Defense and Finance.

Gangeyan holds a Masters of Science degree from the University Of Westminster, UK.

Rudy Alagich

Technology Infrastructure

Rudy has 13 years of IT infrastructure experience in the financial services industry. He joined Vinva in November 2010. Prior to this Rudy was the IT infrastructure manager at Barclays Global Investors (BGI) where he spent nearly 8 years before leaving in early 2010. During his time at BGI, he also managed the Asia Pacific server team and was responsible for developing and implementing the Busines Continuity Plan (BCP) strategy there.

Before joining BGI, Rudy was at BT Financial Group for 5 years where he last worked in the windows server team supporting and developing windows systems infrastructure.

Rudy holds a Bachelor of Applied Science, majoring in mathematics and computing, from Charles Sturt University and is a Microsoft certified technology specialist.

Robert Cochrane

Chief Operating Officer

Rob is responsible for the commercial operations of Vinva, including Finance, Investment Operations, Tax, Risk and Compliance. He has over 20 years experience in the financial services industry.  Prior to joining Vinva in September 2010, Rob served as the Chief Operating Officer of BlackRock Australia. Prior to that, Rob was Chief Operating Officer at Barclays Global Investors (BGI) where he was responsible for business management and all operational functions including investment operations, finance, tax, risk, compliance, legal and human resources. Rob served for 11 years at BGI and held several roles, including Chief Financial Officer and Head of Operations.

Before BGI, Rob was the corporate financial controller for ING Australia (Mercantile Mutual), and before that, a senior manager at Arthur Andersen in the financial services practice in both London and Sydney.

Rob is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and holds a Bachelor of Economics from Macquarie University.

Monique Nugent

Client Service & Corporate Governance Manager

Monique joined Vinva in October 2011 and is responsible for all corporate governance issues including proxy voting and engagement.  In addition, Monique will also be working with Charles and Katherine to support client and consultants activities. Prior to joining Vinva, Monique was Director of Corporate Governance for BlackRock Australia where she was responsible for all governance issues for Australian and New Zealand equities held by BlackRock’s clients globally.  This included voting, engagement, UNPRI, and non-investment related environmental and social issues.  Before BlackRock’s acquisition of Barclays Global Investors (BGI) in December 2009, Monique was the Corporate Governance Manager for BGI Australia, responsible for all corporate governance and proxy voting issues on behalf of client’s Australian equity portfolios. She was also responsible for class actions.  Monique has had over six years experience in corporate governance during her time at BGI/BlackRock.  Monique served for 12 years at BGI and previously held various positions in Client Service and Institutional Business.  Monique joined BGI initially in the London office in 1997 and moved to the Australian office in early 2000.  Monique has over 20 years experience in the investment management industry, including positions with Macquarie Investment Management and Westpac Investment Management.

Monique has a Bachelor of Arts from Canberra University and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment.

Samantha Hamilton

Client Service Support and Office Manager

Samantha joined Vinva in 2010. Before joining Vinva, Samantha worked at Barclays Global Investors (BGI) for 5 years where she was most recently Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer who lead the business that managed $50B in funds under management. Prior to this role, Samantha was personal assistant to the Head of Institutional Business and a major part of her role was Events Management for the Institutional Sales and Service team. This team was one of the largest, most successful financial services sales teams in the Australian market –with activities covering approximately eight annual conferences and many sales and marketing activities.

Before joining BGI, she worked as Executive Assistant to the Chief Operating Officer of Risk at Barclays Capital in Johannesburg, South Africa. She has also worked in various industries including financial planning as Client Service support, Advertising as PA to the Deputy MD of Client Service and Franchising.

Samantha is our Office manager as well as providing Client Service Support.

Richard C. Grinold

Founding shareholder in Vinva.

Richard Grinold served as the Global Director of Research at Barclays Global Investors (BGI)  from 1994 until his retirement in 2009. During his time at BGI he shaped the investment research and innovation agenda that lead to BGI being one of the most successful global active managers in the industry. His global team was responsible for active investment strategies with assets of over USD240 billion. Prior to BGI, Richard was President of BARRA, a leading global investment technology company.  Richard also spent twenty years on the faculty of the School of Business Administration at the University of California, Berkeley.  At Berkeley Richard served as Chairman of the Finance faculty, Chairman of the Management Science faculty, and Director of the Berkeley Program in Finance. Richard was a Research Fellow at Harvard in 1968–69, and a Fellow at CORE in Louvain Belgium in 1974. He has served as a visiting professor at HEC near Paris in 1979–1980, and at the Harvard Business School in 1983–1984.

He has published more than fifty papers in academic and professional journals. Some recent efforts are “Implementation Efficiency”, "A Dynamic Model for Portfolio Management” and “Attribution”.  Richard is one of the most experienced and most respected investment professionals in the global asset management industry. His research innovations and thought leadership in risk modelling, portfolio construction and the systematic approach to exploiting security mispricing have had a positive influence on the asset management industry.  Richard received his Ph.D. in Operations Research from U.C. Berkeley in 1968. He studied Physics at Tufts University and helped to wire up the Harvard-MIT Cambridge Electron Accelerator. Other milestones include serving as the navigator of the USS Gainard DD-706.

Bruce Goddard

Founding shareholder in Vinva.

Bruce retired from Barclays Global Investors (BGI) in 2007. Between 2007 and 2009 he was a Senior Consultant to the Head of Global Market Strategies Group at BGI. Bruce spent 20+ years at BGI with the first 10 years in the US while the final 10 years were spent in Australia. When he joined the firm in the US in 1986 he was Head of the Fixed Income Group and later co-Head of the Portfolio Management Group responsible for US and international equity and fixed income index strategies. During 1994-1995 Bruce was the Chief Investment Officer of the Defined Contribution Research and Strategy Group, responsible for the investment products being offered by the firm to the US defined contribution marketplace. He and his team designed the LifePath® strategy, a unique and innovative pension investment product at the time.

In 1997 Bruce, and his family, relocated to Australia to become BGI Australia’s Chief Investment Officer. As CIO, Bruce was responsible for all of the investment strategies offered by BGI in Australia. Between 2000-2007 he was also Global Head of BGI’s Global Market Strategies Group. This group was responsible for designing and managing BGI’s Global Macro Hedge Funds and active currency strategies globally.  Prior to BGI, Bruce managed bond portfolios at Mellon Bank. Bruce received an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley, and a BA in Economics and Statistics and an MA in Finance and Investment from the University of Exeter in England. He has also been a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) since 1986.

Justin Wood

Founding shareholder in Vinva.

Justin was the CEO of BGI Australia from 2000 to early 2007. At BGI his roles included product development, client advice and strategic planning. Justin has been interested in financial markets, financial planning and the retirement system for several decades. He has combined academic roles, primarily at the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM) in the University of New South Wales, and industry roles, primarily at Barclays Global Investors (BGI) where he worked from 1997 until 2009. At the AGSM his main research interest was the economics of taxes and he was Director of the AGSM’s executive Portfolio Management program for 10 years.

Justin also has a strong interest in risk management. He served on many local and global risk, compliance and fiduciary committees during his time at BGI and was chair of BGI’s global Risk and Compliance Committee from 2006 to 2009. He is a past Board member and Chair of the Investment Board Committee for the Investment and Financial Services Association (IFSA) and has been a regular speaker at industry conferences over the last decade. He received an IFSA industry excellence award in 2009 for contributions to the industry.  Justin is a well known and respected thought leader who is passionate about understanding and helping develop the regulatory policies and institutional structures that are necessary to meet Australia’s retirement needs in a sustainable manner into the future.  Justin has a PhD in Finance from the University of New South Wales.