In Person
- Sydney, Australia
Amora Hotel Jamison Sydney
11 Jamison Street
Sydney, NSW 2000
T: +61 2 9696 2500
Event Summary
Join your fellow members to explore the latest Cutter research and analysis that dares to predict what’s next, delivering the insight, judgment, and practical tools needed to stay ahead of industry change. Every session is grounded in deep industry expertise and real-world experience, ensuring discussions move past opinion and focus on applied insight. The event will feature research presentations, roundtable exchanges, panel talks, and thought leadership. There will be plenty of time to connect with peers, starting with an evening welcome reception and culminating in a closing cocktail reception. If you’re looking for substance, perspective, and conversations that truly matter at the enterprise level, this is an event you won’t want to miss.
Who Should Attend
Our exclusive members-only event brings together industry leaders from across the global asset manager and asset owner communities. This event is designed specifically for operations and technology professionals.
- Chief Technology Officers
- Chief Operations Officers
- Chief Information Officers
- Chief Data Officers
- Investment Operations and Technology Managers
- Portfolio management, trading, operations, compliance, and technical staff involved throughout the lifecycle of a trade
Agenda
| Time | Sessions |
|---|---|
| 4:00pm |
Registration & Welcome Cocktail Reception: Connect With Your Peers
4:00pm-6:00pm GMT+11 Registration & Welcome Cocktail Reception: Connect With Your PeersWednesday, Nov 04, 2026 · 4:00pm-6:00pm GMT+11 |
| Time | Sessions |
|---|---|
| 8:45am |
Registration & Breakfast: Connect With Your Peers and Exhibitors
8:45am-9:15am GMT+11 Registration & Breakfast: Connect With Your Peers and ExhibitorsThursday, Nov 05, 2026 · 8:45am-9:15am GMT+11 |
| 9:15am | |
| 9:30am |
Investing in a Data Platform
9:30am-10:15am GMT+11 Investing in a Data PlatformThursday, Nov 05, 2026 · 9:30am-10:15am GMT+11Investment management firms are concentrating on modernizing their investment data platforms. They are either developing their own proprietary platforms, implementing vended platforms, or creating hybrid solutions that combine best-of-breed technologies with vendor platforms and services. In this session, we explore members’ experiences, challenges, and best practices for modernizing data platforms. Speaker
Cutter
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| 10:15am |
Networking Break, Exhibit Hall Open
10:15am-10:45am GMT+11 Networking Break, Exhibit Hall OpenThursday, Nov 05, 2026 · 10:15am-10:45am GMT+11 |
| 10:45am |
The Future of Trading
10:45am-11:30am GMT+11 The Future of TradingThursday, Nov 05, 2026 · 10:45am-11:30am GMT+11In this session, we examine the evolving role of traders, trading costs, and staffing. This includes an analysis of the EMS landscape, a comparison of broker-supplied and broker-neutral EMS platforms, and a discussion of trends in outsourced trading. Speakers
Cutter
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| 11:30am |
The State of Play for AI
11:30am-12:15pm GMT+11 The State of Play for AIThursday, Nov 05, 2026 · 11:30am-12:15pm GMT+11What's Working and What's Next: This session combines our research on current AI usage with practical guidance for implementing AI. We explore how firms are deploying AI today, strengthening governance and risk assessment frameworks, and fostering meaningful adoption throughout the organization. Speaker
Cutter
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| 12:15pm |
Lunch: Connect With Other Members and Exhibitors Over Lunch
12:15pm-1:15pm GMT+11 Lunch: Connect With Other Members and Exhibitors Over LunchThursday, Nov 05, 2026 · 12:15pm-1:15pm GMT+11 |
| 1:15pm |
The New Economics of Buy-Side Technology - Vendor Perspectives on Cost, Value, and Tradeoffs
1:15pm-2:00pm GMT+11 The New Economics of Buy-Side Technology - Vendor Perspectives on Cost, Value, and TradeoffsThursday, Nov 05, 2026 · 1:15pm-2:00pm GMT+11Fee compression and margin pressure are forcing investment managers to scrutinize technology spending more closely. In this vendor-led panel, industry providers share what they are seeing across the buy side as firms rationalize platforms, increase cost transparency, and distinguish between table-stakes capabilities and true differentiators. The discussion aims to offer a market-wide perspective on how budgeting discipline and board-level scrutiny are shaping technology decisions. Speaker
Cutter
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| 2:00pm |
Examining Emerging Operational Patterns in Private Markets
2:00pm-2:45pm GMT+11 Examining Emerging Operational Patterns in Private MarketsThursday, Nov 05, 2026 · 2:00pm-2:45pm GMT+11In this session, we share key insights from Cutter’s 2026 Private Markets benchmarking survey and discuss how technology is reshaping investment support models. Speakers
Cutter
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| 2:45pm |
Networking Break, Exhibit Hall Open
2:45pm-3:15pm GMT+11 Networking Break, Exhibit Hall OpenThursday, Nov 05, 2026 · 2:45pm-3:15pm GMT+11 |
| 3:15pm |
Next-Gen Workforce - Talent Transformation in Investment Management
3:15pm-4:00pm GMT+11 Next-Gen Workforce - Talent Transformation in Investment ManagementThursday, Nov 05, 2026 · 3:15pm-4:00pm GMT+11During this workshop session, Cutter leads a discussion on the strategies firms use to attract and develop talent with the technical skill and business acumen necessary for effective communication as AI analytics and innovation transform the workforce. Speaker
Cutter
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| 4:00pm |
Cocktail Reception
4:00pm-5:30pm GMT+11 Cocktail ReceptionThursday, Nov 05, 2026 · 4:00pm-5:30pm GMT+11 |
Speakers
Jon Chandler
Senior Research Lead
Jon Chandler has 20 years of experience in the financial services industry. Prior to joining Cutter Associates in 2014, Jon was a senior business analyst for State Street Global Advisors (SSGA), where he was involved in a number of projects for the front and middle office, including UAT design and execution for an order management system (Fidessa IMS), the implementation of a web-based due diligence platform (FundInsight), and an enterprise solution to support blended benchmarks. Prior to his project roles, Jon was a principal in fixed income trade operations at SSGA. He has extensive experience with post-trade operations and applications, such as OASYS/CTM, PORTIA, MBSExpert, and FailStation. Jon earned a bachelor of arts in history from the University of Florida and an MBA from Northeastern University.
Recent research assignments and publications include the following:
- Alternative Investment Systems
- Cutter Benchmarking: Alternative Investments
- Cutter Benchmarking: Derivatives and Collateral Management
- Cutter Benchmarking: Investment Risk
- Cutter Benchmarking: Performance Measurement and Attribution
- Derivatives and Collateral Management Solutions
- Execution Management Systems
- Managed Data Services
- Order Management Systems
- Outsourcing Solutions
- Performance Measurement and Attribution Systems
- Portfolio Analytics Solutions
- Private Debt
- Risk Management Systems
- The Evolving Front Office Support Model
Chanelle Crabtree
Consulting Principal – Investment Operations and Outsourcing
Chanelle Crabtree has extensive experience consulting for the asset management industry in Australia for the past 20 years. Chanelle has considerable knowledge and expertise in investment management, outsourcing, and the development of operational models that support the investment management lifecycle. Chanelle leads Cutter Associates’ Investment Operations and Outsourcing practice, and oversees Cutter’s Australia office. She has decades of experience working for investment management firms, custodians, and consulting firms, in roles that included middle-/back-office operational, business analyst, project management, consulting, and senior management. She has a deep understanding of investment management, covering the operational, governance, and system requirements to support all types of clients, products, and asset classes.
A former Director at Deloitte, Chanelle led key engagements, particularly for complex clients with diverse asset classes, covering target operating model design, sourcing, and implementation. Prior to Deloitte, Chanelle was a Lead Consultant at Morse Consulting Pty Limited, where she led various engagements that covered target operating model design, sourcing of custodians/systems, and implementations with investment managers and superannuation clients.
Stacia Graham
Head of Research
Stacia Graham brings more than 30 years of experience in investment management as Head of Research at Cutter Associates, where she leads a team of analysts that delivers insights and events to Cutter’s global members.
Stacia joined Cutter in 2018 and, as part of the research team, worked closely with members and vendors to author numerous reports and deliver insights at events on many topics, including client reporting, modern compliance in investment management, investment management platforms, portfolio analytics solutions, asset allocation and total portfolio approach, and research management systems. She brings a deep understanding of end-to-end asset management processes and project management, and has also served as a subject matter expert for targeted engagements in enterprise risk and compliance.
Prior to joining Cutter in 2018, Stacia held various senior roles at Wellington Management Company in compliance, investment administration, and operational risk, including leading the global Investment Guideline Compliance team for eight years.
She earned her bachelor of science in business administration from Bryant University and an MBA from Bentley University.
Kathy McDermott
Senior Research Lead
Kathy McDermott has more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. Kathy, who joined Cutter Associates in 2011, has authored multiple Cutter Research reports on a wide range of topics. She spent ten years as a consultant for a variety of asset management firms, with a focus on business analysis for front- and middle-office projects. Kathy was previously the senior business analyst, equity trading systems, at Wellington Management, specializing in the firm’s proprietary electronic and basket trading applications. Earlier in her career, Kathy worked for Thomson Financial Services (now Thomson Reuters), supporting FirstCall and PORTIA clients in Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, and Thailand, and later went on to manage PORTIA implementations. She also worked at LongView (now Linedata) as an account manager and then product manager of electronic trading. Kathy earned her bachelor of arts in mathematics from Hamilton College.
Recent research assignments and publications include the following:
- Alternative Data and the Expanding Universe of Investment Information
- Cutter Benchmarking: Data Management
- Cutter Benchmarking: Market Data Administration
- DataOps: In Theory and Practice
- Enabling Data Analytics
- The Evolving Front Office Support Model
- Evolving Data Governance: Building a Data Culture
- Making Snowflake Part of Your Modern Data Platform
- Managed Data Services
- Market Data Administration
- Order Management Systems
- Outsourced Trading: Has the Time Come?
- Reference Data Management Solutions
Rein van Rooyen
Head of APAC
Rein van Rooyen is a results-driven finance and investment industry leader with international experience spearheading teams and achieving outcomes within highly competitive environments. Rein is well versed in leading change agendas, including building capabilities, integrating functions, culture journeys, structure realignment, and operational transformations. Rein comfortably navigates ambiguity, drives forward change, and develops innovative commercial solutions with a sustained commitment for stakeholder centricity and broader organizational impacts. A global thought leader and champion of innovation and transformation, he has extensive experience across superannuation, investment management, banking, risk, and insurance. He has a deep understanding of investment management system use and design.
Prior to Cutter, Rein spent five years at QSuper, where he led the middle and back office for the AUD 100 billion fund, including overseeing investment data, investment performance & analytics, investment risk & compliance, trade support, cash & treasury, collateral management & optimization, valuations & alternatives, investment implementation and deal team, as well as fund operations. He also worked for PwC in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, where he led a variety of client engagements.
Event Exhibitors
Platinum Sponsors
Northern Trust is a leading global provider of asset servicing and related services. We have experience helping some of the world's largest and most complex organizations handle their asset servicing needs, offering guidance and insight with personalized service.
We work with corporate and government retirement funds, nonprofit organizations, fund managers, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies and other institutional investors around the globe.
Our ongoing investment in technology allows us to provide our clients with the solutions they need to operate their businesses more efficiently. We couple this with a client-centered approach to provide a powerful combination of service, technology and expertise.
More About Northern Trust
FINBOURNE Technology solves foundational challenges of fragmented systems, data quality issues, and inflexible legacy architecture that create operational risk and slow innovation. Our platform provides cloud-native data infrastructure that unifies investment management operations with complete lineage and bi-temporal accuracy.
FINBOURNE delivers a single, real-time view across all asset classes. From portfolio and order management to IBOR, accounting, and reconciliation, FINBOURNE connects front-to-back workflows and integrates bi-directionally with your existing ecosystem.
Modernize incrementally, retire technical debt strategically, and make your data audit-ready and intelligence-ready when you need it. Leading firms including HSBC, Northern Trust, and Baillie Gifford rely on FINBOURNE to eliminate data silos and accelerate time-to-market.
More About FINBOURNEGold Sponsors
AlphaCert – Simplifying complex investment data management
About AlphaCert
AlphaCert is a global financial technology company that helps investment managers and superannuation firms turn complex investment data into a trusted asset. We enable organisations to take control of their data so they can manage risk, meet regulatory obligations and make better investment decisions.
Get ahead in a time of change
Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping how investment teams work and the insights they can get. But outcomes are only as good as the data it relies on. We help forward-thinking firms to take proof of concepts into production, leveraging AI on top of contained, validated and well-governed data.
Start small and leap ahead
Our modular platform aggregates, validates, calculates and reconciles data to create a single source of truth. Clients gain fast, reliable access to investment data, enabling accurate decisions, regulatory compliance and cost control - while reducing risk from spreadsheets and manual processes.
As the engine behind the scenes, AlphaCert gives time back to your team to stay focused on what matters most; serving investors and generating consistent returns.
Scale with confidence
We work with organisations managing funds from $1 billion to $400 billion. Many start with quick wins by solving specific business problems, such as replacing fragmented spreadsheets, automating validation and reconciliation, streamlining regulatory reporting or delivering NAV and shadow unit pricing. These early successes build trust and ROI, while providing a pathway to make AlphaCert the strategic backbone for a single source of investment data truth.
Our open, AI-ready platform reduces the reliance on key people and manual processes. Data is managed in a controlled, easy to use system, with a full audit trail. AlphaCert delivers the right balance of automation and control, helping you operate efficiently today and adopt AI safely tomorrow.
What we offer
Alongside our technology platform, AlphaCert provides deep industry and technology expertise, client support and professional services. We partner with clients to deliver complex transition projects, bespoke solutions, as well as fast onboarding implementations (in weeks not months) of our off-the-shelf modules.
What sets us apart
- Simplicity with depth – powerful enough for complex fund structures, intuitive for busy teams.
- Scalable and modular – start small, expand to a full strategic backbone.
- Future-proof for AI - clean, governed data ready for analytics and intelligent agents.
- Local understanding with global reach - strong presence in Australia and New Zealand, backed by global best practice.
- Ongoing support and services – partnership beyond implementation.
- Lower total cost of ownership - faster to implement and easier to maintain than heavyweight enterprise EDM platforms.
Turning complexity into clarity
- Centralise and master investment data from multiple sources covering complex portfolio structures and all instruments with multi-layer look-through.
- Automate reconciliation and validation: daily sign-off, performance calculations, regulatory reporting.
- Provide real-time oversight: unit pricing, NAV control, ESG enrichment, compliance checks and post-trade monitoring.
Meeting regulatory requirements efficiently
With APRA CPS 230 now in effect, superannuation firms face expectations on service-provider risk, operational resilience, cybersecurity and business continuity. AlphaCert helps you comply and de-risk:
- Business continuity and resilience: ISO 27001-certified, robust disaster recovery and business continuity processes, fully auditable.
- Third-party risk control: Independent unit pricing and NAV verification with exception alerts and workflow sign-off.
- Operational risk management: Automated post-trade compliance and intelligent exception handling.
How we deliver
- Fast, modular deployment – start with priority pain points and expand when ready.
- Professional services and expertise – quick off-the-shelf modules or tailored solutions.
- Open, connected architecture
- Enterprise-grade security and resilience - ISO 27001 compliance, APRA CPS 234 alignment, customisable disaster recovery and BCP, full encryption and single-tenant data models.
- Cloud-based with regular software updates.
Benefits for every stakeholder
CIO
Trusted, timely data; full oversight across portfolios; faster decisions; stay focused on investment performance.
CRO / Risk & Compliance
Audit-ready controls; compliance; real-time alerts; third-party oversight.
COO
Automated workflows; reduced key-person risk; faster reporting; stronger operational resilience.
CTO
Modern, API-first architecture; cloud-agnostic; lowers legacy tech burden and prepares for AI.
Board & Executives
Visible compliance posture; lower reputational and regulatory risk; operational clarity.
Fund Members
Accurate unit pricing, professional reporting, faster issue resolution, stronger trust.
More About AlphaCert
Gresham is a global leader in enterprise data automation for the financial services industry. Following the acquisition of S&P Global's Enterprise Data Management business (formerly Markit EDM), Gresham now brings together the heritage of Asset Control, Alveo and Markit EDM. Our Enterprise Data Management (EDM) solutions support more than 240 financial institutions worldwide by helping them acquire, validate, govern and distribute trusted market, reference and investment data, enabling better decision-making, operational resilience and regulatory compliance. In addition to Enterprise Data Management, Gresham provides industry-leading solutions for reconciliation and control, regulatory reporting, investment data aggregation and managed data services.
More About Gresham
SimCorp is a provider of industry-leading integrated investment management solutions for the global buy side.
Founded in 1971, with more than 3,500 employees across five continents, SimCorp is a truly global technology leader that empowers more than half of the world's top 100 financial companies through its integrated platform, services, and partner ecosystem.
SimCorp is a subsidiary of Deutsche Börse Group.
More About SimCorp