Stockholm (HedgeNordic) Unlike many other industry awards, the Nordic Hedge Award is not just a pure performance award but also uses a professional jury. This jury of industry professionals from the Nordic hedge fund space judges the nominated funds based on qualitative criteria. The combination of the jury´s qualtitative score together with a quantatative score which was caclulated through a model co-developed together with Stockholm School of Economics / Swedish House of Finance determines the final reults and the winning funds of the Nordic Hedge Award. The final event, when winners will be presented their prizes is to be held in Stockholm, on April 10th 2019.

HedgeNordic is pleased to announce the six jury members to the 2018 Nordic Hedge Award:

Linsay McPhater, Investment Director – Danica Pension (DK)

Linsay Mc Phater has 12 years in experience in asset management, of which four have been at Danica Pension. After gaining an MSc in Finance and Investment at Edinburgh University in Scotland, Linsay joined the graduate programme at Aberdeen Standard, where she stayed for 5 years, working in the multi asset, private equity and hedge fund teams. She later joined Morningstar where she was involved in the fund ratings across the alternative funds.

Linsay is responsible for monitoring the current private equity and infrastructure funds for Danica’s portfolio, and identifying and undertaking due diligence on new investment ideas. Linsay is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA).

Gustav Karner, CEO & CIO – Apoteket´s Pension Fund (SWE)

Gustav Karner is Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer at Apoteket’s Pension Fund since 2017. Before that Gustav was Chief Investment Officer at the Nobel Foundation between 2012 and 2017. Prior to that Gustav Karner worked for Länsförsäkringar for over 10 years. Since 2006 he was Head of Asset Management and Chief Financial Officer. Gustav has also worked for Alecta as Head of Risk Management where he built up the Risk Management function.

In mid 1990 Gustav started his financial career at Handelsbanken as a quantitative analyst. Gustav holds a Master of Science in Computer Science and Engineering and a Bachelor of Science in Business and Administration (Major in Economics). Gustav Karner has also been Chairman of the Board for LF Östgöta Brandstodsbolag Kapitalförvaltning AB and Humlegården AB.

Ulrika Bergman, CFA – Chief Investment Office –  The Nobel Foundation (SWE)

At the Nobel Foundation Ulrika is actively managing a SEK 4 billion fund portfolio, covering all asset classes. Before joining the Nobel Foundation in May 2017, she was heading up a Global Equity Team managing SEK 170 billion at SEB. Up until 2007 she held positions as Risk Manager and Account Manager at RPM where she started her career. RPM is an alternative investment house, focusing on directional investment strategies, specifically Managed Futures and Global Macro. She holds a Master of Science in Business Administration and Economics. Ulrika Bergman is a CFA® charterholder.

Jarkko Matialinen, Founding Partner – NorthPeak Governance

Jarkko Matilainen is one of the two Co-Founders of NorthPeak Governance LP, a corporate governance firm established in 2018 and based in Helsinki, which is focused on services of fund governance and independent non-executive directorships. Currently, as part of NorthPeak activity, he serves as an independent non-executive director for funds domiciled in Cayman Islands and Ireland.

Previously, 2003 – 2006, Jarkko was a portfolio manager and 2006 – 2018 the head of hedge funds at Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company having overall responsibility for the team, portfolio and investments. Varma, which has carried USD 5-10 bln allocation to hedge funds for the last 10 years, is one of the largest hedge fund investors in Europe. Earlier, 2000-2003, he worked as a risk manager and was one of the four founding partners of Avenir, an equity l/s fund in Helsinki. He started his career in Pension-Varma in 1996 and worked first as an economist and then as a strategist covering macro and investment analysis as well as asset allocation and risk management tasks.

Christian Lundström, Ph.Lic.,Head of Fund Selection and Compliance Unit – Swedish Pension Agency, PPM (SWE)

Christian Lundström is the Head of Fund Selection and Compliance Unit at the Swedish Pension Agency, heading the fund selection and due diligence for the premium pension fund platform (approx. SEK 1300 billion).

To learn more about present and past jury boards to the Nordic Hedge Award and the role of jury members, find more information here: Jury Board to the Nordic Hedge Award

Ville Toivakainen, CFA – Head of Alternative Investments – Aktia Asset Management (FIN)

Ville Toivakainen, CFA, has over 15 years of experience in alternative investments and currently works as Head of Alternative Investments at Aktia Asset Management and has set up an established the alternative investment business for Aktia. He joined Aktia in spring 2016 from OP Financial Group, where he worked four years as a Portfolio Manager for Insurance and Pension Investments, with main responsibility on alternative investments.

Prior to that, Ville was over 8 years as portfolio manager and partner at RAM Partners, a Finnish-domiciled fund of hedge funds manager. At RAM he had various roles starting from building up quantitative research and risk management functions to selecting hedge funds to board member of the Irish fund umbrella. Ville started his career in early 2000’s at OP Bank Group Pension fund as a quantitative analyst. Ville has M. Sc. in Economics from University of Tampere and is a CFA charterholder.

Picture: (c) By Lemberg Vector Studio—shutterstock.com