“Benchmarking Brand & Digital Intelligence of Asset Managers”

Kate is co-Founder and CEO of Living Group, founded in 2004. She has over 20 years of City experience covering investment banking, private client wealth management and hedge fund trading which includes eight years at UBS, latterly sales trading to hedge fund clients. Kate is responsible for Living’s financial services clients and brings extensive, invaluable knowledge of the alternative investment arena. She also oversees Living’s financial control and growth strategy in Europe, Asia and America.

Kirti Naik is Russell Investments’ global head of brand marketing & communications, responsible for leading and driving the development of the firm’s brand position and serving as the principal brand architect. She is an award-winning marketer with more than 17 years of experience in traditional marketing, consumer marketing, business-to-business and digital marketing across a variety of industries, including entertainment, manufacturing, luxury apparel, consumer banking and asset management. Prior to joining the firm, she served as global head of brand & advertising at OppenheimerFunds for nearly seven years, transforming the brand and leading marketing innovation via VR, 360, biometrics technology and a unique approach to brand partnerships. In her prior four years at Citibank, she launched new innovative communication platforms and led the company’s online communications strategy. She has an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Kate Gunning joined J.P. Morgan Asset Management 5 years ago. In her role as Head of Brand Strategy and Activation, she has worked with the organization to help build the firm’s first globally integrated Communications platform, ‘Let’s Solve It.’ She works with the businesses across the organization to build communication and media programs that broaden reach and meaningfully engage with financial professionals – demonstrating the firm’s commitment tohelping clients build stronger portfolios. Prior to J.P. Morgan, Kate spent her career at full-service global advertising and communications agencies like WPP/JWT and Dentsu/mcgarrybowen where she developed brand strategies for companies like Nestle’s Kit Kat, Shell Oil, Clarks, Kleenex and Unilever’s Toni and Guy. Kate has lived and worked in both New York and London. She completed her undergraduate degree at Florida State University where she majored in Advertising and minored in Creative Writing. She was named one of the University’s inaugural 30 under 30 and was recently recognized as a Rising Star in Financial Marketing by the Gramercy Institute. She currently lives in Tribeca NYC with her husband Tim and 2 year old son, Tillman. But on the weekend, you’ll find them at their mountain home in Woodstock, NY, their “happy place” where they love spending time as a family.

Merry Fish is a Vice President of Brand Strategy at PIMCO, responsible for managing PIMCO’s various brand research platforms, leveraging consumer and brand insights to drive strategic growth, and co-managing brand and advertising efforts. Prior to joining PIMCO this year, she worked for 3+ years at PIMCO’s brand agency, Team One, as a Strategy Director, where she helped drive the research and development of PIMCO’s new brand positioning and narrative. Before that, Merry worked at HUGE as a digital business strategist, where she worked on projects for BNY Mellon, Credit Suisse, and Morgan Stanley. With more than 10 years of experience within investment management, she also has worked at T. Rowe Price and GMO in her career.  Merry earned her MBA from Georgetown University in Washington DC and her BA from College of the Holy Cross in MA.