Industry network
Ted Alexander, BEcon (Hons), MPhil (Econ)
Role: Chief Investment Officer, BML Funds
Ted Alexander serves the UTS Finance Department as an distinguished Honorary Industry Fellow. He joined the Honorary UTS Business School network in September 2023 for a period of 2 years.
Ted is currently the Chief Investment Officer for BML Funds. Before joining BML, he held the position of Head of Investments and Portfolio Manager for both the Orca Asia Fund and the Orca Global Fund at Orca Funds Management. During his time at Magellan Financial Group, he served as the Portfolio Manager and Head of Healthcare and was also a voting member of both the Investment and Macro Committees. Ted's expertise also extends to Neptune Investment Management, where he led as the Head of Alternative Investments and Technology and Telecoms. There, he managed diverse strategies encompassing European Long/Short Equities, Global Long/Short Equities, UK Equities, International Bonds, and UK Corporate Bonds. He initially commenced his career at the Reserve Bank of Australia. Ted holds a Master of Philosophy in Economics from the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar, and has a Bachelor of Economics with First Class Honours from the University of Tasmania.
John Birkhold, BSci, MEng, MBA
Role: Co-founder and Chief Investment Officer, TWC Invest
John Birkhold, serves the UTS Finance Department as an Honorary Industry Fellow. He joined the Honorary UTS Business School network in August 2024 for a period of 2 years. John is a co-founder and Chief Investment Officer at TWC Invest, an embryonic investment manager targeting institutional, family office, private wealth, and sophisticated high-net-worth investors.
Prior to founding TWC, John spent 12 years with Origin Asset Management as a Partner and a member of a four-person Portfolio Manager team managing approximately $5 billion in assets across five global long-only equity strategies.
Prior to joining Origin, John was one of the original partners in Chicago-based HOLT Value Associates which was eventually acquired by CSFB in 2002. He was promoted to managing director for Credit Suisse, where he was responsible for all of CS HOLT’s non-US activities based out of London. Over his 17-year career with HOLT, John was instrumental in enhancing and evolving HOLT’s highly regarded proprietary CFROI framework while working closely with over 100 institutional investment firms across five continents.
One of John’s notable clients was London-based Investec Asset Management, where he played a pivotal role in helping design and develop the evidence-based 4Factor investment process. The senior 4Factor investment team later left Investec to found Origin Asset Management in 2005. Recognizing the value of their innovative approach, John reconnected with his former clients in 2009 and moved back to Sydney to establish Origin’s Australia office in 2010.
John started his career in finance in 1988 as an Equity Analyst for the Chicago-based Ameritech Pension Fund. He holds an MBA in Finance from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, a Master of Engineering in Systems Engineering, and a Bachelor of Science in Systems Engineering with a minor in Computer Science from the University of Virginia.
Michael Block, BCom, BArts, MCom
Role: Strategy Consultant, tegy ConsultantMine Super
Michael is an Industry Adjunct Professor of the UTS Business School, and one of the donors of the Anchor Investment Fund. With over 40 years of experience in the financial services sector in Australia, he has held a diverse range of positions in investment banking, government and funds management. He was most recently the Chief Investment Officer of Australian Catholic Super, a $11 billion industry superannuation fund. From 2012 to 2014 he was the Chief Investment Officer of Nambawan Super Limited, the major superannuation fund in Papua New Guinea. From 2009 to 2011 Michael was the General Manager - Investments for FuturePlus Financial Services, an organisation that serviced four superannuation funds with assets of around $12 billion. Before that, Michael designed and implemented the $14 billion Workers Compensation Insurance Fund whilst General Manager - Investment Division for WorkCover NSW from 2004-2008. From 1996 to 2004 Michael was Director - Treasury and Investment Services for the University of New South Wales where he managed UNSW's reserves and endowments and managed UNSW's commercial operations. Michael has undergraduate qualifications in law, accounting, finance and philosophy and postgraduate qualifications in law, applied finance, economic history and economics.
Tan Teng Boo, BSocSc - Economics (Honours)
Role: Managing Director and CIO, Capital Dynamics
Tan Teng Boo is an Industry Adjunct Professor of the UTS Business School. He is Managing Director and CIO of Capital Dynamics, Asia’s first global fund manager, with offices in Singapore, Sydney, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Shanghai.
Aged 70, he is a fund manager who has experienced the 1st oil crisis in 1973, 1982 emerging country crisis, devastating 1985 commodity collapse, 1990 Gulf War, 1997 Asian Crisis, 2000 technology bubble burst, US-led global financial crisis in 2008, 2020 pandemic shock and many more. With hands-on experience navigating bear and bull markets since 1972, he possesses a unique perspective invaluable in times of market volatility and uncertainty.
An avid investor, entrepreneur and fund manager with deep seeded value of integrity, Tan Teng Boo built Capital Dynamics from scratch. A “fanatic’s” interest in investing, together with his unique ability to blend his investing skills with his extensive business experiences, distinguishes him from other fund managers. His expertise in investment management has led him to be acknowledged as a prominent industry figure. Tan Teng Boo's insights into global equities and markets have garnered attention from global and local media. He has an Honours degree in Social Sciences with a major in Economics from Sussex University, UK.
Richard Brandweiner, CFA, BEc
Role: Chief Executive Officer, Pendal Group Australia
Richard Brandweiner serves the UTS Finance Department as an Adjunct Professor. He joined the Honorary UTS Business School network in August 2018 for a period of 3 years and then re-appointed for a further 2 years in August 2021. He has spent twenty five years working across all asset classes in the funds management and pension fund industries. He is currently Chief Executive Officer of Pendal Australia (formerly BT Investment Management Australia) one of Australia’s leading independent fund managers. Prior to this, Richard was Chief Investment Officer at First State Superannuation, one of Australia’s largest pension funds, and Group Executive at Perpetual Investments.
Richard is the Chair of Impact Investing Australia, part of the Global Steering Group for Impact Investing. He is a member of the NSW Government Social Impact Investment Expert Advisory Group, Chair of the NRL Players Retirement Account, and a member of the CFA Institute Future of Finance Content Council. He is a former President of the CFA Society of Sydney.
Benjamin Chong, B.Com (Honours)
Role: Founder, Investor, Right Click Capital
Benjamin Chong serves the UTS Finance Department as an Industry/Professional Fellow. He joined the Honorary UTS Business School network in February 2021 for a period of 2 years.
Philipp Ivanov, B.Chinese History (Honours), M.Edu Leadership
Role: Founder and CEO, Geopolitical Risks and Strategy Practice (GRASP), Senior Fellow, Asia Society Policy Institute, Advisory board member, Geopolitical Strategy and Global Women Asia
Philipp Ivanov, serves the UTS Finance Department as an Honorary Industry Fellow. He joined the Honorary UTS Business School network in September 2024 for a period of 2 years. Philipp is a foreign policy leader and China specialist. He advises governments, businesses, and universities on geostrategy. With extensive executive experience in government, business, think tanks and universities in Australia, the United States, China, Asia and Russia, he is an innovative and strategic leader with a strong commercial acumen and a track record of transforming organisations and teams.
He is the founder and CEO of Geopolitical Risks and Strategy Practice (GRASP), Senior Fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute (where he founded the China-Russia Program) and an advisory board member of Geopolitical Strategy and Global Women Asia. He was the Chief Programming Officer at Asia Society New York and CEO of Asia Society Australia from 2015 to 2023 overseeing a turn-around strategy that transformed the Center into Australia’s leading business and policy think-tank. In 2023, Philipp was a Fulbright Scholar in Australia-United States Alliance Studies at Georgetown University in Washington DC and in 2009 Australian Government’s Endeavour Executive Fellow at the China National Academy of Education Administration in Beijing. Previously, he was a policy officer working on China at the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Philipp has a Bachelor (Honours) degree in Chinese history from the Far Eastern National University and a Master of Educational Leadership from RMIT University. He is a fluent Chinese and Russian speaker.
Philipp is assisting us in designing and facilitating a new executive education program the UTS Business School will launch in 2025: The Executive Playbook for Managing Geopolitical Risk.
This program is being developed in collaboration with global thought leaders, former government officials, and industry practitioners to address the urgent need for strategic resilience in today’s volatile and multipolar world. It is tailored to help executives identify and navigate geopolitical challenges, transforming them into strategic opportunities. Through immersive simulations, real-time scenario planning, and sector-specific case studies, participants will gain actionable insights into the intersection of geopolitics, business strategy, and risk management. The program also offers exclusive networking opportunities with top industry and policy experts.
Timothy King, BA (Eco), MA (Eco), CFA
Role: CIO, Melior Investment Management
Timothy King serves the UTS Finance Department as an Industry/Professional Fellow. He joined the Honorary UTS Business School network in June 2021 for a period of 2 years.
David Lane, BSc Eco (Honours)
David is the former Chief Executive, Americas for Perpetual Limited where he was responsible for $120 billion of assets under management. At Perpetual, he also served as the Group Executive M&A and International Asset Management as well as Group Executive, Perpetual Investments. During his tenure at Perpetual, David was a member of the Perpetual Executive Committee and the Executive Sponsor of the Diversity and Inclusion Council.
Prior to joining Perpetual, David was the Chief Executive Officer of Count Financial. During his 30+ year executive career, David has held various other roles including General Manager - Strategy for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia's Wealth Management Division, Chief Operating Officer of Neuberger Berman's global hedge fund business and, for his sins, was an investment banker.
David is a graduate, with Honours, from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. While originally from the United States, David moved to Australia in 1996 with his Australian wife.
Louis Mercorelli, BSci (Honours), MBA, PhD (Fin)
Louis Mercorelli, serves the UTS Finance Department as an Honorary Industry Fellow. He joined the Honorary UTS Business School network in September 2024 for a period of 2 years. This is a sort of coming home for Lou, as he did both his MBA and PhD with UTS. He also holds a Bachelor of Science – Honours from The University of Akron with majors in computer science and physics and a minor in mathematics and statistics. His PhD was awarded in 2010 under the supervision of Professor Anthony D Hall and Professor David Michayluk. His thesis was titled “Market Microstructure Inefficiencies in Automated Exchanges”.
Lou has had a wealth of industry experience in a variety of roles over his career, having previously worked as a Quant, kdb+ and C++ engineer at Boronia Capital Pty Ltd, Lead Quant Architect and Data Engineer at Contango Asset Management, Quantitative Risk Analyst at Westpac, Quantitative Analyst and kdb engineer at Citi, Senior Manager - solutions architect and implementation manager at Deloitte and Manager - software architect and solutions delivery at Accenture.
Over the past 15 years, he has focused on developing his quant skills, including a focus on some of the following technologies (kdb+/q, GPGPU, HPC, Snowflake, AWS/Azure, CUDA/OpenCL, blockchain/crypto, eMR, IoT, etc).
We hope he will contribute with hashtag#research, course development and teaching in the Department, especially in technology (Python, MATLAB, R, CUDA, C++, kdb+ etc) but also AI, genAI, econometrics, HFT, HPC, AWS.
Rob Prugue, BArts (Eco), MArts (Eco)
Rob Prugue, serves the UTS Finance Department as an Honorary Industry Fellow. He joined the Honorary UTS Business School network in August 2024 for a period of 2 years. Rob has 35+ years broad experience within financial services, with much of this focused on superannuation and global government pension plans. His background is eclectic, starting his career in the late 1980s as a market regulator in the US, through to investment analyst, portfolio manager, risk and derivatives, asset allocation, asset consulting, and managing an asset management business within Asia Pacific region.
Rob holds a Bachelor of Arts (Economics) from University of Maryland (US), and a Master of Arts (Economics) from the University of Exeter (UK). Rob is from Peru, growing up in the US, educated in the UK. Professionally, Rob has lived and worked in the US, Japan, Korea, HK, and Singapore, and has broad finance experience in China, Malaysia, and Thailand.
Aside from his extensive background within the global financial services, Rob is active in the not for profit and philanthropy sector, volunteering in Kiribati, as well as establishing a not for profit focusing on suicide awareness and prevention called People Reaching Out to People.
Dr Alan Rai, BCom/BEco, BCom (Honours), PhD
Role: Director, Baringa Partners
Alan Rai serves the UTS Finance Department as an Adjunct Professor. He joined the Honorary UTS Business School network in February 2019 with his current appointment starting in March 2021 for a period of 2 years. He leads Baringa Australia's investment advisory and policy advisory offerings to Australian and overseas private and public-sector clients. Investment advisory services include price, MLF, curtailment and FCAS causer pays projections provided to both debt and equity investors, as well as the development of Baringa's NEM Reference Case. Policy & regulatory advice is provided across the electricity generation, networks, and retail sectors, covering wholesale and retail energy markets.
Dr Laura Ryan, BActS, MQF, PhD
Role: Head of Research, Ardea Investment Management
Laura Ryan serves the UTS Finance Department as an Associate Adjunct Professor. She joined the Honorary UTS Business School network in March 2020 for a period of 2 years and was re-appointed for a further 2 years in March 2022. As Head of Research at Ardea, the goal of her role to is twofold. She partners with clients to improve their intellectual property by co-authoring and implementing research on investment themes. She also partners with the Ardea portfolio construction team to develop value-added trade recommendations to drive portfolio performance and improve client outcomes.
Over the last 21 years she have led the development of innovative solutions in quantitative analytics for leading national and international financial services institutions. Despite the sophisticated and technical nature of the research, a talent of hers has always been driving projects to completion and in developing clear communication with clients from non-technical and commercial backgrounds.
Samir Shringarpure
Role: Head of Strategy & Architecture, Perpetual Limited
Samir Shringarpure serves the UTS Finance Department as an Industry Fellow. He joined the Honorary UTS Business School network in March 2020 for a period of 2 years.
Cameron Sinclair, BBus
Role: Co-Founder and Partner, TWC Invest
Cameron Sinclair serves the UTS Finance Department as an Honorary Industry Fellow. He joined the Honorary UTS Business School network in August 2024 for a period of 2 years. Cameron is an alumnus of UTS, having a Bachelor of Business from the UTS Business School. He is a co-founder and partner at TWC Invest, a technology-enabled investment management platform for family offices, private wealth, and self-directed investors. He has previously held positions at PGIM, Principal Asset Management, ING Investment Management Australia and Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management (UK). He has an extensive background in institutional funds management spanning over 25 years, during which he has built, grown, and maintained deep advisory-based relationships with some of the world’s largest institutional investors and wealth platforms globally. His experience covers the full investment spectrum, including equities, fixed income, and real assets across public and private markets.
He leads the development and delivery of TWC Invest's solutions that span the spectrum of market insights, thematic investment research, fundamental company analysis, holdings-based portfolio analytics, and bespoke active investment management solutions. TWC leverages a comprehensive proprietary financial database that is built around a Real Return on Investment (RROI) framework and a proven institutional-grade investment process. His mission is to provide investors with access to high-quality, transparent, and customized investment solutions that align with their goals and values.
David Walsh
Role: Head of Investments at Realindex Investments
Dr David Walsh serves the UTS Finance Department as an Industry Fellow. He joined the Honorary UTS Business School network in February 2022 for a two year period and was reappointed for a further two years in 2024. David holds a PhD in finance from the University of Western Australia. He is currently the Head of Investments at Realindex Investments and has previously held positions at RF Capital Pty Ltd, Acadian Asset Management, Barclays Global Investors and Baseline Capital Group.
Geoff Wearne, BBus
Role: Executive General Manager, Business, Institutional and Markets Operations, Chief Operations Office, Commonwealth Bank of Australia
Geoff is an Industry Fellow at the University of Technology Sydney within the UTS Business School. He is a Senior Executive with over 30 years banking experience across Commonwealth Bank Group including Business and Commercial, institutional, corporate, agribusiness, risk management M&A Divestments and scale remediation in the Wealth Management sector. Proven success in growing banking businesses and driving sustainable growth in Australia and New Zealand.
Demonstrated success in stakeholder management and key customer relationship management. Adept at delivering and shaping at both customer segment and business unit levels, and in executing strategic plans to produce market leading performance improvements.
Values driven leader who delivers results through focus on building diverse talent; enthusiastic about developing and supporting people and driving high performance business cultures. Widely acknowledged as bringing logic, pragmatism, sound judgement and the ability to build effective partnerships.
Geoff holds a Bachelor of Business Degree in Accounting and Management (UTS), is a Graduate member, Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD), holds Lean Six Sigma Qualifications (Green Belt), and has completed Strategic Leadership and Corporate Finance Risk Analysis Programs through AGSM. Geoff is a Chartered Banker through the Chartered Banker Institute, London, UK, Fellow of the Australian Institute of Banking and Finance (FAIBF) and is a Justice of the Peace in NSW.
