Rebecca Palmer
Director, KPMG
Rebecca has over 16 years of experience gained in London, New York and the Cayman Islands. Her primary responsibilities encompass the provision of audit services to a comprehensive variety of investment vehicles such as hedge funds, structured products and private equity funds. She has a wide range of experience in dealing with different kinds of fund structures and a variety of strategies. Rebecca is on the education committee of 100 Women in Finance in the Cayman Islands and has completed the women in leadership program at Said Business School, Oxford University and the Private Equity Masterclass at London Business School. She is a fellow of the Institute of Accountants England & Wales and a member of the Caymans Islands Institute of Professional Accountants.
Melissa Bender
Partner, Ropes & Gray
Melissa advises hedge funds and other private funds (both domestic and offshore) on all aspects of their business with a focus on fund formation and regulatory compliance and reporting matters. She has extensive experience representing U.S. and international institutional and other investors (including endowments, funds of funds, private foundations, sovereign wealth funds and family offices) in connection with all aspects of their investments in private funds. Melissa's experience also includes advising fund managers on and negotiating various contractual arrangements, such as administrator and other service provider agreements, placement agent arrangements and side letters with investors.
Barbara Ann Bernard
Founder, CEO and CIO, Wincrest Capital
Barbara Ann Bernard, founder & CIO of Wincrest Capital, has a passion for investing that goes back to her days of growing up in The Bahamas. It was there that a 15-year-old Barbara Ann persuaded legendary value investor Sir John Templeton, a fellow Bahamian resident, to take her on board for the first of what would become a series of summer jobs at Templeton Global Advisors, instilling a fundamental value-oriented investment approach to the public markets. Later, working in investment banking at Goldman Sachs, followed by alternative asset management at Deutsche Bank, and as an investment analyst at Holowesko Partners, she acquired a robust grasp of fundamental company valuation and the hedge fund industry. Today, she is the portfolio manager of the Wincrest Contraria Fund, which is a global long/short equity fund of niche investment ideas based on bottom-up “Go-See” research.
Barbara Ann was named a Young Global Leader in 2018 by the World Economic Forum. She is a graduate of Li Po Chun United World Colleges in Hong Kong, Lakefield College School in Canada, and the London School of Economics, where she Chaired the LSE Business Society. She currently serves on the Finance Committee of the Lyford Cay Foundation and is a founder of the Variant Perspectives – Women in Value Investing conference.
Justine Lee
Head of Operational Due Diligence, Prudential Portfolio Management Group
Justine Lee is Head of Operational Due Diligence within the Alternatives team at Prudential Portfolio Management Group. Justine is responsible for Operational Due Diligence across Hedge Funds, Private Equity, FOF, Infrastructure and other private assets. Prior to joining Prudential PMG in 2015, Justine was Global Head of Operational Due Diligence at Towers Watson for four years. Justine has also worked for FOHF groups Matrix Asset Management and Colonial First State as Head of Operational Due Diligence for combined eight years. Justine has participated on a number of industry working groups to implement operational best practice and has also been a member of AIMA working group on valuation and Hedge Fund due diligence questionnaires. Justine has a Bachelor of Commerce (Economics and Finance) and Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investments.
Sara Yamand
Risk and Due Diligence Professional
As the former Head of Operational Due Diligence at Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, led the team responsible for the operational risk management and due diligence of hedge funds and private equity external managers, emerging managers, and strategic service providers. Prior to CPPIB, she was the Controls Officer at West Face Capital, a multi-strategy Canadian hedge/private credit manager based in Toronto. Before joining West Face, Sara was the Director, Risk and Operations at Arrow Capital Management, responsible for due diligence, risk management and reporting of the hedge fund program. Before her time at Arrow, she was at Albourne Partners, providing hedge fund consulting and Deloitte’s Financial Institutions team, providing assurance services.
Sara obtained her Chartered Accountant of Canada (CA) designation while articling at Deloitte and Certified Public Accountant (CPA) designation from the state of New Hampshire. She is also a Financial Risk Manager (FRM) and a member of the Global Association of Risk Professionals.
Joanne Huckle
Partner, Ogier
Jo is described in the legal directories as a "sharp and commercial" lawyer and "an expert in the funds space." "She is one who will rise through the ranks quickly", notes Chambers and Partners; her promotion to the partnership in 2017 made her the youngest partner to have been made up in Ogier's history.
Jo advises open-ended and closed-ended hedge funds and private equity funds, investment managers, institutional investors and fund service providers on fund launches, ongoing legal and regulatory compliance and termination. Whilst some of her clients rank amongst the largest managers in the world, she also regularly advises emerging managers and start-up spin-offs. Jo has also become 'go to' counsel for a broad spectrum of financial institutions; she is a Cayman regulatory expert sitting on Ogier's FATCA, CRS and AML specialist teams. Jo is a member of Cayman Finance's AML sub-committee.
Jo originally trained as a corporate M&A attorney in London and has also worked in Hong Kong and in-house at Lloyds Banking Group; she obtained her degree in Jurisprudence from Oxford University and received a distinction on the legal practice course.
