The Second Annual WealthBriefing Swiss External Asset Management Awards for Excellence 2022

Alain Esseiva is the Co-Founder and CEO of Alpadis Group. Alain leads the business, development, strategy and growth aspects of the Group, and oversees the day-to-day operations of the Singapore office as well as growth in Switzerland.

Alain brings over 30 years of combined experience in wealth planning and fiduciary services both in Switzerland and internationally. He has a calculated appetite for risk and embraces change, constantly looking at new markets and opportunities.

When he is not advising his clients across Switzerland and Asia, Alain enjoys running ultramarathons around the world, including the Gobi Desert, Kazakhstan and Antarctica.

Anne is founder and managing director of the award-winning, Swiss online platform AW✚SWITZERLAND at americanswelcome.swiss. AWS introduces Swiss asset managers registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States and dedicated to providing Swiss-based wealth management services to US and Canadian citizens, residents, and expats. The platform includes other wealth management-related services as well. In addition, Anne provides US-oriented, digital and traditional marketing, communication, and business development strategies through her agency, Americom.

Cécile is the CEO for Trustconsult in Switzerland as well as Head of Private Client for the Trustconsult Group. She has an extensive wealth & estate planning career, earning a solid reputation for her work on international trust & foundation. Her experience includes managing complex & sophisticated trust and corporate structures for private and corporate clients located around the globe, including Latin America and Asia but more specifically in the Middle East.

Cecile is chairing the Wealth Management & Estate Planning focus Group of XLNC, she is also an active member of several significant professional bodies including The International Bar Association (IBA) and The International Tax Planning Association (ITPA). Former Chairwoman of the STEP branch in Geneva and also Former Chairwoman of the STEP Swiss & Liechtenstein Federation, acknowledged as a "prominent figure in the Leading Trustees" category of CityWealth Leaders List. Cécile has also been a presiding judge for the STEP Private Client Awards and for WealthBriefing Awards Switzerland & Liechtenstein for many years.

Cécile has qualifications in company law and practice, tax compliance, international trust
management, trust administration and accounts, and trust creation.

Co-founder and CEO of Finanzlab SA since 2018. Bachelor and Master of the University of Lausanne (HEC Lausanne). Bond trader at UBS. Founder of the structured products unit at Banque Cantonale Vaudoise. Since then, he has been involved in major developments in the industry and has worked to democratize the use of structured products among a wide range
of investors. Gilles is the manager of the Finanzlab Multi Index Fund.

Hassen is a Senior Relationship Manager covering External Asset Managers at MCB (DIFC Branch). He relocated from MCB’s Head Office in July 2021 where he was previously responsible for coverage of EAMs and Multi Family Offices in Switzerland, Monaco, the UAE and in Mauritius. Prior to joining MCB, Hassen established the EAM Desk at Afrasia Bank, a boutique bank based in Mauritius. Hassen is an entrepreneurial and solution oriented banking professional with experience in multiple African, Middle Eastern and European jurisdictions who actively leverages on the entire MCB Group capabilities that also include corporate and investment banking, asset management and private equity. He holds a Master of Business Administration from HEC Paris and speaks fluently English and French.

Ian is a C-Suite leader, Director and an Advisor. He has a focus on customer experience and organizational progression. 

As a former member of the Executive Committee of Coutts & Co, RBS and in addition a Board member at Adam & Co, Ian is known as an industry strategy leader and reference for marketing, business development, brand creation and implementation and innovation. Ian is actively involved with a number of innovation firms and partners in FinTech, Payments disruption, Savings and Pensions, and is an Advisor to YEXT and KORE.

He is currently Chief Marketing Officer at Acin Ltd.

Additionally, Ian sits on a number of advisory boards in organisations with both commercial and philanthropic purpose.

Ian is a Fellow of the Institute of Directors. 

He has enjoyed a highly international career; is Swiss and British.

Ian lives in the UK and Spain and is married to his wife Zoe; they have four grown-up children.

Laurent Pellet joined Lombard Odier in June 2017. He assumed responsibility for the Group’s External Asset Managers department in 2018.

His career began with Ferrier Lullin, where he held various positions for more than 15 years, including Head of Credit and Risk, and subsequently Head of the External Asset Managers department in 1997. In 2006, he joined Julius Baer to lead their External Asset Managers business for the French-speaking part of Switzerland and Western Europe. In 2012, his responsibilities were extended to cover Monaco and the Middle East.

Laurent Pellet holds a Federal Diploma (school leaving certificate) from the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Genève. He is a graduate in Credit and Risk Management from the University of Geneva, and in Quantitative Portfolio Management from HEC Geneva. He also holds a Diploma in Digital Finance Law from the Faculty of Law of the University of Geneva and the ‘International Certificate of Private Banking and Wealth Management Retreat’ from the Swiss Finance Institute. He is a Certified Wealth Management Advisor (CWMA).

Mario brings extensive experience to the industry as senior advisor driving sales and business initiatives in Asia Pacific for UHNWI/FO service providers. He draws upon his detailed understanding from roles such as global head of business management for ANZ Private Bank in Australasia, where he defined and delivered the strategic and operational needs for the business.

Previously Mario worked for leading wealth managers such as Vontobel, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank, holding positions across a variety of disciplines including relationship management, business and financial planning, training and development, strategy, business development and marketing communications in both Europe and Asia. He was also managing director for Solution Providers Management Consulting, leading its growth in Asia Pacific, specifically Singapore.

He wrote and published his Ph.D. thesis about the supervision of External Asset Managers [EAM] in Switzerland (“Der bankunabhängige Vermögensverwalter: Analyse des Handlungsbedarfs einer möglichen Aufsicht unter Berücksichtigung des amerikanischen und englischen Rechts”), build up/out of various EAM desks in Switzerland and Singapore and serviced this segment.

Markus Werner is head of the intermediaries business for LGT in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. He began his career in the corporate banking business at a large Swiss bank and in private banking at a Liechtenstein bank before joining LGT's intermediary business in 1996. The professional collaboration with independent asset managers, trust companies, law firms and multi family offices – professionals with and for professionals – enthused Markus from the outset. The 47-year-old is fascinated by the many exciting changes, the close relations as well as the heterogeneity of the B2B business. He is a Swiss-certified banker with Federal Diploma and holds a Federal Diploma for experts in finance and investments from the Swiss Training Centre for Investment Professionals.

Oliver Thommen is the Head of Business Development EMEA at Masttro. Masttro is a Swiss-headquartered, global wealth technology company offering consolidation, reporting and data-aggregation solutions to UHNW families and institutions servicing the wealth management industry. Oliver has several years’ Swiss private banking experience gained in the UHNW Relationship Management division of Credit Suisse and prior to that worked at BlackRock as a Business Support Manager and as a Portfolio Manager for a Swiss wealth management company. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (Banking and Finance) from the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland FHNW. Oliver’s language skills include Swiss-German, German, English and Spanish and he is based at the global Masttro headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland.

Peter Vangehr is the Head of the Intermediaries Business at VP Bank Switzerland since beginning of 2019. Peter started his Banking Carrier as an FX Trader with UBS Zurich and after at ABN AMRO Bank for more than 10 years. He has over 20 years of professional experience working with intermediaries, working for leading banks such as Credit Suisse Group, Julius Bär, ABN AMRO Bank and VP Bank. Peter holds different diplomas from the Swiss Banking organizations.

Pierre Daelemans is a seasoned wealth manager with a lengthy experience in dealing with a large panel of international clients: HNWIs, External Asset Managers, Single or Multi-Family and Offices, in Switzerland, Northern Europe, and Latin America. For nearly two decades, Pierre has applied his experience, professionalism and well-developed technical skills to deliver ‘first-class’ services to clients.

Before joining Indosuez Wealth Management in 2020 as Head of Professional Clients in Switzerland, Pierre Daelemans successively managed the North European, Latin American and EAM markets in an International Swiss private bank.

Swiss, Peruvian and Belgian, Pierre holds an MBA from Queens University (Canada) and is graduated in Engineering from Louvain University (Belgium).

Pierre is Managing Partner at WIZE by TeamWork, the all-in-one Wealth & Asset Management solution, which is one of the fastest growing WealthTech companies in Switzerland dedicated to External Asset Managers, Family Offices, Fund Managers and Banks.

He brings the judges panel an extensive banking operations & IT expertise acquired in his current role since 2020 but also during the 9 previous years while heading business development of Bank Lombard Odier global custody & reporting services which he joined after 10 years as Private Banking Client Executive at IBM Geneva.

Both Swiss and Belgian, used to work in multi-cultural and multilingual environments, his motivation has been during his whole career to understanding customer's pains, translating those to experts who are able to solve them and setting the right level of expectations on both sides.

Pius Stucki has broad experience in product management and information systems for the asset management industry. Having worked with Swiss banks and family office for a couple of years he has extensive experience with operations and software solutions for asset managers, family offices, pension funds and private banks.

Pius Stucki holds a Bachelor of Science in Business and a Master of Business in Information Systems from the Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, Virginia, United States.

As a former professional athlete Pius still loves to compete successfully in national and international running and cycling events.

Specialties: Operations of asset managers, (fund of) hedge funds, system integration for asset managers, process optimization, reporting.

Ray Soudah is the founding partner and chairman of MilleniumAssociates, the independent international M&A and Corporate Finance Advisory firm, based in Switzerland and the UK. Founded in 2000, the firm marks twenty-two years of exceptional, independent M&A and corporate finance advisory service. Originally focused on executing M&A transactions in the global financial services industry, as the industry developed and private banks recognised the need to offer their clients more specialist corporate finance advice, Millenium Associates launched their Entrepreneurs and
Corporates Practice, extending their M&A and corporate finance services to the clients of private
banks as well as corporates and entrepreneurial business owners globally.
Ray has extensive multicultural wealth management and private banking/investment banking experience working in territories as diverse as the US, Asia, Middle East and Europe. Earlier positions include; Managing Director and member of the Private Banking Management Board for SBC/UBS AG; Chief Investment Officer, Chief Financial Officer and member of the Executive Board of Cedel Bank (renamed Clearstream); Chief Investment Officer for the National Bank of Bahrain including Head of International Banking and Private Banking; CEO of Hong Kong, CEO of Japan, Head of Global Capital Markets office (London) and head of FIG for Midland Montagu Investment Banking and MD/CEO of
Midland Montagu Securities as well as various senior positions within Citigroup, including Head of Asia Pacific Treasury and Capital Markets.
Ray is a Harvard Business School & INSEAD alumnus and speaks English, French, Greek and Japanese.

Ryan comes from a long linage of bankers and asset managers in Canada, and after careers in journalism and entertainment at various levels, he is returning back his routes to helping clients navigate digital assets.

Véronique Riondel Angebault is Head of Syz Independent Managers. She was promoted to the position in June 2020, after 11 years in the team in different roles. She started as Relationship Manager to develop the desk, then became Business Manager for the team, helping to answer clients’ needs.

Veronique joined Syz in 2006, coming from the industry, working for Unilever, Nestlé, Moevenpick and Pronuptia from Marketing Manager to Marketing Director. Prior to that, Veronique has been a strategic planner in Global communication agencies such as Creative Business, RSCG, CLM/BBDO and Sales Manager at Interdéco (Groupe Hachette) in Geneva and Paris.

She holds a Mc’s in Business and Industrial Science from University of Geneva and a diploma in Wealth Management and Private Banking (ISFB) done on the job when joining the banking industry.