Philipp Cottier (*1967) is an active investor in financial services, real estate and natural resources companies in emerging markets. He acts as an independent entrepreneur and sits on the board of directors of several companies, including until recently Bank Vontobel in Switzerland. Dr. Cottier is also a dedicated philanthropist, as well as a microfinance and social impact investor. From 1998 to 2008 he built up Harcourt, a funds of hedge funds and commodity funds firm in Zurich, together with partners and sold it to Bank Vontobel – the company had assets under management in excess of USD 5.5 bn, a staff of 90 people and 7 offices across the globe. Prior to joining Harcourt, Dr. Cottier was serving as an investment adviser on the investment committees of Swiss Bank Corp’s funds of hedge funds in Hong Kong and New York, and as a hedge fund analyst for SBC Private Banking in Basel. He has diverse international experience, including having worked for the Boston Consulting Group in Sydney, and other firms in Tokyo, Buenos Aires and Vancouver. Dr. Cottier graduated in 1992 from the University of St. Gallen and holds a Masters in Finance & Accounting, a Masters in Political Science and a PhD in Finance. His doctoral thesis ‘Hedge Funds and Managed Futures’, published at Paul Haupt Verlag, was a best seller in the 1990s.
Alex Orus
Alex Orus has devoted the last 20 years in the asset management industry focusing a wide range of asset classes such as equities, fixed income, non-Previously, Mr. Orus
founded Blue Diamond Asset Management AG where he was the CIO & Managing Partner and co-founded and PM of the Principalium Investment Fund, a principal's all-weather absolute return oriented fund that diversifies across best-of-class active managers worldwide. At Blue Diamond he established several investment strategies in the areas of
momentum (CTA), fundamental valuation (Global Macro) and volatility (VIX). Prior to establishing Blue Diamond in December 2009, he was Managing Director of GMO in
Europe, where his duties included developing and delivering a broad range of innovative investment strategies to European and Middle Eastern institutional investors. Mr.
Orus was Managing Director of State Street Global Advisors AG, Switzerland, where he successfully introduced and supported a suite of global and domestic equity and fixed
income index funds specifically designed to meet the needs of Swiss investors. In addition to his asset management experience, Mr. Orus has substantial experience in the
integration of information technology and financial markets, gained when he was a senior consultant at Andersen Consulting AG (Accenture), Zurich, Switzerland. B.A. in
Economics from the University of Connecticut, USA.