Our Team
Our Team
CCI’s global team comprises of 40 executives including 12 full-time portfolio managers and traders, and 13 full-time analysts with decades of fixed-interest trading, quant and credit research capabilities.
CCI’s unique analytical and quantitative capabilities are recognised in Australia and overseas as the basis for unusually high win ratios and prescient projections. CCI’s leadership is often called on to advise government on complex economic policy formulation. CCI’s chief investment officer co-developed the ideas for the Australian government to invest in the residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) market during the global financial crisis and more recently the SME loan market. In 2018 CCI developed the world’s first hedonic index of RMBS default rates. In 2020 CCI published a unique forecasting framework for COVID-19 that correctly predicted the peak of the first COVID-19 wave in April 2020 months ahead of epidemiologists’ forecasts.
The team’s investment philosophy fuses both bottom-up and top-down quant asset pricing, credit rating and macro research with intensive operational, commercial and financial due diligence.
CCI’s Risk & Compliance Committee is chaired by the experienced funds management and superannuation executive, Ms Melda Donnelly, who is supported by Mr Robert Henricks.
CCI has an extensive sales and product team led by Gary Walsh, Head of Asset Origination. Senior executive bios for the investment, operations, finance and risk teams can be found below.
40
27
Over
$8.5bn
Full-time executives
Full-time investment & risk executives
in Funds Under Management
Global & regional fixed-income strategies
Long-only, long-short, zero duration, and long duration strategies
Offices in London, Sydney & Melbourne
40
Full-time executives
27
Full-time investment & risk executives
Over
$8.5b
in Funds Under Management
Global & regional fixed-income strategies
Long-only, long-short, zero duration, and long duration strategies
Offices in London, Sydney & Melbourne
CCI Team Biographies
- Melda Donnelly
- Robert Hendricks
- Phil Kearns
- Darren Harvey
- Christopher Joye
- Roger Douglas
- Fionn O'Leary
- Shretan Dholakia
- Ashley Kabel
- Kai Lin
- Ying Yi Ann Cheng
- Kieran Davies
- Matt Johnson
- John Phokos
- Dr Nick Campregher
- Nathan Giang
- Dr Adam Richardson
- Neyavan Suthaharan
- Rakin Islam
- Oliver Walsh
- Jacopo Bazzano
- Tully Robinson
- Jason Lindeman
- Cheryl Lim, CFA
- Danniel Lin, CFA
- Aaron Jiang
- Riley Michel
- Dr Ethan Xu
- Kelvin Liu
- Vinoth Nandakumar
- Luke Bouris
- Wendy Nguyen
- Param Singh
- Mario Simonetti
- Winnie Hu
- Allen Lin
- Ron Kaushik
- Daniel Douma
- Ishan Gupta
- Daniela Annocaro
- Sarah Saad
- Gary Walsh
- James McNally
- Ed Teh
Melda Donnelly
Chair of the Board and Compliance & Risk Committee, Member, Investment Committee
Ms Donnelly was appointed Chair of Coolabah Capital’s Board and Risk & Compliance Committee in 2015, and is a member of the Investment Committee. She is responsible for managing board processes relating to compliance, governance, strategy, performance and risk management. Ms Donnelly is a director of Treasury Group (ASX: TRG/mkt cap $200m and $49bn in FUM) and a member of HESTA’s ($32bn FUM) investment advisory board. Ms Donnelly’s previous work experience includes being CEO of the Queensland Investment Corporation, Deputy Managing Director of ANZ Funds Management, Managing Director of ANZ Trustees and chairperson of the Centre for Investor Education (CIE), a specialist education and consultancy firm for executives in Australian and overseas superannuation funds, institutional investment bodies and the financial markets. Ms Donnelly has also served as chair of Donnelly Money Management ($1bn in FUA), deputy chairperson of VFMC ($47bn FUM), and a director of: Unisuper ($50bn in FUM); Ashmore Group plc ($61bn FUM); Health Super ($9bn FUM); Network 10 Limited, and the Australian Accounting Standards Board. In addition, Ms Donnelly is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Oxford University Centre for Ageing. Ms Donnelly started her career at PriceWaterhouse as an audit/tax specialist and has a BComm from the University of Queensland and is a Chartered Accountant.
Robert Henricks
Independent Non-Executive Director, Board, Investment Committee, Risk & Compliance Committee
Mr Henricks was appointed an Independent Non-Executive Director of Coolabah Capital’s Board, Investment Committee and Compliance & Risk Committee in 2017. Bob was previously the 20 year Chairman of the $6 billion super fund, Energy Super. In 2015 he was named 2015 Trustee of the Year by the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees. He previously served as a director of the $2 billion Gardior Infrastructure Fund, the University of Queensland Diamantina Institute Business Development Board, and was previously the chair of the SPEC(Q) and AUST(Q) super funds, and a director of the CBUS super fund. Bob is a director and chair of Castellan Asset Management, an aircraft leasing company, and brings substantial governance, compliance and risk management expertise to the business.
Phil Kearns
Non-Executive Director
Phil Kearns was previously Managing Director at InterRISK Australia, a leading corporate insurance broker and equity partner business of ASX-listed Austbrokers Holdings Limited. Prior to this, Phil had more than 10 years’ experience leading financial service organisations from Investment Banking and Capital Raising to Private Wealth and Insurance. In his previous position as Chief Executive Officer at Centric Wealth, Phil was successful in achieving a major transformation of the business which was owned by private equity firm CHAMP. Phil served 12 years as a Director of the Children’s Cancer Institute Australia and is deeply involved in the Humpty Dumpty Foundation. He is credited with being the brain behind the Sydney Charity Event, The Balmoral Burn an annual run up one of Sydney’s steepest streets which has raised $27.5 million to buy lifesaving medical equipment for children’s medical facilities across the country. He is also a Commentator with FoxSports on all things rugby. Prior to his business career, Phil played 67 tests for the Wallabies from 1989 to 1999, during which he captained the team 10 times. Phil has an Arts Degree majoring in Economics and Economic History from the University of NSW.
Darren Harvey
Chair of Investment Committee & Director
Darren co-founded Coolabah Capital in 2011 with Christopher Joye. Darren is Chair of the Investment Committee and contributes to investment decisioning, portfolio and risk management. He started his career at McIntosh Hamson Hoare Govett in 1987 in their graduate training program as a junior bond futures adviser and then options adviser. In 1989 Darren was headhunted to join Fay Richwhite to establish their bond option sales business. In that year he also assumed responsibility for trading interest rate options using Fay Richwhite’s balance-sheet and built a team of interest rate option and share price index traders that included five market-makers in total. Fay Richwhite went from no activity to the No. 1 option market‐maker on the Sydney Futures Exchange by volume and reputation. Darren was responsible for all the risk management associated with Fay Richwhite’s exchange-traded derivatives businesses reporting to the Head of Trading. In 1992 Deutsche Bank recruited Darren as an Associate Director and Head of Exchange Traded Options to replicate the market making business he had established inside Fay Richwhite. In 1994 Deutsche Bank promoted Darren to Director and Head of Exchange Traded and OTC Options, which included a team of six market makers reporting to the Head of Trading. During this time Darren was responsible for principal trading off Deutsche Bank’s balance-sheet across multiple asset classes, including equities, currencies, bonds, commodities, and derivatives. Darren was also responsible for risk management and staffing. In 1998 Darren moved to London with Deutsche Bank as a Director of Deutsche Bank Global Proprietary Trading in London where he traded interest rate derivatives, currencies and stock index securities, and reported to the Head of Deutsche Bank Global Proprietary Trading, Steve Kennedy. Darren resigned from Deutsche Bank in 2001 and established his family office, Bower Capital. He was approved as an Independent Member of the Sydney Futures Exchange/Australian Stock Exchange to invest his own money in the interest rate securities markets and received rebates from the exchange as a recognised market-maker. Darren was one of the largest independent interest rate options traders on the SFE/ASX and helped the SFE/ASX design its intraday interest rate option contracts for government bonds. He was Chairman of Sydney Futures Exchange’s Exchange Traded Option Committee between 1993 and 1995, and a Casual Lecturer in Derivatives and Options at Securities Institute of Australia in 1994-1995. Between 1996-1996 he was a member of the Australian Financial Markets Association (AFMA) Over-the-Counter Option Committee. Bower Capital was approved as a recognised market maker and Independent Member of the SFE/ASX between 2001-2008.
Christopher Joye
Chief Investment Officer & Senior Portfolio Manager
Christopher founded Coolabah Capital in 2011 and leads the portfolio management effort that has produced one of Australia’s top short-term fixed-interest capabilities. He is responsible for investment decisioning, portfolio management, research and asset pricing, and general business management, running a large team of portfolio managers and analysts. Christopher is also a Contributing Editor with The Australian Financial Review and well-known as one of Australia’s leading economists, policy advisors and fund managers. In 2019, CCI was selected as one of FE fundinfo’s Top 10 “Alpha Managers” based on his risk-adjusted performance throughout his career across all asset-classes. Christopher previously worked for Goldman Sachs in London and Sydney, the Reserve Bank of Australia, and was the founder of an award‐winning research and investment group, Rismark International. In 2009 The Australian newspaper selected Christopher as one of Australia’s top 10 “Emerging Leaders” in its economic/wealth category. In 2007 Christopher was selected by The Bulletin magazine as one of Australia’s “10 Smartest CEOs” and by BRW Magazine as one of “Australia’s Top 10 Innovators”. In 2008, the Australian Government invested $15 billion behind a policy proposal developed by Christopher to provide liquidity to the Australian RMBS market to mitigate the effects of the GFC. In 2019 the Australian government committed $2bn to invest in securitised SME loans on the basis of a policy proposal Christopher developed for the Treasurer at the time to enhance competition and liquidity in the SME finance sector. In February 2009, Christopher was invited by the Rockefeller and MacArthur Foundations to travel to advise the Obama Administration on the US housing crisis. Christopher served as a Director of The Menzies Research Centre, which is a leading Australian think‐tank, from 2003 to 2007. Christopher received Joint 1st Class Honours (Economics & Finance) and the University Medal in Economics & Finance from the University of Sydney, where he was a Credit Suisse First Boston Scholar, SIRCA and University Honours Scholar. He studied in the PhD program at Cambridge University in 2002 and 2003, where he was a Commonwealth Trust scholarship recipient.
Roger Douglas
Senior Portfolio Manager, Deputy CIO, Co-Head of Interest Rate Trading
Roger Douglas joined Coolabah in 2022 as a Senior Portfolio Manager based in our London and Sydney offices. Roger was previously jointly responsible for EUR30 billion in credit strategies at Deutsche Asset Management as a portfolio manager and Co-Head of Fixed-Income Solutions EMEA. He was directly responsible for GBP10 billion of credit strategies, managing more than 10 portfolio managers. He was lead manager for the absolute return bond fund, and active in credit, rates, inflation bonds, and derivatives. He was also Head of Insurance-Linked Securities and a board director of the UK business. Roger started his career at Deutsche Bank in London as a market-maker in Euro swaps and engaged in relative value government bond and asset swap trading. He was promoted to Managing Director, Global Rates Trading, in 2009 where he started and built the fixed income index Total Return Swap and options trading business and had a leading role in the inception, structuring and trading of the Xtrackers fixed income ETF platform, the related ETF market-making, and TRS and collateral trading. In 2010, Roger was appointed Co-Head of Longevity Markets Trading. In this role he led the establishment of the infrastructure and trading of the pension and insurance risk transfer business, which included structuring, pricing and executing multi GBP billion bespoke liability hedges with pension funds and reinsurers with a focus on return on capital optimisation and lifecycle risk management. Roger graduated with a Masters in Engineering from Cambridge University.
Fionn O'Leary
Senior Portfolio Manager, Head of European Trading
Shretan Dholakia
Chief Risk Officer
Shretan joined Coolabah Capital in 2020 as a compliance executive based in London, and in 2022 was promoted to Global Chief Risk Officer. He has over 20 years of experience encompassing trading, portfolio investment and dual risk-compliance subject matter expertise. Prior to joining Coolabah, he advised KPMG and its clients on trade surveillance compliance under the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) and conducted algorithmic trading model validations for both first and second lines of defence. These trade surveillance and algorithmic validation programs were designed to ensure compliance with U.K., E.U., U.S. and APAC regulatory regimes. As part of the processes, he was seconded to HSBC, GS and UBS for extended periods over 4 years. He has also previously assisted a start-up (Sibyl Trading) in securing regulatory clearance for low-latency options trading, in his former capacity as a London based co-founder.
Until early 2012, Shretan was head of EMEA convertible bond trading and sales at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where his responsibilities included managing equity-linked volatility trading risk, overseeing the product teams, and working with equity and debt capital market units during the structuring, pricing and placement of primary convertible bond issues. This included authorising pricing backstops and managing underwriting risk for the EMEA convertible derivative unit in the period from 2006 to 2012. The earlier part of his career concentrated on trading equity M&A risk and convertible bond arbitrage at UBS and CS.
Shretan graduated with a BSc degree in Economics and Econometrics from the University of Bath in the U.K. and then qualified as a chartered accountant with Ernst & Young (London) in the 1990s.
Ashley Kabel
Senior Portfolio Manager, Deputy CIO
Ash joined Coolabah Capital in 2017 in a full-time role as a quantitative analyst and portfolio manager and helps lead all portfolio management and research efforts. Ash was previously Director of Quantitative Strategies at the award-winning and strongly performing FX hedge fund, The Cambridge Strategy, between 2012 and 2016, based in London. At Cambridge Ash managed US$250m (and a small team) in medium-term, quant-based FX strategies spanning 2012-2016 with an average audited annual return of 13.4% and volatility of 8.2%, outperforming FX beta indices and FX and Macro Hedge Fund indices. Prior to Cambridge, Ash served as an investment analyst with portfolio management responsibilities covering FX, equities and fixed-income at the $800bn fund manager, Invesco between 2005 and 2012, based in Sydney. At Invesco he helped develop, analyse and manage multiple quant strategies including direct execution of fixed-income portfolios. Ash graduated with honours degrees in Law and Engineering (Software) from Melbourne University, has extensive quant analytical and programming skills, and in his youth was awarded Australian government prizes for mathematics.
Kai Lin
Senior Data Scientist & Chief Technology Officer
Kai joined Coolabah Capital in 2017 in a full-time role as a Senior Data Scientist focusing on asset pricing and portfolio management. Kai was previously a Data Scientist at CBA where he built machine learning models to project customer propensities. He was also involved in data mining projects with heavy use of R, Python, Hadoop, Hive, SQL and Linux tools. Prior to CBA Kai interned as signal processing researcher at Cochlear. Kai was awarded the Masters of Statistics from UNSW in 2020. Prior to that, Kai graduated from UNSW with 1st Class Honours and the University Medal in his Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical) program where his thesis researched pose estimation and trajectory matching. Kai was awarded an ATAR of 99.90 in his HSC while at Sydney Boys High. Prizes have included the Ben Rudzyn Memorial Prize in Signal Processing, the Engineers Australia Student Prize (Electrical & IT Division), and the Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET) Student Prize.
Jason Lindeman
Head of Credit Research
Jason joined Coolabah Capital in 2017 in a full-time role as a senior credit analyst. Jason has over 20 years buy-side experience specialising in fundamental and technical credit analysis across the capital structure. Previously at Hadron Capital LLP, a London based global relative value and event driven multi-asset class hedge fund, he was jointly responsible for the Credit Long/Short absolute return portfolio. The strategy sought relative value and catalyst driven investments, with portfolio views expressed using Corporate Bonds, Hybrids, Credit Default Swaps and Loans. Prior to Hadron, Jason was the Credit Portfolio Manager at RBC Capital Markets London, responsible for the European Credit Proprietary Trading Portfolio. He built and continually developed the credit process at both funds, while hiring, training and managing the relevant credit analyst teams. At Credit Suisse Capital Markets London, Jason was a Private Equity/Private Placements Analyst, investing proprietary capital in sub investment grade public companies, via the issuance of privately placed structured debt and equity securities. He was involved in the entire investment process from initial on-site due diligence, credit analysis, negotiation of terms, documentation and ongoing portfolio maintenance. Previous roles include Credit Risk Management at Credit Suisse London and NAB Corporate Banking in both London & Melbourne. Jason has a Bachelor of Economics and Post Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment.
Ying Yi Ann Cheng
Portfolio Management Director & Market Technicals Associate
Ying Yi joined Coolabah Capital in 2017 as a full-time portfolio management director and market technicals associate focussing on market research, analysis and technical factors, while also assuming responsibility for external stakeholder management. She spent the majority of her career at Citibank in London, where she was a Vice President, specialising in G10 and Emerging Market currencies, advising hedge fund clients and sovereign asset managers on alpha generating and risk management strategies. She was most recently at RBC Capital Markets working within fixed-income and credit. Prior to the sell side, Ying Yi had interned at Colonial First State and PwC in various quantitative roles. She has also held various advisory roles with tech startups in London and Sydney. After receiving a 99.95 ATAR for her HSC studies, ranking her in the top 0.05% of all secondary students, Ying Yi graduated with honours in Actuarial Science from the University of New South Wales, where she was the recipient of a Co-op Scholarship and included on the Dean’s Honour Roll for her year of exchange at NYU’s Stern School of Business.
Kieran Davies
Chief Macro Strategist
Based in Sydney, Kieran Davies joined Coolabah Capital in 2020 and is responsible for macroeconomic research and investment strategy, contributing to the investment decisions of the firm. Kieran has long experience as a macroeconomist in both the private and public sectors. He has worked most recently as Chief Markets Economist for National Australia Bank and was previously Chief Economist, Australia and New Zealand, for Barclays Bank and ABN Amro Bank/RBS. In those roles he provided thematic research, analysis and forecasts to the full range of bank clients, both in Australia and overseas, with a focus on fixed income and foreign exchange investors. Kieran also worked as Principal Adviser on the macroeconomy and budget policy in the Commonwealth Treasury. Kieran served earlier in his career as Treasury’s Director of Forecasting Section, preparing economic forecasts for the Commonwealth government and contributing to government advice on monetary policy. Kieran has a Master of Economics from the Australian National University.
Matt Johnson
Senior Portfolio Manager, Co-Head of Interest Rate Trading
Matt joined Coolabah in 2021 as a Portfolio Manager & Quant Analyst focussing on interest rate and sovereign bond strategies, amongst other things, based in Sydney. Most of his prior career was spent at UBS where he was a Managing Director and the Global Head of Rates Strategy. Other roles at UBS included the Head of AUD/NZD Rates Strategy in Sydney and the head of the Asia Pacific Knowledge Network in Singapore. Outside of UBS, Matt has worked for MLP (a hedge fund), ICAP (an inter-dealer broker), 4CAST (now Continuum Economics), the Australian Productivity Commission (Microeconomic Policy), and founded an economics consultancy, Signal Macro.
John Phokos, CFA
Portfolio Manager & Quant Analyst
John joined Coolabah in 2023 as a Portfolio Manager based in Sydney. John previously managed a multi-billion-dollar credit, fixed-income and alternatives portfolio at Australian Catholic Super (ACS), between 2015 and 2022, where he played a key role in research, portfolio construction, and asset and manager selection across fixed interest, credit, cash and hedge funds. While at ACS, John delivered the top ranking for a multi-manager fixed interest product over 1, 3, and 5 years. Prior to ACS, John directly managed and had oversight of a $2 billion sovereign bond portfolio and $1 billion in cash at WorkCover NSW from 2006 to 2015, and also selected and managed external managers across multiple asset classes, including credit. John holds a Bachelor of Science in Pure & Applied Mathematics. John is a CFA Charterholder.
Dr Nick Campregher
Portfolio Manager & Quant Analyst
Based in London, Dr Nick Campregher joined Coolabah Capital in 2020 in a full-time role as a portfolio manager and quant analyst, and helps lead Coolabah’s offshore trading, investments, execution and research processes. Nick previously worked as a Senior Trader in the Credit Exotics and Complex Structured Products group at UBS in London between 2013 and 2019 where he was responsible for the trading and risk management of a large portfolio of credit exotic derivatives and corporate and structured credit securities, in both developed and emerging markets. Prior to this Nick was a Trader in 2012 on the Structured Credit and ABS Trading desk at UBS, focusing on credit hybrid SPVs and CLNs, and from 2009 to 2012 worked as an Associate in the Structured Product Market Risk team at UBS managing portfolio risk, capital and stress scenario analysis covering all aspects of structured credit trading, with a heavy focus on credit tranches and bespoke SPV transactions. Before joining UBS in 2009, Nick worked as a Risk Management Consultant at d-fine Ltd (2006 to 2008) and as a Derivatives and Fixed Income Analyst at Standard Bank (2008 to 2009). Nick graduated with a PhD in Electronics from Imperial College, London, where he also completed a BEng in Information Systems Engineering with honours. Originally born in Italy, he is fluent in both English and Italian. Nick represented Italy at junior rowing world and European championships and co-founded the London Brewing Company Ltd.
Nathan Giang
Deputy Head of Data Science & Senior Data Scientist
Nathan joined Coolabah Capital in 2020 as a Data Scientist. Nathan previously spent 4 years working with Macquarie as a senior analyst within the Risk Management Group’s Quantitative Applications Division. At Macquarie he was a lead validator of IFRS9 credit wholesale models and involved in validation of credit models such as consumer loan application scorecards and retail IRB models. He also validated equity and commodity pricing models, including volatility surfaces, and counterparty credit risk and pricing templates, amongst other things. Nathan graduated with an ATAR of 99.55 and then completed a Bachelor of Science (Advanced Maths) and a Bachelor of Commerce from UNSW where he was awarded 1st Class Honours in Statistics and finished with a Weighted Average Mark across both degrees of 88% (or above a high distinction average).
Dr Adam Richardson
Trader & Quant Analyst
Adam joined Coolabah Capital in 2020 in a full-time role as a Quant Analytics Manager. Adam previously worked in operational risk management in the aviation, transport, and logistics sectors, where he designed complex million parameter risk models and developed risk engineering algorithms. He was also responsible for validating the analytics generated. He was awarded a PhD in Aerospace Engineering from The University of Sydney in 2012 for his work in multidisciplinary optimisation in risk environments, where he developed bespoke AI to minimise the impact to business operations during extreme events. Adam has lectured at The University of Sydney in senior and masters level courses in management practice and professional standards. Adam also holds a Bachelor of Science degree double-majoring in Physics and Mathematics, and a Bachelor of Engineering degree majoring in Aeronautical Engineering.
Neyavan Suthaharan
Junior Trader & Quant Analyst
Neya joined Coolabah in 2022 as a Junior Trader and Quant Analyst. Neya previously worked as a Senior Analyst at the RBA, working in both fixed income and securitisation as well as the global macroeconomics team. Some of his work at the RBA included estimating a measure of secondary market pricing for RMBS and modelling the pass-through of commodity prices to inflation using error correction models. Prior to the RBA, Neya graduated from the University of Sydney with 1st class Honours and the University Medal in a Bachelor of Economics where his thesis was on forecasting electricity price spikes in Australia’s National Electricity Market using a Poisson autoregression model with exogenous covariates. Neya achieved an ATAR of 99.95 in the HSC from Baulkham Hills High School.
Rakin Islam
Junior Portfolio Manager & Quant Analyst
Rakin joined Coolabah in 2021 as a Junior Portfolio Manager & Quant Analyst based in London. He was previously a Global Markets Quant at Deutsche Bank in London where he developed semi-systematic trading strategies focussing on securitised products, systematic market making techniques, algorithmic trading, and portfolio construction, amongst other things. In 2019 he graduated from the University of Oxford with a Masters of Science in Mathematical Modelling and Scientific Computing after receiving 1st Class Honours and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from King’s College London.
Oliver Walsh
Junior Trader
Oliver joined Coolabah in 2023 as a Junior Trader based in London. Oliver was previously an Investment Analyst/Trader at Astra Asset Management from 2021 to 2023, where he managed investments in structured and broader credit instruments (including CLOs, RMBS/ABS, iTraxx, CDX and bespoke FTD baskets). He was also involved in market monitoring, idea generation, trade execution, risk management while contributing to product development and regulatory reporting. Prior to that, Oliver worked as a trader at Onix Capital, developing crypto trading strategies. Outside of work, Oliver is actively involved in coaching rugby and participating in various competitive sports. Oliver holds a BSc in Mathematics with first-class honours from the University of Warwick.
Jacopo Bazzano
Junior Trader
Jacopo joined Coolabah in 2023 as a Junior Trader based in London. He was previously at Amundi Asset Management where he supported the Global Fixed Income and Credit portfolio management team with quantitative modelling to aid their investment process, managing duration exposure and performance attribution. Jacopo also interned at 1Qbit where he developed a trading algorithm using statistical and machine learning tools. Prior to this, Jacopo co-founded Stockbrothers.it, an investment research platform providing competitive and financial analysis on global firms to assist investors in making informed decisions. Jacopo holds a Master of Science in Finance with first class honours from University College London. Originally born in Italy, he is fluent in both Italian and English and speaks French.
Tully Robinson
Market Technicals Analyst
Tully joined Coolabah Capital in 2022 as Market Technicals Analyst working with Coolabah’s portfolio management and product teams, focussing on market research and analysis of demand- and supply-side factors in bond markets. She graduated from The University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Advanced Studies majoring in Finance and International Business. Tully also completed a Diploma in Sustainable Finance from Cambridge University focussed on the development of frameworks to respond to financial risks posed by sustainability issues.
Cheryl Lim, CFA
Credit Analyst
Cheryl joined Coolabah Capital in 2021 as a Credit Analyst. Cheryl has over 5 years’ experience in investment management, finance, and treasury functions, most recently as an Investment Analyst with AustralianSuper. Her focus at AustralianSuper was portfolio management and construction of the securities lending portfolio, which held over A$8bn of AUM. Prior to her role at AustralianSuper, Cheryl also completed an internship in Citi’s investment banking division and worked as a treasury and taxation assistant for Mercedes-Benz Australia/Pacific. Cheryl graduated from Monash University with a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) / Bachelor of Laws (Honours), having completed her VCE at The MacRobertson Girls’ High School and achieving an ATAR of 99.70. Cheryl was admitted as an Australian Lawyer by the Supreme Court of Victoria in May 2020 and is a CFA Charterholder.
Danniel Lin, CFA
Credit Analyst
Danniel joined Coolabah Capital in 2021 as a Credit Analyst. Danniel has 5 years’ experience in financial markets, risk management and regulatory functions, most recently as a Senior Associate in Macquarie Group’s Treasury department. Prior to Macquarie, Danniel worked as a Treasury & Capital Markets analyst at Deloitte and began his career as an analyst with the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA). Danniel graduated from the University of New South Wales with a Bachelor of Commerce (with Distinction) and was a Recipient of the Dean’s List Award for Academic Excellence, which is awarded to the top 5% of undergraduate students in the UNSW Business School. Daniel is a CFA Charterholder.
Aaron Jiang
Credit Analyst
Aaron joined Coolabah Capital in 2022 as a Credit Analyst. Aaron was previously an associate analyst at Moody’s Investors Service, where he performed ratings and credit analysis on structured finance products such as RMBS, ABS, Covered Bonds and ABCP. He was also involved in compiling corporate credit rating research and macroeconomic outlooks for various Australian sectors. Prior to Moody’s, Aaron was a Data Engineer at ANZ, building and deploying various models to enable a proprietary property price prediction algorithm for ANZ Home loans. Aaron graduated from Monash University with a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Computer Science majoring in Finance and Data Science.
Riley Michel
Senior Credit Analyst
Riley joined Coolabah Capital in 2023 in a full-time role as a senior credit analyst based in London. Riley previously worked at Standard and Poor’s as a primary analyst for UK and European financial institutions, where he performed detailed credit analysis on diversified UK lenders and had analytical responsibility for the Icelandic banking system. Riley has published thematic research spanning UK banks’ exposure to economic and funding risks and authored comprehensive credit research on Iceland’s banking sector, including resolution framework effectiveness. In this role, Riley also managed relationships with C-level bank management and regularly met with senior central bank staff. Prior to London, Riley worked in Melbourne as a primary analyst on Australia and New Zealand banks. Riley graduated with distinction from Monash University with a Bachelor of Commerce (Economics and Finance) and is a CFA charterholder.
Dr Ethan Xu
Data Scientist
Ethan joined Coolabah Capital in 2021 as a Data Scientist. Ethan previously worked as a postdoctoral research fellow and as a data scientist on various industry research projects including automated customer credit assessment, real time electricity price forecasting, concrete early cracking time prediction, and algae growth modelling. Ethan was awarded the Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Information Engineering at the University of Sydney in 2021, where his dissertation was on “Resource allocation in the internet-of-things”. He has published several research papers in leading international journals and conferences including the IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing and ICASSP. Ethan completed his Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical Engineering) at the University of Sydney with 1st Class Honours and the University Medal. He was also the recipient of the Norman I. Price Scholarship, the Dean’s Excellency Award and the Ian James McPherson Prize.
Kelvin Liu
Data Scientist
Kelvin joined Coolabah Capital in 2022 as a Data Scientist. Kelvin previously worked at CBA as a senior analyst within the Card Fraud Analytics team. At CBA, Kelvin was responsible for building statistical and machine learning models to detect lost/stolen card fraud, as well as card not present fraud, producing models with materially improved detection rates and F1 scores compared to existing methods. Prior to this, Kelvin worked at eHealth NSW as a data scientist intern, where he built an analytics framework to identify potential incorrect medical staff rostering information. Kelvin completed a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, Financial Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Sydney, where he achieved a High Distinction Weighted Average Mark. At the university, Kelvin was awarded the Denison Research Scholarship and was a Dalyell Scholar.
Vinoth Nandakumar
Data Scientist
Vinoth joined Coolabah Capital in 2023 as a Data Scientist. Vinoth was previously a computer science researcher at the University of Sydney, where he led various data science research projects, which involved building a novel statistical framework for neural language modelling, and developing innovative algorithms for image classification with sparse neural networks. He has previously interned as an applied scientist at Amazon, working on machine learning projects for the company’s retail business. Vinoth has a PhD in Mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Bachelor of Science (Advanced Mathematics) at the University of Sydney, where he graduated with 1st Class Honours and the University Medal. He was also the recipient of the Norbert Quirk Prize, and Bronze Medals at the International Mathematical Olympiad.
Luke Bouris
Chief Operating Officer
Luke joined Smarter Money Investments in 2016 as an Investment Specialist and in 2019 was promoted to National Product & Strategy Specialist. He is responsible for product and strategy development and management across Coolabah’s wider business. Between 2008 and 2015, Luke worked for one of BBB Capital’s portfolio companies as head of product, strategy and marketing servicing a wide range of stakeholders. Luke holds a Bachelor of Commerce from UNSW with a double major in Finance and Marketing. He is an avid water polo player and the Vice President of Water Polo NSW.
Wendy Nguyen
Performance Analyst
Wendy joined Coolabah Capital Investments in 2023 as a Performance Analyst. She previously worked at BT Financial Group as a Portfolio Accountant within the Client Reporting team. At BT, Wendy was responsible for reconciling portfolios and preparing valuation reports for wholesale clients. Wendy graduated with an ATAR of 98.70 from Baulkham Hills High School and has completed a Bachelor of Applied Finance and Actuarial Studies with a distinction average at Macquarie University.
Param Singh
Head of Global Middle Office Operations
Param joined Coolabah Capital in 2017 as a Senior Operations Analyst. Param oversees the day to day Middle Office function of the business. Prior to his current role, Param has worked at major global custodians such as State Street and BNP and Australian bank, Westpac, where he was involved in investment management services related to middle office and provision of client services to local and global investment manager entities. Param was involved in projects ranging from onboarding of IM clients on to the custodian platforms, conversion of manual trade processes to STP and automated trade processing platforms. Param graduated from Central Queensland University Rockhampton with a Bachelor in Business Accounting.
Mario Simonetti
Operations Analyst
Mario joined Coolabah Capital Investments in 2022 as Operations Analyst in London, reporting to the Head of Global Middle Office Operations. He previously worked at Zurich Life Assurance group in Dublin, Ireland as Investments Back Office analyst covering Unit Pricing. He completed a Bachelor of Business Administration from Glion Institute of Higher Education in Switzerland, and he is currently undertaking the Master in Global Financial Analytics at King’s College, London. He has additional certificates from IBM related to Python, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. When he is not watching football, he keeps developing financial models and algorithms using data science and machine learning techniques as he is an AI and automation fan.
Winnie Hu
Junior Operations Analyst
Winnie Joined Coolabah in 2022 as Junior Operations Analyst, within the global middle office operations team based in Sydney. Prior to her current role, Winnie has worked at middle and back offices in Blue Lake Partners, a privately funded alternative asset manager. Winnie completed a Master of Professional Accounting with Distinction at the Western Sydney University and was a Recipient of the Dean’s Merit List Award for Academic Excellence.
Allen Lin
Junior Operations Analyst
Allen joined Coolabah in 2022 as a Junior Operations Analyst, reporting to the Head of Global Middle Office Operations. Prior to his current role, Allen worked at CBA as a fraud operations analyst and portfolio management officer at DLL group (Rabobank). Allen holds a Bachelor of Applied Finance and of Economics from Macquarie University where he completed two exchange programs in Hong Kong University and Seoul National University. He also holds a Master of Commerce majoring in business analysis from Sydney University. Allen is an active Muay Thai Kickboxing trainee.
Ron Kaushik
Risk & Compliance Manager
Ron joined Coolabah in 2023 as a Risk & Compliance Manager. Ron was previously a Senior Compliance Manager at Commonwealth Securities, a Senior Manager, Market Surveillance & Compliance, at NSX Limited, and prior to that worked at ASX and AMP. He graduated with a Juris Doctor from the University of Technology Sydney and is in process of completing a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice from the College of Law, and secured a Bachelor of Commerce as an undergraduate.
Daniel Douma
Chief Financial Officer
Daniel is a Chartered Accountant and CFA who has previously held senior finance roles with leading family offices and their associated commercial and investment businesses, including the Salteri family (Olbia Funds Management), Ottomin Investment Group, RF Capital (Andrew Roberts’ family office), and most recently Meriton & the Triguboff family office.
Daniel studied a Bachelor of Business from UTS, majoring in Finance and Accounting, Grad Dip in Chartered Accounting, CFA program, and a Grad Dip in Applied Tax Law.
Ishan Gupta
Accountant
Ishan joined Coolabah as an accountant in 2023, reporting directly to the CFO. Ishan has previously held roles within various commercial lending organisations in both the operations and finance business units. During his tenure at OnDeck Capital, he focused on the financial and management reporting of the business whilst working meticulously with the firm’s credit recovery and customer service team on both internal and external dispute resolution. Prior to this, Ishan studied Bachelor of Business from UTS, majoring in Finance and Accounting and is currently studying towards his CPA accreditation.
Daniela Annocaro
Assistant Accountant
Daniela joined Coolabah as an accountant in 2022, reporting directly to the CFO. During her studies in Argentina, she worked in audit at two of the Big Four consulting firms, PwC and Deloitte. Afterwards, she worked in Finance in Unilever and her most recent position was in Forensic Services in KPMG Argentina where she focused on conducting fraud and misconduct investigations. This was in relation to potential FCPA violations for international pharmaceutical, oil & gas and medical science companies. Daniela holds a Bachelor of Accounting in the University of Buenos Aires.
Sarah Saad
General Counsel
Sarah joined Coolabah Capital in 2022 as General Counsel. Sarah previously worked as a lawyer in private practice law firms including Banton Group, Norton Rose Fulbright and Piper Alderman where she focused on class actions relating to financial products in addition to insolvency and dispute matters. Sarah holds a Bachelor of Laws and Legal Practice, and a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) from Flinders University and is currently completing her Master of Laws at the University of Sydney. She was admitted to the Supreme Court of South Australia in 2018.
Gary Walsh
Head of Asset Origination
Gary joined Smarter Money Investments’ retail fund business in 2014 as a full-time Head of Strategic Alliances and Distribution, focusing on raising awareness of SMI’s retail products in the IFA and Family Office markets. In July 2019, he became Coolabah Capital’s Head of Asset Origination after Coolabah wholly acquired Smarter Money Investments. With over 30 years’ experience in the industry, Gary has had exposure to many aspects of the financial services sector including as a practicing Adviser, AFSL management executive with Total Financial Solutions Australia, investment platform distribution executive and, more recently, product distribution for the Smarter Money Investments’ and Coolabah Capital Investments’ suite of products and custom mandate solutions. Gary holds a Master of Commerce (Marketing) and is focused on maximising CCI’s reach and FUM support by managing both the internal and external distribution relationships across multiple strategic channels and jurisdictions.
James McNally
Independent Compliance Specialist
James was initially retained as an independent compliance specialist to the Coolabah Capital business in May 2017. Since April 2020, James was appointed as a member of the Risk & Compliance Committee and is one of the responsible managers on Coolabah’s AFS Licence. James has over 25 years’ experience in the funds management industry, having worked in both trust administration and compliance roles for Perpetual Trustees Australia Limited and MIA Services Pty Limited, a company that specialises in compliance services to the funds management industry. His qualifications include a Bachelor of Business in Land Economy (Western Sydney University formerly Hawkesbury Agricultural College) and a Diploma of Law (NSW Legal Practitioners Admissions Board).
Ed Teh
Risk & Compliance Director
Ed joined Coolabah Capital in 2013 as a Senior Credit Analyst and now works as a Risk & Compliance Director assisting with lead credit risk analysis, risk management, compliance and governance across the business. Ed is a senior risk professional with over 20 years’ experience across fixed income funds management and bond insurance and corporate lending at leading domestic and global financial institutions. He has broad experience across industries and sectors, including: infrastructure and utilities, power and energy, property & real-estate, natural resources, oil & gas, media & telco, engineering and contracting, general industrials and agriculture. Ed has served in numerous credit research roles since 2000 including: Director, Debt Products & Global Risk, at Bank of America Merrill Lynch; Senior Credit Analyst, Fixed Income Credit Research at ING Investment Management; Vice President, Project Finance & Credit, at MBIA Insurance; Assistant Vice President, Corporate Risk Management at Citigroup; Associate, Project Finance & Credit, at Bank of America; and Credit Analyst, Institutional Banking, at NAB. He graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) and Bachelor of Laws from UNSW.
