ETF Evolution 2026 Summit offers sponsors an excellent opportunity to demonstrate thought-leadership and leverage networking opportunities to build brand-value amongst your target audience. If you would like to know more about sponsorship, exhibition and business development opportunities please just get in touch with us – sponsorship@ibrc.com.au
Early Invited Speakers include:
Learn the Speakers of The The ETF Evolution 2026 Summit
Head of ETFs, Macquarie Asset Management
Managing Director, Head of APAC ETF Distribution, Invesco Ltd
Chief Executive Officer, Ziller Funds Management
Head of Listings APAC, Cboe
Senior Manager, Investment Products, ASX
Partner, Baker and McKenzie
Special Counsel, Kain Lawyers
Head of Manager Research, Evidentia Group
Director, Douglas Funds Management
Executive Director, Savana ETFs
Chief Investment Officer, Viola Private Wealth
Chair - IMAP and Director, Philo Capital Advisers
Expert Partner, Bain and Company
Managing Director, finCREATE
Partner, Private Capital Management
Head of ESG and Co-Portfolio Manager, Active Sustainable Equity Fund, Ausbil Investment Management Limited
Head of Investment Strategy and Solutions, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Australia
Associate Director, Savana Asset Management
Founder and Financial Adviser, Freshwater Wealth
Chief Economist, Sharesies
Associate Partner, Ernst & Young
Managing Director, Calastone AUNZ
Vice President and ETF Specialist, JP Morgan Asset Management Australia
Portfolio Manager, Kapstream Capital
The ETF Evolution 2026 Summit Schedule
Learn schedule, program and topics of the The ETF Evolution 2026 Summit
Delegate Registration & Coffee
Welcome by Summit Chair
Opening Remarks by Conference Chair
• The Australian and global economy: investment trends and concerns shaping decisions into 2027 and beyond
• How portfolio construction is being influenced by geopolitical and economic factors
• The Australian ETF ecosystem: where does it sit, and what is its potential?
• An overview of recent global trends in the ETF industry and major themes shaping ETF investing
JACKI NEUMANN
Head of Capital Markets, Sharesies
• Tracking the growth of the Australian ETF market
• Active vs. passive – who are the big movers and what asset types?
• Local vs Global ETFs: which ETFs are turning heads? (e.g. alternative exposures via US-listed ETFs)
• Emerging asset types: Income and currency ETFs (digital asset ETF, Gold ETF, etc.)
STEFANIA VIVARINI
Vice President and ETF Specialist, JP Morgan Asset Management Australia
• Why does academic research suggest founder-led stocks outperform over the long-term?
• How do we distinguish the highest quality founders from the rest?
• Why has global growth typically been driven by a narrow set of transformative themes?
• How can founder-led stocks provide targeted exposure to these key growth themes?
JOSEPH ZILLER
Chief Executive Officer, Ziller Funds Management
11:00 MORNING TEA AND NETWORKING BREAK
• The importance of capital market support
• The need for specialised management, platforms and administration
• The complexities of regulation and reporting
• Access to suitable sales and distribution networks.
ORAN D’ARCY
Head of Listings APAC, Cboe
• Identifying the emerging risks and future ETF regulatory priorities in each market
• Regulatory developments from around the world that will impact Australia.
• How product innovation and complexity is driving regulatory decision-making
• Recent case study learnings – obligations for issuers, market operators and investors.
ANDREW WEAVER
Senior Manager, Investment Products, ASX
BILL FUGGLE
Partner, Baker and McKenzie
JESSICA LUCICH
Special Counsel, Kain Lawyers
12:40 NETWORKING LUNCH
This session explores how tokenisation is reshaping financial markets and what it could mean for the future of ETFs, from more efficient settlement and broader access to new product structures and distribution models. This session will cover:
• What tokenisation means in financial markets: representing assets, funds or ownership rights as digital tokens on blockchain or distributed ledger infrastructure.
• How asset managers, exchanges, custodians and regulators globally are experimenting with tokenised funds, digital bonds, on-chain settlement and blockchain-based market infrastructure.
• What tokenisation could mean for ETF creation and redemption, secondary market trading, settlement efficiency, investor access, transparency, distribution and operational costs.
• Look ahead to how ETFs may evolve in a tokenised financial system, including 24/7 trading, fractional ownership, faster settlement, embedded compliance and new hybrid products
SCOTT WALLER
Associate Partner, Ernst & Young
• The benefits of systematic investing: the efficient use of data
• How Systematic plays a role at the core of portfolios
• Aligning fee structures with investor expectations and active management
• Educating advisers on the wealth-building potential of active ETFs
• How active management expertise will influence portfolio construction into the future.
BLAIR HANNON
Head of ETFs, Macquarie Asset Management
14:50 AFTERNOON TEA AND NETWORKING BREAK
• Investment strategy and portfolio construction: how active should differ from passive
• Drilling down into popular approaches: core-satellite, tactical factor, thematic, and others
• Smart trading strategies: checking bid-ask spreads correctly, and other fundamentals that can get missed
• Evaluating success: manager record, fees, and transparency
• Transparency vs alpha protection: key concerns for managers
• Non-transparency or semi-transparency: exploring the arguments
• Current and future models that achieve the right balance
JO CORNWELL
Head of Manager Research, Evidentia Group
TOM DIGBY
Managing Director, Head of APAC ETF Distribution, Invesco Ltd
CHRIS CHEN
VP & Senior Investment Director, American Century Investments / Avantis Investors
• Current trends across wrap platforms, adviser trading platforms, direct brokerage accounts and active/model portfolios
• Convenience, fees and operability: what is working, and what isn’t?
• Adviser tools and distribution: measuring ETF impact on client portfolios
• Adviser and client wish-lists for the future
MARSHA LEE
Managing Director, Calastone AUNZ
Day 1 Closing Remarks
1 HOUR NETWORKING DRINKS
8:20 Delegate Registration & Coffee
8:55 Welcome by Summit Chair
Mans leads Ausbil’s ESG Research Team who take an active approach to engaging Australia’s listed companies on environment, social and governance issues. As a former equity analyst, Mans also leads Ausbil’s integration of proprietary ESG scoring, research and ratings within Ausbil’s top-down bottom-up valuation approach so that ESG is fundamental in all of Ausbil’s investment decisions. In 2022, Mans was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for contribution to the responsible investment industry. He has also received a letter of commendation
from Anti-Slavery Australia in 2019. Mans is an IAST-APAC (Investors Against Slavery and Trafficking Asia Pacific) steering committee member, and is co-Chair of IAST-APAC’s work stream on Policy Advocacy. Mans also holds
several leadership positions in the industry, serving on the New South Wales (Australia) Anti-slavery Commissioner’s Advisory Panel, Director of RIAA (Responsible Investment Association Australasia) and Chair of RIAA’s Human Rights Working Group (2021-2025). Mans holds Bachelor of Science (Major in Business
Administration) and Master of Finance degrees from Gothenburg School of Economics, an MBA from Griffith University, and is graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).
MANS CARLSSON OAM
Head of ESG and Co-Portfolio Manager, Active Sustainable Share Fund, Ausbil Investment Management Limited
• Will factor investing deliver the expected returns, or will they be a let-down?
• Volatility, diversification and risk – influences on performance through the investment cycle
• Asset allocation and portfolio construction decisions
• Fixed income investing, ETFs and alternative investments: comparisons and opportunities
KRIS BERNIE
Portfolio Manager, Kapstream Capital
• How advisers are using model portfolios to enhance customisation and diversification across a range of exposures
• The importance of adviser education: what is needed
• Integration into robo-advisers, superannuation platforms, and direct indexing: how will this play out?
• Creating value for clients: what should be top of mind?
• The increase in smart beta ETF usage
• Distribution shift (advisers vs platforms vs direct retail)
• Fee compression vs performance expectations.
ROGER PERRETT
Founder and Financial Adviser, Freshwater Wealth
10:50 MORNING TEA AND NETWORKING BREAK
• What AI tools will sharpen investment focus, efficiency and returns? A closer look
• Risks and red flags in using AI and machine learning tools
• AI vs the human: what decision-making skills and intuition can never be replaced by technology?
• Exploring case studies and modelling
• View from the quant and portfolio manager/CIO: what the next five years may bring
DANIEL KELLY
Chief Investment Officer, Viola Private Wealth
MICHAEL BERMAN
Founder, S2N Navigator and Signal2Noise
ZEYU GAO
Quantitative and AI Researcher, Kapstream Capital/Janus Henderson Investors
12:20 NETWORKING LUNCH
• Why algorithms can transform investment
• Removing the behavioural bias to identify undervaluation and mispriced opportunities
• Downside protection when markets fall and aggressive upside during rallies – how a disciplined approach bears great results
EVAN METCALF
Executive Director, and Samuel Atkinson, Associate Director, Savana ETFs
• Secular trends, niches and exposures proving resilient and attractive, such as real estate, ESG and others
• Analysing fees, risks and case examples
• Mid to long-term outlook: market timing, investor access and sentiment
• A deep dive into active ETFs that give investors access to concentrated portfolios of real estate securities listed
on local and global exchanges
• Exploring portfolio constrution, risk and returns.
ALEXANDRE VENTOLON
Head of Investment Strategy and Solutions, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Australia
14:30 AFTERNOON TEA AND NETWORKING BREAK
• Strategy: knowing the Why, and how it fits into your overall vision
• Execution: Using research insights and positioning your offering
• Technology: What an effective fintech-enabled ETF business should look like
• Go-to-Market and Scaling: Creating the right operating model to build your network and client base.
ANASTASIA ANAGNOSTAKOS
Managing Director, finCREATE
• Active vs passive: is there a convergence happening, with strategies co-existing to ensure maximum outcomes?
• Which passive indices are flawed, allowing active managers to move with speed in volatile situations?
• Evaluating key growth areas such as rules-based strategies and the use of ETFs within managed accounts
• Thematic risks, fee elasticities and transparency: how will these evolve moving forward?
• The future for ETFs in Australia: final predictions for the next two years
TOBY POTTER CFA
Chair - IMAP and Director, Philo Capital Advisers
JOHN FILDES
Expert Partner, Bain and Company
NATHAN IDE
Partner, Private Capital Management
Closing Remarks and Conference Wrap Up
