Rolf Wetzer, Ph.D., President
Rolf heads an asset management unit at a private bank in Basel, Switzerland. He is also a Lecturer in Quantitative Trading Strategies in different universities. Prior to this, he was a Senior Fund Manager for foreign exchange and interest rate funds at Munich Re Asset Management in Munich/Germany. Before this Rolf worked at Dresdner Asset Management as a Portfolio Manager for both balanced and fixed income portfolios.
Rolf holds a PhD in econometrics from Technical University of Berlin and graduate degrees in Business Administration from both Technical University of Berlin/Germany and the Toulouse Business School/France. He was awarded by the VTAD (German IFTA society) as best German Technical Analyst in 2006 and was runner up in 2007. Rolf is a member of the Swiss Association of Market Technicians (SAMT) and the German Statistical Society.
William Chin, MBA, Vice President of Americas
William is the Portfolio Manager and the Chair of the Investment Committee at e3m Investments, a money manager in Toronto, Canada. He has 30 years of experience in managing portfolios and managing risks for large international banks like (BNP) Paribas, Bank of Nova Scotia and ABN AMRO and investment houses like Burns Fry (Now BMO NesbittBurns). William was born and raised in Hong Kong and spent the first eight years of his professional career there.
William is an experienced market technician. His work on Candlesticks Charting and Group Behaviour is a frequently requested presentation. Using a multi-market approach, he combines fundamental and technical analyses to arrive at key investment decisions like asset allocation, sector weighting and securities selection within an investment portfolio. He has also given multiple presentations on “The Role of Technical Analysis in Portfolio Management”.
William communicates his research conclusions and investment strategies with clients through his monthly newsletter, the “Asset Allocation Architect”, which has been in publication for 12 years.
William has been serving on the Board of the Canadian Society of Technical Analysts (CSTA) for 10 years and is currently its Vice President and serves on the Finance and Technology Committees.
Akira Homma, CFA, CIIA, CMA, CFTe, CMT, FRM, Vice President of Asia
Akira’s career in investment management includes involvement in Asian and Global fund management at Lombard Odier International Portfolio Management and Gesindex. On the sell side, he served as Equity Analyst and subsequently as Quantitative Analyst at Kokusai Securities (present Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities). At Dow Jones Japan, he served as Senior Quantitative Analyst providing quantitative and technical analysis for institutional investors. Currently, he is responsible for global business development, including fund sourcing, due diligence, structuring and product marketing, as well as global financial market research and quantitative modeling at a Tokyo-based securities firm.
Akira received his MBA from IESE Business School. He holds qualifications of Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Certified International Investment Analyst (CIIA), Chartered Member of the Securities Analysts Association of Japan (CMA), Certified Financial Technician (CFTe), Chartered Market Technician (CMT), and GARP-certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM). He is a Board member and Chief International Officer (IFTA Liaison) of NTAA.
Mohamed Ashraf Mahfouz, MFTA, CFTe, CETA, Vice President Middle East and Africa
Mohamed is the Head of the Technical Analysis desk for Dynamic Securities Brokerage Company – CI-Capital member; the investment arm of the Commercial International Bank (CIB), Cairo, Egypt.
He serves as a board member in the Egyptian Society of Technical Analysts (ESTA), head of the internal communication committee and an education committee member in (ESTA). He is one of the distinguished instructors in the Certified ESTA Technical Analyst (CETA) professional program. He also teaches in the Egyptian Investment Management Association (EIMA), Misr for Clearing, Settlement & Central Depository (MCSD) and the Arab Union of Stock Exchanges.
Mohamed graduated from the faculty of Economics & Political Science, Cairo University. He holds CETA & CFTe qualifications in Technical Analysis.
Deborah Owen, FSTA, CFTe, Vice President of Europe
Deborah Owen is managing director of Investment Research of Cambridge (IRC). Founded in 1945, IRC was one of the first companies in the UK to specialise in technically-based research and it has a global reputation for the quality of its analysis of the financial markets.
After reading economics at university, Deborah started working in the City as a financial journalist for Euromoney magazine. She then worked as a currency strategist for Chemical Bank and Charterhouse Bank before starting her own financial publishing business. She acquired Investment Research of Cambridge in 2003.
Deborah is co-author (with Robin Griffiths) of Mapping the Markets published by the Economist in 2006 and EMU in Perspective (with Peter Cole) published in 1999. She is a Fellow of the Society of Technical Analysts and edits the Society’s Journal. She is also currently serving as Chairman of the STA.
Ralf Böckel, CFA, Treasurer
Ralf joined Union Investment as a Senior Portfolio Manager for corporate bonds in December 2006. He is responsible for analysing insurance companies and banks. From August 2000 to 2006 he worked as a fixed-income fund manager at MEAG Munich Ergo Asset Management in Munich. He was initially responsible for European government bonds and from 2003 for corporate bonds and credit research into banks and insurance companies. Prior to this, from January 1999 to 2000 he worked at Bayerische Hypo- and Vereinsbank in the Fixed-Income Sales department.
After gaining banking qualifications Ralf studied Business Administration at Frankfurt School of Finance and Management – and University College Dublin, Ireland. While studying he worked at Dresdner Bank, in both retail and corporate banking. Ralf is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).
Maurizio Milano, Secretary
Maurizio is head of the Technical Analysis Department of Banca Sella Group, an Italian private bank. Prior to this, he worked as an FX dealer for 5 years.
Maurizio is also a journalist; his interviews appear regularly in the Italian financial media: Il Sole24Ore, Class-CNBC, RadioRai1, Radio Classica, and the International FX Trader Magazine. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Italian Association of Technical Analysts (SIAT). He served as an IFTA Board Member from 2008-2011, and as IFTA Vice-President of Europe from 2010-2011.
Maurizio holds a degree in Economics from the University of Turin, where he was a contract professor of Technical Analysis from 2005-2009.
David Furcajg, CFTe, MFTA, Membership Director
David is a professional technical strategist. He started his career as a market economist prior to working as a technical analyst within different companies in Paris and London. He then founded 3rd Wave Consult, a financial training and advisory company, in 2008. David is also a lecturer in Technical Analysis at the University of Paris Dauphine and Sciences-Po Paris.
David holds a Msc in Economics, the CFTe and MFTA qualifications in Technical Analysis. He is also the French Association of Technical Analyst (AFATE) Vice Chairman.
Saleh Nasser, CMT, Certification Director
Saleh is Chief Technical Strategist at Pharos Holding Securities in Cairo. He also teaches Technical Analysis at Cairo University, the Egyptian Banking Institute and the Arab Union of Stock Exchanges. Prior to this he was Chief Technical Strategist at Commercial International Brokerage in Cairo.
Saleh holds a CMT qualification in technical analysis. He is the current President of the Egyptian Society of Technical Analysts (ESTA); having previously served as ESTA’s Head of Education and Treasurer.
Dan Valcu, CFTe, Marketing Director
Dan is an independent trader and founder of the first company specialized in technical analysis education and training in Romania. He also authored four books about technical analysis and strategies. He is and has been a contributor to various technical analysis magazines (TASC, Traders’ Magazine) and is credited with bringing Heikin-ashi charting to the western world in 2003-2004. His latest book Heikin-Ashi: How to Trade without Japanese Candlestick Patterns, a world premiere, is written for everybody who needs simple techniques to highlight the trend, reduce the noise, and alert about possible reversals. In addition, this book is a guide for easily translating candlestick patterns. Before joining the technical analysis field, Dan worked all over the world as an IT consultant in Banking & Insurance.
An active promoter of technical analysis, Dan serves on the Board of the International Federation of Technical Analysis (IFTA) as VP for Europe and Membership Director, holds the professional designation of a Certified Financial Technician (CFTe), and is an Associate Member of the Society of Technical Analysts (UK).
Dan holds a Master’s degree in Computer Sciences from the Polytechnic Institute in Bucharest. He is also the President and one of the founders of the Romanian Association for Technical Analysis (AATROM). More information about Heikin-Ashi can be found on his site and blog at http://www.educofin.com and https://heikinashi.wordpress.com respectively.
Roberto Vargas, MSTA, CFTe, Exam Accreditation Director
Roberto is a Private Banker for BBVA Compass in Houston, Texas. Prior to this he was a Commercial Banker at Bank of America in Houston, and a Foreign Exchange Manager at Banco Nacional de Mexico in New York after having worked as International Treasury Manager in the bank’s London branch. Before this, he spent 11 years working for a variety of international banks in London as a Proprietary Trader in foreign exchange markets.
Roberto holds an MA in Latin American Studies and International Law from the University of London. He also holds MSTA and CFTe qualifications in technical analysis. He is a member of the Society of Technical Analysts (STA).
Roman Bogomazov, Conference Director
Roman is an Adjunct Professor at Golden Gate University in San Francisco. He is a board member and a program coordinator for the Technical Securities Analysts Association of San Francisco (TSAASF). Roman entered the trading profession in 1996 and has since developed his focus on education and professional training.
Roman teaches “Wyckoff Method” as a technical analysis class and “Trading Strategies and Implementation” which focuses on trading plan development, back testing and trading performance. He is a consultant and developer of the Cyber Campus technical market analysis program at Golden Gate University. Roman is a frequent speaker at local, national and international events.
Roman holds a B.S. in Economics and Management from University of Maryland and a M.S. in Finance from Golden Gate University. He is one of the first graduates to receive a Certificate of Technical Market Analysis from Golden Gate University.
Aurélia Gerber, MBA, CFA, Journal Director
Aurélia is a director at the Bank Sarasin & Cie where she manages the assets of the bank according to the regulatory framework and the ALM strategy. She also manages rule controlled investments and special mandates.
With 17 years in Institutional Asset Management she was responsible for the construction and the management of products in fixed income, money market, equity, balanced, alternative and emerging markets. She had regular contact with clients for follow up and acquisition presentations. She is skilled in technical and fundamental investment analysis.
She started her career with HSBC Asset Management London, where she was Analyst EMEA in the Global Emerging Markets team. She joined the asset management of Siemens AG Austria where she developed the whole investment process for equities in CEE countries. She subsequently moved as Senior Equity Fund Manager Europe with Bawag Invest Vienna and joined Bank Sarasin Basel as Vice President to take the lead and manage Asia Pacific equities.
She then changed to Senior Fixed Income manager and developed credit analysis tools. After High School in Mulhouse France she opted for studies in general business. She holds both an MBA from Queen’s University Canada (04/1994) and a Master’s in Management and Finance from Lyon Graduate School of Business (09/1994). She holds qualifications of Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and the Investment Management Certificate (IMC). Aurélia is a member of the Swiss Association of Market Technicians (SAMT).
Robert Grigg, Strategic Development Director
Robert is a Director and Investment Manager at Crystal Blue (Aust) Pty Ltd where he manages family based investment funds. He is also a Director of consulting firm CQL Pty Ltd; current consulting is now limited to the design, construction and optimisation of algorithmic trading systems. He commenced serious trading in 1994 and gradually converted hid focus from fundamental and discretionary trading to quantitative systems.
His earlier career was in the Oil Industry with the Shell Group and then in Corporate Consulting with KPMG and others. Over the years he worked in Information Technology as a technical programmer, analyst, senior manager and strategic consultant. At other times he was a Management Accountant. He has worked both in Australia and Overseas.
Robert is a graduate of Swinburne University and is a Certified Practicing Accountant.
Akihiro Niimi, MFTA, Website Content Director
Akihiro is the Executive Director of AIFAM, a fund of hedge funds company based in Tokyo and New York. Prior to this, he was a quantitative portfolio manager building and managing quantitative investment model-based portfolios for Credit Lyonnais and Deutsche Bank in London. He was also the Chief Fund Manager for The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, and head of global marketing team incubating and distributing Japanese hedge fund products to international investors at the Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank.
Akihiro holds a degree in naval architecture from Osaka University and the MFTA accreditation. He is a member of the Nippon Technical Analysts Association (NTAA).