MEMBERS

Jason is founder, chairman and CIO of Rayliant Global Advisors (RGA), a global investment management group with more than US$29 billion in assets managed using its strategies, as of Dec 31, 2019. Rayliant applies quantitative methods to access behavioral-based alpha prevalent in inefficient markets like China. Jason also co-founded Research Affiliates, a smart beta and asset allocation leader with over US$180 billion in assets managed using its strategies.
Jason sits on the editorial board of the Financial Analysts Journal, the Journal of Investment Management, the Journal of Investment Consulting and the Journal of Index Investing. He is an adjunct professor of finance at UCLA Anderson School of Management, and a visiting professor at Tsinghua University (China), Kyoto University (Japan) and National Chengchi University (Taiwan). Jason has published more than 40 journal articles and is a contributing author to nine handbooks in finance and economics. He has won two Graham and Dodd Scroll Awards; one Graham and Dodd Reader’s Choice Award; one Graham and Dodd most prestigious award, three Bernstein Fabozzi/Jacob Levy Awards; and three William F. Sharpe Awards. He also co-invented the Fundamental Index, awarded best index by Global Pensions magazine in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Jason received his Ph.D. in finance from UCLA Anderson School of Management. He received his M.S. from Stanford University and B.S. from the California Institute of Technology.

Marcos (Spain/The Netherlands) is an Economist and PhD in Business Administration. An entrepreneur that has started companies in different industries including financial services, technology and professional services. He brings a wealth of experience including banking, consulting, management and research. Marcos is known for his ability to lead the strategic delivery of profitable, sustainable, values-based business models. As Executive Director of the GABV Marcos is building the values-based banking movement and growing our work with members, partners, experts and policy makers to influence the banking system so that it is more transparent, ethical, robust and real-economy focused. Marcos is also a professor of Business Administration at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.

Tom is 57, has had a moustache since long before facial hair became fashionable, rides a Triumph Tiger in London and a Harley Davidson elsewhere, rows 5km in 20 minutes on his machine most mornings and is a decade into learning the art of Tai Chi. He’s proud that LifeSearch customers rate it 4.6/5 on TrustPilot and that the whole business talks about their values of Care, Tolerance, Openness, Honesty and Excellence about 5 times more than they talk about profit, but he’s most proud of Angus, Patrick and Carolina and his 29 year and counting marriage to their mum Alison.
Tom Baigrie is the founder and CEO of LifeSearch, a business that every week helps over 2,000 people protect themselves and their families against the financial catastrophe that death or disability can cause. Tom started LifeSearch back in 1998 and called it that because it searches out the best covers from all the UKs insurers. Today LifeSearch’s 500 strong team is recommended by Money Saving Expert, Compare the Market, Moneysupermarket, Lloyd’s Bank, Which? and many others and is thus the largest protection intermediary in the UK. Since 1998, Tom and LifeSearch have seen more than 85 industry judging panels deem them the best at what they do, but the award that Tom is proudest of is LifeSearch’s third place, at the first time of entering, in the ‘Sunday Times Top 100 Companies to Work For’ listing.
Tom set up LifeSearch originally because he saw banks ripping off customers with policies he could arrange for far lower premiums by shopping around and giving customers proper protection advice. Ever since he’s felt that leading financial services retailers should shape their market and has thus long campaigned for better insurer and distributor practices. His statement that “The claim is our core product, not the policy” is amongst the most widely quoted in today’s UK protection market.

Laurie J. Spengler is an impact investment banker, board member and active contributor to the impact investing industry. Among her current board engagements, she serves as a non-executive director of the CDC Group (the UK DFI), Lendable, the UK Impact Investing Institute and Bridges Insights. Laurie serves as Global Ambassador to the Global Steering Group on Impact Investing and is Senior Fellow and Advisory Council member at Casei3 at the Fuqua Business School. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Laurie is a frequent speaker and preferred interviewer at industry convenings on topics ranging from impact investing, values-based banking, gender smart investing to inclusive and sustainable economics and more. Her increasingly regular writings are gaining traction with new audiences expressing interest in building a more resilient future for all.
Laurie is CEO of Courageous Capital Advisors, LLC, an impact investing advisory firm dedicated to generating outsized positive impact by providing targeted strategy, transaction and governance services. Previously, Laurie was CEO of Enclude Ltd. and Enclude Capital UK Limited, formerly part of the ShoreBank and Triodos family of companies, and now a Palladium Company. Prior to building Enclude Capital, Laurie was founder and CEO of Central European Advisory Group, a regional advisory firm she sold to her management team in 2005. She also worked as an attorney with the New York, Brussels and Prague offices of White & Case. Laurie has a JD from Harvard University and an undergraduate degree from Stanford University.

I’m part of the International League of Ethical Financial Services Leaders because over several decades I have encountered the many layers of duplicity and sophistry at the heart of the financial services community, and I am passionate about the conviction that honesty and authenticity create a happier environment and greater financial returns for clients, intermediaries and all other stakeholders.