Defining Best Practice in a Rapidly Transforming Investment Research Market

In November 2025 over 400 attendees from the buy and sell side joined us in London to explore and analyse the key trends in an industry going through rapid change after decades of relative inertia.

On June 11th, 2026 we will reunite the North American investment research industry at The Metropolitan Club, New York. Panels will debate the acceleration of AI adoption amongst both providers and consumers, the potential for global alignment in research funding and payment, and the IP and commercial implications of sell side research ingestion into buy side LLMs. Where will domain knowledge always matter in this industry, and where will the convenience and efficiency of AI create a completely new competitive landscape? How is this changing research consumption, evaluation and payment right now?

Location: The Metropolitan Club, 1 E 60th St., New York

Speakers this year include:
Alex Andronov, Global Head of Business Development, Global Research, HSBC
Suresh Balaraman, Founder & CEO, Datazoic
Bjorn Birkelund, CEO, Filot
Jim Bode, Global Head of Broker Relations, Alphasense
Doug Christensen, Head of Capital Market Solutions, SS&C Technologies
James Damen, Head of Sales, Commcise
Michael Eastwood, Director of Americas Equity Research, Jefferies
Lauren Giametta, Director of Research Services & Data Management, Blackrock
Mike Grubert, Head of Credit & Public Equities, Third Bridge
Marc Harris, Senior Managing Director, Director of Research, Evercore ISI
Robin Hodgkins, President, Castine
Stuart Howard, Global Head of Front Office Governance, Research and Market Data, Invesco
Sandy Jayaraj, Advisor, QnA Cloud
Sally Keeley, Director, Investment Data Strategy, Blackrock
Mark Kinarney, VP of Investor Relations, Lantheus
Thomas Li, Co-Founder/CEO, Daloopa
Caspar Luard, Chief Revenue Officer, TWST Events
Brijesh Malkan, CEO, Singletrack
Anne Malone, Head of US Equity Research, Citi
Michael Marrale, CEO, M Science
Colin McGranahan, Head of Research, Bernstein
Robert Murillo, SVP & Head of Business Management & Operations, Franklin Templeton
David Nable, CEO, BlueMatrix
Mark Odendahl, Co-Head of Global Research, RBC Capital Markets
Mark Pellegrino, CEO, CorpAxe
Rahul Ravikrishnan, Head of Product, Eidosmedia
Rahul Rekhi, President, Rogo
Scott Rosen, Founder/CRIO, Visible Alpha
Amandine Rorison-Powell, Associate Director of Corporate Access & Research Services, Artisan Partners
Gavin Skinner, Chairman & COO, Aiera
Steve Stone, Partner, Morgan Lewis
Mark Thompson, Primary Research, Norges Bank Investment Management
Jacqueline Wilhelmy, Head of Corporate Access & Advisory Services, Alliance Bernstein

Event Agenda:

Coffee & Registration
8:30am

Welcome Address
9:10am

Panel 1: The View from the Buy Side
9:30am

A panel of leading buy side speakers will set the scene for the conference. Since last year the focus has obviously grown on what AI means for the industry, as well as its effect on how they value and consume external research and data. This flows through the whole value chain and brings longstanding commercial dynamics into sharp relief. What do they want from their research providers as they harness new technologies to positively impact their investment processes? How is demand, budgeting and market share going to change as a result?

Moderator:
Mike Carrodus, CEO, Substantive Research

Speakers:
Lauren Giametta, Director of Research Services & Data Management, Blackrock
Stuart Howard, Global Head of Front Office Governance, Research and Market Data, Invesco
Robert Murillo, SVP & Head of Business Management & Operations, Franklin Templeton

Coffee Break
10:20am

Panel 2: The View from the Sell Side
11:00am

A panel of leading research providers will address the view from the brokers. Is there now sell side consensus on how to balance control of IP with the buy side’s eagerness to incorporate their research into their LLMs? How do providers view the technological progress at existing aggregation and consumption platforms, and what’s most exciting for them? Does the ability to ingest research into an internal buy side platform need to be priced separately, or can it be part of the buy side’s existing evaluation processes?

Moderator:
Mike Carrodus, CEO, Substantive Research

Speakers:
Marc Harris, Senior Managing Director, Director of Research, Evercore ISI
Mark Odendahl, Co-Head of Global Research, RBC Capital Markets
Michael Eastwood, Director of Americas Equity Research, Jefferies
Colin McGranahan, Head of Research, Bernstein
Anne Malone, Head of US Equity Research, Citi
Mike Grubert, Head of Credit & Public Equities, Third Bridge

Panel 3: Technology Solutions – The New Frontier
11:50am

Innovation-led technology providers will respond to the themes raised in the previous two panels and give specific feedback on key pain points, opportunities and outstanding issues. The pace of innovation is incredible, but equally we all exist in a regulated, complex industry that creates challenges for rapid adoption of cutting edge tech. How have solutions providers addressed these challenges, and what do we need to understand about the very latest developments and their implications on how we stay competitive?

Moderator:
Brijesh Malkan, CEO, Singletrack

Speakers:
Rahul Ravikrishnan, Head of Product, Eidosmedia
Gavin Skinner, Chairman & COO, Aiera
Thomas Li, Co-Founder/CEO, Daloopa
Rahul Rekhi, President, Rogo
David Nable, CEO, BlueMatrix
Bjorn Birkelund, CEO, Filot

Lunch
12:40pm

Panel 4: The Integration of Data and Research – Budgeting, Sourcing and Procuring across a wide range of inputs
1:50pm

How is technology changing the way we source, trial, onboard and integrate data into our research workflows? How is that affecting demand and what are the implications on budgets and how spend is delineated and allocated between data and research spend? Does the buy side need more data products from the sell side, and if so, does that create revenue opportunities or is it a cost of doing business? What does this all mean for the platforms and providers that investment professionals will use in future – who gets disintermediated and who consolidates their position?

Moderator:
Mike Carrodus, CEO, Substantive Research

Speakers:
Michael Marrale, CEO, M Science
Scott Rosen, Founder/CRIO, Visible Alpha
Sally Keeley, Director, Investment Data Strategy, Blackrock
Mark Thompson, Primary Research, Norges Bank Investment Management
Suresh Balaraman, Founder & CEO, Datazoic
Jim Bode, Global Head of Broker Relations, Alphasense

Coffee Break
2:40pm

Panel 5: The Evolution of Corporate Access
3:20pm

What differentiates sell side firms’ corporate access services? Does technology create challenges for the sell side model or does it enable it? Where should corporate access sit within a sell side organization and how does that affect their offering and the internal dynamics? How are corporates approaching their IR differently now, and what would help them most from brokers and the buy side? For the buy side, how are they assessing the value from their broker relationships as well as their own internal, direct approach? Is this the only part of the research industry that AI doesn’t revolutionize, or is that naive?

Moderator:
Mike Carrodus, CEO, Substantive Research

Speakers:
Mark Pellegrino, CEO, CorpAxe
Caspar Luard, Chief Revenue Officer, TWST Events
Jacqueline Wilhelmy, Head of Corporate Access & Advisory Services, Alliance Bernstein
Mark Kinarney, VP of Investor Relations, Lantheus
Sandy Jayaraj, Advisor, QnA Cloud

Panel 6: Journey to a Global CSA & Research Evaluation Approach – what’s best practice and what does the regulator say?
4:10pm

We are inching towards a future where a global asset managers could operate CSAs across all regions – what will it take to get there? Where are the sticking points and how are they being addressed? In North America, buy side firms still have a variety of approaches in place, including differences on what they actually pay for out of commissions. What drives these disparities, and is a global best practice consensus taking shape? What does this all mean for research evaluation processes? Do they need to evolve and if so how?

Moderator:
Mike Carrodus, CEO, Substantive Research

Speakers:
Doug Christensen, Head of Capital Market Solutions, SS&C Technologies
Robin Hodgkins, President, Castine
Alex Andronov, Global Head of Business Development, Global Research, HSBC
James Damen, Head of Sales, Commcise
Steve Stone, Partner, Morgan Lewis
Amandine Rorison-Powell, Associate Director of Corporate Access & Research Services, Artisan Partners

Cocktail Reception
5.00pm