Meet the speakers at Vanguard AdVance

Mr. Ramji is a senior financial services executive with more than 25 years of experience in investments, capital markets and wealth management, including a decade as a senior leader at BlackRock Inc., leaving in January 2024. Most recently, Mr. Ramji was Global Head of iShares & Index Investing, where he was responsible for managing a majority of the firm’s client assets and evolving the iShares platform to provide an even broader set of innovative low-cost products for investors globally. His contributions led to expanded investment access for tens of millions of investors, a more central role for ETFs in retirement and wealth portfolios and a more efficient bond market with ETFs as an enabling technology. At BlackRock, he led the implementation of a voting choice platform, which democratizes client access to the proxy voting process.

Prior to leading iShares, Mr. Ramji was the Head of U.S. Wealth Advisory and began his BlackRock career as the Global Head of Corporate Strategy. Before joining BlackRock, Mr. Ramji was a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company in charge of the firm’s Asset & Wealth Management Practice. He started his career as a lawyer at Clifford Chance in London and Hong Kong.

Joseph H. Davis, Ph.D., is Vanguard’s global chief economist and global head of the Investment Strategy Group. He leads teams that are responsible for Vanguard’s research and thought leadership agendas as well as the development and oversight of the firm’s investment methodologies and models. His areas of expertise are economics, asset allocation, portfolio management, and investment strategies.

Joe chairs the firm’s Strategic Asset Allocation Committee, which governs multi-asset-class investment solutions, and he is a member of the senior portfolio management team of Vanguard Fixed Income Group.

The Investment Strategy Group is responsible for the firm’s portfolio construction and investment advice methodologies and for conducting research on economies and markets, investment strategies and asset classes, and investor behavior and retirement issues. The group also oversees Vanguard’s investment models, including the Vanguard Capital Markets Model, a proprietary forecasting tool that underpins the firm’s economic and capital markets outlook.

Joe is a frequent keynote speaker, has published white papers in leading academic and practitioner journals, and currently serves on the editorial boards of The Journal of Portfolio Management and The Journal of Fixed Income.

Joe earned his B.A. from Saint Joseph’s University, earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in economics at Duke University, and is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Francis (Fran) Kinniry is a senior investment executive at The Vanguard Group with a history of initiating and leading investment startups. Fran is currently the head of the Investment Advisory Research Center within Vanguard’s Financial Advisor Services department.

The research center, launched in 2022, creates investment research and partners with the investment advisory community to continue the rapid diffusion of best-inclass investment, wealth management, and behavioral-coaching techniques. Together this research and partnership will continue to improve end-investor advisory results and simultaneously maximize the advisory practice outcomes.

Paulo Costa, Ph.D., is a senior behavioral economist in the Investment Strategy Group, where his research interests include behavioral finance, financial planning, and the value of financial advice.

Paulo’s current research examines the value clients get from human and robo advisors, the value of personalized financial advice, and the steps investors should consider to achieve financial wellness. His recent work also includes study of the safe withdrawal rate for FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) investors. In addition to conducting research, Paulo frequently meets with clients to present Vanguard’s thought leadership on investor behavior and financial advice.

Prior to joining Vanguard, his research focused on quantitative equity strategies and how the framing of financial information affects investor behavior.

Paulo holds a B.A. in economics from Yale University and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University.

Tania Allerton is the Head of UK Advisory Distribution, leading a team of 16 business development managers serving advisory businesses across the UK.

Nick joined Vanguard in 2012 and is responsible for Vanguard’s offer and proposition to financial advisers in Europe, covering product, digital and content strategy. Prior to this, Nick was a member of our UK distribution leadership team, covering multi-asset and active fund distribution.

Katy Hyams joined Vanguard in May 2024 and is Vanguard Europe’s Head of UK Public Policy.

In this role Katy is responsible for Vanguard Europe’s advocacy work and engagement with UK regulators, policymakers and legislators. She represents Vanguard in a number of industry associations, as well as at industry events and conferences. 

Prior to joining Vanguard, Katy worked in private practice as a financial services lawyer acting for alternative asset managers, before leading the Regulatory Policy function for the London Metal Exchange Group.

Warwick Bloore is a senior specialist in Vanguard’s Advisory Research Centre in Europe. His role includes the research of financial planning and investment strategies that advisers and intermediaries can use to help maximise the value they add to their clients.

Warwick joined Vanguard in 2019. He has worked in the advice industry since 2007, advising private individuals and corporates, both in the UK and abroad.  His areas of expertise include portfolio construction, tax planning, retirement planning, estate planning and protection.  

Warwick holds an MA in Economics from Cambridge University. He is a Chartered Financial Planner as well as a Fellow of the Personal Finance Society.

Fabrizio Zumbo works as a senior specialist in Vanguard’s Advisory Research Centre in Europe. 

Prior to that, he worked as a senior analyst in the A&WM Global Market Research Centre of PwC in Luxembourg, as the lead analyst for the European Thought Leadership programme of State Street and as a director of the European Retail Research and Consulting practice of Cerulli Associates in London. 

Fabrizio holds a BSc in International Relations and an MSc in Development Studies (Development Economics) from the University of Bologna, as well as an MBA from Warwick Business School.