Breakfast Briefing

Robert Kosowski is Professor of Finance and the former Head of the Department of Finance and at Imperial Business School.  He is also co-founder of the Centre for Excellence in Quantitative Finance at Imperial College London and  research fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR).

Prior to being appointed Head of Department at Imperial College Business School, Robert was Head of Quantitative Research at Unigestion (2017-2021). He has worked for Goldman Sachs, the Boston Consulting Group and Deutsche Bank. His policy related advisory work includes: Specialist Adviser to UK House of Lords (2009-2010), Expert Technical Consultant (International Monetary Fund, 2008, 2016).

Robert's research has been featured in The Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal and was awarded several awards and prizes.  Robert's research has been published in top peer-reviewed finance journals. Robert's book Principles of Financial Engineering (co-authored with Salih Neftci) was published in 2014.
Robert holds a BA (First Class Honours) and MA in Economics from Trinity College, Cambridge University, and a MSc in Economics and PhD from the LSE.

Tom is a partner and Head of Sales at Florian Leonhard Fine Violins, where he works closely with professional musicians to help them find instruments perfectly suited to their individual needs. With over 20 years’ experience, he collaborates with master restorers and makers to deliver a highly bespoke service to every client.

Before joining Florian Leonhard, Tom trained as a violinist, studying violin performance in Taiwan before moving to London in the early 1990s. He went on to study at the Purcell School and the Royal Academy of Music. This musical background gives him a deep understanding of the demands placed on elite performers and the importance of precision, craft and long-term partnership.

Eddie Cheng, CFA is VP of Investments at Landytech, where he leads the firm’s investment-related product and business development initiatives.

Before joining Landytech, Eddie was Head of International Portfolio Management at Allspring Global Investments and its predecessor firm, Wells Fargo Asset Management (WFAM), managing outcome-oriented multi-asset investment solutions. He previously worked at Schroders as a Senior Portfolio Manager specialising in asset allocation and manager selection, and earlier in his career served as a Research Analyst at the Institute of Information Science, Academia Sinica.

Alongside his industry experience, Eddie has been a regular guest lecturer at institutions including Warwick Business School and Imperial College London, and is a contributor to academic publications. He began his investment career in 2007 and holds degrees from National Taiwan University and the University of Oxford.