Keynote Speakers

Nikki is an independent director for TSX-listed Pretium Resources Inc. and Dalradian Resources Inc. and ASX-listed Beadell Resources Ltd. Prior to 2016, Nikki was the Director of Mining Research at Sun Valley Gold LLC, a US-based, SEC-registered investment advisor focused on the precious metals sector. Previously, she was a Vice President/Managing Director at Haywood Securities Inc., where she focused on building the company’s M&A and financing business in the mining sector. Earlier in Nikki's career, she was a sell-side analyst at Dundee Securities Corp., a buy-side analyst at Sun Valley Gold and acted as a geological consultant for a range of exploration, development and mining companies. In 2000, Nikki was awarded a PhD in Structural/ Economic Geology from James Cook University in North Queensland, Australia, after receiving a First Class Honours Degree in Geology from the same institution. In these various roles, Nikki has developed diverse capital markets and natural resource sector experience over the past 22 years.

Joseph (Joe) Cavatoni joined the World Gold Council in September 2016 to lead business strategy for the Americas which includes oversight of investor relationships, product solutions, research, and marketing as well as the global ETFs platform. He also serves as Principal Executive Officer for the World Gold Trust Services, LLC; President of WGC USA Asset Management Company, LLC; Board Member and President of WGC (US) Holdings, Inc.; and as a member of the Executive Committee.

During his three-decade career in the financial services industry, Joe has developed and demonstrated expertise in the areas of global capital markets, exchange traded funds, asset management, trading, and business/platform development. He also spent more than 15 years working in Asia. Prior to joining the World Gold Council, Joe was a managing director at BlackRock where he was responsible for iShares Capital Markets (Americas) and was a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. His responsibilities also included product development and management as well as running a global team. Prior to BlackRock, he held senior positions at UBS, Merrill Lynch and Bank of America focused on equity derivatives trading, securities financing and lending.

Joe holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from George Washington University and a Master of Business Administration degree jointly from Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Ronald, born 1980 in Vienna, Austria, is a Chartered Market Technician (CMT) and a Certified Financial Technician (CFTe). During his studies in business administration and finance at the Vienna University of Economics and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he worked for Raiffeisen Zentralbank (RZB) in the field of Fixed Income/Credit Investments. After graduation, he participated in various courses in Austrian Economics.

In 2006, he joined Vienna-based Erste Group Bank, covering International Equities, especially Asia. In 2006, he also began writing reports on gold. His six benchmark reports called 'In GOLD we TRUST' drew international coverage on CNBC, Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times. He was awarded 2nd most accurate gold analyst by Bloomberg in 2011. In 2009, he began writing reports on crude oil. Ronald managed 2 gold-mining baskets as well as 1 silver-mining basket for Erste Group, which outperformed their benchmarks from their inception. In 2014 he published a book on Austrian Investing ("Österreichische Schule für Anleger – Investieren zwischen Inflation in Deflation")

Wasif Latif is the Co-Founder, President, and Chief Investment Officer of Sarmaya Partners, an asset management company focused on a unique style of thematic investing. His career spans over 25 years in the investment industry and includes managing equity, global multi-asset, and multi-manager portfolios across mutual funds, ETFs, wealth management, and institutional portfolios. Before founding Sarmaya Partners, Wasif was Managing Director of Portfolio Strategy at Truist, Head of Investment Solutions at Victory Capital, managing over $50 billion in various funds, and at USAA Asset Management he was Head of Global Multi-Assets, where he managed over $38 billion. Wasif has been a frequent guest on CNBC and Bloomberg TV & Radio, and he has been quoted in industry publications like Reuters, Wall Street Journal, and Fortune. He is well-regarded for his insightful commentary and strategic investment acumen.

─ 35 years of experience in the mining sector, including visits to over 200 mines and projects
─ Named “Best on the Street” for Precious Metals stock picking by the Wall Street Journal in 1995 and 1999
─ Joined Goldman Sachs as a Senior Precious Metals Equity Research Analyst from 1997 until 2002
─ Before that, I worked at Lehman Brothers as a Gold Mining Analyst from 1994 to 1997
─ Joined Barrick Gold Corp. as Assistant Controller in 1987 and left as Operations Controller in 1994
─ From 1982-87, worked at KPMG, Toronto, in Audit, leaving as manager