InvestOps Europe 2025

20 - 22 October 2025

CNIT Forest, Paris

Bill Gourlay

Bill Gourlay

Managing Director Independent Consultants Network
Bill Gourlay
Bill provides management consulting services across the financial services and technology sectors, primarily focused on commercial, product and marketing transformation. He is also a Non-Executive Director for the Childrens Investment Fund Foundation. He has over 30 years of financial industry experience spanning the asset owner, asset manager, service provider and FinTech spaces. Former leadership roles include Group Chief Commercial Officer at Carne Group, Partner at Aon, CEO of Idea Group and a variety of other senior positions at LGIM, SWIFT, RBC, State Street and Deutsche Bank.

Main Day 1 | 21st October

4:10 PM 360 Perspective Panel: Building Talent Pipelines & Programs: How can you create a talent strategy that ensures retention and team upskilling, whilst attracting new skillsets into the operations function?

  • How can firms adapt their hiring strategies to attract top talent in emerging areas like AI, automation, and data science? 
  • What are the most effective strategies for upskilling existing teams to ensure they remain competitive in an evolving operations landscape? 
  • How can firms balance the need for specialized expertise with the demand for cross-functional operational skill sets?

Main Day 2 | 22nd October

10:25 AM Keynote Interview: Unlocking the Future: How Asset Managers Can Unlock Real Operational Value with Generative AI by Starting Small and Scaling Smart

  • What are the most promising generative AI use cases emerging in investment operations, and how do you prioritize where to begin? 
  • How can firms balance experimentation with governance to safely scale generative AI across operational workflows? 
  • What lessons has Allianz Global Investors learned from early pilots, and what are the key enablers of long-term transformation?

11:30 AM Keynote Interview: From Strategy to Execution: How Technology and Operations are powering growth across the industry – a conversation between BNP Paribas and Aberdeen Investments

A key note conversation with Bruno d’Illiers and Alain Courbebaisse on how technology, operations and the speed of change are redefining growth and the client experience across the financial ecosystem.

1. How is the role of operations and technology evolving in response to market structure changes, regulatory complexity, and client expectations?

2. How do you manage the tension between global process standardization with the demands of local market nuances across regions like EMEA, APAC, and the Americas

3. Digital transformation is as much about people as technology — how do you drive cultural change within large organizations?”

4. If we were to meet here again in three years’ time, what would success look like for your organization — and for the wider industry in operations and technology?

Check out the incredible speaker line-up to see who will be joining Bill.

Download The Latest Agenda