Dr. Zahan’s Acceptance Speech at P&I’s Influential Women in Institutional Investing Gala
September 14th, 2023

Thank you very much P&I. Many thanks to the Aiperion team who made possible this new scientific framework for managing institutional portfolios, which I hope will bring a lot of social value in general and will improve our industry.

The little clip we saw today, with the kids, made me ditch everything I prepared to say. So let's see how this goes. […]

I have a strong sense, especially after watching that little clip, that the key to my carrier as a scientist, entrepreneur, and CIO has been the fact that I never perceived another person as being different from what I am. The point that I want to make here is that it is possible to stay - or return - to the state of those kids, of any kids, for whom the words diversity and inclusion are meaningless because they do not know the opposite. It all boils down to personal choice, and we are not exempt from that personal choice, and that decision is about how we choose to perceive the other. That decision will determine what lesson our life teaches.

In fact, I think we will succeed for sure because, as we saw today, that state is our natural state. All that we have to do is go back to where we were.