Luke Johnson

Having studied medicine at Oxford, Luke subsequently joined investment bank Kleinwort Benson as an analyst. In 1992 he organised the acquisition of PizzaExpress and floated the business on the stock market at 40p.

He was chairman of this business until 1999, at which time the share price was over 800p and the business had a market capitalisation of over £500m.

Luke currently runs Risk Partners, a private equity firm, is Chairman of Channel 4 and the restaurant chain Belgo, and sits on the board of Interquest, Superbrands, Giraffe, GRA, Seafood Holdings, Patisserie Valerie and APT Controls. Previously he was Chairman of Signature Restaurants and a Director of IDH.

Nigel Wray

Often described as ‘Britain’s most successful living investor’ and a ‘serial investor and entrepeneur’, Nigel built up his first business, in property, while still in his twenties. His first job was was with the merchant bank Singer and Friedlander, where some twenty years later he was responsible for launching the same bank onto the stock market, having gone from graduate trainee to major shareholder. It was not, however, an easy transition. His business skills were sharpened in the school of hard knocks, particularly following the banking and property crash in the early 70’s. Learning from his mistakes, and resilient as ever, he set out on the path to where he is today.

Among many business interests, the one for which he was best known was the re-launch of the City journal 'The Fleet Street Letter'. Acquiring it for next to nothing he transformed it from ‘sleepy diplomatic read’ to the first British private investor subscriber newsletter, personally researching, writing, printing, marketing it and turning it into a hugely successful publication. A spin-off was 'The Penny Share Guide'. In both publications, he demonstrated knowledge of the stock market and share analysis that was second to none.

Nigel’s emergence as a major player on the financial scene, and his involvement in developments of many different kinds, such as the Trocadero on London’s Piccadilly, led to him becoming a director of over 50 companies. At Master Investor he will give insights into his investment approach and his latest thoughts on some individual small cap stocks.

Mark Slater  

A true smaller companies expert who has run an active personal portfolio since 1986, Mark obtained a BA in History from Cambridge in 1991 before joining Societe Generale Strauss Turnbull’s convertible bond desk. In 1992, he moved to Analyst PLC, where he edited The Investors Stockmarket Letter, contributed to Analyst, a monthly publication for the serious private investor, and provided institutions with detailed research on UK smaller companies. Also in 1992, he helped research and edit the best-selling investment book “The Zulu Principle” for his father, Jim Slater, which focuses on identifying small to medium-sized growth companies. From October 1992 to March 1994, he worked for the Investors Chronicle, concentrating again on smaller companies.

In 1994, Mark co-founded Slater Investments Limited and during the mid 90s, the company managed the award-winning and top performing Johnson Fry Slater Growth unit trust. Today Slater Investments manages three UK equity unit trusts and portfolios for large pension funds and high net worth individuals, and advises a hedge fund with a concentrated approach.

Slater Investments made positive absolute returns for its clients during the 2000-2003 bear market and has one of the strongest track records among its peers since the firm was founded.

Mark is always one of the most closely followed speakers at Master Investor and here he will share his market view and provide share tips.

Evil Knievil

One of London’s most colourful and long-standing short sellers is Simon Cawkwell, AKA Evil Knievil, and in recent weeks he has been no less active, trousering over £1 million shorting Northern Rock.

Evil is a trained accountant and made his name shorting exposing the holes in Robert Maxwell’s accounts shorting Maxwell Communication Corporation and Polly Peck International. His outrageous diaries appear 3 times per week on www.t1ps.com.

At Master Investor Evil will be identifying brand new shorts - do you hold these stocks?

Jim Mellon

At 118 in the latest Times rich list, Jim is estimated to be worth more than £620m. An investor with interests in several industries, he worked in Asia and the US for two fund management companies before establishing his own business in 1991. This now has two components, listed fund manager Charlemagne Capital and Regent Pacific, an Asian mining group. Burnbrae, his private company, is a substantial landlord in Germany and the Isle of Man. Jim's track record of investment success puts him in good company with our other speakers.

Tom Winnifrith

Tom is quite simply the UK’s best known share tipster. Finding fame in the late 90s on the award-winning Channel 4 TV show ‘Show Me The Money’, Tom started his career in the City before moving to The Investors Chronicle. He edited Red Hot Penny Shares as well as being a contributing editor to Shares Magazine. He has been editing t1ps.com since its launch six years ago and his average gain per tip is 68%.

David Linton

David is the founder of Updata, a market leader in the provision of software technology for professional and private investors worldwide.

An expert Technical Analyst who has reviewed over a million charts in his career, David is also a member of the Parliamentary Information Technology Committee, and appears regularly on television, including Reuters and Bloomberg TV.

A terrific speaker, David will be giving his latest view on the markets, and on individual stocks, at Master Investor 2008. Don’t miss out.  

Bill Adlard

A noted Elliott Wave expert, Bill trades the US and UK main indices and UK equities through futures, CFDs and spread bets. Until July 2004 he wrote Chart Insight for Hemscott. He has been a full time trader since 2000. He has given lectures for the Updata courses, for the Mail on Sunday and for the Society of Technical Analysts, and written for Traders magazine. In July 2004 he gave a presentation to the Society on the DJIA which was described by one member as 'world class'. Bill practised as a barrister before turning full time to trading. He has been an investor since 1970.

John Piper

The author of famed trading bible, ‘The Way To Trade’, John Piper has been trading markets since the mid 80s, mainly writing options but also trading futures. The highlights have been trading right through the '87 Crash, turnover exceeding £2m pa of option premiums on his personal account, managing in excess of $1m, winning a TV trading contest, and generally spending far too much time glued to screens! Whilst abusing himself in this way he also decided to help other traders and started The Technical Trader back in 1989. This filled an immediate void and the business has helped many traders over the years and is now on the web. Over the years John has developed a number of trading techniques but summarises his approach as Psycho-Trading - meaning getting into the mind of the market. John spends his time in the Surrey Hills but makes frequent trips to warmer climes with the Hash House Harriers - a club for those who like a drink but who have a running problem! John Piper has been involved with markets since his early twenties. In the late 1980s he started to trade options full time and did so right through the Crash of 1987 - an experience that stands him in good stead for the markets today. For over a decade he has been the editor of The Technical Trader, the leading newsletter in the UK for those who trade in futures and options markets worldwide.

Zak Mir

Zak Mir is perhaps the UK’s best known chartist. An LSE drop-out, in 2000 Zak started writing for thestreet.co.uk and UK-iNvest. He resigned as technical editor of Shares Magazine to start his own website and appears regularly on Bloomberg TV and CNBC as well as masterminding his own Technical Analysis site Zaks-TA.com, combining this more recently with a role as Chief Market Strategist for CFD brokerage Blue Index.

And that’s not all: Master Investor 2008 is also a unique opportunity to quiz the CEOs of over 90 exciting growth companies face to face!