Manuela Sperandeo, Director, is EMEA Head of Specialist Sales for EII, responsible for the distribution of Smart Beta, ESG and Liquid Alternatives ETFs. Prior to that, she was a member of the iShares Product Innovation team where she was responsible for Fixed Income product research. Manuela joined Blackrock in April 2014 from Barclays, where she spent 6 years working across several roles in the Investment Bank and the Wealth and Investment Management divisions. Most recently she was a Director at Barclays Capital Fund Solutions, an asset management business specializing in absolute return and alternative indexation strategies. Prior to that, she was a member of the Product Development team focusing on investment products for Barclays private and retail clients. Prior to Barclays she worked as an investment analyst at Alpstar, a credit hedge fund and as a Structured Derivatives Sales at Credit Suisse.

Manuela earned an Economics Degree, with distinction, from Bocconi University in Milan and an MBA from Harvard Business School.