Private Equity International CFOs & COOs Forum

Christopher Adams

Senior Vice President - Global Head of Sales for Alternative Funds, Brown Brothers Harriman

Chris Adams is responsible for driving forward the Firm’s commercial strategy and growth in the development of its alternative funds business, covering private equity, private credit, real assets and hedge funds, managing sales teams in Europe, the US and Asia. He is also a director of Brown Brothers Harriman (Luxembourg) S.C.A., a Luxembourg regulated Credit Institution. Prior to joining BBH, Chris worked in a variety of senior roles at BNP Paribas and Citigroup, most recently as Chief Operations Officer at Citi Luxembourg. Chris holds a PhD in financial risk from Manchester University.

Brown Brothers Harriman

BBH is a privately held financial services firm that provides asset servicing solutions to asset managers and financial institutions. We strengthen our clients’ middle-to-back office models, providing specialist expertise, data services, and innovative digital oversight tools – to help them overcome industry and operational challenges to unlock their full potential.

We offer comprehensive administration, FX, custody and related services for all major alternative asset classes and strategies, across real assets and private equity, syndicated and originated debt and hedge and other liquid strategies. We help our clients manage the complexity of their alternative funds business, grow and compete globally, and deliver superior service to their own underlying clients.

Our culture of accountability fosters deep and lasting relationships built on commitment, adaptability, and trust. We are independent, selective, and specialised by design.

BBH operates its global business across Europe, the US and Asia. For more information, please visit www.bbh.com.

Hina Ahmad

Senior Managing Director & Chief Operating Officer, Capital Dynamics

Hina is a Senior Managing Director, Chief Operating Officer and member of the Executive Committee. She is also a member of our Responsible Investment Committee – Truly Invested® in Diversity & Inclusion (“D&I”). Prior to joining us, she was an attorney at Woodside Counsel, specializing in corporate transactions and regulatory matters. Previously, Hina was a senior associate in the Corporate and Financial Institutions Groups at Skadden, Arps. She also served as an executive at various technology and energy start-up companies. Hina is admitted to practice in New York and California. She holds a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School and a Bachelor of Arts from McMaster University.

Capital Dynamics is an independent global asset management firm focusing on private assets, including private equity (primaries, secondaries co-investments), private credit, and clean energy infrastructure. Created in 1988, the Firm has extensive knowledge and experience developing solutions tailored to meet the exacting needs of a diverse and global client base of institutional and private wealth investors. As of Q2 2021, Capital Dynamics oversees more than USD 15 billion in assets under management and advisement1, and employs approximately 160 professionals globally across 14 offices in Europe, the Middle East, North America, and Asia. Capital Dynamics is a recognized industry leader in responsible investing, receiving the highest marks from the UNPRI for its Strategy & Corporate Governance, and investment strategies. For more information, please visit: www.capdyn.com

1As of June 30, 2021. Assets Under Management are calculated based on the total commitments as of the final closing date for all funds currently managed by Capital Dynamics, including amounts that have been distributed. Assets Under Advisement includes assets for which Capital Dynamics provides services such as reporting, monitoring and risk management.

Ainun Ayub

Senior Vice President – Europe and Asia Product Head for Alternative Fund Servicing, Brown Brothers Harriman

Ainun Ayub is Brown Brothers Harriman’s (BBH) Alternative Fund Servicing Product Head for Europe and Asia. Her main focus is product strategy and design, working closely with clients on new and complex fund structures, products and platforms across the spectrum of private and public alternative asset classes. She has particular expertise in multi-jurisdictional operating models for illiquid fund strategies like private equity, private debt, real estate and infrastructure, as well as multi-strategy funds that require holistic and efficient solutions for structures holding a combination of liquid and illiquid instruments.

Prior to joining the Firm in 2016, Ms. Ayub held various roles in financial services, ranging from product strategy to head of operations for a variety of complex private fund structures and asset classes, launching fund of hedge fund products in London and investment banking in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

BBH

BBH is a privately held financial services firm that provides asset servicing solutions to asset managers and financial institutions. We strengthen our clients’ middle-to-back office models, providing specialist expertise, data services, and innovative digital oversight tools – to help them overcome industry and operational challenges to unlock their full potential.

We offer comprehensive administration, FX, custody and related services for all major alternative asset classes and strategies, across real assets and private equity, syndicated and originated debt and hedge and other liquid strategies. We help our clients manage the complexity of their alternative funds business, grow and compete globally, and deliver superior service to their own underlying clients.

Our culture of accountability fosters deep and lasting relationships built on commitment, adaptability, and trust. We are independent, selective, and specialised by design.

Robin Bailey

Partner and Chief Operating Officer, Pantheon

Robin Bailey, Partner and Chief Operating Officer with 12 years of private equity experience, is responsible for finance, tax and accounting globally. Before joining Pantheon, Robin worked in the Investment team of Ipex Capital, an early stage venture capital company based in London. Prior to this, he worked for Deloitte in its London Corporate Finance Advisory practice. Robin qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen and has a BSc in Economics from Warwick University

Pantheon

Pantheon manages $47 billion of private equity, infrastructure, real assets and debt programs on behalf of ~600 investors, including public and private pension plans, insurance companies, endowments and foundations. Founded in 1982, Pantheon offers primary, co-investment and secondary private asset solutions across all stages and geographies. With a track record stretching back to 1982 when Pantheon made its first European investment, the Firm established dedicated investment practices for Infrastructure and Real Assets in 2009 and 2015 respectively, and private debt in 2018.

In recent years Pantheon has invested significantly in its operational backbone appointing senior personnel to lead Operations, Technology, Risk, Data, Change, Finance and HR. The Firm now has approximately 120 professionals across these functions globally, a meaningful representation of its over 320 global workforce. Pantheon is majority-owned by Affiliated Managers Group Inc. (“AMG”), alongside senior members of the Pantheon team.

Daniel Bartsch

Co-founder and COO, creditshelf

Daniel Bartsch is a co-founder and COO of creditshelf. creditshelf is a leading direct lending
platform in Germany, supporting small- and medium-sized companies to obtain fast and easy credit. Our lending operations are backed by technology, proprietary credit analysis and a seasoned team of corporate finance experts. Based on our digital platform we strive for scalable growth by targeting the most underserved SME borrowers at competitive terms. Unmatched speed, data-driven processes and a highly diversified loan book give us a clear edge in the private debt space. Access to our loan book is available exclusively to institutional investors through subscription to a closed-end fund vehicle as well as through direct funding of individual loans on the platform. creditshelf went public in 2018 and its shares are listed in the prime standard of Frankfurt Stock Exchange (ISIN: DE000A2LQUA5).

Daniel has 15 years of experience in consulting and banking on an international level. Before joining creditshelf he was with a leading global investment bank heading institutional sales teams across fixed income and equities products while being based in Zurich initially and Singapore later. Before joining the banking industry Daniel worked as a management consultant specialized in financial services. He holds a Ph.D. in capital markets (University of Düsseldorf) as well as a Diplom-Kaufmann from University of Mannheim.

creditshelf

creditshelf is the financing partner for medium-sized entrepreneurs who want to drive innovation and develop their business. The digital creditshelf platform gives them the freedom to obtain financing quickly and easily, independent of banks. At the heart of the platform is a unique, data-supported risk analysis. At the same time, creditshelf's platform technology enables modern access to the capital market. Professional investors can invest directly in German medium-sized businesses and cooperation partners support their clients as innovative providers of new credit solutions. This creates a network from which everyone benefits.

creditshelf was founded in 2014 and has been listed in the Prime Standard Segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since 2018. The experts in the creditshelf team have many years of experience in SME financing and are trusted partners and visionaries for tomorrow's entrepreneurship. Further information is available at https://creditshelf.com/de/.

Katja Baur

Partner and CFO, Montana Capital Partners

Katja is Chief Financial Officer at Swiss based secondaries firm Montana Capital Partners. She has been working in private equity since 2010, when she was appointed CFO of Alpha Associates, a private equity, private debt and infrastructure manager investing globally. In this role, she also acted as CFO of Private Equity Holding, a listed investment company. Before joining Montana Capital Partners in 2018, Katja has been Director of Finance and Operations at direct secondaries specialist Evoco. She started her career in the audit financial services division of KPMG, is a Swiss Certified Public Accountant and holds a M.A. in business administration from the University of Zurich.

Montana Capital Partners

Montana Capital Partners is a Swiss-based private equity investment firm focused on attractive niches of the secondaries market globally. The firm has raised four funds so far, each closed at the hard cap, and currently has EUR 2.7 billion in assets under management.

Montana Capital Partners provides a wide range of liquidity solutions from straight sales to more innovative structures such as non-traditional secondaries (co-investments and fund-of-funds) and structured transactions. The firm also partners with leading GPs to create tailored solutions that address their needs and allow them to provide liquidity to their investors. These GP-led solutions include tender offers, continuation funds (either entire funds or single/multiple assets), spin-outs, and stapled transactions.

In addition to its secondaries activities, Montana Capital Partners offers high-quality advisory services for investment and risk management.

Jose Benedicto

Partner, Direct Lending

José Benedicto is a Founder of Shard Credit Partners, established in 2013 to provide alternative sources of financing in the UK lower mid-market companies. Prior to establish Shard Credit Partners, he was a private equity professional at Investindustrial, a pan-European private equity firm providing industrial expertise, operational focus and global platforms to accelerate value creation and international expansion. José started his career in leveraged finance with leading institutions including Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital and CIBC World Markets, working on some of Europe’s largest ever leveraged buyouts by some of the world’s leading private equity firms. He has worked in London, Switzerland, Spain and the Middle East.

Shard Credit Partners

Shard Credit Partners Ltd is a new alternative finance provider. We aim to bring innovative loan structuring technology and expertise from the upper mid and large-cap financing markets and deliver it to SMEs operating in the UK lower mid-market. We work on a direct origination approach, primarily acting as sole lender. This enables us to craft a bespoke, tailored financing solution to suit each client's needs. We employ a fundamental, bottom-up approach to credit analysis, which ensures that our due diligence process is targeted and efficient. Our business is 100% owned by its senior management, who together have over 100 years of experience in the sourcing, execution, distribution and management of loans with an aggregate total value of more than £70 billion.

Vijay Bharadia

CFO & COO, ICG

Vijay Bharadia is the Chief Financial and Operating Officer of Intermediate Capital Group PLC (ICG).

Prior to joining ICG, Vijay was International CFO for Blackstone with responsibility for financial, tax and regulatory reporting across Europe and Asia, as well as holding a broader oversight responsibility for governance and risk management. He also provided Portfolio Operations support to the European Private Equity business of Blackstone. Prior to that, he worked at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in a variety of finance roles, latterly as Co-CFO for EMEA Equities.

Vijay has extensive experience as a CFO in the alternative asset management sector and, in particular, of helping drive international growth. He also holds a BSc (Eng) in Computer Science from Imperial College London and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).

Graham Bippart

Editor, Private Funds CFO, Private Equity International

Graham Bippart is editor of Private Funds CFO, an online and monthly print intelligence source focusing on best practices for private funds finance and accounting professionals. Graham has covered a broad range of financial markets in the US and Europe, including primary and secondary debt and equity markets, securitization, derivatives, and monetary and financial policy and regulation. Before Private Funds CFO, he was at GlobalCapital and Euromoney magazine.

Katey Bogue

Head of Private Markets, eVestment

Katey currently heads the Private Markets business for eVestment, a global leader in institutional investor data and analytics, where she is responsible for the market intelligence, analytics and due diligence solutions for private markets investors and managers. Prior to this, she served as the Head of Alternatives for Nasdaq Private Market, providing secondary liquidity capabilities for private fund interests. Prior to joining Nasdaq, Katey was a Principal at The Carlyle Group, where she spent twelve years in several positions across Investor Services, Fund Management and Finance, mostly focused on streamlining middle office operations and reporting through technology and enhanced data management capabilities.

Prior to joining Carlyle, Katey worked at KPMG LLP. Katey received her BS from Pepperdine University.

eVestment Private Markets is a market intelligence and performance analytics solution delivered by eVestment, a Nasdaq company. By redefining the way private markets participants engage in fundraising, due diligence and investor relations, eVestment Private Markets aims to bring greater transparency and efficiency to the private markets.

Find out how our Performance Data Analytics and Management platform can help you harness, protect and leverage your performance data to achieve operational excellence at the PEI CFOs & COOs Forum.”

Nick Brown

Finance Director, M&G Real Estate

Nick is a Chartered Accountant and joined M&G Real Estate in 2014 as CFO with responsibility for business and fund finance. Nick has sat on the investment, risk, operating and audit committees and his wide remit has included redesigning performance reporting, refreshing team culture, updating valuation policy in response to Brexit and leading on digitisation of the business. His current focus is launching innovative new products.
Prior to joining M&G, Nick spent the earlier part of his career in professional practice with EY and KPMG in the UK and Hong Kong. His focus was on the real estate and construction sectors where he advised on projects ranging from international IPOs to major construction joint ventures. He also advised clients on sustainability issues as Head of Non-Financial Reporting at KPMG.
Nick chairs the INREV/AREF working group on pricing of open-end institutional funds and is a member of the British Property Federation’s finance committee and INREV’s ESG committee.

M&G Real Estate is the property investment arm of M&G and is one of the world’s largest property investors with more than £30bn of assets under management across all the major sectors in the UK, Europe and Asia. Drawing on over 150 years of investment experience, M&G Real Estate actively manages its properties to maximise returns and generate a strong income stream for investors.

Joshua Cherry-Seto

Partner and Chief Financial Officer, StartUp Health

Joshua Cherry-Seto joined StartUp Health in 2022, responsible for all financial and operating functions. Before StartUp Health, Josh served as Managing Director, CFO & CCO at Blue Wolf Capital Partners for nine years, supporting the firm's growth from about $100M of invested capital in 2013 to $3B of AUMs in 2022. Josh served on Blue Wolf’s ESG committee and was responsible for fund and management company reporting to the Limited Partners as well as the SEC and other regulatory agencies; coordination with and support of Blue Wolf’s portfolio companies' CFOs; and the investment and tax structuring of potential platform, add-on, and co-investment opportunities.

Previously, Josh worked for five years as a portfolio and finance manager at Grove International Partners, a global opportunistic private equity real estate fund manager. From 2001 to 2008, Josh held various positions within Citigroup, acting principally as a Vice President with responsibilities including financial planning and analysis, tax structuring, SEC registration, and systems implementation within various units. Josh began his career holding several roles within the organized labor movement.

Josh received a BS from the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, a post-graduate certification in Executive IT Management from Columbia University, and a MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business.

StartUp Health is on a mission to achieve health moonshots and improve global health and wellbeing. We are investing in a global army of Health Transformers, over the next several decades, so that together we can speed up innovation, increase the probability of success and help billions of people live healthier, happier lives. There are five key components to the StartUp Health platform:

• We invest early and support Health Transformers through every stage of growth.
• We unite these entrepreneurs, and their companies, into one connected community focused on achieving health moonshots.
• We leverage the power of our global modern media network and brand to broadcast stories about the progress being made in achieving health moonshots.
• We build global partner networks to support these health moonshots and the entrepreneurs solving them.
• We grow health moonshot funds to invest in a generation of Health Transformers around the world.

Since 2011, we have invested in more than 400 innovative health companies. Through a family of Health Moonshot Funds, our plan is to invest and support thousands of entrepreneurs who are working to improve the health and wellbeing of everyone in the world. StartUp Health has a unique model for investing designed to support entrepreneurs at any stage of growth (from a fast-scaling company that just raised a Series A round to two doctorpreneurs who are just getting started or undergoing tech transfer). We invest in Health Transformers from around the world (our portfolio spans 27 countries and six continents) and across any of our Health Moonshots. Entrepreneurs join our global army of Health Transformers and receive a powerful combination of community-driven entrepreneurial coaching and a dedicated media platform designed to increase an entrepreneurs probability of success (the survival rate of a StartUp Health company is currently 80%, including companies that have been acquired). Our platform is designed to foster collaboration so that together we can learn from each other, share networks and solve seemingly impossible health challenges more quickly.

Fiona Cooper

European Tax Director, Starwood Capital Europe Advisors

Fiona Cooper is the European Tax Director for Starwood Capital Group, a private investment firm with a core focus on global real estate. Starwood Capital Group has raised approximately $45 billion of equity capital since its inception in 1991, and currently manages more than $60 billion in assets. Fiona is responsible for transaction structuring for all European acquisitions.
Prior to joining Starwood, Fiona was the global Director of Tax for Apax Partners, one of the world’s leading private equity investment firms operating across the Americas, Europe and Asia. Fiona was responsible for all the tax affairs of the Apax group globally with a particular focus on deal and fund structuring. Prior to joining Apax Partners, Fiona worked at Deloitte in the M&A and corporate tax departments.
Fiona holds a BA Hons in Business Studies from the University of Westminster and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Starwood Capital

Founded in 1991 by Chairman and CEO Barry Sternlicht, Starwood Capital (“Starwood”) is a leading global private investment firm with a principal focus on the real estate sector. Since inception, Starwood has raised US$45 billion of equity capital; currently has in excess of US$60 billion of assets under management and has acquired US$97 billion of assets across all major asset classes. Starwood today is a global diversified investment management company encompassing 4000 employees operating from offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

Neil Cooper

CFO, Abingworth

Neil has more than 13 years of private equity & venture capital experience. He joined Abingworth as CFO and UK Compliance Officer in November 2019. Neil was previously Finance Director of Kennet Partners, an international private equity firm between 2012 and 2019, UK Financial Controller of Robert W Baird Group from 2011-2012 and Financial Controller of Advent Venture Partners from 2006-2011. He trained and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG and holds a degree in Biochemistry from the University of Warwick.

Abingworth

Founded in 1973 Abingworth is a leading transatlantic venture capital firm dedicated to the life sciences and healthcare sectors and has a lengthy track record of building market leading companies. Abingworth has funds under management of approximately $1 billion and deep networks across the US and European life sciences industry, with offices in London, Menlo Park and Boston. The firm invests across all stages of company development including early and late-stage venture, structured finance (“Clinical co-development” or “CCD”) and public companies (“Venture Investing in Public Equities” or “VIPES”).

Nicholas d'Adhemar

CEO, Apperio

Nicholas is the founder and CEO of Apperio. Nicholas spent six years working as a lawyer for CMS Cameron McKenna and Sterling Energy PLC, and three years client -side in private equity where he experienced first hand the unnecessary conflict, confusion and cost that often accompanied deals. He knew this experience is all too common but didn't think it had to be this way. So he started Apperio, a legal spend and analytics platform that provides complete clarity on legal spend in real time.

Apperio

The Apperio legal spend management platform is specifically designed for in-house legal and finance teams. With ever-increasing scrutiny over how investors’ funds are deployed, Apperio helps PE firms to track the ongoing costs associated with fundraising, oversee the investment matters currently in progress with external firms, improve the predictability and efficiency of legal spend, and safeguard regulatory compliance.

Steve Darrington

CFO, Phoenix Equity Partners

Steve has been a Partner at Phoenix since 2001, Steve is Chief Financial & Risk Officer and sits on Phoenix’s Board & Management Committee. Steve is also a director of the Phoenix Boards in Guernsey. Before Phoenix, Steve held senior finance positions in the US and UK, including four years as CFO at Netnumber (previously Unifi Communications) in Boston and five years as Controller at The Economist.

Steve is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and has degrees from Leicester Business School and Manchester Business School (MBA). Steve recently completed a Certificate in Business Data Analytics at Columbia University.

Richard Day

Partner and Chief Operating Officer, Pygmalion Capital Advisers

Richard Day is Partner and Chief Operating Officer of Pygmalion Capital. Richard has over 15 years of experience in real estate finance, structuring and operational management. Prior to joining Pygmalion, Richard was Chief Financial Officer of two pan-European real estate investment management businesses, Round Hill Capital from 2015 and DRC Capital from its inception in 2012. Richard was previously a Corporate Finance Manager within MGPA's European business. Having started his career at Deloitte, Richard spent six years in real estate tax advisory roles, latterly within the Real Estate M&A group at PwC in London. Richard holds a BSC. (Hons) in Management Sciences from Warwick Business School, qualified as a Chartered Accountant (with Deloitte) and has obtained the Investment Property Forum Diploma.

Pygmalion Capital is an investment firm primarily focused on hotel investing. The Pygmalion team offers a combination of core, opportunistic and special situations/turnaround hotel investing expertise, hospitality asset management experience and extensive direct local market relationships in Europe. The firm deploys significant institutional capital to acquire primarily hotel assets and businesses as well operating platforms with significant expansion potential.

Angus Donaldson

COO, Newstead Capital

Angus is a founder and COO of Newstead Capital. Newstead Capital is a UK based provider of private credit. The Newstead Capital Real Estate Lending fund lends specifically to real estate developers in the UK and Europe. He has 25 years’ experience in financial markets. Formerly Managing Director and head of UK Global equity sales at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein he then went on to found Corin Capital an award nominated UK long short hedge fund then Clareville Capital. As partner and portfolio manager at Clareville the Pegasus fund was the best performing hedge fund in Europe in 2013 and in the top 5 globally, winning awards from Eurohedge and Investors choice. He is a founder of Codec London, the social media marketing analytics provider. He is currently executive chairman of Gh05t. Gh05t is a leading social media marketing and content creation agency which was acquired from Vice media in 2016.

Newstead Capital

Newstead Capital specialises in direct lending investment strategies. Within the larger universe of direct lending they aim to focus on small to medium size property-backed secured direct lending. This sector offers attractive returns with strong collateral, short duration and attractive alignments of interests with origination partners. These opportunities have arisen from regulatory changes and bank retrenchment, and are underpinned by a strong fundamental market for residential property. The principals have a strong background in fixed income and alternative credit markets and a proven track record having succesfully lent over $1bn in the real estate development market.

Marc Dumbell

Chief Financial & Operating Officer, Campbell Lutyens

Marc joined Campbell Lutyens in 2018 and is responsible for finance and operations for the firm globally, leading on a range of areas such as developing AI enabled technology to support fundraising, championing ESG initiatives, implementing flexible benefits and establishing operations in Europe. He has worked in financial services for over 20 years having held senior finance and Transformation roles at HSBC and Barclays and having qualified and progressed to partner level at Deloitte.

Campbell Lutyens

Founded in 1988, Campbell Lutyens is a global and independent private capital advisor, focused on fund placement and secondary advisory services. Its fund placement practice advises and raises capital globally for private equity, infrastructure and private credit managers. Its secondary transaction practice advises institutional and other investors on the sale or restructuring of portfolios of funds or direct investments within the private equity and infrastructure classes. It also advises managers on GP-led liquidity and fund restructuring transactions. The firm has a team of more than 150 operating from offices in London, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, Chicago, Los Angeles and Charlotte.

Niyamat Fazal

CFO, DWS Infrastructure

Niyamat is the CFO of DWS Infrastructure. DWS Group GmbH & Co. KGaA (DWS) is one of the world’s leading asset managers with €662 billion of assets under management as of 31 December 2018. As part of the Alternatives platform, the direct infrastructure business has 37 employees globally and €9.7 billion in assets under management as of 31 December 2018, Prior to joining DWS in August 2018, Niyamat was Head of Private Equity at Langham Hall where she was responsible for a team of 15 professionals providing fund administration and accounting services to fund managers across all alternative asset classes including infrastructure, private equity, private debt and venture capital. Her previous experience also includes providing valuation services as Manager in PwC Transactions Services in London, having initially worked in Audit at PwC and KPMG. Niyamat is a qualified chartered accountant and holds a BCom degree from the University of Mumbai.

Apwinder Foster

COO (Head of Product Strategy), DRC Capital

Apwinder Foster has over 20 years of experience in finance, real estate and capital markets. Ms Foster joined DRC Capital as Chief Operating Officer in November 2015. Prior to joining DRC, Ms Foster was the CFO of Kennedy Wilson Europe Real Estate Plc, where she was integral to the growth of the firm. Prior to joining Kennedy Wilson Europe Ms Foster was with Deutsche Bank for 7 years, where she helped set up and manage the special situations platform within the commercial real estate team. Her key areas of expertise include creating tax efficient, off-balance sheet structures for the acquisition of NPL portfolios and direct real estate investments as well as management of regulatory issues. Prior to joining Deutsche Bank, Ms Foster worked at Merrill Lynch for 7 years gaining extensive experience in all areas of real estate finance, securitisation and compliance.

DRC Capital

DRC Capital is an independent investment adviser focusing on the commercial real estate debt sector in Europe. DRC is a recognised market leader in European real estate finance and pioneered the emergence of investment vehicles dedicated to real estate debt investing in Europe. DRC advised funds have consistently and profitably invested capital, having executed more than 100 investments representing in excess of £3.0 billion of invested capital.

DRC was amongst the first movers in the non-bank CRE lending market and, whilst the lasting need for a supply of new capital in Europe has continued to attract new non-bank players, DRC has maintained its position as a leader in the space by providing bespoke solutions to borrowers, where previously standardised credit products were available.

Andrew Haywood

CFO & CCO, Park Square Capital

Andrew is a Partner, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Compliance Officer at Park Square Capital, LLP, and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee and Investment Committee. Prior to joining Park Square in 2015, Andrew spent over 16 years at 3i Group plc in a number of financial, operational and strategy roles. This included establishing 3i’s Infrastructure and Debt Management businesses and latterly 3i’s Group Financial Controller. Andrew holds a degree from Liverpool University and is a qualified accountant.

Charlotte Henderson

Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel, All Seas Capital

Charlotte Henderson is the Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel at All Seas Capital. Charlotte has 16 years’ experience as a debt finance and M&A lawyer, over half of which were in asset management firms. She has worked on several high-profile transactions in the UK, Europe, US and across Emerging Markets, investing across the capital structure. She has established a credit platform in a large private equity firm and an African renewable power fund. She has held CF10/CF11 functions and sits on Fund boards as a director. She is admitted to practise English and New York law, having spent the majority of her private practice career at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. Charlotte holds a MA, BA (hons) in Jurisprudence from Oxford University and speaks fluent Swedish.

All Seas Capital

All Seas Capital is a new London/Luxembourg based pan-European private capital manager focused on providing long-term capital solutions to Western Europe’s leading businesses across different sectors and investment situations. All Seas partners with mid-market businesses, entrepreneurs and sponsors to construct a flexible and tailor-made capital solution to help their business needs.
All Seas Capital sources investments in performing Western European mid-market businesses (EBITDA of €5-50mm). Sector agnostic, with typical investment size is €20-70mm.

Erica Herberg

CFO, Investment Solutions, The Carlyle Group

Erica Herberg is a Managing Director and the Chief Financial Officer of Carlyle's Investment Solutions Group. She is based in Amsterdam. Investment Solutions provides investors will access to the large and complex universe of alternative asset investment strategies in private equity and real estate on a global basis through AlpInvest and Metropolitan Real Estate. From 2011 to 2015, Ms. Herberg was responsible for the Fund Management Operations of Carlyle’s Europe-based private equity funds, based in Luxembourg and London. Prior to this role Ms. Herberg led the Real Assets Partnership Accounting team in the Washington, DC office. Prior to joining Carlyle in 1999, Ms. Herberg was an auditor with KPMG, LLP.

Mattias Hindfelt

CTO, EQT

Mattias Hindfelt joined EQT in 2018 and was CIO/CTO during the very successful IPO 2019. Mattias has been CIO/CTO in multiple industries since 2007 with a focus on driving change and innovation through digitalization. He's worked hands-on with developing not only IoT and drone-based solutions in Real Estate and in the Emergency Health Care sector but also with Geofencing of Autonomous Cars. Mattias was also part of the team that digitalized tax at the Swedish IRS by creating a self-service tax portal for all Swedish citizens.

EQT

EQT is a differentiated global investment organization with more than EUR 62 billion in raised capital and around EUR 40 billion in assets under management across 19 active funds. EQT funds have portfolio companies in Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America with total sales of more than EUR 27 billion and approximately 159,000 employees. EQT works with portfolio companies to achieve sustainable growth, operational excellence and market leadership.

More info: www.eqtgroup.com

Christian Hinze

COO Europe, StepStone

Mr. Hinze is Chief Operating Officer of StepStone Private Debt and Hedge Funds and also serves as COO of StepStone in Europe. He is involved in various operational, investment and risk management activities.

Prior to StepStone, Mr. Hinze was managing director, COO and deputy CEO of BlackRock Switzerland. Before that he was with Swiss Re where he held leading asset management roles and was responsible for private equity and real estate portfolios.

Mr. Hinze received his bachelor’s in economics and business administration from the University of Applied Sciences in Zurich and is a certified public accountant.

StepStone

StepStone is a leading private markets firm that oversees over US$333 billion of private capital allocations, including approximately US$80 billion of assets under management. It is a global firm with 19 offices in: San Francisco, Charlotte, Cleveland, La Jolla, Toronto, New York, San Paulo, Lima, Dublin, London, Luxembourg, Rome, Zurich, Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Perth and Sydney. StepStone creates customized and targeted portfolios for the world’s most sophisticated investors using a highly disciplined research-focused approach that integrates primary, secondary and co-investments. StepStone leverages its unique global platform to optimize exposure to top performing investment managers in all strategies and geographies.

Simon Hirtzel

General Partner and COO, IQ Capital

Simon joined IQ Capital in June 2020. As well as management of operations, Simon participates in the development and execution of strategy, and in communications with investors and providing deal-level support to IQ’s portfolio companies. Simon was previously a general partner and COO at Kreos Capital, the pioneer European growth debt provider which has since grown to over €1bn of assets under management, having invested over €2.5bn in some 600 investments in 16 countries. Before that, Simon was Group Chief Financial Officer at PA Consulting, a $500m global consulting and technology business, where he was responsible for all aspects of the group’s financial management with a strong focus on supporting the successful programme of tech spin-offs. Simon began his career at Arthur Andersen in London and Frankfurt, working with an international client base on cross-border financing and M&A structures. He is an Associate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, and holds an MA in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University, UK.

Dean Horton

Chief Financial Officer, Old Mutual Alternative Investments

Dean joined OMAI as CFO effective April 2022 and is responsible for the oversight of the financial management and financial reporting functions, including business planning. He works closely with the various business units to understand, develop and contribute to profitable growth.
Prior to OMAI, Dean was the COO of African Infrastructure Investment Managers, where he was responsible for the finance, compliance and governance operating environment as well as providing technical support to the investment professionals from deal origination to transaction execution and asset management.
Dean holds a number of directorships on portfolio companies, as well as GP fund and investment holding entities.
Prior to joining AIIM, Dean was employed at Nedbank Capital where he progressed from the roles of project manager on energy and infrastructure projects, to a deal executive in structuring limited recourse infrastructure projects. Dean was intricately involved in the refinancing of a SA toll road company and was subsequently appointed as the CFO in 2009. In this capacity, he was responsible for overseeing the company’s financing requirements, board, shareholder and lender interactions, together with risk, control and compliance areas. Dean was subsequently appointed as CFO of a fibre telecommunications in 2012, where he was responsible for the finance function, together with the raising of funding for the roll out of company’s network expansion.
Dean holds a Batchelor of Accounting degree from the University of Witwatersrand and is a qualified Chartered Accountant in South Africa.

Jason Howard

CFO, Headway Capital Partners

Jason joined Headway Capital in 2018 as Chief Financial Officer. He previously spent over 5 years as Managing Director of EQT Services UK, EQT’s London based AIFM. Prior to this, Jason worked as the COO for Neovara LLP, the spin out of the Lehman Brothers European Mezzanine Fund which he joined in 2004. Jason has also held roles at Deutsche Bank, 3i plc and Nestlé. Jason is a qualified Chartered Accountant (CGMA) and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Surrey. Jason is British.

Headway Capital
Founded in 2004, Headway Capital is an independent investment firm providing a full range of liquidity solutions to investors seeking exits or alternatives for their private equity assets.
Headway Capital purchases limited partnership positions in private equity funds, portfolios of direct private equity investments, and minority stakes in single companies. Headway Capital also leads and participates in tail end transactions, provision of liquidity facilities for private equity portfolios, fund restructurings and GP led transactions. We specialise in small to mid size secondary transactions (< €50 million) and invest globally with a focus on Western Europe and North America.

Eric Huttman

CEO, MillTechFX by Millennium Global

As CEO of MillTechFX, Eric has overall responsibility for the management of the firm, and for implementing the strategic direction of the business set by the Board of Directors.

Before establishing MillTechFX, Eric managed currency portfolios for over 5 years, most recently as a Portfolio Manager at Millennium Global Investments overseeing discretionary active mandates including execution. Prior to joining Millennium Global in 2016, he was an FX Options trader at HSBC in Hong Kong.
Eric holds a BSc in Finance and Economics from Boston College and holds a Certificate in Macroeconomic Accounts and Analysis from the International Monetary Fund, Washington.

MillTechFX by Millennium Global is the execution and hedging affiliate of Millennium Global Investments, one of the largest specialist currency managers established in 1994.
Our independent currency solution helps institutional investors and managers significantly reduce both FX costs and operational burden associated with execution and rolling hedging requirements.
By combining cutting-edge technology and market leading FX services, MillTechFX provides clients direct access to multi-bank execution, transparent wholesale FX pricing, independent currency advisory and outsourced operational management.
For Alternative Investment managers, our holistic service helps to improve the overall risk management function of the GP while providing a significant cost saving for investors.

Anita Huynh

COO, Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets

Anita is the COO for the EMEA region. Her role encompasses the execution and management of an increasingly diverse range of funds offered by MIRA, coupled with the management of significant regulatory changes in the industry.
Anita was previously the EMEA Head of Risk and Sustainability, responsible for all aspects of MIRA’s risk, control and assurance framework. Her role involved coordinating the strategy of each fund in respect of operational risk, including ESG.
Prior to this, Anita performed various FMG Finance roles across MIRA’s listed and unlisted infrastructure funds, having originally joined Macquarie as a graduate in 2009.
Anita has a Bachelor of Accounting from the University of Technology, Sydney and is a member of the Australian Institute of Charted Accountants.

Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets

For twenty-five years, MIRA has partnered with clients, governments and communities to finance, manage, develop and enhance essential real assets. Today, MIRA’s portfolio is relied on by more than 100 million people every day. Our team of over 800 people invests in businesses that underpin economies and communities – aiming to add real and lasting value for our clients and the people our assets serve. MIRA manages $US129 billion in assets, including: 155 portfolio businesses, approximately 600 properties and 4.7 million hectares of farmland. www.mirafunds.com

Stéphane Janin

Head of Global Regulatory Development, AXA Investment Managers

Stéphane heads up AXA IM’s Global Regulatory Development directorate and internal network at worldwide level.
Before joining AXA IM, Stephane was Head of the International Affairs Division at AFG, the French Asset Management Association, responsible for international regulatory strategy and promotion.
Previously, at the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), Stéphane was successively Head of Market Surveillance and Responsible for Strategy and Risks. Still at French level, since 2020 Stéphane has been a member of the Consultative Committee of the AMF as well as a member of the Strategic Committee of the AFG.
At European level, since 2017 Stéphane has been an elected Member of Board of Directors of the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA), as well as the Vice-Chairman of the ICMA Asset Management and Investor Council. Within the European Commission, he was a Seconded National Expert from 2000 to 2004 – in charge of the UCITS Directive, the hedge fund file, the credit rating agency file and the Market Abuse Directive.
At international level, Stéphane is a member of the Stakeholders’ Panel of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).
Stéphane graduated from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (IEP) – “Sciences Po”, in Paris.

Michael Johnson

Group Head of Fund Services, Crestbridge

Michael is the Group Head of Fund Services and is responsible for continuing to grow and evolve Crestbridge’s overall funds proposition.
With more than 17 years’ experience in international financial services, Michael was previously Head of Fund Services in the Channel Islands for a large global administrator and instrumental in developing the firm’s fund strategy.
Prior to this Michael was based in London working for a large Asset Manager, specialising in the oversight of outsourced investment and administration mandates for a closed-life buy-out fund. In his early career, Michael was a manager at PwC, primarily providing assurance services to alternative investment funds.
Michael is the Vice-Chair of the Jersey Funds Association and a Chartered Accountant.

Marie Joyce

COO/CFO, NTR

Marie is COO, CFO and board director of NTR plc, having spent over 18 years with the group in various leadership positions in wind, solar, toll roads, wastewater treatment, recycling and waste management. NTR currently manages two European wind and solar investment funds and is preparing to launch its third clean energy venture. Underpinning its commitment to ESG, NTR is a signatory to the UN Principles for Responsible Investment.

Marie is also a non-executive director on the board of daa plc, a global airports and travel retail group with businesses in 16 countries, as well as a non-executive board director of Staycity Group, one of Europe’s leading aparthotel operators. She also currently serves on the Programme Board of the MSc. in International Accounting and Analytics Degree of NUI Galway as well as the Sustainability Expert Working Group of Chartered Accountants Ireland. She is formerly the Chair of the Board of Make-A-Wish Ireland.

Prior to NTR, Marie was Senior Director of Strategic Planning for Élan Corporation plc and was previously an Audit & Corporate Finance Manager at Arthur Andersen. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from University College Galway and a Master of Accounting from the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School. She is a fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland.

NTR

NTR is a sustainable infrastructure investor and asset manager that acquires, constructs and manages renewable energy projects. Over its lifetime, NTR has developed, constructed and operated over 2,700 MW of wind, solar and energy storage projects in Europe and the USA.

Raxita Kapashi

CFO, Dawn

Raxita is the CFO at Dawn and manages all the finance and operations for Dawn.

Before joining Dawn, Raxita was a CFO of a Fintech group called TruFin plc. Raxita was instrumental in taking the group to IPO on AIM raising £70m of proceeds. Prior to TruFin, Raxita has held senior finance roles at Inflexion Private Equity and before that Oakley Capital Private Equity.

Raxita qualified as a chartered accountant with BDO and has a Civil Engineering degree from Cardiff University.

Dawn

Dawn is Europe’s largest specialist B2B software investor, with assets under management of $550m. The firm partners with innovative companies that, through exceptional teams, products and business models can become category-defining, global titans. Dawn is an early-stage investor, backing companies at series A and B, and continuing to fund the best-performing from growth rounds through to exit. Within B2B software, Dawn focuses on four areas: data & analytics, cybersecurity, fintech and the future of work. Its roster of investments includes Mimecast (now NASDAQ-listed with a $3bn market cap), iZettle (sold to PayPal for $2.2bn cash), Collibra, Showpad, Dataiku, Templafy, Quantexa, Garrison and Tink, amongst others.

Florian Kemmerich

Managing Partner, Bamboo Capital Partners

Florian, Managing Partner at Bamboo Capital Partners, entrepreneur and impact investor, holds a BBA and Master of Science in Marketing and his personal leitmotif is “Impact Lives, Share Profits.” Florian supports the society and world economy by sharing his extensive background on fundraising, business transformations and personal development to invest in and build purposeful companies. These impact-focused enterprises are mitigating some of the world’s biggest chal-lenges: poverty uplift, wealth distribution, economic inclusion, global warming, pandemics and mass migration. Florian collaborates hereto with the WorldBank, United Nations, NGOs, govern-ments, private and institutional investors to fund, back and scale companies in the world’s most remote locations. He is a globally active member of the Young Presidents’ Organization, Chair of the YPO Impact Networks Council, a hobby blues-rock musician and proud husband & father of 5 children. Florian previously held C-level positions at Parter Capital, Olympus, SBi (Stryker) and B| Braun. Fluent in German, English, Spanish, French & Italian.

Bamboo Capital Partners

Bamboo Capital Partners (“Bamboo”) is an impact investing platform which provides innovative financing solutions to catalyse lasting impact. Bamboo bridges the gap be-tween seed and growth stage funding through a full suite of finance options – from debt to equity – which it activates unilaterally or through strategic partnerships. Founded in 2007 by Jean-Philippe de Schrevel, Bamboo aims to improve the lives of the world’s most marginalized communities while delivering strong financial returns. Since its inception, Bamboo has raised over $400m and invested in over 30 develop-ing countries. Its investees have positively impacted over 184 million lives and sup-ported 45,000 jobs, including 15,900 jobs for women. The firm has a team of 30 pro-fessionals active across Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia. For more infor-mation, please visit www.bamboocp.com or follow @bamboocp.

Jamie Lyon

European CFO & COO, LaSalle Investment Management

Jamie joined LaSalle in 2006 as CFO / COO and is responsible for LaSalle's UK and Continental European operations. Responsibilities extend to Accounting & Finance, Tax, Debt, Risk Management, M&A and Human Resources and, consequently, management of European support services and infrastructure across LaSalle Europe’s Fund and Separate Account business.

With 21 years of international real estate experience, Jamie sits on the European Management Board.

Prior to LaSalle, Jamie was the European CFO of ProLogis Europe, from its start-up days in early 1998. During his years in Amsterdam, he was integral in the establishment of the first ProLogis pan-European Properties Fund, actively participating in all real estate transactions (structuring, due diligence, execution, debt sourcing and the closing of over €1 billion in CMBS). He was also responsible for all centralized support services, planning and budgeting.

Prior to ProLogis, Jamie worked internationally for Harman International and Mobil Oil.

Jamie Lyon is a qualified Chartered Accountant, having trained with KPMG.

Ryan McNelley

Managing Director - Alternative Asset Advisory, Duff & Phelps

Ryan McNelley is a managing director in the London office of Duff & Phelps, and leads the Portfolio Valuation service line for the EMEA region. Ryan’s clients primarily include alternative investment fund managers, including private equity and private debt fund managers, hedge fund managers, infrastructure fund managers, real estate debt fund managers, etc., in both Europe and in the U.S. Ryan assists such clients in all matters related to valuation:
-Assisting alternative fund managers in establishing valuation policies and procedures that meet investor and regulator standards of top tier governance and independence
-Providing independent and objective third-party valuations of the underlying assets of such funds in order to validate whether the fund manager’s valuations are fair and reasonable
-Assisting with the valuation of the carried interest of the fund for tax or management incentive purposes
-Performing fairness opinions when assets are transacted between related parties
-Benchmarking the returns of the fund, with the aim of identifying and quantifying the manager’s unique contribution to value creation

Ryan is a regular speaker at conferences across Europe and is part of several industry working groups and trade organisations. Most notably, Ryan was a contributing author to the Alternative Investment Management Association’s (AIMA) Guide to Sound Practices for Hedge Fund Valuation, and is a member of Invest Europe’s Working Group on Accounting Standards, Valuation and Reporting. In addition, Ryan has been regularly quoted in the financial press, including in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Private Equity News, Private Debt Investor, and others. Ryan specializes in the valuation of illiquid (“hard-to-value”, or Level 3) investments, typically under the IFRS 13, ASC§820 or other local GAAP Fair Value standards used by alternative investment managers. Ryan’s experience includes the valuation of the following asset types:
-Senior, subordinated and mezzanine debt; revolving lines of credit, delayed draw facilities, asset backed loans
-Common equity, preferred equity, convertible preferred equity and hybrid instruments
-Non-performing loans and loan portfolios
-Litigation claims
-Fund management companies and limited partner interest

Ryan’s past experience includes seven years in various finance and business management roles at Maxim Integrated Products, a Silicon Valley semiconductor company. Ryan received his B.S. in Business and Economics from Saint Mary’s College of California in 1997, and his M.B.A. with a specialization in Corporate Finance from Cornell University in 2006

Neel Mehta

CFO, DWS Private Equity

Neel Mehta leads the finance and accounting function for DWS Private Equity, working alongside the senior investment team to drive growth and shaping financial best practice. He joined DWS Private Equity in 2018 from Mayfair Equity Partners, where he built and managed the accounting and finance function, including fund structuring and regulatory planning. Prior to this he was the Finance Manager at Keyhaven Capital Partners where he transformed the entire back office operations, systems and processes. Neel has over 12 years of experience in PE and joined the business with a thorough understanding of the PE life cycle, including fundraising and limited partner due diligence. He is a member of the BVCA Regulatory Committee, a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and holds a BA (Honours) in International Accounting and Finance.

Toby Mitchenall

Senior Editor, Private Equity, PEI

Toby Mitchenall is Senior Editor, ESG and Sustainability at PEI. He is the editor of the soon-to-launch New Private Markets, a publication serving sustainable investors in private markets, rom ESG to impact. Toby was previously responsible for PEI’s private equity coverage and is a regular contributor to its various publications. He was formerly a consultant advising private equity firms on marketing and public relations.

Maqbool Mohamed

COO, Clarion Partners Europe

Mr. Mohamed joined Clarion Partners Europe (“CPE”) in May 2020 as COO&CFO. CPE is a pan-European investor and manager of income-producing real estate assets with a focus on logistics and light industrial properties. Prior to this, Mr. Mohamed served as Managing Director & CFO Europe at Castlelake (UK) LLP. Mr. Mohamed has over 20 years of experience in the real estate sector having previously also held senior Finance & Operations roles at Grove International Partners, Citi Property Investors and Cargill Value Investment. He started his career in audit with EY in Brussels and is fluent in English, French, Dutch and German

Ersilia Molnar

Chief Operating Officer - Europe, Muzinich & Co

Ersilia has over twenty years financial industry experience across asset management, insurance underwriting and fintech.
She has a 18+ tenure in Muzinich, a global investment firm, where she has successfully developed her career in marketing, complex cross-border sales relationship management, operational excellence, quality and business management across multiple global jurisdictions, primarily in Europe and Asia.
She is currently Chief Operating Officer and Board Director of Muzinich & Co. Limited, with overall strategic and operational responsibility for the provision of business management support to the firm across Europe.
Ersilia is also non-executive director on a number of Fund Boards in Ireland and Luxembourg
Previously, Ersilia began her career at Lloyds of London, and spent time working for a fintech start-up during the dot.com boom.
Ersilia holds an MSc in International Marketing from LSBU, and a MA in Economics from the University of Bologna, Italy.
Ersilia lives in London with her husband Tom, two young children, and a bouncy dog.

Muzinich and Co.

Muzinich and Co. is a privately-owned, institutionally-focused investment firm providing partnership solutions in public and private credit markets globally. The firm was founded in New York in 1988 and has offices in London, Frankfurt, Madrid, Manchester, Milan, Paris, Singapore, Zurich, Geneva and Dublin. Muzinich offers a broad range of credit strategies across both developed and emerging markets. We have an established growing private debt platform that targets the lower-middle market and recently launched an aviation finance business.

Nick Moore

Founder and Executive Director, Lionpoint

Nick Moore is a Founder and Executive Director at Lionpoint Group, responsible for global business strategy and execution. He has a background in private equity and real estate along with extensive front-to-back office operations and technology expertise.

Lionpoint Group

Lionpoint Group is a leading global consulting firm delivering operations transformation and technology enablement solutions to the alternative investments market. Our consultants have domain expertise across private equity, real estate, infrastructure, private debt and multi-asset strategies. Our core services include strategic advisory, operating model optimization, technology roadmap and solution selection, and systems integration to solve the complex operational and technology challenges across the front, middle, and back office.

With over 90 employees and 6 offices globally, Lionpoint partners with leading managers and investors to design and deliver target operating models and enabling technology ecosystems to future-proof their business. We pride ourselves on having deep, hands-on industry expertise, coupled with implementation partnerships with the leading industry solutions from vendors including Anaplan, DealCloud, Chronograph, FIS Investran, eFront, IHS Markit, Yardi, and Workiva.

Debojit Mukherjee

Chief Operating Officer, Agilitas Private Equity

Debojit Mukherjee is Chief Operating Officer at Agilitas Private Equity, the pan-European, mid-market private equity firm. Agilitas backs high-quality businesses in defensible sectors addressing human or planetary needs and Debojit is a member of the firm’s Responsible Investment Committee.

Debojit has held positions as both Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at private equity firms in London since 2009, holds a BSc in Economics from University College London and is a fellow of the ICAEW. He speaks English and Bengali.

Agilitas Private Equity
Agilitas is a pan-European, mid-market private equity firm. The firm invests in high-quality, defensible businesses with opportunities for significant step changes, creating long term value through business transformation. Agilitas has a patient, sector-focused approach to investing and a strong track-record of dramatically transforming and growing companies. Agilitas is highly selective, targeting businesses that serve human and planetary needs.

Al Naqvi

CEO & Researcher, American Institute of Artificial Intelligence

Prof. Al (Ali) Naqvi is the founder and CEO of American Institute of Artificial Intelligence, a Washington DC based institute that has helped over 5000 executives from 400+ companies to learn how to build their companies around AI. Author of several books and dozens of articles, Prof. Naqvi is one of the most sought after speakers in AI in Finance conferences.

American Institute of Artificial Intelligence

AIAI enables businesses to win with AI. The Institute publishes the AI Transformation Scorecard®, books, reports, and offers analytics product. The institute also offers several AI related courses. With a proprietary maturity model and governance framework, AIAI empowers executives to create success with AI transformation.

Lindsey Ord

Chief Financial & Risk Officer, Climate Fund Managers

Lindsey Ord is the Chief Financial and Risk Officer of Climate Fund Managers (CFM). CFM is a climate investment fund manager with a footprint in emerging markets, namely Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Lindsey has 20+ years of experience in structuring private equity funds and operationalising fund documents. She played an integral role in the establishment of CFM and the Climate Funds which are innovative blended finance investment vehicles.
CFM functions on a solid financial and operational foundation through Lindsey’s sound management oversight of the accounting, fund administration, tax, treasury, investment structuring and risk related functions for CFM and the Funds.
In parallel, Lindsey oversees innovation – finding ways to improve the techniques, tools, methods, products, and processes in CFM.

She was the Head of Operations of African Infrastructure Investment Managers, a then joint venture between Old Mutual and Macquarie, for more than 13 years. As a member of the AIIM executive committee Lindsey was responsible for policy, operations, reporting and corporate services, including financial and working capital management; tax oversight; reporting; governance and compliance.

Lindsey is a Director of CFM.

Climate Fund Managers

Climate Fund Managers (CFM) is a blended finance fund manager contributing to a more sustainable future by investing across thematic sectors relating to climate change mitigation and adaptation within emerging markets. CFM has a long-term vision to structure cutting edge infrastructure financing facilities focused on renewable energy, water & ocean, sustainable land use and sustainable cities. CFM is established as a joint venture between the Dutch development bank FMO and Sanlam InfraWorks – part of the Sanlam Group of South Africa. CFM is the fund manager of Climate Investor One, which invests in renewable energy infrastructure, and Climate Investor Two, which invests in sustainable water, sanitation, and ocean Infrastructure.

Christopher Parmo

COO/CFO, Verdane

Formal role as CEO, responsible for all Verdane internal and portfolio company operations. Working together with Managing Partner / CIO. Experience from executive positions in several tech companies, as entrepreneur and from management consulting. Elected as one of Norway's top10 management talents in finance, 3 consecutive years (2016-2018), and top40 under 40 (2019). Master degrees in both tech and finance.

Verdane

Verdane Capital is the largest growth tech investor in the Nordics, and provide flexible growth capital to fast growing software, consumer internet, energy or high-technology industry businesses. Verdane companies have a total of more than 8 000 employees. Seven funds have brought total committed capital across Verdane funds to almost €2bn. Verdane Capital has more than 60 employees working out of offices in Oslo, Stockholm, Berlin, Copenhagen, Helsinki and London.

Drake Paulson

Director, Nasdaq Private Fund Solutions

Drake Paulson is Managing Director of Nasdaq Private Fund Services, where he leverages his deep subject matter expertise across sales, account management, and strategic planning responsibilities.

Drake joined Nasdaq in 2015 with the acquisition of TopQ Software Ltd, a private equity performance analytics solution, which he co-founded in 2013. TopQ’s unique functionality to create, share, and analyze private equity track records was a direct result of its founders’ experiences in private equity investing and software design and delivery.

Prior to founding TopQ, Drake held positions at Vitech Systems Group, Atlas Venture, JPMorgan, and State Street. Drake holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Connecticut.

Nasdaq Private Fund Solutions is a technology-enabled ecosystem of insights, analytics and fund secondaries solutions, helping GPs navigate operational complexity across fundraising, portfolio analytics and fund liquidity.

Nasdaq’s eVestment platform helps GPs streamline their path to fundraising success by providing unparalleled access to critical insights across the investor and consultant landscape, their peers and competitors, and their own portfolio performance.

The Nasdaq Fund Secondaries platform enhances the end-to-end secondaries process for GPs and their LPs to increase liquidity opportunities through a customizable technology and services platform built to handle secondary transactions in funds of any type.

Learn More: https://www.nasdaq.com/solutions/private-fund-solutions

Paulina Pietkiewicz

Partner, Abris Capital Partners

Paulina is a Director of Operations and CCO at Abris, bringing 18 years of international experience in various sectors of the financial services industry with expertise in the areas of: Mergers & Acquisitions, back-office and middle-office restructuring and management, outsourcing, legal, regulatory & compliance.
She is responsible for transaction execution and all operational, legal and compliance matters of the Group including administration of the Polish, Romanian, Luxembourg and Cypriot operations. Paulina sits on the Boards of Directors of most of Abris holding companies.
Before joining Abris, Paulina was executive director (COO/CCO) working in Poland for Nordea Pension Fund, Credit Suisse and PZU Asset Management. In the beginning of her career, Paulina worked in the Netherlands as a counsel in M&A Legal Department of Achmea Group.

Abris Capital Partners
Abris Capital Partners Ltd. is a leading independent private equity fund manager, focused on mid-market opportunities in the major countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Established in 2007, Abris seeks to identify, and partner with, the most successful and dynamic mid-market businesses in CEE, which can benefit from an input of capital and management expertise at both strategic and operational levels. With investment capital of over €1.2bn, Abris has obtained financial backing from leading global investment institutions including corporate and public pension plans, financial institutions, insurance companies and US university endowment funds. Abris has a long-term investment horizon and targets transactions in which it is able to acquire a majority or sole ownership position. The typical financial commitment by Abris to any single transaction can range from €30m to €75m, with larger commitments available if required. The Abris advisory business operates using regionally based teams in Warsaw and Bucharest.

Nisha Raghavan

Managing Director- Chief Finance Officer, EQT Partners

Nisha Raghavan joined EQT Partners in June 2016 as Chief Financial Officer and is a Managing Director of EQT Real Estate Advisory Team. She has over 17 years of experience within the real estate industry.

Prior to joining EQT Partners, Mrs. Raghavan was a Director at Clearbell Capital LLP, a UK real estate fund manager. At Clearbell she was involved in all aspects of finance and accounting including acquisitions and disposals of investments. Previously, she worked at Pears Global Real Estate Investors, and at Delancey Real Estate Asset Management in similar roles.

EQT is a differentiated global investment organization with a 25-year history of investing in, and developing and owning, companies and has a demonstrated track record of attractive, consistent investment performance across multiple geographies, sectors and strategies.

Martina Sanow

Partner and Deputy COO, Hg

Martina is a Partner and the firm’s Deputy COO, with responsibility for the firm’s operations including HR, Finance, IT, Compliance and ESG. She has a focus on developing the firm’s talent and chairs Hg’s Diversity & Inclusion Steering Group.

She sits on the firm’s Valuation Committee and is also a member of the Client Services team, where she focuses on fundraising and ongoing investor coverage.

Martina joined Hg in 2009 from Citigroup, where she worked on a number of capital markets and private equity transactions as part of the Nordic mergers and acquisitions team.

She is a Swedish national and holds a MSc in accounting and financial management from the Stockholm School of Economics and the University of British Columbia.

Hg

Hg is a leading investor in software and services, focused on backing businesses that change how we all do business.

Deep technology expertise, complemented by vertical application specialisation and dedicated operational support, provides a compelling proposition to management teams looking to scale their businesses.

Hg has funds under management of over $37 billion, with an investment team of over 140 professionals, plus a portfolio team of more than 35 operators, providing practical support to help our businesses to realise their growth ambitions. Based in London, Munich and New York, Hg has a portfolio of over 35 software and technology businesses, worth around $70 billion aggregate enterprise value, with over 55,000 employees globally, growing at over 20% per year.
Visit www.hgcapital.com for more information.

Leo Scanavino

Director – Value Creation, British International Investment

Leo Scanavino is a Director in the Value Creation team at British International Investment based in London. In this role, Leo unlocks value from BII direct equity portfolio through six pillars of value creation: i. board development, ii. strategy, iii. operational improvements, iv. management and organizational structuring, v. digital transformation and vi. exit planning and preparation.

Before BII Leo was the Finance Director and Executive Director at RJD Partners, a UK mid-cap Private Equity Fund backed by the European Investment Fund, as well as working as an Advisor and Board Member of Africa Platform Capital, a start-up investment platform with focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. He previously worked for Actis Capital as a Fund Management Director, and Citi Venture Capital International (CVCI) as Finance and Portfolio Management Director. In his early career he worked for PwC and KPMG in Financial Advisory Services.

BII

BII is the UK’s development finance institution and impact investor with a mission to help solve the biggest global development challenges by investing patient, flexible capital to support private sector growth and innovation.

We invest to create more productive, sustainable and inclusive economies in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean, enabling people in those countries to build better lives for themselves and their communities.

Sarah Shackleton

Administrative Partner, Development Partners International

Sarah has been a partner of DPI since its inception and has over 20 years of finance experience. Sarah is responsible for administration of the partnership and its funds, including Legal; Compliance; HR; IT; Operations; Facilities; ESG.
Sarah is an active board director on Guernsey private equity fund general partners and Luxembourg investment holding companies. She was previously a co-chair of the African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (AVCA) Compliance & Best Practice Committee.
Before joining DPI, Sarah was an Associate Director on the Technology Equity Research Team at UBS in London, specialising in the telecommunications equipment sector and covering large-cap European companies, including Nokia, Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent.
Sarah was an operations risk analyst at UBS prior to this. Before UBS, Sarah worked in various accounting and financial systems analyst roles at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and HSBC Investment Bank.
Sarah holds a BSc (Hons) in Economics and Accounting from the University of Bristol.

Development Partners International LLP (DPI)

Development Partners International LLP (DPI) is a Pan-African private equity firm that invests in companies benefiting from the fast-growing emerging middle class in Africa with $2 bn in AUM. DPI has invested in 23 portfolio companies operating across over 30 countries. As a signatory to the UN PRI, DPI promotes high ESG and Impact standards and seeks to contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. DPI is also one of the first African fund to become a signatory of the Operating Principles for Impact Management. DPI invests in profitable or cash-flow positive companies which are growing either organically or through acquisitions or partnering with established corporations expanding into new regions in Africa.

Simon Shipgood

Regional Director, EWM Global

Simon Shipgood is responsible for sourcing and developing client relationships for EWM Global’s UK and European markets. In this role, he has worked with some of the world’s largest financial institutions including global banks, asset managers, and private capital firms, helping them to implement and manage their executive remuneration and carried interest plans. Previously, he spent 3 years at EWM Global as Account Manager responsible for the entire client life cycle including on boarding, ongoing client management and ensuring all deliverables were met in a timely and accurate manner, according to specifications.

Simon has always been involved in business development and prior to EWM Global, he spent 10 years in financial services recruitment with Morgan McKinley. He and his team sourced positions across asset management and investment banking, predominantly for accounting, operations and compliance roles. He holds a BA in European Business Studies from Brunel University.

EWM Global

Founded in 2001, EWM Global provides digital executive compensation, carried interest and co-investment technology. With all data on one platform, our clients are empowered to access and manage data as required while innovative technologies drive our cloud-enabled services. It is our mission to replace outmoded processes and to alleviate inefficiencies and risks of in-house administration.

With offices in Zurich (Switzerland), London (UK) and Stamford, CT (US), the EWM Global platform serves participants in over 70 countries from the world’s largest banks, private capital funds, investment management firms, and insurance companies.

Adam Smallman

Director – Membership Programs, PEI Media

Adam joined PEI in December 2018 in a new role as Head of Content Strategy. Previously he spent three years with investment bank Liberum and held leading editorial and content roles at Dow Jones and Informa PLC. His responsibility is to ensure PEI’s subscription products reach and engage the group’s professional audiences.

Michaela Strempfl

EMEA COO BlackRock Alternative Investors, BlackRock

Michaela Strempfl EMEA COO for BlackRock Alternative Investors (BAI), based in London. She is responsible for supporting senior leadership in driving BlackRock's alternative platform development and growth initiatives in EMEA. Michaela is further focussed on the implementation of compliance and regulatory change initiatives spanning a range of investment strategies and teams, including Libor transitioning, FCA MAR review and Brexit. She has also played a key role in the alternative product structuring efforts of the firm.

Michaela joined BlackRock in 2013 from MGPA where she was a tax and structuring manager for real estate funds and investments. She started her career in the Financial Services tax team in EY where she advised asset management clients on international tax matters. Michaela is a qualified Chartered Accountant and registered with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS).

Richard Urban

Independent Non-Executive Director, Rivington Pike

Rivington Pike is a specialist Non-Executive Director (NED) services provider founded by Richard Urban in 2014. Richard is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (FRICS), a Chartered Director (CDir) and a Fellow of the Institute of Directors (FIoD). He is also a Professional Member of The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (MIMMM) and a Fellow of The Geological Society of London (FGS).

Toni Vainio

Partner, Pantheon

Toni is a Partner and member of Pantheon’s Global Credit Committee with 13 years of private markets experience. Toni is also a member of Pantheon’s European Investment Committee focusing on the monitoring and analysis of European primary investments. Toni was previously at Cambridge Associates where he worked in the private equity team, advising institutional investors on their private equity investment programs. Toni also conducted research and due diligence on private equity funds, managers, and markets. He has an MPhil in economics from the University of Oxford, and a BEng in engineering with business finance, which was jointly taught at University College London and the London School of Economics and Political Science. Toni is fluent in Finnish, Spanish and English. Toni is based in London.

Luke Venables

CFO/COO, ARA Venn

Luke is a Partner and CFO/COO at ARA Venn. Luke has 25 years of experience in financial, operational, compliance and infrastructure roles, with a particular focus on credit products. Before joining ARA Venn in 2015, Luke was Head of Operations at CQS, Product Control at Cairn Capital, and was an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs leading the structured credit middle office. Luke has a degree in Mathematics from the University of East Anglia.

ARA Venn

ARA Venn (previously Venn Partners LLP) is a specialist investment manager in real assets private debt with combined AUM and investment mandates of over £9 billion. Its current strategies comprise UK Government backed lending programmes into private sector rental and affordable housing, high yield strategies in UK and European commercial real estate debt and residential mortgage finance in the UK and the Netherlands.

Founded in 2009, Venn Partners entered into a partnership with ARA in 2020 to expand its investment management business in the real assets credit markets in Europe. ARA Venn combines Venn’s specialist track record with ARA’s global asset management presence and public markets experience.

David Weeks

Co-Chair, Association of Member Nominated Trustees

David Weeks was elected as Co-Chair of the Association of Member Nominated Trustees (AMNT) in 2016. The AMNT has over 700 members, from around 500 pension schemes. Together, these have assets under management of just under £700 billion: nearly one third of the UK total for occupational pension schemes.

He is a director of a defined benefit pension scheme, with a leading PLC in infrastructure services as the sponsoring employer. “Engaged Investor” included him in their “Top 50 people in pensions 2017”. He is active in the affairs of the World Pensions Council, for whom he has made presentations to, and acted as rapporteur at, international conferences. Journals that have published contributions from him recently include “Revue Analyse Financiere”, “Portfolio Institutional”, “Professional Pensions” and “Pensions Expert”. He has been a judge for major UK pension awards.

In his previous career, David Weeks has experience of both public and private sectors, and of their respective pensions regimes. Most recently, he served as a consultant or executive in UK Government Departments, including Home Office, Health, Trade and Industry, and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Earlier, he worked in private sector business development and marketing, and in international advertising agencies. David Weeks is a graduate in history of the University of Bristol.

Association of Member Nominated Trustees

The Association of Member Nominated Trustees (AMNT) aspires to be a positive force and a prominent voice in the UK pensions industry today. We believe that given the inherently complex nature of UK pensions and the increasing burden being placed on trustees, that far more support should be made available to member nominees.
We are a not-for-profit organisation supporting member-nominated trustees, member-nominated directors and employee representatives of UK based pension schemes in the private and public sector (funded and unfunded).

We launched with the support of Pitmans Trustees Limited, as a result of feedback and comments from member nominees who expressed a desire to be able to liaise with other member nominees, share experiences and build a community designed specifically to cater for their unique perspective within the pensions industry. Following our initial market research an inaugural meeting was held on Friday September 3, 2010, attended by individuals representing a range of schemes including Marks & Spencer, Telent, ICI, Atkins, Aegon, Coats, United Technologies Corporation, Kasbank, Clariant, Heygate and LBBD. Since then the association has won universal support, including in the pension’s media and among the pensions’ trade bodies: momentum continues to build.

Petter Weiderholm

Managing Director and Global Head-IT Strategy, EQT

Petter Weiderholm joined EQT in February 2016 as the CIO and in June 2018 became the Global Head of IT Strategy. Prior to joining EQT, Petter worked as Vice President of Business IT at Spotify for five years and before that at SapientNitro (NASDAQ:SAPE), a global e-commerce consulting company. He also spent several years in different tech startups in Stockholm and Linköping. Petter has more than 15 years of experience managing teams and delivering a wide range of IT projects, with a focus on supporting back office automation and business intelligence. Petter Weiderholm holds a M.Sc degree in Computer Science and Engineering from Linköping's Tekniska Högskola.

EQT

EQT is a differentiated global investment organization with more than EUR 62 billion in raised capital and around EUR 40 billion in assets under management across 19 active funds. EQT funds have portfolio companies in Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America with total sales of more than EUR 27 billion and approximately 159,000 employees. EQT works with portfolio companies to achieve sustainable growth, operational excellence and market leadership.

More info: www.eqtgroup.com

2021 event confirmed for 16-17 November

Deliver strategic growth within private funds

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Market insights from 80+ speakers

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CFO & COO, ICG

Chief Financial & Operating Officer, Campbell Lutyens

CFO, Investment Solutions, The Carlyle Group

COO, Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets

European CFO & COO, LaSalle Investment Management

CFO, DWS Private Equity

Covering Real Estate, Private Debt, Infrastructure and Private Equity

One Forum: Four Asset Classes

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Market insights from 80+ speakers

Global audience for new opportunities

5 months access to the community

Content available on demand

How the virtual experience works

Hear from leading finance and operational professionals

Catch up with old colleagues and make new connections

Explore the sponsor exhibition

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2020 agenda

Agenda

CFOs & COOs Europe Forum 2020 - Day 1 - Monday 12th

Welcome and introduction by chair

Opening Keynote: Staying on Top of the Seismic Shift: A COO/CFO’s Concise Guide to Artificial Intelligence’s Impact on Asset/Fund Management

Al Naqvi

Stretch Break

Growing your business in a time of increased complexity

Christopher Adams

Erica Herberg

Jamie Lyon

Michaela Strempfl

Stretch Break

Digital transformation and the technology revolution

Nick Moore

Marc Dumbell

Mattias Hindfelt

Florian Kemmerich

Morning Networking Break & ‘Meet the Speakers’ Q&As

Finance, Tax & Regulation

Graham Bippart

Katja Baur

Marie Joyce

Lindsey Ord

Toby Mitchenall

Simon Hirtzel

Fiona Cooper

Paulina Pietkiewicz

STREAM B: Operations & Technology

Raxita Kapashi

Martina Sanow

Anita Huynh

Michael Johnson

Drake Paulson

Petter Weiderholm

Florian Kemmerich

Lunch, Networking & Tech Demo Showcase

Preparing for future operational & finance challenges within your private equity business

Nicholas d'Adhemar

Hina Ahmad

Steve Darrington

Christopher Parmo

Afternoon Networking Break

CFOs & COOs views on the private equity investment market

Neil Cooper

Jason Howard

Graham Bippart

Sarah Shackleton

What investors want

David Weeks