Swetha Gopinath is Bloomberg's EMEA PE reporter and part of the news organization's top-tier M&A team. She has been a financial journalist for a decade, having covered everything from commodities to capital markets and spends her time these days chasing Europe's largest deals.

Melissa is the Head of Talent at Hg, a leading investor in European and transatlantic software and services businesses.  She oversees Talent Acquisition, Learning, Talent Development, Engagement and Culture.  She focuses on creating the conditions that unlock potential and drive individual, team and organisational performance. 

A Financial Services native, Melissa has over 20 years’ experience in senior leadership development, learning, and talent roles at Goldman Sachs, Barclays Capital and HSBC in London and New York. 

Melissa holds a MSc in Applied Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology, and a BA in the History of Art from the Courtauld Institute of Art. She is also an ICF-accredited Executive Coach. Melissa lives in London with her young family and can often be found swimming in the Hampstead Heath ponds.

Riccardo is a member of the Portfolio Group. He has worked on a number of transactions including Adevinta, Allegro, Axiom, Engel&Volkers, Magento, Althea, Gruppo Florence, Synamedia and Tricor.

Prior to joining Permira, Riccardo was a Director at AlixPartners in London for five years, where he delivered a number of operational turnaround programmes mostly in retail, consumer goods, transport & logistics and industrial products. Before that, he worked for PwC in London for five years where he focused on delivering supply chain transformation programmes. Riccardo had previously held line management roles in industry.

Qualifications

Riccardo holds a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Bologna, Italy, and is a Chartered Engineer.

Séverine joined PAI in 2019 as a member of the Portfolio Performance Group, with a specific focus on talent, leadership and culture.

She has extensive experience in executive search and leadership consulting, helping leaders make the right decisions about the recruitment, assessment and development of talent, the constitution of efficient management teams and corporate governance.

She spent the early part of her career in M&A and corporate finance at Goldman Sachs and as an investment professional at Vestar Capital Partners and Candover.

She is a graduate of Solvay Business School and holds an MBA from INSEAD. She is also a certified executive coach.

Jack is the Chief Executive of InfraRed and focuses on the development of InfraRed’s strategy to drive the evolution and growth of the business by building and strengthening relationships with business partners and investors.

Jack is also responsible for InfraRed’s business in the Americas, managing and growing the existing platform, and oversees InfraRed’s North American renewables strategy.  

Before joining InfraRed, Jack was Co-Head of Citi’s Global Power & Renewables investment banking business. While at Citi, Jack advised on over $100 billion of transactions including, mergers & acquisitions, business unit divestitures, spin-offs, IPOs, project financings and other structured transactions. Before that, Jack worked at Lehman Brothers in their Power & Utilities Group. 

Michele co-founded Bridges alongside Philip Newborough and Sir Ronald Cohen in 2002 and was Co-CEO alongside Philip Newborough from 2019-2024. Michele became CEO in summer 2024 and oversees all Bridges’ investment activity across our platform of funds, as well as strategy, operations, people and all other aspects of the business.

Michele has played a leading role in the growth of the sustainable and impact investing sectors in the UK and worldwide. She was an adviser to the UK Treasury’s Social Investment Task Force in 2000 and chaired the Community Development Finance Association from 2003-2005. She chaired the UK National Advisory Board on Impact Investing (part of the Global Social Impact Investment Steering Group) from 2016-18, chaired a Global Working Group on Policy for the G7 Impact Investment Taskforce, and sat on the BVCA Council. She served as a Non-Executive Director on the board of CDC (now BII), the UK Government’s Development Finance Institution, from 2014-2022.

Hugh co-founded Equitix in 2007 and serves as the Group’s Chief Executive Officer and Chair of the Investment Committee.

With over 25 years’ industry experience, he is responsible for much of Equitix’s growth and its strategic direction. He has Board responsibility for the business development team and has spearheaded the establishment of Equitix’s funds.

He is actively involved in the majority of Equitix larger acquisitions including successful acquisitions of John Laing, JLIF, Sheringham Shoal, Electricity North West and High Speed 1 (HS1).

Prior to joining Equitix, Hugh was Commercial Manager at John Laing where he sourced and delivered investments in social infrastructure, including Bart’s and the Royal London Hospital. Prior to John Laing, he worked for Bechtel Enterprises both in London and the United States, working in the power, airport development and civil sectors.

Hugh graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Environmental and Ecological Engineering from the University of Newcastle. He is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

With over 25 years' experience in responsible investment, Shami leads Actis' approach to responsible investment, sustainability and impact, working closely with investment colleagues and company management to assess and manage sustainability issues, helping to build world-class businesses and to deliver measurable societal benefits. Shami is a member of the Actis leadership group, and the Inclusion and Diversity Committee.

Mathieu Frison is a seasoned private equity professional and Partner at Charterhouse Capital Partners, where he leads strategic initiatives and value creation plans across diverse portfolio companies. With extensive experience in organic and inorganic growth, Mathieu has successfully managed significant investments in healthcare, professional services and education. Before Charterhouse, he held senior leadership roles at Burger King, Securitas Direct-Verisure and Wildlife Studios, where he drove turnarounds and growth. Mathieu began his career at Boston Consulting Group, gaining deep expertise in strategy, program management and business development. He is an Engineer from the Catholic University of Louvain, holds a Master’s in Management from IE Business School and is fluent in five languages.

Sarah, Managing Director at Bain Capital Private Equity, continues to lead the work to improve female leadership in both their Portfolio Companies and the firm itself.  Along with other women leaders at Bain Capital she leads the women's leadership event and network, championing an environment of learning, support, and empowerment. Sarah's formal and informal mentorship extends across diverse career stages, geographies and roles, supporting women to achieve their fullest potential with many examples both inside and outside Bain Capital. Sarah's commitment extends beyond Bain Capital, as evidenced by her role on the global 30% steering committee and UK steering Committee since 2017. She is a long-standing trustee of The Eve Appeal and a dedicated Women of the Future advisory board member.  As a speaker and mentor, Sarah extends her reach to schools, the industry, and professions, fostering the next generation of diverse talent and ensuring a more inclusive future.

Ed Hammond, a Chartered Tax Adviser, joined Coller Capital in 2007 and is Head of Tax and GP Operations. Coller Capital is one of the world’s leading private capital secondaries investors with $33bn AUM.

Bettina Siempelkamp joined EQT in March 2018 and is Managing Director, Global EQT Network and Portfolio Talent. Prior to joining EQT Bettina has been working as an HR consultant for various Private Equity businesses since 2008, focusing on C-Level recruitments for portfolio businesses and advising on organizational structures and processes, including a two year mandate for Advent International at Douglas Group. Bettina started her career at A.T. Kearney in 1997 and moved to financial PR group Citigate Dewe Rogerson in 1999 focussing on IPOs and M&A transactions in Germany. From 2005 until 2008 she worked in executive search at Board Consultants International.

Since joining Tikehau Capital in 2018, Emmanuel Laillier has led the firm's Private Equity business, expanding its growth and development across four core verticals: decarbonisation, aerospace & defence, cybersecurity and regenerative agriculture. With over two decades of experience in midcap private equity, Emmanuel previously served as a Managing Director and board member at Eurazeo PME and held senior roles at EPF Partners and Fonds Partenaire Gestion (Lazard). He began his career in corporate finance at Nomura and holds a degree from the Ecole Polytechnique.

Louise is a Partner of CVC Secondary Partners responsible for the origination, valuation, execution, and monitoring of secondary investments in Europe.

Prior to joining CVC Secondary Partners, Louise spent 12 years at Coller Capital as an Investment Partner and the Global Head of the Funds Group. Prior to Coller, Louise worked at DC Advisory Partners (formerly Close Brothers Corporate Finance), in the Debt Advisory team. Prior to this, Louise worked in the Securitised and Principal Finance team at Dresdner Kleinwort. Louise holds a BSc in Economics from the University of Nottingham.

Jeremy is a Partner at Livingbridge and the firm's General Counsel. He supports the investment team with new investments and portfolio company matters, provides legal advice to the business generally and manages all legal aspects of the firm’s fund formation and administration activities.  Prior to joining Livingbridge in 2018, Jeremy spent over 10 years as a transactional M&A lawyer at Travers Smith and Goodwin.

Argy Portokalaki joined HarbourVest in 2021 and oversees the tax structuring of EMEA HarbourVest legal entities and portfolios and provides tax transactional support to HarbourVest’s investment teams.  Argy joined the Firm from BlackRock, where she was a Vice President in the alternatives tax team in Europe advising on all tax aspects, including transactions and structuring, of private credit and private equity fund of funds. Prior to BlackRock, Argy was a Senior Tax Manager and part of the business unit tax team at Morgan Stanley, where she was providing advisory support and tax risk management to the equities, fixed income, global capital markets and investment banking divisions in EMEA. Argy started her tax career at the business structuring tax team of EY.  Argy received an LLM from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School as well as an LLB and an LLM from the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, School of Law. Argy is fluent in Greek and French.

Sandro Basso is a Principal at LGT Capital Partners in Pfaeffikon, Switzerland. As a member of the investment team he focuses on origination, due diligence and execution of European secondary investments in the LP and GP-led space. Prior to joining the firm 12 years ago, Mr. Basso completed internships at UBS in Frankfurt and LGT CP, while working towards his MA in Banking and Finance at the University of St. Gallen. He is fluent in English, German, French and Spanish.

Alexandra is General Counsel of Montagu Private Equity LLP, based in London. Alexandra joined Montagu in 2023 from Winton Capital Management, where she was Deputy General Counsel. Prior to that she was an Associate in the Investment Management team at Macfarlanes LLP. Alexandra holds a Bachelor’s degree in History from the University of Cambridge.

Stuart is the Head of Europe and APAC Private Credit and Capital Solutions. He currently chairs the Capital Solutions investment committee and is a member of several firm investment committees including Europe Private Credit, North America Private Credit, APAC Private Credit, European High Yield and MassMutual Ventures Europe & Asia fund. Stuart joined Barings in 2002 and has extensive investment experience encompassing the sub-investment grade public and private credit markets, restructuring and special situations investments. Prior to joining Barings, he worked in the Business Recovery Services team in London at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He is currently a board member of Trafalgar Entertainment and has extensive experience of working closely with a number of businesses whilst at Barings. Stuart holds a B.Sc. in Chemistry from Keble College, Oxford and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales.

Fang Fang is the Head of Data Science in the Operational Excellence Practice. She joined Apax Partners in 2021 and is currently based in the London Office. 

Prior to joining Apax, Fang was the Director and Head of Data and Analytics in Platform Design at meZocliQ, a New York based start-up company building cloud based low-code, no-code enterprise management platform, with special focus in financial industries and financial modelling. There, Fang was deeply involved in not only data science and analytical modelling but also the upstream data architecture and engineering aspects of the design, which give her a holistic experience in the lifecycle of data science. 

Fang graduated from Yale University with a PhD in Engineering and Applied Science. She also holds a Bachelor of Engineering from Tsinghua University.  

Vivien joined ICG in 2019, as Head of European LP Secondary Investments. He is responsible for the sourcing, the execution and the monitoring of LP secondary deals in Europe and globally. Prior to ICG, Vivien spent several years at Unigestion and at Pomona Capital working on secondary deals. Vivien also worked for Emerging Capital Partners, a US Private Equity Firm dedicated to the African continent and for Merrill Lynch, in Investment Banking.

Vivien holds a Master’s Degree in Business Management from the ESSEC Business School, Paris, France. He is fluent in French and English.

Natalia Tsitoura is Partner, Capital Solutions and Head of Europe Origination in the European Private Debt team at Apollo. Prior to joining in 2020, Natalia was Managing Director at Alcentra in London where she was responsible for originating, structuring and underwriting senior and junior financings for companies across Europe for Alcentra’s specialist direct ending and mezzanine team. Natalia graduated from Loughborough University in Business Studies.

Barney is a Managing Director, Co-Head of the Clean Energy team and member of the Executive Committee. He is also a member of our Responsible Investment Committee. He has extensive experience in renewable energy financing across Europe. Prior to joining the team, Barney spent over six years in energy corporate finance at Ernst & Young in London, working across lead advisory, project finance, and M&A in the clean energy and utility sectors. He also provided transaction advice to both the private and public sector on large-scale clean energy infrastructure procurement processes. Barney has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from University of Cambridge and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.

Aga joined Oakley in 2020 and has over 15 years of experience in sustainability and environmental risk. Aga leads the sustainability team and her focus is on the development and implementation of Oakley’s sustainability strategy, both for Oakley as a Firm but also for how we invest. Through the incorporation of sustainability into the investment process, Aga’s focus is on identifying value creation opportunities while mitigating risk. Aga works directly with portfolio management, but also collaborates with the investment team and other teams across Oakley.

Prior to joining Oakley, Aga served as the interim Head of ESG at Permira, working with deal teams and directly with portfolio companies. Before this, Aga spent 12 years as an environmental consultant, first at ERM then at Ramboll, advising corporate and financial sector clients on environmental risks and opportunities.

Aga holds an MSc in Nature, Society and Environmental Policy from Oxford University and a BA (Hons) in Geography and Political Science from Rutgers University, USA.

Mr. Nielsen is a Partner in the Ares Credit Group, where he focuses on European direct lending. Prior to joining Ares in 2015, Mr. Nielsen was a Senior Director in the International Acquisition Finance team at Mizuho Bank, where he focused on originating and structuring large-cap LBOs for Private Equity sponsors across Europe. Previously, Mr. Nielsen was part of the Mergers and Acquisitions team at Bear Stearns in London, where he focused on leveraged finance and corporate finance advisory. Mr. Nielsen holds an M.Sc. from City University Business School (now Cass Business School) in Finance, Economics and Econometrics, and a B.A. (Hons) from South Bank University in Business Administration.

Eva Vogt is Partner and Head of Responsible Investment at EMK Capital. As such, Eva leads the development and implementation of EMK’s responsible investment strategy, an important aspect of EMK’s value-creation and insight acquisition activities. Eva also recently served on the ESG advisory board for Real Deals and was previously a member of the UK’s ESG All-Party Parliamentary Group advisory board.

Helge Baur is Director, Head of Private Markets Operations and co-branch head Luxembourg for Allianz Capital Partners GmbH. He leads the Private Markets Operations practice globally, i.e. all services around Fund Support (i.e. Investor Services, Fund Accounting, Fund Admin, Fund Audit), Investment Support (i.e. Loan Administration, Data Administration and Client Reporting) as well as the Private Markets buildout and Project Management practice (i.e. new fund/portfolio launches as well as strategic projects). Helge has 10+ years experience in the financial services industry and lead major regulatory, transformational and strategic projects both on the consulting and the corporate side. As part of his current role, he focuses on streamlining and digitalizing processes together with service providers along the full Operations value chain as well as building of innovative products in the Private Markets space incl. its operational backbone.

Daisy is a member of the Management Committee of Triton Investments Advisers LLP.

She joined Triton in 2013 from Debevoise & Plimpton LLP. Prior to that, she was at Deloitte & Touche LLP. She is a practising solicitor and a member of the Law Society of England and Wales, she holds an LLM in International Tax Law from QMUL, and she also holds a BA in History of Art from the Courtauld Institute, University of London.

Dominic is a Managing Director and member of the Operational Support Group. He joined Bridgepoint in 2022.

Prior to Bridgepoint, he was Chief Marketing Officer of Bumble Inc. where he served as part of the executive leadership team that led the company through an acquisition by Blackstone in 2020, and a NASDAQ IPO in 2021. 

Pete is a Senior Operating Partner specialising in Commercial Excellence transformation programmes within H.I.G Capital’s European Private Equity and Infrastructure funds. He collaborates with and advises portfolio companies on strategy, product, pricing, and sales focused value creation initiatives to deliver margin enhancement and multiple expansion. He joined in 2024 and is based in the London office.

 Pete has 27 years’ experience across private equity, consulting, and industry; 16 of those at Simon-Kucher where he was an equity Partner. Prior to that, he worked for digital marketing & technology consultancies. He started his career in sales within a global key account team at BT. He holds a PhD in Physics from The University of Cambridge and a 1st Class Honours degree in Physics from The University of Nottingham.

Diala Minott is a Co-Chair of the Investment Funds & Private Capital practice at Paul Hastings and is based in the firm’s London office.  She advises on a wide range of fund-related work including private equity, private debt, real estate, mezzanine, venture, credit, infrastructure, funds of funds, distressed and special situations, and activist funds, as well as on the structuring of carried interest, co-investment and other incentive schemes, secondary transactions, and fund restructurings. She also specializes in direct lending funds, having set up the first regulated direct lending fund in Luxembourg in 2009 for ICG. She acts for investors for solvency II planning and also lobbies the regulators for improvements in the banking monopoly regimes around Europe on behalf of her clients. She also acts for governments, improving their funds legislations. Diala also specializes in credit funds structured finance transactions, including acting on numerous CLOs and CDOs—both pre- and post-crisis—as well as acting on bespoke hybrid mid-market CLO-type funds.

Amit is a Partner, Private Credit within Goldman Sachs Asset Management, serving as co-head of the European Direct Lending business. Prior to assuming his current role, he was a generalist on the Corporate Investing team in the Merchant Banking Division (MBD), investing across corporate equity and credit.

Before transferring to MBD in 2008, Amit worked in the Investment Banking Division. He joined Goldman Sachs as an analyst in 2006 and was named managing director in 2017. Amit earned a BTech from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and a master's degree in Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

Daniel D’Ambrosio is a partner in the London office of Kirkland & Ellis International LLP and member of the Firm’s ESG & Impact Practice Group, which advises some of the world’s most sophisticated private equity firms, corporations, project sponsors and lenders on complex and evolving legal issues relating to environmental, social and governance (ESG) and climate-related regulatory requirements, investor demands, strategic opportunities, and voluntary reporting frameworks and coalitions. Dan’s practice focuses on counselling clients on ESG and sustainability matters across a range of corporate, fund formation and sustainable finance transactions, regulatory compliance matters and complex ESG disputes and crises. Dan has supported private equity clients globally to navigate emerging ESG regulatory frameworks such as SFDR and EU Taxonomy and translate requirements into strategy, governance, policies and risk management processes as well as downstream M&A transactions.

Jonathan Wood is Co-Managing Partner of Weil’s London office and a partner in the Private Equity group. He specialises in advising private equity investors on the full range of transaction types including growth and minority investments, buyouts, takeovers, exits and IPOs. He also has considerable experience advising on corporate transactions including domestic and cross-border M&A, particularly in the technology sector.

Tom Alabaster is a partner in the asset management group and head of the firm’s funds practice in EMEA. He is a specialist in the international structuring, marketing and operation of private funds and private fund managers across a broad range of strategies and jurisdictions. He is also highly experienced in the structuring of sponsor-to-sponsor M&A, joint ventures, structured secondaries, separate managed accounts and co-investments.

Tom is consistently recognised as a leading investment management lawyer by clients and peers, and in industry publications such as The Legal 500 and Chambers UK. Clients refer to Tom in the legal directories as “absolutely awesome,” “the best funds legal adviser in London,” and “at the forefront of funds lawyers in the UK.” His clients are further quoted in Chambers, where he is described as “extremely responsive,” “commercial” with “a good command of the details.” He has been identified by IFLR 1000 as a “highly regarded” and by PEI’s Private Fund Manager as one of the global private fund industry’s top 30 under 40.

Nicholas Barton is the Founder & CEO of The Barton Partnership, an award-winning executive recruitment firm providing permanent search, independent consulting, and consulting services from strategy to execution. Their network spans Strategy & M&A, Digital, Data & Analytics, ESG & Sustainability, and Transformation & Change across all sectors. Since 2007, they have partnered with Private Equity organisations and their portfolio companies, operating from offices in London, New York, Paris, Singapore, and Sydney. Through a curated network of over 8,500 independent consultants, The Barton Partnership delivers business-critical projects across the US, EMEA, and APAC. In 2024, they were featured in Forbes' World's Best Management Consulting Firms and ranked in the Financial Times' Leading Management Consultants for the third consecutive year.

Dean co-founded the BMS PEMAT practice in 2020 and has 12 years’ experience as an M&A broker and tax lawyer. In his time at PwC and Eversheds Sutherland tax teams, Dean advised private equity, sovereign funds and ultra-high net worth individuals on complex international tax matters, before joining the insurance market in 2017. Dean was one of the first tax insurance brokers in market and now leads BMS’ international tax and restructuring liability insurance practice, as well as advising on a variety of complex W&I and contingent litigation policies.

Valérie Legat is Head of Digital at Astorg and joined the firm in 2024. She is a member of the Portfolio Performance Team. Prior to this, Valérie was Chief Digital Factory officer at Carrefour France and Global CX and Analytics director for the group. Before that, she was an Expert Associate Partner at McKinsey&Company, and co-leader of McKinsey Digital Labs. Valérie started her career by founding Business Lab, a digital agency that became McKinsey & Company's exclusive partner in France. Valérie holds a Master’s in Management from Skema.

Andrew is a Partner and also General Counsel. He joined the firm in 2017 and since then has led and developed Inflexion’s legal and compliance function. He has broad responsibility for all transactional, regulatory and corporate legal and compliance obligations.

 Andrew started his legal career at Slaughter and May, where he advised a broad range of corporate and fund clients on a variety of acquisitions, disposals and corporate finance matters. He has also worked for large international sponsors, including Och-Ziff Management Europe, where he was counsel responsible for European private equity and private debt investments, and then HPS Investment Partners, where he was Vice President, working on complex and heavily structured private equity investments. 

He holds an MA in Jurisprudence from the University of Oxford

Thomas Dixon is a Managing Director in the Blackstone European Private Equity Portfolio Operations team based in London.

Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Dixon worked at Alvarez & Marsal, Deloitte and EY leading performance improvement projects for PE portfolio companies.

Mr. Dixon graduated from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) with a BSc in Management (International Studies) and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS).

Laura Underhill is a Funds Tax Partner at the London office of Clifford Chance, specialising in tax matters relevant to the private capital industry. She advises fund managers and investors across a wide range of asset classes, including private equity, debt, infrastructure and real estate. She has a particular focus on the tax aspects of the formation of private funds, private capital secondaries transactions, investment structuring, carried interest/executive co-investment schemes, fund financing, investments into private funds, and asset manager M&A covering both structuring and the drafting and negotiation of transaction documentation. Laura advises on UK tax but her practice also includes a strong international element.

Nikolaus is a Senior Managing Director with Stonepeak. Before joining Stonepeak, Nikolaus was Global Chief Investment Officer for Macquarie Principal Finance, a business unit he co-founded and built since 2009. Prior to Macquarie, Nikolaus co-founded Park Street Partners and worked at BC Partners and the Boston Consulting Group. Nikolaus received a Bachelor of Arts first class in Economics & Management from Oxford Unive

Raj joined in 2015 and has over 25 years of experience in the healthcare industry. He is Head of the Healthcare sector team, and he is the responsible advisor for Nordic Capital investments in the sector. Raj holds non-executive positions on the boards of several Nordic Capital portfolio companies as well as healthcare charities. Prior to joining, Raj was Co-Head of Goldman Sachs healthcare investment banking practice where he advised private equity and corporate clients. Raj’s healthcare experience also includes working as a practitioner, having initially qualified and practiced as a cardiac surgeon at Oxford.  Raj holds degrees in medicine and surgery from Imperial College, London as well as being Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons and an MBA from London Business School.

Nicolas Chavanne joined Advent in 2020 and is a Managing Director in London. He is responsible for coordinating the firm’s European efforts in the consumer sector. Nicolas is a member of Advent’s Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee. He has advised on 11 investments during his career, three while at Advent. 

Prior to joining Advent, Nicolas worked at TowerBrook Capital Partners, where he was a Managing Director and focused on investments in the business services, distribution, and retail/consumer sectors. Previously, he worked at Greenhill, a leading independent investment bank, and began his career at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.

Nicolas holds an MA in Management, Financial, and Legal Engineering from Ecole Supérieure De Commerce De Paris.

Georg joined Schroders in May 2019 assuming the role of Global Head of Private Assets and then CEO, Schroders Capital in November 2024. He is responsible for developing the firm’s private markets business on a global scale - delivering world-class investment solutions in private equity, real estate, infrastructure, and private credit. Prior to joining Schroders in 2019, Georg was Chief Executive Officer at HQ Capital from 2016 to 2019, and Chief Operating Officer from 2012. Between 2004 to 2011 he was Managing Director at UBS, holding various senior management positions, including Member of the Executive Committee in Germany and Head of Group Strategy in Zurich. Georg started his career in 1999 in M&A and corporate finance consulting at The Boston Consulting Group. Georg studied business administration at the University of St. Gallen and Stockholm School of Economics and holds a PhD in Economics from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland and a master’s degree (lic.oec. HSG and CEMS-Master) in Economics from the University of St. Gallen and Stockholm School of Economics.

Carmen currently serves as Patria Investments' Partner & CEO for EMEA, based in London. Patria is a global alternative investment firm with more than $40bn in AuMs in Private Equity, Credit, Infrastructure and Real Estate.

Prior to Patria, she was Country Head for UK & Iberia at Tikehau Capital since 2015. She was responsible for all investment strategies, Private Equity, Private Debt and Real Estate, and fundraising for private and liquid products in both regions. Before that, she was Managing Director at Morgan Stanley in their European Leverage Finance practice. She started her career in Zurich in Leverage Finance with UBS. She moved to London in 1998 to join Merrill Lynch. She also gained corporate experience managing GSK’s Corporate Finance activities globally.

With over 25 years of experience in asset management and banking, Carmen has an extensive background in all aspects of investment management, corporate finance, and capital markets, across geographies and industries.

Having worked in London, Madrid, Zurich, New York, and Boston, she brings a global and multicultural perspective.

Carmen holds degrees from Executive Program at Stanford Graduate School of Business, MBA from Babson College and BsBA in Finance and International Management from Boston University School of Management.

Nach is a managing director in the External Investing Group (XIG) within Goldman Sachs Asset Management. He is on the Vintage Strategies team and co-leads non-traditional secondaries, focused on credit, portfolio finance and European private equity investments. Nach joined Goldman Sachs in 2015 as an associate and was named managing director in 2023.

Nach earned a BA from Swarthmore College, an MBA from The Wharton School and an MA in International Studies from the Launder Institute, where he was a Leonard A. Lauder Fellow, both from the University of Pennsylvania.

Nicola Ebmeyer is the Co-Founder and CO-CEO of Gain.pro, a leading financial technology company that has transformed the private equity and M&A landscape. Over the past six years, Nicola has led Gain.pro to remarkable growth, expanding the team to 300 employees and serving thousands of prestigious clients globally. The company has established offices in Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Warsaw, and Bangalore, with a New York office opening soon.

Nicola's journey to founding Gain.pro began during her tenure at McKinsey & Company, where she worked in both the Munich and Amsterdam offices. She advised clients on strategic initiatives and gained profound insights into the private equity sector. As a Manager, Nicola played a crucial role in shaping strategic projects for top-tier clients, inspiring her to develop a solution to streamline and enhance deal origination in the financial industry.

Matt Jones is the Co-Managing Partner of TPG’s North American and European GP-led Secondaries business based in London. Matt joined TPG in 2022 after more than 20 years at Pantheon, where he most recently served as Co-Head of Pantheon’s Global Secondaries and a member of Pantheon’s International Investment Committee. In this role, Jones was responsible for managing Pantheon’s global secondary business, overseeing business building, deal origination, and investing activities. He held the role from 2017-2021. Jones started his career at HM Treasury, the British government’s economic and finance ministry. He has a BA in economics and politics from Leeds University.

Christopher is a partner in the Private Funds team at Macfarlanes, where he advises private capital fund sponsors across a broad range of asset classes, including private equity, credit, venture capital, and secondary capital.

He has extensive experience in secondary transactions, regularly advising purchasers and GP clients on a variety of matters such as GP-led single asset investments, LP portfolio transactions, fund-level liquidity solutions, recapitalisations, group restructurings, and sponsor stake sales.

In addition, Christopher plays a key role in structuring and implementing carried interest, co-investment, and other executive incentive schemes, as well as corporate governance arrangements for private fund sponsors.

He is frequently sought after to advise institutional LPs on their primary investment programmes, co-investment operations, and bespoke management arrangements with sponsors.

Christopher is a member of the Association of Partnership Practitioners, a frequent contributor to industry conferences, and has previously served on Invest Europe’s Legal and Regulatory Affairs Working Group.

Laure Valance joined Ardian in 2016 as Head of Global Tax where she set up the tax team to oversee the tax structuring of Ardian’s investment vehicles for the various asset classes as well as Ardian’s global tax affairs. Previously, Laure was an attorney at Latham & Watkins in Paris and a member of the tax department for 7 years where she focused on domestic and cross-border transactional tax law, notably in private equity and mergers and acquisitions.

Laure holds a master’s in business law from University Paris II Pantheon-Assas and a master’s in political sciences from Sciences Po Paris. She was admitted to the Paris Bar in 2010. She is based in Paris.

William serves as ECI’s Principal Data & AI Advisor, partnering with clients to uncover opportunities, design solutions, and implement advanced systems across the AI, Data, and Machine Learning landscape. With nearly 20 years of experience in advanced technology consulting and a history of holding MD and C-level positions, William has a proven track record of delivering complex transformations and driving measurable ROI.

His practitioner-led approach enables clients to build cutting-edge capabilities with practical, real-world applications. Beyond his role at ECI, William is pursuing a Doctorate in Applied Artificial Intelligence and is the Co-Founder of an innovative startup focused on Empathic AI solutions.

Olivia is a partner and Head of Bridges Insights, Bridges’ knowledge and advisory function. She is also responsible for Bridges’ impact strategy across all funds.

Previously, Olivia co-founded the Impact Management Project (IMP), an ambitious sector-wide initiative to build market consensus on sustainability and impact management. In its first phase, the IMP developed the five dimensions of impact and impact classes. The IMP concluded in 2021 having achieved the creation of the UN-managed Impact Management Platform, and facilitated the launch of the International Sustainability Standards Board out of the IFRS Foundation. Olivia also led the IMP’s operations and fundraising.

Olivia began her career working in emerging market impact investing at CDC (now BII). Olivia has extensive experience advising investors on designing impact investment strategies across diverse geographies and asset classes. Olivia regularly lectures on impact investing, social entrepreneurship and sustainability, including in her capacity as Associate Fellow at Said Business School, Oxford.

Garret Tynan is the Managing Director and European Head of Infrastructure and Project Finance at KBRA Europe Limited (KBRA). Garret previously spent five years with KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH in London, where he was responsible for originating and executing project and leveraged finance transactions in the UK, Europe, and North America.

Prior to KfW IPEX, Garret worked for nine years at Depfa Bank plc in Dublin, where he initially focused on public-private partnerships/PFI, utilities, and leveraged finance in the UK and, in later years, managed a team responsible for restructuring and winding down the bank’s global infrastructure portfolio.

Garret is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland and started his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Corporate Restructuring and Insolvency department in Dublin. Garret earned both a B.A. in accounting and finance, and an MBS in accounting from Dublin City University. He also holds graduate diplomas in International Financial Reporting Standards (ICAI) and Management and Applications of IT in Accounting (DCU), as well as certificates in Directors Duties & Responsibilities (ICAI) and Complex Financial Instruments (Institute of Bankers).

Diana joined CD&R in 2014 and is principally engaged in evaluating investment opportunities in European consumer and retail businesses. She has played a key role in the Firm’s investments in BUT, Conforama France, Motor Fuel Group, and SPIE. Previously, she worked in the investment banking division of Goldman Sachs & Co. in London. Diana has a B.Sc. in Economics from The London School of Economics.

Ferdisha has a wide range of non-contentious experience advising banks, investment banks, asset managers, and market infrastructures. She regularly advises on a variety of financial services and regulatory issues including financial markets regulation, financial collateral and financial market infrastructure regulation, and banking regulation.

She has written and presented extensively on legal and regulatory issues surrounding distributed ledger technology and cryptoassets.

Kobus joined JTC following the acquisition of Kleinwort Benson’s fund administration business in 2015 and serves as a member of the Global ICS Executive Committee. In 2022 he was appointed as the Managing Director of JTC’s Guernsey office and has responsibility for all business operations in Guernsey.

Kobus’ role also focuses on the development and implementation of innovation and technology solutions across the JTC funds business globally.

Kobus has over 20 years’ experience in the asset management industry, specialising in client service delivery in the investment funds sector. He has extensive exposure to most asset classes and fund structures from highly regulated traditional investment funds to a wide variety of alternative funds, including private equity, hedge, debt and real estate structures.

Previously, Kobus worked at Ernst & Young in Ireland where he specialised in the offshore investment funds sector.

Qualifications: Kobus is a qualified Chartered Accountant and a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Gurpreet joined Level 20 as CEO in April 2023 having spent a decade at the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA). As Level 20’s CEO, Gurpreet is responsible for delivering across five key activities: mentoring, networking & development events, research & insight, advocacy & sponsor support, and outreach & internships. In 2024, Gurpreet featured on Private Equity News’ list of Twenty Trailblazing Women and under her leadership, Level 20 has welcomed new chapters in Europe and published research across Europe and the US. In her previous role as the BVCA’s Deputy Director General and Director of Policy, she led the PE/VC industry’s response to a wide range of matters from a legal, regulatory and tax perspective, including on diversity and sustainability matters. Before joining the BVCA she worked at Deloitte LLP. Gurpreet studied at the LSE and is a Chartered Accountant and a fellow of the ICAEW. Outside of Level 20, Gurpreet is on the board of the UK Business Angels Association.

David is the global head of fund services in Ogier's corporate and fiduciary services division. He is an experienced private market focused professional and has spent his career working with asset managers providing accounting, advisory and fund administration services. David has extensive international experience, having spent eight years working and living in Asia, as well as previously leading the private equity business for a global fund administrator.

David regularly speaks at industry events and contributes articles to industry publications. He was also previously treasurer and board member of the British Chamber of Commerce in Singapore.

Freddy heads up the Portfolio Talent function at Inflexion, a leading mid-market European fund with £11bn AUM. In that role, she supports portfolio companies with appointments, assessments, performance management, organisational design and incentives. Freddy joined Inflexion from CDC, an Emerging Markets PE fund with $10bn AUM, where she set up and ran their Portfolio Talent Function. Prior to that, Freddy founded and scaled a talent and staffing business, having started her career at WPP. Over the past 20 years, Freddy has lived and worked in the US, Europe, Asia and Africa and currently lives in the UK.

Freddy has a BA from Oxford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Georgia Rankin joined the Talent Advisor team of KKR in October 2024, and works closely with the European Private Equity team to bring innovation and best-in-class executive talent management to the firm’s portfolio companies and future prospective investments. She focuses on building long-term relationships with top CEOs and senior executives, helping to strengthen KKR’s capabilities as a trusted strategic partner to leadership teams and supporting value creation across its European portfolio.

Ms. Rankin brings over two decades of experience in executive search and leadership advisory, having served as Managing Director and Co-Head of the Global Private Equity Practice at Russell Reynolds.

Ms. Rankin is deeply committed to fostering diverse and inclusive leadership teams that drive long-term value and growth. She has been actively involved with Level 20, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving gender diversity in the European private equity industry.

Imogen is a Partner and Head of Primaries in Pantheon’s European Private Equity team and also a member of the European Investment Committee, ESG Committee and Allocation Committee. Imogen joined Pantheon in 2005, and prior to joining the primaries team, she was a member of Pantheon’s secondary team and also headed up the Investment Structuring and Strategy division. Prior to Pantheon Imogen worked on small and mid-market private equity and mezzanine transactions for Anglo Irish Bank in Dublin. She holds a master’s degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University. Imogen is based in London.

Alex covers the private equity industry for the FT from London.

Previously she was a reporter on the FT's visual storytelling team, specialising in features and investigations on a variety of subjects. She also spent summer 2023 reporting from around the US as the Washington Post's Stern-Bryan Fellow. Before joining the FT she was a reporter at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism where she won the 2020 Private Eye Paul Foot Award for Investigative and Campaigning Journalism.

Steve has been a direct private equity investor since 1997. He Joined Hollyport in December 2013 and is now a Senior Partner and Head of GP-led solutions.

 Having trained as an accountant, Steve worked at SBC Warburg for 7 years before joining 3i in 1997. Steve has extensive geographic experience having led investments across Europe and North America and directly overseen investments in Asia. Having led 3i’s UK Private Equity business he became a founding Partner of 3i Growth Capital, chaired the Investment Committee and was responsible for leading 3i’s first ever Growth Capital fundraising of €1.2billion.

Carolina Espinal joined HarbourVest in 2004 to focus on partnership investments in Europe and other emerging markets and became a Managing Director in 2015. Carolina focuses on managing European venture capital and buyout partnership investments and has collaborated with the secondary and co-investment groups on several investment opportunities. She currently serves on the advisory boards of funds managed by Abénex Capital, ECI, Inflexion, and Advent International.

Craig is a member of the Manager Committee of Triton Investments Advisers LLP. He joined Triton from JPMorgan Private Bank in London, where he was Vice President and Assistant General Counsel. Earlier in his career, he worked for Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and Allen & Overy LLP. He holds an LLB from King’s College, University of London and an MSc in Taxation from Oxford University.

Maxime Jacquot currently serves as a Director at Gain.pro, leading the platform growth and business development efforts across Europe. Gain.pro is a leading financial technology company that has transformed the private equity and M&A landscape. Over the past six years, the company has grown to 300 employees and serves thousands of prestigious clients globally. Gain.pro has established offices in Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Warsaw, and Bangalore, with a New York office opening soon.

Judson is a Managing Director with Stonepeak. Before joining Stonepeak, Judson was a Principal at Blackstone in the Credit business, where he invested in a wide range of debt and equity opportunities across the energy, renewables and energy transition related industries in North America and Europe. Prior to Blackstone, Judson worked at Credit Suisse in their global energy investment banking group. Judson received a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from Vanderbilt University.

Fred is a Private Equity Value Creation Partner focusing on operational aspects of M&A transactions, working across the transaction life cycle with pre-deal due diligence (buy and sell side) and post deal value creation projects. He also helps with the set-up and implementation of large and complex transformation programs. Fred has a wealth of experience in hands-on line management, M&A consulting, and has previously worked with the incumbent portfolio team of an investment company.