Part of the BVCA Summit 2025: 'Investing for a better economy'
The Summit 2025 is the must-attend event for the private capital community. Across two days, four events bring together private capital fund managers, institutional investors, pension funds and family offices as well as leading figures from across the worlds of business, finance, politics and the media. The Summit features unparalleled keynote speakers, proactive panel discussions and extensive networking opportunities across four events, spanning two days.
The Summit will conclude with the Summit Main Conference.
The Main Conference is the pinnacle event of the Summit that brings together the entire private capital ecosystem. Investing in partnerships, growth, innovation and people, the Main Summit will explore the strategies and trends transforming our industry and underpinning 13,000 businesses up and down the UK.
Designed to provide our delegates with the latest cutting-edge industry insights and data, peer-to-peer debate and unrivalled networking opportunities, the 2025 BVCA Summit is an event not to be missed.
High level themes include:
View the Summit Main Conference agenda using the button below.
Summit brings together intelligence, insight and peer-to-peer debate from over 110 high-profile speakers including global industry, business and political leaders.
Political Editor, Sky News
Chairman, Canary Wharf Group
Founder, Medik8
Global Chief Economist, HSBC
Partner, Co-Head of European Credit, Ares Management
Managing Director, Armen
Head of Corporate Affairs, Cambridge Innovation Capital
BVCA Chair 2024-26 and Senior Advisor, Cinven
Partner - Investment Team, Hollyport Capital
Partner, Phoenix Equity Partners
Head of IR and Sustainability, ETF Partners
Political Editor, Sky News
Beth Rigby is Sky News’ Political Editor, and is co-host the Sky's political podcast Electoral Dysfunction. Prior to joining the broadcaster, she served for over a decade at the Financial Times, latterly as chief political correspondent and deputy political editor. She also fronts her own interview show on Sky, talking to people at the coal face of change about their views on what is going on in Britain and around the world. After studying social and political science followed by Latin American studies, Beth joined the FT as a trainee.
She specialised in coverage of retail, consumer industries and hedge funds before moving to the political brief. After a brief spell as The Times’ media editor, she joined Sky to lead their political coverage. Taking to the air in the midst of Brexit negotiations, Beth has been witness to some of the most unpredictable and unexpected events in Westminster history.
Known for her down-to-earth, no-nonsense approach to reporting political events she offers insights into the key personalities, plots and likely outcomes. She also reveals some of what goes on in the Westminster bars and tearooms, as well as tales from behind the scenes of political broadcasting.
Chairman, Canary Wharf Group
Sir Nigel Wilson is Chairman of CWG. Sir Nigel was Chief Executive of Legal and General from 2012 - 2024, having joined in 2009 as its Chief Financial Officer. Legal and General was Britain’s Most Admired Company in 2022 and 2023. Sir Nigel was Britain’s Most Admired Leader in 2017. Most Inspirational Leader in 2022 and 2023, Legal & General managed $1.5 trillion of assets.
Sir Nigel was knighted for services to the Financial Services Industry, Regional Development and Sport in the 2022 New Year’s Honours List. Qualifications include a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he was a Kennedy Scholar.
Founder, Medik8
Elliot Issacs is the Founder of Medik8 Skincare – a science-led consumer brand challenging global majors in key beauty categories, channels and markets.
Medik8 started in a shed-sized lab and, always growing within its own cash flow, scaled to a team of 300 people operating out of over 100,000 sq ft of space through a full-vertical business model. In 2021, the business partnered with Inflexion Private Equity to support its next stage of growth - more than tripling sales in 4 years.
Elliot now serves as a Non-Executive Director on the Medik8 board and invests in a handful of early-stage tech start-ups. He lives in Hertfordshire with his young family.
Global Chief Economist, HSBC
Awaiting speaker biography.
Partner, Co-Head of European Credit, Ares Management
Blair Jacobson is a Partner and Co-Head of European Credit in the Ares Credit Group and serves on the Ares Executive Management Committee and the Ares Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council. He also serves on the boards of Ares Management Limited and Ares Management UK Limited.
Additionally, Mr. Jacobson serves on the Ares Credit Group's European Direct Lending and European Liquid Credit Investment Committees, the Ares Secondaries Group's Credit Investment Committee and the Ares Sports, Media and Entertainment Investment Committee. Prior to joining Ares in 2012, Mr. Jacobson was a Partner at The StepStone Group, where he focused on building and running European operations, including oversight of private debt and equity investments.
Previously, Mr. Jacobson was a Partner at Citigroup Private Equity and Mezzanine Partners in London and New York. In addition, he has held a variety of roles in investment banking and mergers and acquisitions in a broad range of industries, including at Lehman Brothers. Mr. Jacobson holds a B.A., magna cum laude, from Williams College in Political Economy and an M.B.A., with honors, from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in Finance.
Managing Director, Armen
Catherine Haumesser Balthasar is a founding team member at Armen, where she heads the London office and leads the firm’s investment activity across Northern Europe. Since Armen’s inception, she has spearheaded several mid-market European GP stake transactions.
Prior to joining Armen, Catherine was a Partner at SVG Advisers, where she executed numerous investments on a global basis across four platforms, representing over €3.5bn in assets under management. She was responsible for the firm’s European investment strategy and operations, building an extensive network of GPs across the region.
Catherine holds a MA in Management from HEC, Paris, and is a CFA charterholder.
Head of Corporate Affairs, Cambridge Innovation Capital
Michelle Lamprecht is Head of Corporate Affairs at Cambridge Innovation Capital where she manages the ESG and Impact strategy, marketing strategy, and is an advisor/mentor to CIC’s portfolio companies.
She has 20 years’ experience of international leadership in strategic communications and business across a range of public and privately owned organisations.
Michelle has been a board member for Byte Night (Action for Children), a trustee for Citizen’s Advice and is currently an advisory panel member for BVCA External Affairs, a steering committee member of ESG_VC and a Non-Exec Director for Form the Future.
BVCA Chair 2024-26 and Senior Advisor, Cinven
Matthew Sabben-Clare is a Senior Advisor to Cinven. Previously, Matthew was Head of Cinven’s Capital Markets team and Chief Administrative Officer.
He was previously at Merrill Lynch in Leveraged Finance. Prior to this he worked in the Financing & Structured Products Division at J. Henry Schroder & Co. He graduated from Cambridge University and is AMCT-qualified.
Partner - Investment Team, Hollyport Capital
James Jupp is a Partner in the Investment team, leading deals and sitting on the Investment Committee. James leads the firms Vendor Origination programme, sourcing LP portfolios from vendors across multiple asset classes.
In 2018 he moved to New York to open Hollyport’s first US-based office location and over a four year period built the US team and established Hollyport’s presence in the US market. Following his move back to London, James manages the development of the junior investment team, alongside his deal appraisal and origination work. James is a qualified ACA, having qualified in Crowe audit programme before moving into the corporate finance team.
James graduated from Newcastle University with a degree in Accounting and Finance.
Partner, Phoenix Equity Partners
Tim Dunn has been with Phoenix for more than 20 years, is a member of both the Management and Investment Committee and focuses his time on originating investments in business and technology services. He is also responsible for Phoenix’s portfolio growth and value creation capabilities.
Head of IR and Sustainability, ETF Partners
Zoë VanderWolk joined ETF Partners as Head of IR and Sustainability in 2019 and became a Partner in 2023.
Following a degree in statistics and Mandarin Chinese, she practiced as a corporate lawyer in the City of London in the Environmental Finance group at Baker & McKenzie LLP. In 2013 she co-founded Accessible Clean Energy LLP, a listed fund investing across the clean energy value chain.
She is a musician, cook, party-thrower, reluctant cold-water swimmer, and a trustee of an educational charity serving the visually impaired. She lived on a houseboat but now lives in a school boarding house with her husband, two sons, 52 teenage boys and a golden retriever puppy.
She is a graduate of Harvard College (BA, Class of ’05) and the College of Law, London (LLB (Distinction), 2008).
The Summit Main Conference will host several sector and topic-specific roundtables. These breakfast and lunch roundtables are complimentary to attend and provide an intimate opportunity to share insights and connect with peers.
Wednesday, 10 September 2025
08:00-20:00
Sancroft, St Paul's
Christchurch Court
Paternoster Sq.
London
EC4M 7DQ
Learn more about all Summit sponsors here.
Taking place on 9 September 2025
Business attire
View all sponsorship opportunties for this event here.
For further information please contact Noreen Aldworth.
Up to two free tickets per GP firm available – enquire today*
Any additional tickets are available at the following rate per ticket:
*At least one free ticket must be used by a firm representative at partner level or above. Free ticket availability is subject to BVCA confirmation.
Get in touch with Abbie Jaggers to request your two free tickets and any additional paid tickets today.
Please contact BVCA Events to discuss availability and pricing.
With multiple stages covering VC, PE, Private Credit and 10 breakouts make sure your firm has a presence across the Summit Main Conference by booking multiple tickets. BVCA Professional Services Members can save up to £300 per ticket when completing a bulk ticket booking to Summit Main Conference.
For further information, or to take advantage of this offer, please contact Abbie Jaggers.
Please contact BVCA Events to discuss availability and pricing.
BVCA Summit Main Conference is certified in principle by The CPD Certification Service. For further information please contact the BVCA Events Team.
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Please contact [email protected] if you would NOT be happy for us to share this personal information with other attendees. Our full Private Policy & Accessibility Statement can be viewed here.
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