Speakers

Adam Shepherd

Investment Partner, TempoCap

Adam Shepherd is Investment Partner and COO at European growth equity investor TempoCap, which specialises in direct secondaries in technology companies. Adam leads the firm's investment efforts in the UK. He has been closely involved with TempoCap’s investments in Depop (sold to Etsy), Talentsoft (sold to Cegid), Currencycloud (sold to Visa), Onfido (sold to Entrust), Tessian (sold to Proofpoint) and Azimo (sold to Papaya Global) and represents TempoCap interests at several other portfolio companies.

Prior to TempoCap, Adam was an investor at early-stage B2B software firm Notion Capital, and before that helped Currencycloud to raise a Series C financing round. Adam started his career at BP, negotiating financing and structuring M&A transactions, then working for several years as a global macro trader in financial markets. Outside of work, Adam enjoys spending time with his young family.
 

Alex Mathers

Partner, Inflexion

Alex Mathers is a Partner in the Value Acceleration team, with a particular focus on Digital, helping our portfolio businesses and investment teams across technology, product development, digital marketing, and data analytics / data science. He also co-ordinates the work of our broader value acceleration team ensuring we bring our full capabilities to the support of our portfolio companies. Since joining Inflexion in 2018 he has worked with a wide variety of Inflexion investments including Alcumus, CMSPI, Lintbells, Marley, Medik8, Medivet, Scott Dunn and Rosemont.

Alex started his career at Accenture, working in a variety of technical architecture and ‘hands-on’ technology roles before working in digital transformation in the music industry. More recently he was an Associate Partner at OC&C Strategy Consultants in London, focused on technology, digital media and ecommerce.

Alex Shadbolt

Investment Associate, Future Planet Capital

Alex Shadbolt is an Investment Manager and leads Future Planet Capital’s impact efforts. With a background in research, most recently with the University of Cambridge’s Keynes Fund, exploring instances of market failure, mispricing and incentive systems within VC, Alex is driving Future Planet Capital’s formalisation of impact for investment decisions, internal operations and portfolio management.

Previously, Alex spent time at the Open Data Institute, creating and embedding the groups Impact Framework, successfully bidding for key government contracts and co-authoring the company’s five-year strategy.

He looks to bring this deep impact knowledge to investments, on both the Blue Ocean Fund and Global Growth Fund, as part of the Origination Team. Additionally, Alex heads up ESG at Future Planet, as well as co-authoring Future Planet Capital’s impact reports, with Advisory Board Member, Lord Wei of Shoreditch. Alex holds a first-class degree from Exeter in Liberal Arts, majoring in Economics.

Amelia Armour

Partner, Amadeus Capital Partners

Amelia Armour joined Amadeus Capital Partners in 2009 and is a Partner in the Early Stage Fund. Her current investment focus is on AI, Photonics, and Novel Materials.

She is a Director on several boards including Xampla, who have developed novel plant-based materials to replace single-use plastics; iPronics who are building lossless optical switches for AI networking at the speed of light ; Riverlane a developer of the operating system for error corrected quantum computers; sprout.ai a provider of fast and accurate insurance claims automation and SLAMcore, a spin-out from Imperial College, developing spatial intelligence for autonomous robotics and drones.
 

Amy Abbott

Director, Industry Development, BVCA

Amy Abbott is the BVCA's Director of Industry Development. Prior to joining the BVCA in 2012, she was Head of Events & Awards at the Royal Academy of Engineering where she led a small team of event managers to deliver a highly regarded programme of events for the engineering fellowship comprising eminent chartered engineers, business leaders and Royal patrons.

During her nine years at the Academy Amy was secretary to several awards committees including the prestigious MacRobert Award; involving events at Buckingham Palace. She also played a fundamental part in the launch of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering where she was responsible for the launch event involving the former three party leaders. She has a BA Hons in Business and Marketing from Oxford Brookes University.

LinkedIn:

https://linkedin.com/in/amy-abbott-8295964/

Andrew Noble

Partner, Par Equity

Andrew Noble is a member of Par Equity’s Investment Committee and sponsor partner to several Par portfolio companies.

In addition, Andrew leads Par’s distribution of its discretionary managed funds, takes an active role on improving Par’s operations and technology infrastructure and represents Par Equity on the Steering Committee of ESG_VC, a pan-European initiative aimed at improving the ESG credentials of VC backed companies.

Andrew is a former athlete, having competed for TeamGB in Alpine Skiing at the 2010 Winter Olympics, and holds an MBA from INSEAD Business School.

Andy Gregory

CEO, BGF

Andy Gregory is Chief Executive Officer of BGF and a member of the company’s Board. A founding member of BGF’s management team, Andy became CEO in 2022, having previously served as Chief Investment Officer. Over the past 15 years, Andy has played a central role in building BGF into the UK and Ireland’s most active growth capital investor, with a platform that spans every region and major sector of the economy. Andy brings over 30 years of experience in private equity.

His career has included senior roles at Livingbridge, Bridgepoint and Royal Bank Development Capital. Andy combines financial rigour with a long-standing commitment to supporting ambitious entrepreneurs and growing companies. He is a vocal advocate for diversity in business and currently sits on the Board of the Invest in Women Taskforce as well as NatWest’s Mid Market Council.

Andy is Chair of the BGF Foundation, BGF's independent charitable arm, which supports initiatives that improve the lives of young people across the UK.
 

Anita Rana

Principal, Portfolio Management Group, Hamilton Lane

Anita Rana is a Principal in the Portfolio Management Group, based in the firm’s London office, where she focuses on private markets portfolio management and research efforts in EMEA.

Prior to joining Hamilton Lane, Anita spent nearly 10 years at BlackRock where she specialised in multi-asset private markets portfolio management (across closed-end and evergreen), portfolio construction, research, and analytics.

Anita received a Bachelor of Science in Actuarial Science from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She is also a CAIA charterholder.

Anita is a Principal in the Portfolio Management Group, based in the firm’s London office, where she focuses on private markets portfolio management and research efforts in EMEA.
 

Antoine Moyroud

Partner, Lightspeed

Antoine Moyroud is a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners and sits on their European investment team since 2022. Specializing in Machine Learning and Data topics, his work on the emerging AI space has brought Lightspeed Venture Partners to partner with Mistral.ai, leading their inaugural round in 2023.

Raised in the Netherlands and proficient in 4 languages, Antoine started his career in the data ecosystem with operational roles at FlixBus and Dataiku, spanning Germany, France and the UK.

Antti Leppänen

Partner, Proskauer

Antti Leppänen is a partner in the Private Funds Group and a member of the firm's Private Capital industry group.

Antti advises clients on a broad range of secondary transactions, including traditional purchases and sales of fund interests, leveraged and syndicated acquisitions, fund restructurings, as well as GP-led liquidity solutions. Antti also regularly represents institutional investors on primary investments and co-investment opportunities in private equity funds across a variety of asset classes.

Antti has worked on transactions both in Europe and in the U.S., and his experience includes a client secondment in the U.K.
 

Archie Burgess

Investment Director, Cibus Capital

Archie Burgess is an Investment Director at Cibus Capital, a PE and VC fund c.$1.2bn AUM focused on the agrifood sector. He is dedicated towards venture/growth equity and focuses primarily on robotics and automation, precision agriculture, genetics and further downstream applications such as precision fermentation.

Prior to Cibus Capital, Archie was in investment banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London where he worked as part of the Industrials Group. Archie holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Oxford.
 

Bashak-Julianna Demir

Head of Europe, ICG

Bashak-Julianna Demir joined ICG in 2022 from Campbell Lutyens where she was a Managing Director in the Private Capital Advisory group.
 
Prior to this, Bashak spent over 10 years in investment banking at Credit Suisse in M&A and capital markets, as well as the corporate practice at Baker & McKenzie. Bashak has a Bachelor of Commerce/ Bachelor of Laws from the University of Sydney.

Ben Wilkinson

Chief Executive Officer, Molten Ventures

Ben Wilkinson was appointed CEO of Molten Ventures in October 2024, having joined the Group as CFO in 2016 and the Board in June 2019.

As CFO, he joined the Investment Committee and led on strategic projects across the business. Ben successfully built Molten’s balance sheet through equity and debt financing, broadening the shareholder register, and led Molten's transition to the Main Market. His efforts were pivotal to the Company's scale and resilience during a period of extensive growth and transformation, including multiple secondary portfolio investments.

Before joining Molten, Ben served as CFO for five years at AIM-listed President Energy PLC. Earlier in his career, he worked in M&A investment banking at ABN Amro/RBS, gaining significant cross-border transaction and corporate financing experience.

Ben is a Chartered Accountant (FCA) with a BSc in Economics from Royal Holloway, University of London. He also serves as a member of Molten's Sustainability Committee.
 

Beth Rigby

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.
 

Blair Jacobson

Partner, Co-President of European Credit, Ares Management

Blair Jacobson is a Partner and Co-President 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.

Brenlen Jinkens

Partner, PJT Partners

Brenlen Jinkens is the Head of LP Advisory, Europe at PJT’s Private Capital Solutions team in London. Prior to joining PJT Park Hill, Mr. Jinkens was a Senior Advisor and the global co-head of Jefferies’ Private Capital Advisory group, where he was also based in London.

Prior to this, Mr. Jinkens was the Head of European Capital Advisory at Greenhill, and a former Partner and Member of the Executive Committee of Cogent Partners, and Managing Partner of Cogent Partners Europe.

Mr. Jinkens graduated with an MBA from Stanford University, and a Bachelor in International Relations from Princeton University.

Bruno Bertrand-Delfau

Partner and Co-Head, Secondary Transactions and Liquidity Solutions, Proskauer

Bruno Bertrand-Delfau is co-head of the Secondary Transactions and Liquidity Solutions practice and a partner in the Private Funds Group. Bruno is a pioneer of the secondaries industry and has more than 20 years’ experience in this space, having represented some of the largest secondary buyers on many of the landmark deals in the market, in Europe, the U.S. and Asia.

Bruno has extensive experience in all matters connected to secondaries, including NAV financings and primary investments.

Bruno and Proskauer’s secondaries team are ranked Band 1 in Chambers UK and Bruno is recognized as a ‘Leading Individual’ in the Legal 500 UK guide.
 

Callum Anderson MP

Callum Anderson MP was elected as the MP for Buckingham and Bletchley at the 2024 General Election. He defeated Iain Stewart, the Conservative incumbent, and became the first Labour MP in the constituency for over 50 years.

An active Labour Party member for over 15 years, Callum was inspired by the legacy of previous Labour Governments, and their commitment to lifting millions of children out of poverty. With his mother having raised him alone in a council flat in the nearby town of Dunstable, Callum experienced first-hand the opportunities a Labour Government provides, and was the first in his family to go to university.

After completing an Economics with German degree at the University of Birmingham, Callum worked in a range of public policy roles in the financial services industry and for several think-tanks. Immediately before taking up his role as a Member of Parliament, he worked for the London Stock Exchange Group. Callum also has a strong history of volunteering, and has served as a local Councillor, a School Governor, and a Race Equality Commissioner.

Shortly after arriving at the House of Commons, Callum was appointed as a Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). As a PPS, he plans to use his knowledge and expertise from his previous career to support British science and technology companies to innovate and grow.

Alongside being a dedicated constituency MP, Callum’s interests lie in financial markets, financial inclusion, championing the UK’s tech ecosystem and increasing social mobility.
 

Catherine Haumesser Balthasar

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.
 

Chloe Dagnell

Principal, Isomer Capital

Chloe Dagnell runs Isomer’s new fund manager pipeline, as well as co-managing a separate fund vehicle for a sole LP. She also as leads our research into climate & ESG. Previously, Chloe worked in consulting, helping the World Bank to set up an accelerator and running a tech for good fund with the UK government.

This included an accelerator whereby she was responsible for entrepreneur experience and leveraging investor and mentor engagement, and a programme whereby Chloe supported the management of a fund for technology-for-development start-ups.

Chloe holds a degree in International Politics from Queen’s University Belfast.

Chris Elphick

Head of Venture Capital, BVCA

Chris Elphick is Head of Venture Capital at the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA). He leads on all policy areas related to venture capital and works closely with BVCA members to promote the role the industry plays in the UK economy by supporting entrepreneurs and businesses.

Chris is a member of the Independent Advisory Board for the Government’s Digital Growth Grant (delivered by Barclays Eagle Labs) and is an adviser to the APPG for Entrepreneurship.

Claudia Rowe

Principal, Balderton

Claudia Rowe is a Principal at Balderton Capital, where she leads investments in Series B to pre-IPO companies. She is a career growth investor and previously worked in NYC at Activant Capital, Pine Brook, and Goldman Sachs.

Claudio Siniscalco

Founder & Managing Partner, Fiduciary Co-Investments Partners

Claudio Siniscalco is the founder of Fiduciary Co-investment Partners, the world's only provider of customised co-investment solutions to institutional and UHNW investors. Prior to founding FCP, Claudio served as Global Co-Head of Co-investments for Deutsche Bank, and previously co-head of HarbourVest Partners’ London based co-investment team.

Claudio has 25 years of financial services and investing experience, of which 19 years have been spent exclusively on co-investments. He estimates he has reviewed over 4,000 co-investments, with the ~1% he chose to pursue generating over $1bn in realised proceeds to date. He has served as a board member / observer of several companies including Clearway Group Ltd, Polynt SpA, Panda Security SL, Tyntec Ltd, and Welcome Break Ltd.

Previously, Claudio spent a decade gaining traditional direct private equity and M&A experience at Audley Capital (which he co-founded), Investcorp, Hicks Muse Tate & Furst, and Salomon Brothers.

Educated in the US and UK, Claudio speaks English, Italian, German and French fluently. He holds an M.B.A from Harvard Business School and a B.A. with honors in Economics from Harvard University.
 

Cyril Auger

Senior Managing Director, Ardian

Cyril Auger joined Ardian in 2007 as an Investment Manager within the Fund of Funds team in Paris, before moving to London in 2011. He joined the Co-Investment team in 2017. Prior to Ardian, he worked for BNP Paribas as a Vice-President and before that, for CACIB in their M&A department.

Dan Bowyer

Partner, SuperSeed

Dan Bowyer, founder turned angel now VC. Investing early in applied AI. Behind the scenes industrials such as manufacturing, supply, back office with a focus on technical founders. Dad of two, husband to one, passion for anything with an engine or circuit board.

Dana Haimoff

Managing Director and Portfolio Manager, JPMorgan Asset Management

Dana Haimoff, Managing Director, joined the Private Equity Group in 2002. Dana is a Portfolio Manager responsible for sourcing, due diligence, leading investment recommendations and monitoring private equity funds, co-investments and secondary opportunities.

Currently, Dana serves on numerous private equity fund and direct co-investment advisory committees. Prior to joining the Group, she spent six years with Merrill Lynch working with alternative asset funds and initiating, developing and servicing new and existing client accounts. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, Dana worked at Prudential Securities in the Corporate Finance Group’s private equity practice and at Ernst & Young as an International Tax Consultant. She earned a BS from Skidmore College and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Dana is the co-Founder of Level 20, a not-for-profit organization set up to encourage women to succeed in the private equity industry. She is a member of the British Venture Capital Association’s Limited Partner Committee. Dana is a director on the board of JPMorgan Asset Management International Ltd and JPMorgan Asset Management (UK) Ltd and is responsible for the firm’s SMCR’s EMEA Alternatives.
 

David Wilmot

Partner, Apera Asset Management

David Wilmot is a Founding Partner of Apera, responsible for developing the Apera platform and business in the United Kingdom and in the Nordic region.

David has extensive experience in deal origination and portfolio management in the European leveraged finance market, most recently having spent 16 years at Babson Capital where he was Joint Head of European Private Finance. David was instrumental in establishing Babson’s presence in the European buyout finance market, and served as either an Investment Committee member or co-Chairman for several of Babson’s private debt and CLO funds.

Prior to joining Babson, David led the UK leveraged finance team at Société Générale. David holds a B.Sc. (Hons) in Banking and Finance from Loughborough University, a MBA from Cass Business School and is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers.
 

Douglas Hansen-Luke

Executive Chairman, Future Planet Capital

Douglas Hansen-Luke is the Executive Chairman of Future Planet Capital. After two years of research he founded the firm in 2015, following an extensive career in global finance and as an entrepreneur in Hong Kong, London and the Middle East.

He has worked in a series of senior broking, investment and asset management roles for firms including ABN AMRO and Robeco, with a focus on emerging markets and asset classes. He was also co-founder of Hong Kong’s first regulated online equity research firm.

He has sat on the Committee of the Royal British Legion Ball and the Jesus College, Oxford, Campaign Board and has made three trips to Rwanda for social action work with Project Umubano.
 

Dr. Ilian Iliev

Chief Executive Officer, EMV Capital

Dr. Ilian Iliev founded EMV Capital in 2018. After its acquisition by NetScientific PLC (now EMV Capital PLC), he became group CEO. Previously he co-founded and was CEO of CambridgeIP Ltd, which he built into a leading IP and patent strategy and data analytics provider in the UK and internationally.

He also worked as a strategy advisor for various corporate clients. In the 1990s he co-led a family business in industrials and electric engineering in Southern Africa. He is a Board member on behalf of the Group at many portfolio companies, including , Glycotest Inc. (Chair), Sofant Technologies, PointGrab, Q-Bot, Martlet Capital, DName-iT, Vortex and Wanda Health (Chair). He is a Board member of NASDAQ-listed PDS Biotech Inc.

Ilian holds a PhD from Cambridge University’s Judge Business School with a focus on Venture Capital; Master’s in Economics from the Witwatersrand University, South Africa; and is a former Associate Fellow at Chatham House. He has authored numerous academic, policy and industry reports.
 

Dylan Doran Kennett

Partner, HSF Kramer

Dylan Doran Kennett is a corporate partner at Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, co-leading its Venture and Growth Capital practice and Sports group. With extensive experience in venture and growth equity transactions, private equity, and cross-border M&A, Dylan has guided high-growth companies in their global expansion.

He advises both company-side and investor-side on investments, joint ventures, and collaborative transactions, focusing on technology, life sciences, media, and sports sectors. Dylan is recognized in the Legal 500 (Venture Capital) and was named a Corporate Rising Star at the 2023 LMG Life Sciences Awards.
 

Elliot Isaacs

Founder, Medik8

Elliot Isaacs 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.
 

Eric Arnould

General Partner, Jolt Capital

Eric Arnould was appointed General Partner at Jolt Capital in July 2022.

During his 16 years in ECM at Natixis, Eric covered in particular tech companies, utilities and renewable energies. Appointed Managing Director (2012) then Global Head of ECM activities (2017), member of the Executive Committee of the Investment Banking division, in charge of a team of 25 people covering the full range of ECM from Origination and Equity Syndicate, up to Structuring & Execution and Corporate Broking.

Since early 2022, he had been promoted to Senior Banker, covering a portfolio of growth tech companies for all their capital and debt financing operations. At Natixis, Eric Arnould supervised 100+ market operations including 40+ IPOs.
 

Francesca Ficai

Managing Editor, PitchBook, LCD

Francesca Ficai leads the European Private Credit coverage for LCD. Previous to LCD she worked at Debtwire and mergermarket, also as a Private Credit reporter. Before that she held various jobs in the political realm, such as the House of Commons and the European Commission.

She is fluent in four languages and graduated from La Sorbonne in Paris and holds an MA from University of Bath.
 

Greg Kok

Managing Director, IQ-EQ

Greg Kok is a chartered accountant who began his career with Deloitte in South Africa, Greg has since garnered 24 years’ experience in the finance industry, primarily with large global firms and spanning multiple jurisdictions including the UK, Bermuda, Singapore, Vietnam and Luxembourg.

He has extensive experience in running fund management businesses in both the asset management and asset servicing sectors.

Greg held a number of senior investment management and strategic leadership positions, over a 13-year period, with a global asset manager and has a specific interest in the marketing and portfolio management aspects of alternative asset classes.

Greg is a member of the Executive Committee of the Guernsey Investment Funds Association and has previously served as a member of ALFI’s Management Company Steering Committee. Greg also serves as a Director on numerous corporate and fund boards.
 

Harriet Assem

Head of Sustainability, BVCA

Harriet Assem is BVCA’s Head of Sustainability. Her role is focussed in supporting industry/market practice and delivering on strategic projects/initiatives with policy related work on new international sustainability standards (and other emerging initiatives).

Prior to joining the BVCA she spent a number of years in environmental consultancy. 
Her most recent role included leading a team which provided ESG related strategy services to cross sector clients including private equity. She also played a lead role in developing and publishing the ESG Transparency A Private Equity and Venture Capital Index.

Previous to that, her career started in environmental due diligence where she worked on several high-profile merger and acquisition deals, providing environmental due diligence advice.
 

Harry Thomas

Partner & Head of Portfolio, Beringea

Harry Thomas leads value creation across Beringea’s portfolio, accelerating growth, supporting strategy at board level, and guiding companies to exit.

Since joining in 2013, he has supported the UK portfolio and driven initiatives like the Beringea Resource Hub and Scale-Up Academy to support founders and leadership teams.

He serves on the boards of Social Value Portal, My 1st Years, MOTH Drinks, WiredScore, and Andersen EV, with successful exits including D3O, Chargemaster, Aistemos (Cipher), and Dianomi.

Harry began his career in start-ups and holds an M.A. in History from St Andrews and the CFA UK Level 4 Investment Management Certificate.
 

Henry Freeman

Strategic and Technical Advisor, Guernsey Finance

Henry Freeman is a strategic adviser to Guernsey Finance and sits on a number of commercial fund and investment company boards as well as Guernsey’s sovereign wealth and pension funds and Guernsey’s Investment & Funds Association (GIFA) Executive Committee.

During his executive career in fund management, investment banking and fintech, Henry managed institutional and private client funds, advised London-listed funds and companies on strategy, structuring, IPOs and M&A, built technology and investment businesses and advised UK government on fintech and social finance, sitting on parliamentary policy groups and Downing Street roundtables.

He is proud to have established the GIFA Schools Investment Challenge, encouraging financial literacy. Henry holds the Institute of Directors’ Diploma in Company Direction.
 

Howard Dawber OBE

Mayor London Business and Growth

Howard Dawber OBE is the Deputy Mayor of London for Business and Growth, having been appointed to the role in December 2023. The focus of his role is to champion London’s interests across the globe as a place to visit, expand to and invest in, and working to protect jobs and growth in the capital.

He is also focusing on supporting the thousands of small and medium-sized businesses at the heart of London’s economy.
 

Isobel Clarke

Director of Policy, BVCA

Isobel Clarke is Director of Policy at the BVCA, with Sarah Adams. Isobel and Sarah have worked as a job share partnership since early 2020.

They lead the Policy team and their work across tax, legal, regulatory, accounting and sustainability matters, working closely with members and the BVCA committees to progress key technical and strategic policy issues.

Isobel has over 13 years’ experience of working on government policy, mainly at HM Treasury but also at the Ministry of Justice. She has led policy work on business rates, tax devolution and the scrutiny of tax reliefs.

James Codling

Managing Partner, Volution

James Codling is the Managing Partner of Volution, where he directs the firm's investment strategy, focusing on companies that harness transformative technologies such as AI, machine learning and blockchain to enhance productivity in capital markets and the workplace.

Volution targets companies generating £5 -20m in revenue with the potential to reach global scale. With a deep focus on FinTech, SaaS and AI, Volution’s team of experienced investors, former founders and operators has a proven track record in building, scaling and exiting successful technology businesses.
 

James Jupp

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.
 

Jamie Hayford

Principal, Pantheon

Jamie Hayford is a member of Pantheon’s European Investment Team where he focuses on the analysis, evaluation and completion of investment opportunities. He was previously at Barclays Wealth and Investment Management where he spent two years working within their Global Investment Strategy Team concentrating on equities.

He has a Masters in Investment Management from the University of Reading and is a CAIA Charter holder.
 

Janet Henry

Global Chief Economist, HSBC

Janet Henry was appointed as HSBC’s Global Chief Economist in August 2015 and is responsible for all HSBC’s economic forecasts and thematic economic research output globally. She was previously HSBC’s Chief European Economist. Much of her research has focused on globalisation, including the global determinants of local inflation, and the political and economic challenges of the post global financial crisis era, notably labour market disruption and the implications of income and wealth inequality within major advanced economies.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, her work has focused on the labour market implications, evolving inflation dynamics and policy challenges of the unprecedented recession and recovery.
 

Jennifer Choi

CEO, ILPA

Jennifer Choi is CEO of the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA), a global membership organization dedicated to advancing the interests of Limited Partners through advocacy, education, research and industry engagement.

Prior to becoming CEO, Jen served eight years as ILPA’s Managing Director of Industry Affairs. During that time, she launched ILPA’s global advocacy platform to ensure that the LP perspective was being fully considered in global regulation and policymaking. With a focus on robust LP-GP dialogue around emerging issues, Jen led the creation and adoption of best practices such as the ILPA Reporting Template, the ILPA Principles and ILPA’s guidance on subscription lines of credit and GP-led secondaries.

In 2020, Jen founded the Diversity in Action initiative, a community of practice that has grown to more than 300 LP and GP signatories with the shared goal of taking concrete action to advance DEI in the private markets.

Before joining ILPA, Jen served as Vice President of Industry and External Affairs for the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association (EMPEA), now known as the Global Private Capital Association (GPCA), where she led the association’s research programs and industry engagement activities.  Previously, Jennifer was a consultant with Boston-based Stax Inc., providing due diligence and advisory services for leading private equity and venture capital firms.

Jennifer holds a Masters in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University and a B.A. summa cum laude in Economics and Political Science from Augustana College.

Jessica Lennard

Chief Strategy & External Affairs Officer, CMA

Jessica Lennard is a member of the Senior Executive Team, an advisor to the board and has overall responsibility for Strategy, Communications and Advocacy at the CMA including working with the board to develop the CMA’s strategy, providing advice to government under the CMA’s advocacy function and leading the CMA’s external communications and relations.

Jingyu Zhuang

Senior Investment Manager, VenCap

Jingyu Zhuang is a Senior Investment Manager at VenCap. Prior to joining VenCap, she had extensive experience with venture capital and private equity fund investments in Asia Pacific markets. Jingyu received her BA (Hons) in Economics from Wellesley College and MBA from The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania in the US.

Jon Pollock

CEO, Elbow Beach Capital

Jon Pollock is the Chief Executive and Managing Partner at Elbow Beach, an early-stage investor focused on climate technologies that improve industrial productivity, efficiency, and outcomes at scale. With 20 years of commercial leadership experience in the tech and telecoms sectors - including senior roles at BT Group, the FTSE 100 media and telecoms company JP brings a sharp focus on customer value, scalability, and economic impact to cleantech investing.

Inspired by COP26 and a belief that the sector needed a more commercially grounded approach, JP co-founded Elbow Beach to invest in technologies that improve customer outcomes while delivering meaningful climate impact. Under his leadership, the firm targets transformative innovations in advanced manufacturing, green computing, automation, electrification, and low-carbon materials.

JP believes the future of cleantech lies at the intersection of commercial viability and climate benefit. He encourages founders to focus on delivering real customer value - technologies that reduce costs, improve performance, and drive adoption at scale will define the next generation of climate solutions.
 

Juliette Gerstein

Head of Public Affairs, BVCA

Juliette Gerstein leads the public affairs team at the BVCA, spearheading the BVCA’s political and parliamentary engagement and working alongside the policy and communications teams.

Juliette has spent over 10 years working in financial services public affairs, including a number of years at the FCA. Having started her career working in Parliament, she also previously supported clients with their external communications at communications agencies Portland and Lexington.
 

Karim Palant

Director, External Affairs, BVCA

Karim Palant is Director of External Affairs at the BVCA, where he leads the Public Affairs, Communications and Research functions.

Karim and his colleagues tell the story of private capital through high-impact engagement with policymakers, stakeholders and the media.

Karim also oversees the BVCA’s agenda-setting research programme, which includes the Performance Measurement Survey - the largest primary research survey of its kind in the UK, and the annual Report on Investment Activity. 

He has two decades of experience in tech and economic policy. From 2015, he led public policy and economic impact work at major tech firms -  at LinkedIn and previously Facebook. Earlier in his career, he served as Head of Policy to the Shadow Chancellor. 

Karim studied PPE at the University of Oxford, following his education at Calderstones Comprehensive School in Liverpool.

Leon de Bono

Managing Director, Industry Development, BVCA

Leon de Bono is the BVCA's Managing Director. Before joining the BVCA in 2010 he was the Publishing Director and a member of the team that launched Private Equity News, part of eFinancialNews, which was acquired by Dow Jones in 2007. He began working in the private equity industry with Caspian Media in 2001. He has a BA from University College London and an MA from The Courtauld Institute.

Maria Carradice

Managing Director, Specialist – Environmental, Social and Governance, Mayfair Equity Partners

Maria Carradice joined Mayfair in 2015 to work alongside portfolio companies to identify, quantify and unlock business process improvement activities. Maria’s expertise as both a former practitioner and consultant allows her to focus on opportunities to drive incremental value in areas such as tax, ESG and finance with the aim of supporting the teams Mayfair partners with to deliver their plans faster or with less risk.

Prior to Mayfair Maria worked at LDC where she advised LDC and its portfolio companies on a wide range of M&A structuring, tax, operational and accounting issues as well as advising on fund structuring and related investor issues.

Maria is a qualified accountant, tax and treasury adviser, has a first-class honours degree in Chemistry from The University of Surrey, a PhD in Nanotechnology from Cambridge University and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation.
 

Marion Bernard

CIO, Northern Gritstone

Marion Bernard is Chief Investment Officer at Northern Gritstone, a ground-breaking investment company funding and supporting early-stage life sciences and technology companies in the North of England, primarily backing university spin outs in Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, and Sheffield.  Its portfolio includes opportunities in some of the UK’s fastest growing sectors such as life sciences, health tech, advanced materials, clean tech, quantum computing, AI and semiconductors.

Marion began her career at Barclays, before joining 3i where she worked in the northern team and in the global life sciences team. Marion led Northstar Ventures, a regional fund manager focused on university spin outs, seed and early-stage venture deals as CEO, before joining the initial leadership team at BGF in 2011 as Regional Director (London and Southeast). Immediately before joining Northern Gritstone in Jan 2022, Marion was UK Managing Director for the US investment company, Firmament Group, focused on growth and venture deals.
 

Matt Dickman

Partner, Debevoise & Plimpton

Matt Dickman is a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton. He advises on the formation, management and reorganisation of private investment funds. Mr. Dickman is also a leader in the firm’s Private Fund Transactions Group, where he regularly advises fund sponsors and investors on GP staking transactions, including internal reorganisations and internal economic and governance arrangements, as well as seed investments in emerging fund sponsors and secondary transactions.

He is recommended by The Legal 500 UK (2025) as a Leading Partner, where clients value that he “knows his craft supremely well, delivers clear advice and also practical solutions, and is highly personable at the same time.” He is also recognised by Chambers Europe (2024) and Chambers UK (2025) as “a rising star of the next generation.”
 

Matthew Sabben-Clare

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.

Michael Moore

Chief Executive, BVCA

Michael Moore is Chief Executive of the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA).

Michael and his colleagues are focused on supporting the development of the private capital industry, as it invests in thousands of businesses and supports millions of jobs across the UK. As policymakers work on the competitiveness of the UK’s investment climate, Michael is confident that private equity and venture capital will continue to create significant public value through investment in growth, innovation and people.

Over the past 30 years Michael has operated at senior levels in both politics and business. In his political career he served in the Cabinet at the time of the Coalition Government, as Secretary of State for Scotland. He was a Member of Parliament for 18 years.

After the 2015 General Election, Michael became a Senior Advisor at PwC. Prior to entering politics, he qualified as a chartered accountant with the firm.

Michelle Lamprecht

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.
 

Mo Sondhi

Senior Director of Debt Finance, OakNorth

Mo Sondhi is a Senior Director of Debt Finance at OakNorth Bank, which he joined in 2016 after c.15 years at RBS. An expert in Structured and Corporate Finance, he has deep experience across customer relationships, portfolio management, risk, and strategy.

Mo leads on originating, structuring, and executing complex transactions that support growing businesses and ambitious funds with tailored funding solutions. Since 2018, he has spearheaded OakNorth’s work in fund finance, demonstrating a strong track record in delivering success across varied and challenging business situations against a backdrop of a constantly changing macro environment.
 

Nassim Cherchali

Managing Partner, Anacap

Nassim Cherchali is the Managing Partner at AnaCap, where he has played a pivotal role in developing the firm’s next-generation platform focused on asset-light services, technology, and software within the financial ecosystem.

Under Nassim’s leadership, AnaCap has successfully executed 18 platform investments and ~100 bolt-on acquisitions, consistently delivering superior and consistent returns to investors. In the past three years, he has spearheaded fundraising efforts exceeding €700 million, and the firm is currently deploying its second next-generation fund.

Before joining AnaCap, Nassim was part of the Financial Institutions Group at Lehman Brothers in London, where he advised clients across insurance, banking, and consumer finance sectors. He graduated from ESCP Europe.

Recognised for his deep sector expertise, entrepreneurial mindset, and collaborative approach, Nassim is a trusted partner to founders and management teams. His leadership continues to shape AnaCap’s success and establishes him as a respected voice in the private equity community. Nassim has also been recognised as one of the 50 most influential persons in European private equity.
 

Nicolas Moura

EMEA Private Capital Research Analyst, PitchBook

Nicolas Moura is an EMEA private capital research analyst at PitchBook, where he covers the PE and VC markets in Europe. He contributes to quarterly core reports as well as analyst notes on various topics. Prior to PitchBook, Moura worked as an equity research analyst first at Berenberg and then at Mirabaud, transitioning from being a sector analyst into a generalist.

Moura received a bachelor’s degree in economics and business from University College of London (UCL) and a master’s degree in finance from Imperial College Business School. He is based in PitchBook’s London office.
 

Oliver Baker

Member of Management, Private Credit Europe, Partners Group

Oliver Baker is part of the European Private Credit team based in London and is responsible for originating and executing Direct Lending investments across the UK and Benelux markets. He has been with Partners Group since 2014 and prior to that worked within the leveraged finance divisions of GE Capital and Lloyds Banking Group.

Patricia Volhard

Partner, Debevoise & Plimpton

Patricia Volhard is head of the firm’s European Funds Regulatory practice. She is based in the Paris and Frankfurt offices, and also spends substantial time in the London office.

She is a member of the firm’s Corporate Department, and Private Equity and Funds/Investment Management Groups. She is also a member of the firm’s core group of ESG partners. Her practice focuses on advising private funds and fund managers on structuring and setting up funds for a European investor base, as well as advising on European financial regulatory aspects for fund managers and corporates, including on SFDR, CSRD, CSDDD and other ESG-related regulation.

Ms.Volhard is one of Europe’s leading private funds regulatory lawyers and has played a prominent role in the ongoing development of the area. She is Chair of Invest Europe’s Financial Services/Regulatory Working Group, a member of its SFDR working group, and former Chair of its Tax, Legal & Regulatory Committee.

She is also a member of the Investment Management Consultative Working Group of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). In Germany, she is a member of the Board of the BVK, and heads its Legal Committee. In the UK, she is a member of the regulatory committee of the BVCA.
 

Phil Westcott

Chief Executive Officer, Filament Syfter

Phil Westcott is CEO and founder of Filament Syfter. He is a former Director at IBM, and a specialist in applied Artificial Intelligence. Phil previously ran the IBM Watson platform in Europe, led their Smarter Cities business in Southeast Asia and launched IBM’s global IoT practice.

He is a specialist in AI use cases, business models and enterprise transformation. He is a regular speaker on the convergence of tech and entrepreneurship. Phil is a Chartered Engineer and holds an MBA from IESE and Columbia business schools.
 

Piers Johansen

Managing Director & IPO Leader, Aon M&A

Piers Johansen leads both adviser coverage and strategy & sales enablement for Aon's M&A business in EMEA, combining a diverse professional background in law, investment banking and insurance over 30 years.

His responsibilities include managing relationships with law firms, investment banks and other stakeholders as part of a structured approach focused on bringing Aon’s diversified capabilities to help create client value and drive deal-related efficiency. Working in close collaboration with business, geography and other leaders in Aon’s M&A business, Piers helps develop sales strategy focused on client engagement, deal origination and execution.

At Aon, Piers has applied his prior deal experience to help drive innovation in M&A risk-transfer products, including ‘cash confirmation’ and warranty & indemnity (W&I) insurance solutions on UK takeovers, as well as a deferred consideration solution on a $700mn carve-out transaction. He has also played an integral role in facilitating client outcomes across Aon’s core Risk and Human Capital business lines, including the introduction of a W&I solution to enable a key trade in illiquid investments after a record £4.8bn pension buy-in transaction. Since 2018, Piers has authored the editorial chapter on M&A insurance for Lexology Panoramic: Private M&A (formerly, Getting the Deal Through).

Before joining Aon in 2015, Piers was senior M&A Legal Counsel for J.P. Morgan in EMEA and, prior to that, acquired a range of public and private M&A experience as an M&A/Corporate Associate at Skadden and Norton Rose. While at Skadden, Piers spent 2 years on secondment to the UK’s Takeover Panel.
 

Ravneet Mann

Partner, Stride Ventures

Ravneet Mann is a Partner at Stride Ventures. A senior investment leader with over 18 years of experience in investments, growth credit, strategic partnerships, policy and international market expansion. In her role as Partner at Stride Ventures, she leads the firm’s efforts to identify and develop high-quality investment opportunities, foster partnerships that enhance market access, and design strategies for entry into new geographies.

With expertise spanning technology, energy and consumer sectors, her work has been at the intersection of capital, innovation, and market development.

Stride Ventures is a global growth credit fund with presence in Asia, GCC and the UK. Starting her career at Merrill Lynch, Ravneet has also worked on FDI investments and policy advocacy at Invest India.
 

Rebecca Gibson

Partner, Oakley Capital

Rebecca Gibson joined Oakley in 2014 as a partner and has over 22 years of investment experience. Her responsibilities include managing the Investment Team, as well as leading the Investor Relations Team. Prior to joining Oakley, Rebecca was a partner at Cinven where she worked for 12 years.

Before that, Rebecca spent five years working as a strategy consultant at Bain & Company. Rebecca is also chair of level 20, a nonprofit organisation which aims to improving gender diversity in the private equity industry.Rebecca holds a BA (Hons) in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University.

Richard Hope

Co-Head of Investments & Head of Europe, Hamilton Lane

Richard Hope is the Co-Head of Investments and Head of Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). In his role as Co-Head of Investments, he has broad leadership and management responsibilities across the global investment platform. He also heads the London office and sits on the Portfolio Management Group Committee and Evergreen Portfolio Committee.

Richard serves as a member of the Investment Committee and represents Hamilton Lane on several fund advisory boards. Prior to joining Hamilton Lane in 2011, Richard worked as a Director with Alliance Trust Equity Partners, where he helped establish a private equity fund investment business together with making a number of direct investments.

Previously, Richard worked in the U.K. at Noble Group, where he was responsible for making and managing venture and growth capital investments.
 

Robyn Garvie

Enterprise Client Leader, Aon

Robyn Garvie is a Senior Partner and Client Leader at Aon. She has worked in client relationship management for 20 years across the Private Equity, Technology, Healthcare, Consumer and Professional Services industries, focusing on building strategic partnerships with clients that are grounded in a foundation of trust and exceptional client service.

Robyn joined Aon in 2016 from the Professional Services industry, having worked for PwC and EY. She is a member of Aon’s Private Equity Hub in EMEA where she leads the firm’s global relationships of a small number of private equity clients, spanning the house, the funds and portfolio companies.
 

Sanjay Mistry

Head of Alternative Credit, Pensions Protection Fund

Sanjay Mistry is Head of Alternative Credit at the PPF and was the interim Head of Alternatives (2019-2022) until that role was disbanded.

As a senior portfolio manager with almost 30 years investment experience Sanjay is responsible for setting the strategy and all investments within a portfolio, spanning all sub-investment grade credit markets. His mandate covers credit investments across public/private, performing/non-performing, long/short, corporate/infrastructure/real estate/asset backed sectors for the PPF's balance sheet. Investments may be on a direct or non-direct basis across primary and secondary transactions, through a combination of SPVs, fund of one and commingled vehicles. Soon after joining the PPF, Sanjay worked with the CIO to redesign and expand the PPF’s Alternatives team to its current form.

Today Sanjay is also a member of the ACC’s Investor Manager Committee, PRI’s Private Debt Advisory Council, MFA's Institutional Investor Advisory Council and the BVCA's Private Credit Forum.

Prior to the PPF Sanjay spent over 20 years with Mercer, having begun his career with Eagle Star Life Assurance. At Mercer he was initially in the advisory and manager research business focussed on portfolio strategy, portfolio construction and investment implementation matters along with due diligence of primary, secondary and co-investments initially in private equity before shifting to private debt investing around the GFC and then into Mercer’s discretionary fund of fund’s business. By the time he left Mercer he was their global head of private debt.

Over the decades Sanjay has completed numerous successful direct investments, managed several commingled and single investor vehicles, building a strong track record of outperformance.
 

Sarah Adams

Director of Policy, BVCA

Sarah Adams is Director of Policy at the BVCA, with Isobel Clarke. Isobel and Sarah have worked as a jobshare partnership since early 2020. They lead the Policy team and their work across tax, legal, regulatory, accounting and sustainability matters, working closely with members and the BVCA committees to progress key technical and strategic policy issues.

Sarah has over a decade of experience making policy in the centre of government, mainly at HM Treasury. She has led on policy areas across tax, spending and financial services, including pensions tax, venture capital and insurance markets. With Isobel, she has been deputy director for business tax strategy at HM Treasury, and deputy director for open justice and dispute resolution at the Ministry of Justice.

Sarah lives in London with her family. She studied economics at the University of Cambridge and worked on global health economics before joining the civil service.

Sarah Cardell

Chief Executive, Competition and Markets Authority

Sarah Cardell was appointed Chief Executive of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in December 2022.  She is a member of the CMA’s Board and leads the CMA’s Senior Executive Team.  Sarah previously served as interim Chief Executive from July 2022.  Prior to this, she was the CMA’s General Counsel (from September 2013), with responsibility for leading the CMA’s Legal Service and Policy & International directorates as well as the CMA’s Digital Market Unit.

As General Counsel, Sarah served as the legal adviser to the Board.  She joined the CMA from Ofgem (the UK regulator for electricity and gas markets) where she was the Legal Partner of the Markets Division, leading on competition law matters.

She previously worked at Slaughter and May in London as a Partner in the Competition Group, advising across a wide range of EU and UK merger and antitrust cases. 
 

Simone Tedeshci

Partner, Apis Partners

Simone Tedeshci co-founded Juniper Investment Partners, a private equity holding that invests in tactical opportunities alongside specialist operating partners. Before establishing Juniper, he worked with Capmont, an alternative asset manager in Germany.

Prior to that, Simone was Managing Director at VTB, responsible for private equity and special situations in Europe. Earlier, he joined Standard Bank, managing capital solutions in emerging markets. He previously worked at Morgan Stanley in London and Hong Kong on equity derivatives and convertible transactions in global markets, having joined the firm after completing his MBA.

Simone started his career as a lawyer, practising at top law firms in Italy and the UK.
 

Sir Nigel Wilson

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.
 

Stefania Ponzo

Partner, Pi Labs

Stefania Ponzo oversees our growing portfolio, working closely with our founders to ensure they have the strategic, financial and commercial support required to achieve global scale.

Based in London, Stefania brings over 14 years of experience working with high-growth technology companies as an investor and advisor. She spent seven years at Coutts Private Bank, advising UHNW clients globally on asset allocation and growth capital investment opportunities. Subsequently, she led fintech investments at Downing Ventures, a VC fund investing in UK-based Seed and Series A stage technology companies.

More recently, Stefania was a Portfolio Director at generalist VC trust Pembroke VCT where she provided strategic and operational support to executive teams and acted as a Board Observer for a large portfolio including leading arts and culture tech platform, Smartify. She is an active mentor in the early-stage tech community and an Angel Investor at London-based sustainable investment start-up.

Stefania holds an MSc in Financial Mathematics from Bayes Business School in London (previously Cass Business School) and an MSc in Economics and Statistics from the University of Rome Tor Vergata.
 

Stephanie Heller

Managing Partner, Bootstrap

Stephanie Heller's career includes founding, building and sitting on the board of several successful technology and financial companies in Zurich and London, such as the award winning fintech start-up Fractal Labs.

Stephanie takes her experiences as a founder and parlays that into guidance and direction to Bootstrap Europe’s portfolio founders in a pragmatic and compassionate way. Bootstrap Europe’s philosophy of providing debt financing for growth companies was nurtured between 2008 and 2012, when Stephanie, the managing partner for Bootstrap Europe was responsible for the private equity assets of Cape Capital AG - a Zurich-based multi-asset manager and family office, investing in a whole spectrum of companies, from start-ups to mature businesses.
 

Suzi Gillespie

Head of Research, BVCA

Suzi Gillespie leads the Research team at the BVCA ensuring that the organisation is at the forefront of crucial analysis of trends and issues surrounding venture capital and private equity and the impact of the industry on the economy.

Suzi previously spent over 15 years at PwC in a variety of roles including Valuations, Pensions and Consulting. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst and hold a degree in Economics from the University of Warwick.

Tim Dunn

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.

Tom Taylor

Head of Policy, Legal & Regulatory, BVCA

Tom Taylor is Head of Policy (Legal and Regulatory) at the BVCA, where he works with private capital firms, Government and regulators on policy issues and the development of UK, EU and US legal and regulatory frameworks affecting private capital.

Tom previously worked for eight years as a solicitor in the private fund formation teams of City law firms SJ Berwin/King and Wood Mallesons and Nabarro/CMS.
 

Vanessa Rocchi

Director, Lexington Partners

Vanessa Rocchi is a Director on the Secondary team primarily focused on the origination, evaluation, and execution of non-U.S. secondary opportunities including partnership and GP-led transactions.

Vannessa joined Lexington as an associate in 2014 from Barclays where she was an associate in investment banking. She graduated from the Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi with an MS in Finance.
 

Will Clark

Managing Director of Venture Debt, Mercia

Will Clark has the ultimate respect for anyone that take the brave step of starting their own business. With an unquenchable thirst for founder stories, Will loves to promote those who are central to building high-growth innovative companies.

As a kid Will's Dad would frequently take him on weekend visits into the transport business he ran. He became fascinated by the cash office and how the business made money and decided early on that he wanted to train as an accountant and become an FD.

Having graduated with an accounting and economics degree from Liverpool University, he joined the local office of Ernst &Young and became a chartered accountant specialising in owner-managed businesses and later financial due diligence. Will was fortunate to secure a secondment which introduced him to the fascinating world of private equity and venture capital.

Will jumped at the chance to join 3i in the North West and became absorbed with their post-investment activities. Ten years flew by and after completing a project with a London-based private equity business focused on secondaries, Will joined Mercia in 2011.

Since then, Will has been involved in deploying various funds across the UK and is now fortunate to be managing a great group of people who are focused on providing pre-seed and seed investment to the very best opportunities across the UK.
 

Will Kier

Head of IP Risks & Structured Solutions, Aon

Will Kier lead’s Aon’s IP Risk & Structured Solutions practice for Aon across EMEA.

Will specializes in structuring complex IP lending transactions, enhanced with insurance. Will is responsible for driving Aon’s go-to-market strategy in EMEA and leads engagement with both insurance providers and lending capital partners. Will also advises Aon’s European-based clients on their IP Risk needs, including the availability and applicability of innovative insurance solutions.

Will has been with Aon for over ten years sending time in both London and New York. He has always focused on intangible asset solutions for multinational clients, first as a broker within the Financial Services Group, and more recently as a Director within Cyber Solutions.

Prior to joining Aon in 2011 Will was at the University of Birmingham. During his time in the industry he has become an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute (ACII).
 

William Thompson

Principal, HarbourVest Partners

William Thompson joined HarbourVest in 2019 and focuses on analyzing, structuring, and monitoring secondary private equity opportunities, including traditional and complex transactions.

William joined the Firm from Goldman Sachs, where he was most recently an executive director in the Investment Banking division focused on mergers and acquisitions in the healthcare sector. 
Prior to this, he was a senior analyst in the Healthcare Investment Banking division at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

William received a BS (with distinction) in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2008, where he received the Walter S. Spearman Chancellor’s Award for achievement in scholarship, leadership, and character.
 

Zoë VanderWolk

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).