Meet the Summit speakers
Adam Shepherd
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.
Amy Abbott
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.
Anita Rana
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.
Antti Leppänen
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
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.
Beth Rigby
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
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.
Bruno Bertrand-Delfau
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.
Catherine Haumesser Balthasar
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.
Chris Elphick
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.
Dana Haimoff
Dana Haimoff is a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager, Private Equity Group, JPMorgan Asset Management based in London. She is responsible for sourcing, due diligence and monitoring private equity primary venture capital, growth and buyout funds, secondary and co-investment opportunities on behalf of the PEG’s comingled and client separate account funds. Currently, she serves on numerous private equity LP advisory committees.
Dana is the co-Founder of Level 20, a not-for-profit organisation set up to encourage women to succeed in the private equity industry. 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.
Elliot Issacs
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.
Francesca Ficai
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
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.
Henry Freeman
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.
James Jupp
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.
Leon de Bono
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
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.
Matt Dickman
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
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
Michael Moore is Chief Executive of the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association.
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
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
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.
Nicolas Moura
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
Oliver Baker is part of the European Private Credit business unit, based in London. He has 14 years of industry experience. He has been with Partners Group since 2014.
Prior to joining Partners Group, he worked within the leveraged finance divisions of GE Capital and Lloyds Banking Group. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business from Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.
Patricia Volhard
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.
Piers Johansen
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.
Sir Nigel Wilson
Sir Nigel 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.
Suzi Gillespie
Suzi 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
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 Pemberton
Tom Pemberton is a Partner and the Head of the Consumer Team. He leads on investments in high growth businesses with a focus on digital consumer and consumer technology sectors. He also helps support businesses with international expansion, particularly into Asia Pacific. Tom is involved and sits on the board of Medik8 and Blue Light Card.
He also led the investments into Automotive Transformation Group, which was sold to Keyloop in 2024, The Goat Agency, which was sold to WPP in 2023, and Virgin Experience Days, which was exited to Equistone PE in 2022.
Tom started his career at strategy consulting firm Booz & Co and then joined mid-market private equity fund Crescent Capital Partners in Sydney. His investing career at Crescent involved transactions in healthcare, technology and consumer businesses, with a focus on growth into Asia. Tom also spent a year as CEO within one of Crescent’s consumer-focused portfolio companies.
Tom has a love of all sports and is a keen traveller, often combining the two by attending overseas sporting events. Having acclimatised to UK cricket conditions, he is now claiming to be more of a bowler (perhaps it’s the sandpaper!).
Tom holds a Bachelor of Commerce/Arts from the University of Sydney.
Will Kier
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).
Zoë VanderWolk
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).