James joined Advent in 1997 and co-chairs Advent’s global Executive Committee. Based in London, he co-heads Advent in Europe and is a member of the business and financial services sector team.

In addition to his investment focus, James is an advocate for diversity and sustainability in the industry. He is a member of the advisory council of private equity diversity organisation Level 20 and serves as chair of the private equity task force of the Sustainable Markets Initiative.

ADVENT INTERNATIONAL

Founded in 1984, Advent International is one of the largest and most experienced global private equity investors. The firm has invested in 421 private equity investments across 43 countries, and as of March 31, 2024, had $90 billion in assets under management*. With 15 offices in 12 countries, Advent has established a globally integrated team of over 315 private equity investment professionals across North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia. The firm focuses on investments in five core sectors, including business and financial services; health care; industrial; retail, consumer, and leisure; and technology. For 40 years, Advent has been dedicated to international investing and remains committed to partnering with management teams to deliver sustained revenue and earnings growth for its portfolio companies.

For more information, visit
Website: www.adventinternational.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/advent-international

* Assets under management include assets attributable to Advent advisory clients as well as employee and third-party co-investment vehicles.

Ms. Cohen joins from Monroe Capital LLC, where she was the Global Head of Institutional Partnerships, responsible for fostering key partnerships and driving growth initiatives. Before her tenure at Monroe Capital, she held top leadership positions at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (USA) (“MUFG”), including Chief Investment Strategy Officer. At MUFG, Ms. Cohen was responsible for advising, directing, and governing the strategic alternatives investment portfolio, as well as playing a strategic role in the Firm's ESG and DEI initiatives.

Additionally, Ms. Cohen has held senior investment banking and trusted advisor roles at J.P. Morgan, UBS Investment Bank, and Credit Suisse First Boston, where she honed her abilities in corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions, and client relations.

Gwenola Chambon is CEO and Founding Partner of Vauban Infrastructure Partners. She has built and developed the firm’s equity infrastructure activity over the past 12 years. She developed the team, led fundraising for various vintages, designed the funds’ strategies, and spearheaded their capital deployment. She has successfully turned Vauban into a multibillion asset manager with a strong international client base.

Throughout her 28-year career, Gwenola has developed an extensive knowledge of the European infrastructure sector and has deep experience financing and investing in infrastructure assets. She has worked on numerous landmark transactions, from the first PPP projects in continental Europe (Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, France) to the development of strategic acquisitions in the European core infrastructure space (notably in digital infrastructure in France, Spanish PPPs, smart meters, etc.). Prior to developing the equity infrastructure activities of Natixis IM in 2010 she spent two years at the infrastructure fund Galaxy. Before that, Gwenola was Head of European Infrastructure at CFIG, and previously was a senior member of the project finance team at BNP Paribas.

In addition to her responsibilities as director on the boards of various European infrastructure companies (Proxiserve, Axione, Comsa Concessiones, Alis, etc.) Gwenola is a member of several industry groups including the European Commission working group of Experts in Infrastructure, the PRI expert group, EFAMA, and the AFG and AFIC working groups for infrastructure. She is also an active member of the Institut de la Gestion Déléguée in France. Gwenola is an active member of IFA (Institut Français des Administrateurs) and is responsible for project finance courses in ESSEC’s Masters of Complex Financing.

Gwenola is fluent in French, Spanish, and English, and holds a Master’s in Business from ESCP.

Vauban Infrastructure Partners

Vauban Infrastructure Partners is a leading infrastructure asset manager focused on European core infrastructure investments. Headquartered in Paris, Vauban employs c.70 professionals, the majority of whom have been working together for over a decade. Vauban targets predominantly European brownfield mid-market assets, and pursues a long-term, yield-driven strategy matching the underlying nature of the assets and long-term commitment to all stakeholders’ interests through a strong focus on creating sustainable value. Vauban has raised over €8bn across 7 funds in core infrastructure, and has invested in the mobility, energy transition, social infrastructure, and digital infrastructure sectors spanning 12 different geographies.

Sabrina is the Chief Executive Officer for the European Leveraged Finance Association, an investor-only trade association comprised of European leveraged finance investors from over 60 institutional fixed income managers, including investment advisors, insurance companies, and pension funds. ELFA seeks to support the growth and resilience of the leveraged finance market while acting as the voice of its investor community by promoting transparency and facilitating engagement among European leveraged finance market participants.

Sabrina is a recognised expert in the European leveraged finance market focused on increasing transparency, improving disclosure standards, and educating market participants on the importance of lender protections in documentation.

Most recently, Sabrina was Head of European High Yield Research for Covenant Review. Prior to that, she was Counsel with DLA Piper in London.

For more information about ELFA, including our mission statement and member benefits, visit www.elfainvestors.com.

Laurie Mahon served as Vice Chair of CIBC’s Global Investment Banking business until May of this year, a role she assumed after having led the Global Infrastructure and Power team since August 2013. She has spent her entire professional life in the infrastructure space, having had a multifaceted career as a banker, public sector manager, infrastructure executive, consultant, journalist and developer focusing on the development and financing of large infrastructure projects around the globe.

Before joining CIBC Capital Markets, Ms. Mahon was a senior expert in McKinsey’s infrastructure practice. Previously, she spent 12 years as an independent advisor, helping numerous public and private entities develop transportation projects in the U.S., Latin America, China and the U.K. From 1984 until 1999, she worked on Wall Street as an investment banker, focusing on the infrastructure markets in both the U.S. and emerging markets. She started her banking career as a municipal banker.

Prior to her banking career, Ms. Mahon spent five years at New Jersey Transit, where she held various positions in planning and policy until becoming deputy Chief Financial Officer.
Ms. Mahon began her professional career as a journalist with The Boston Globe and The Bergen Record.

She is a member of the North American Advisory Board of Transurban Inc., a global developer and operator of toll facilities, serves as a trustee for Public Media New Jersey Inc., which operates NJ PBS, and served as a director for Infrastructure and Energy Alternatives Inc., a NASDAQ company which constructs wind, solar and rail projects, until its sale last year.

Ms. Mahon holds a master’s degree in Urban Planning from Harvard University, and a B.S. summa cum laude in journalism from Boston University.

Teia Merring is a Senior Investment Director in the Private Equity Funds and Co-Investment team at USS Investment Management (~£70bn under management), the corporate pension plan for universities in the United Kingdom.

She is responsible for executing and managing private equity fund commitments and co-investments across all sectors and geographies and sits on various supervisory boards.

In addition to her role at USS, Teia is the Chair of the ILPA Board.

Prior to joining USS in 2011, Teia was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs in the Healthcare division.
She holds a MSc in Applied Economics and Finance from Copenhagen Business School, and her university studies included a MBA term at IIM Ahmedabad, India.

USS

The Universities Superannuation Scheme is a pension scheme in the United Kingdom with ~£70 billion under management. It has over 400,000 members, made up of active and retired academic and academic-related staff (including senior administrative staff) across Universities in the UK established prior to 1992. It is the largest private pension scheme in the UK by fund size. The headquarters of Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited (USS) are in Liverpool.

Patricia is an experienced Non-Executive Board Director with a breadth of institutional investment experience across infrastructure, private equity and sustainability. Over the past two decades, Patricia has been an investment manager at Macquarie and direct investor at the UK Government and PSP. 

Patricia’s dual ambitions of investing well and seeking to protect the planet led her to join the UK Government to co-create the world’s first green bank in 2011. 

Patricia is a Non-Executive Board Director at Legal and General Assurance Society Ltd and Chair of the Rem/NomCo at Aquila European Renewables AERI plc. Patricia is a Non-Executive Independent Investment Committee Member at GLIL, investing in UK infrastructure on behalf of its pension plan members, and at Old Mutual’s African Infrastructure Investment Fund 4. SHE'S A FELLOW OF CHAPTER ZERO AND CO-FOUNDER OF REAL ASSETS INFRANEDS NETWORK.

Patricia began her career in finance with Morgan Stanley. She holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Cambridge University.

Deborah Zurkow is Global Head of Investments at Allianz Global Investors, and a member of the Executive Committee. In January 2020, Deborah took on responsibility for leading AllianzGI’s investment platform, which comprises Private Markets, Equities, Fixed Income and Multi-Asset strategies.

Deborah joined AllianzGI in 2012 as CIO and Head of Infrastructure Debt, leading a team that pioneered infrastructure debt as an asset class for institutional investors. Since its inception, the team has made over EUR 25bn of debt investments in a variety of infrastructure sectors across the globe.

Before joining AllianzGI, Deborah was CEO of Trifinium Advisors Limited and head of Public Finance EMEA for MBIA UK Insurance Limited.

Deborah holds an MBA from Yale School of Management and a BA from Wellesley College. She is the Chair of the ACC (Alternatives Credit Council) and a Founding Board member of the LTIIA (Long-term Infrastructure Investors Association).

Deborah received 100 Women in Finance’s 2024 EMEA Industry Leadership Award, and she has been included in Financial News’ list of ‘100 Most Influential Women in European Finance’ on multiple occasions.

Allianz Global Investors

Allianz Global Investors is a leading active asset manager with over 600 investment professionals in over 20 offices worldwide and managing EUR 516 billion in assets. We invest for the long term and seek to generate value for clients every step of the way. We do this by being active – in how we partner with clients and anticipate their changing needs, and build solutions based on capabilities across public and private markets. Our focus on protecting and enhancing our clients’ assets leads naturally to a commitment to sustainability to drive positive change. Our goal is to elevate the investment experience for clients, whatever their location or objectives.

Nicky Barker joined KKR in 2019 and is a member of the European Real Estate team. Prior to joining KKR, Ms. Barker spent 11 years at The Carlyle Group where she focused on opportunistic investments across sectors in the U.K., Netherlands and Ireland. Ms. Barker holds an MSc in Surveying from The College of Estate Management.

Isabel Berger is a partner in the London office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Isabel is a member of the Private Equity, Mergers and Acquisitions and Real Estate practice groups.

Isabel advises private equity funds and other financial investor clients on domestic and cross-border transactions including leveraged buyouts, acquisitions and divestitures, equity growth investments, joint ventures and co-investments and management equity plans, as well as related advisory work. She has experience advising sponsors across a broad range of industries including real estate private equity transactions. She has previously spent 12 months on secondment at KKR.

Isabel is recognised by Legal 500 UK 2023 and 2024 for Private Equity: Transactions – high-value deals and Real Estate: Commercial Property – Investment and by Expert Guides as a Rising Star in their 2022 Guide, which recognizes the brightest and most talented practitioners under 40 in the area of business law and related practices. Isabel has been named a Private Equity Rising Star for 2023 by Law.com International: one of the top 25 private equity lawyers under 40 in the U.K. and Europe.

Melissa is an Investment Director and leads the Private Debt Specialists team at Aviva Investors. She is responsible for scaling Aviva Investors private debt offerings and establish strategic partnerships with investors for customised solutions and pooled vehicles across Real Estate Debt, Infrastructure Debt, Corporate Debt, and Asset-based Lending. Melissa has over twenty years investment, structuring and capital raising experience.

She began her career in high yield portfolio management and latterly alternative credit structuring at AXA Investment Managers before moving to Bank of America where she was responsible for structuring alternative credit deals and marketing to pension funds, insurance companies, foundations, consultants, and family offices. She returned to the buy-side in 2012 with roles at 3i Debt Management and M&G where she focused on private credit fund structuring. She holds a BA in Political Science and International Economics from the University of California, Davis, and studied at the Institut d’Études Politiques de Grenoble.

Jane Bowes is a member of Threadmark’s European fund distribution team and Chair of the ESG Committee. Jane has over two decades of capital raising experience and has worked on multiple infrastructure, and credit, focused fundraises since joining Threadmark in 2014. As the founding member of Threadmark’s ESG committee, Jane also helps Threadmark’s clients implement and enhance their ESG strategies.
Jane established her career at Gryphon Investment Bank where she subsequently became Partner and had primary responsibility for investor syndication. She has also held senior investor relations positions at EMF Capital Partners and Hussar ＆ Co.

Alice Brogi is a partner in the London office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Alice is a member of the Private Equity, Mergers and Acquisitions and Infrastructure practice groups.

Alice practices private equity M&A, representing sponsors in cross-border transactions across a number of sectors with a focus on infrastructure and hard assets. She has advised clients on domestic and cross-border acquisitions, disposals, preferred equity and debt investments, joint ventures, loan-to-own restructurings, and portfolio acquisitions in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Austria and the Nordics.

Alice has extensive experience in advising private equity firms on investments across a number of sectors, including digital infrastructure, transport, utilities, climate investment and energy transition projects. She has previously completed secondments at Hudson Advisors UK and to the merchant banking division of Goldman Sachs.

Tori brings extensive experience to her role as Senior Director, Secondaries at Nicola Wealth, where she leads a dedicated Secondaries fund strategy and collaborates with the private capital team on Secondaries opportunities.

With a background in private equity, including roles at Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Morningside, where she played a pivotal role in growing the firm to over $400 million in assets under management, Tori is known for her expertise in fund management and strategic leadership. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Business and Administration degree from Wilfrid Laurier University and actively contributes to the community as a board member at Urban Squash Toronto, a member of the Finance Committee at North York Harvest Food Bank, and as a member of the Capital Connection committee for the Association of Corporate Growth, Toronto chapter.

Laura de Palacio Aragón is a Vice President at The Riverside Company, where she has been involved in private equity investments, value creation initiatives, and deal origination across Europe. Since joining Riverside in 2019, she has contributed to numerous successful transactions and strategic growth efforts, with a particular focus on the consumer sector.

Earlier in her career, Laura worked in the Investment Banking division at UBS for three years, specializing in M&A advisory for leading Iberian corporations.

She has also taught Financial Mathematics as a part-time professor at her alma mater, Universidad Pontificia Comillas (ICADE), where she earned dual degrees in Actuarial & Financial Sciences and Business Administration with a major in Finance.

Based in Madrid, Laura leads Riverside’s coverage of the consumer segment in Europe and overseas investment activity in the Iberian region.

Christine Fritz is a senior portfolio manager at PGIM Real Estate. Based in Munich, Christine is responsible for the European Core Diversified Property (EuroCore) Fund. Prior to joining PGIM, she worked as a Portfolio Manager in the Real Estate arm of KGAL Investment Management, a Germany- based alternatives investment manager.

Together with the KGAL team, she drove the development, structuring and launch of real estate fund strategies focussing on long-term demographic and technological developments across Europe.

Previously, she was responsible for the portfolio management of closed-end funds at LaSalle Investment Management in Germany, heading up over EUR 1 Bn in total AUM. She began her career at LaSalle in London as an analyst for pan-European acquisitions, transferring in 2009 to an asset management role responsible for over EUR 160M in logistics, office and retail assets located in Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Germany.

Christine holds an MSc in Management from HEC Paris and an MA from Oxford University. She qualified in 2007 as a RICS Chartered Surveyor. A US citizen, Christine also speaks fluent French and German.

Anne is a Partner and co-founder of Threadmark. She has 30 years’ experience of capital raising and financial markets, and has advised and raised capital for over 70 different fund managers in real estate, credit, infrastructure and private equity since 2002. Previously she worked with Robertson Stephens where she focused on equity private placements, and at Salomon Smith Barney (now Citigroup) focusing on debt private placements. Anne started her career at Morgan Stanley where she worked in fixed income derivatives and corporate finance.

Anne has a Masters in Economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Threadmark

Threadmark is a leading global advisory firm specialised in private markets. We advise clients across real estate, infrastructure, private equity, credit and sustainability, and to date have raised over $40 billion.

We were founded in 2009 and are fully independent, with five offices in the UK, Europe and the US

We provide innovative capital raising solutions for funds, joint ventures, seeded portfolios and single assets. We specialise in highly differentiated offerings that seek to provide investors with tailored solutions. We provide a range of strategic advisory services to complement our capital raising activities. We are experts in preparing managers for marketing. We have helped numerous groups raise their first institutional capital, and helped many others evolve and materially scale their businesses.

Victoria is Head of Funds, in the Infrastructure Equity Team at AXA IM Alts. Victoria joined the team in January 2023 from our Real Estate business and is the lead portfolio manager and responsible for the AXA European Infrastructure Fund.

Prior to joining the team Victoria held the position of Head of the Special Situations Transactions team at AXA IM Real Assets where she was responsible for the sourcing, selection and execution of pan-European and other complex acquisitions. In recent years, Victoria has led some of the firm’s largest and most complex transactions including the acquisition and take private of a US listed REIT and the acquisition of Kadans Science Partners a fully integrated life science real estate owner, developer and operator. Victoria has also focussed heavily on digital infrastructure in her role supporting AXA IM Alts’ portfolio company Data4 where she has worked closely with the management team to support their growth ambitions across Europe.

Victoria joined AXA IM in 2007 and has previously held roles as Head of Fund Finance for Alternatives & Special Situations and Head of Corporate Finance in the UK. Victoria has over 25 years of industry experience with a track record in sourcing and executing transactions, fund and transaction structuring, joint ventures, strategic partnerships, financing, liquidity management and financial reporting.

Victoria graduated from the University of Newcastle (Australia) with a Bachelor of Commerce and is a Chartered Accountant.

Ms. Hartviksen is a global credit investor with over 25 years of experience on both the buy and the sell-side at banks, pension funds and asset managers. In her current role at IMCO as Managing Director, Head of Global Credit, she is responsible for building out the fund’s credit team and investments across public and private credit markets. Prior to joining IMCO in January 2020, she held several roles at Invesco including Head of Global High Yield, Head of Fixed Income, Trimark and Senior Portfolio Manager. Previously she also held the position of Senior Portfolio Manager on a market-neutral credit strategy with the CPPIB. Prior to returning to her native Toronto in 2009 she spent nearly a decade in Southern California with Western Asset Management, a leading fixed income asset manager, and before that was in Sao Paulo, Brazil where she worked as an EM Corporate Analyst at ING Barings and a Senior Analyst at JP Morgan. Ms. Hartviksen holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Toronto and is a CFA charterholder.

Elisabetta Leoni has over twenty years’ experience in real assets equity and debt financing, both in banking and investments.

She currently holds the position of Senior Investment Director with AustralianSuper, in the Mid Risk portfolio, leading the investment risk assessment and portfolio risk review of European assets. She also collaborates with the AustralianSuper team located in Melbourne on global assets.

Prior to joining AustralianSuper, Elisabetta was a Director in the Macquarie Risk Management Group in London covering a range of sectors, including the renewable activities of the Green Investments Group, digital and utility infrastructure, as well as property lending, having previously worked in Macquarie Capital.

Educated in Italy and the U.K., Elisabetta holds a degree cum laude from Bocconi University and a master from the London School of Economics.

About AustralianSuper

AustralianSuper is the largest superannuation (pension) fund in Australia, and one of the top 20 pension funds globally, with more than £180 billion in member funds under management. Assets under management are forecast to reach £250 billion within the next five years.

Today, AustralianSuper manages the superannuation assets of one in seven working Australians, with more than ‌472,000‌ businesses making contributions on behalf of employees.

We are a long-term, multi-asset institutional investor, and invest the retirement savings of over 3.5 million members to help them achieve their best financial position in retirement.

AustralianSuper is a profit-for-member superannuation fund. Fees are set to cover the costs of operations, and no dividends or profits are paid to shareholders.

Holly is a Relationship Manager at the Institutional Limited Partners Association. She is responsible for establishing strong and authentic relationships with ILPA members to drive engagement with ILPA resources, and gain a thorough understanding of member interests, needs, and challenges to help hone and adapt ILPA’s offerings.

Holly holds a Bachelor of Arts Honours from Queen’s University where she specialized in health and economics.

Gurpreet joined Level 20 as CEO in April 2023 having spent a decade at the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA).

As Level 20’s CEO, Gurpreet is responsible for delivering across five key activities: mentoring, networking & development events, research & insight, advocacy & sponsor support, and outreach & internships.

In 2024, Gurpreet featured on Private Equity News’ list of Twenty Trailblazing Women and under her leadership, Level 20 has welcomed new chapters and published research across Europe and the US.

In her previous role as the BVCA’s Deputy Director General and Director of Policy, she led the private equity and venture capital industry’s response to a wide range of matters from a legal, regulatory and tax perspective, including on diversity and sustainability matters.

Before joining the BVCA she worked at Deloitte LLP. Gurpreet studied at the LSE and is a Chartered Accountant and a fellow of the ICAEW. Outside of Level 20, Gurpreet is on the board of the UK Business Angels Association.

Teia Merring is a Senior Investment Director in the Private Equity Funds and Co-Investment team at USS Investment Management (~£70bn under management), the corporate pension plan for universities in the United Kingdom.

She is responsible for executing and managing private equity fund commitments and co-investments across all sectors and geographies and sits on various supervisory boards.

In addition to her role at USS, Teia is the Chair of the ILPA Board.

Prior to joining USS in 2011, Teia was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs in the Healthcare division.

She holds a MSc in Applied Economics and Finance from Copenhagen Business School, and her university studies included a MBA term at IIM Ahmedabad, India.

Universities Superannuation Scheme

The Universities Superannuation Scheme is a pension scheme in the United Kingdom with ~£70 billion under management. It has over 400,000 members, made up of active and retired academic and academic-related staff (including senior administrative staff) across Universities in the UK established prior to 1992. It is the largest private pension scheme in the UK by fund size. The headquarters of Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited (USS) are in Liverpool.

Shelley Morrison leads the strategy for Fund Finance at abrdn. She has extensive experience in the origination, structuring and execution of fund level debt facilities across multiple asset classes. She has been with abrdn since 2019. Before joining abrdn, Shelley was a Director in the Fund Finance team at RBS for 6 years where she managed a portfolio of subscription loans, NAV loans and GP finance to global funds across Private Equity, Private Debt, Infrastructure and Real Estate. Prior to that, she worked in structured asset finance at RBS and Lloyds with a focus on commercial ship finance. Shelley holds the both the IMC and CISI certificate in Corporate Finance and the CFA Certificate in ESG Investing. Shelley sits on the Fund Finance Association EMEA Executive Committee and Women in Fund Finance Committee. Shelley received a first class MA (honours) degree in Geography and an MSc in Social and Political Theory, both from the University of Edinburgh.

Karen Nes is an Associate Portfolio Manager in the Private Equity team at Aware Super, the third largest profit for-member Superannuation Fund in Australia with over AUD $190 billion in funds under management. Karen is responsible for fund commitments, co-investments and secondaries in Europe and the US. Karen recently relocated from Sydney to London to help build out Aware Super's first European office. Prior to joining Aware Super, she was at Willis Towers Watson where she provided manager selection and portfolio construction advice to Australian superannuation funds and endowments.

Isabelle is a Partner and head of the Business Services sector at Inflexion. She is responsible for leading the origination and execution of majority and minority investment opportunities in this sector across Europe. She has over 20 years of Private Equity experience. Since joining Inflexion in 2021, she has led our investments in GRC, dss+ and K2 Partnering Solutions. She sits on the boards of GRC, dss+ and K2 Partnering Solutions.

Before joining Inflexion, she was a Managing Director at OMERS Private Equity in London for nine years where she led Services transactions across the UK and continental Europe. Key transactions include Trescal, ERM, Civica and V.Group.

Prior to joining OMERS, Isabelle worked at Bridgepoint for four years in London and Paris, and Arcapita for six years. She began her career at Bear Stearns in London.

Pravi Prakash is an Investment Manager in the Private Markets team at Railpen, the UK Railways Pension scheme. Pravi’s role is focused on making and monitoring investments in private credit and private equity across a range of sectors and sub-strategies. Prior to joining Railpen, Pravi was an Investment Associate at the National Grid Pension fund where she focused on investments in both public and private assets including infrastructure, credit, equity and property. Previously, Pravi has worked at Lloyds Banking Group and M&G Investments. Pravi is a CFA Charterholder and holds a First Class Honours in BSc Economics from Birmingham University.
Within Private Credit, Pravi has looked at a range of sub-strategies across her roles, ranging from direct lending and risk-sharing transactions to distressed debt and mezzanine financing.

Railpen

Railpen is one of the UK’s largest and longest established pension funds. Railpen is responsible for the safekeeping and investment of circa £35 billion on behalf of the scheme’s 350,000 members who are connected to the railway industry. Railpen has an in-house investment team with expertise in the infrastructure debt and equity markets and has invested over £1.9bn in infrastructure to date. Railpen is increasingly focussed on energy infrastructure investments and has invested c. £500m in energy transition to date. Railpen’s most recent investments include Tralorg Wind Farm, Carraig Gheal Wind Farm, Sleaford and Margam Biomass Plants, Bracks Solar Park and Constantine Energy Storage.

Cecile Retaureau joined Phoenix Asset Management as Head of Private Markets in August 2024 to lead Phoenix’s Private Markets team of 17 investment professionals across Private debt, Real estate, Infrastructure, Mortgage Solutions, and Private equity. Her team is responsible for the origination and execution of private investments, supporting Phoenix’s Retirement Solutions and Pensions and Savings businesses, prioritising assets which generate a positive social or environmental impact as part of its on-going investment strategy.

Cecile has nearly twenty years of experience and joins from UBS where she was Managing Director, Global Head of Cross-asset financing and Fixed income Solutions Sales. Prior to joining UBS, she has previously held senior global markets origination & structuring roles at BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole.

She graduated with a Master of Science in Applied Maths from Ecole Polytechnique and a Master of Science in Management from HEC Paris.

Candice Richards is a trailblazing leader and fierce advocate for women’s empowerment in the asset and wealth management sectors. As the Founder and CEO of Moxie Platforms, she directly addresses the retention crisis by creating customized, dynamic women's platforms, initiatives and events where women not only survive but thrive in their careers.

Most recently, Candice served as Managing Director and Head of ESG/Compliance for MidOcean Partners. Candice also launched the Women’s Awareness Initiative (WAI), a groundbreaking movement supported by asset managers overseeing over $4.75+ trillion in assets. This initiative is dedicated to inspiring and attracting women to pursue careers in asset management, reshaping the industry’s landscape for future generations.

Candice's innovative approach has transformed how organizations attract and retain female talent while cultivating a robust community that supports women’s professional development. A recognized thought leader, Candice frequently speaks at industry conferences, sharing powerful insights on innovation and leadership that challenge conventional thinking and drive real change. With a commitment to fostering inclusive environments, Candice is not just making waves — she’s creating a tidal shift in the industry.

Beyond her professional work, she brings a dynamic energy and has passion for art, music and fitness.

Imogen is a Partner and Head of Primaries in Pantheon’s European Private Equity team, and also head of the firm’s portfolio strategy and treasury ＆ fund management teams. Prior to Pantheon Imogen worked on small and mid-market private equity and mezzanine transactions for Anglo Irish Bank in Dublin. She holds a master’s degree in natural sciences from Cambridge University.

Joanna Roberts is a counsel at Cleary Gottlieb. Her practice focuses on pan-European and international private equity and M&A transactions.

With over a decade of experience in private equity, Joanna’s clients include corporates, institutional investors, senior management teams, founders, and investee companies for both transactional and advisory matters.

Joanna has in-depth experience advising on a full range of transactions including leveraged buyouts, consortium deals, bolt-on acquisitions, carve-outs, co-investments, minority deals, divestments, joint ventures, reorganizations, and restructurings together with advising on general corporate matters.

Joanna joined the firm as counsel in 2024 from a leading UK law firm. She also spent 12 months on secondment serving as Assistant General Counsel at a leading pan-European private equity sponsor.

Hannah is part of our global Infrastructure team, based in the US. Hannah has over 15 years’ experience within infrastructure debt both in the European and US market. She started her career at Lloyds Bank and most recently spent almost a decade on the buy side with BlackRock.

Hannah has deep experience across Infrastructure, Transportation, Media & Telecom, Energy & Power. Her track record includes infrastructure financings in both Europe and North America, with structures including senior, holdco and mezzanine positions.

DC Advisory

DC Advisory is an international investment bank committed to making a difference. As part of an established global business, we offer access to over 750 professionals in 24 locations throughout Asia, Europe, and the US. Across 11 industry focused teams, we offer tailored, independent advice on M&A, debt raisings and restructurings, private capital markets, secondary advisory and access to unrivalled Asia investment knowledge.

Dr. Raphaela Schröder is co-founder and partner of Aurea Partners AG, a consultancy firm for private market allocations. Previously, she built the private market offering for private wealth clients at Maerki Baumann & Co, and Rothschild & Co Bank AG. She holds a PhD in PH Economics.

Sumana Setty is a Managing Director at Blue Owl Capital, where she serves as the chief legal adviser for Blue Owl’s GP strategic capital platform overseeing all legal and governance regulatory matters, as well as advising on strategic initiatives. Previously, she served as a Managing Director and the General Counsel to Wafra, a global alternative investment firm, where she managed the legal team across multiple asset classes including private equity, real assets/infrastructure and real estate.

Prior to Wafra, she served as a Partner at Kirkland and Ellis, where she represented sponsors in their launch of various investment strategies and investors across asset management transactions, including minority stake acquisitions and preferred equity and debt financings.

In addition, Sumana is the co-founder of the non-profit organization, Commit2Change. Commit2Change aims to create sustainable and impactful change in communities worldwide through education, healthcare and economic development, with a focus on empowering school-aged girls in India and South Asia.

Sunaina Sinha Haldea is the Global Head of Private Capital Advisory at Raymond James. Prior to joining Raymond James, she was the founder and Managing Partner of Cebile Capital, a private equity advisory business which was acquired by Raymond James, a Fortune 500 and NYSE-listed company, in May 2021. Under her leadership, Cebile Capital quickly became one of the leading advisors to private funds and investors globally. In her tenure, Sunaina and her team have completed over two hundred fundraising and secondaries liquidity solutions. Ms. Sinha Haldea has been named one of the 50 Most Influential People in Private Equity by Dow Jones Private Equity News for two consecutive years in 2022 and 2023 and one of the Twenty Trailblazing Women in Private Equity in 2023.

Ms. Sinha Haldea is also a prolific investor and Non-Executive Director. She serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of SFC Energy AG, a publicly-listed clean energy business. She served as Chairman of the Board of Mindful Chef (sold to Nestle), and Chairman of the Board of Barrecore (sold to United Fitness Brands). Ms. Sinha Haldea has also been a Guest Lecturer at Stanford University and serves on the boards of the Stanford Institution for Economic Policy Research and the Stanford LEAD Council and as a Trustee of the Stanford UK Foundation. She has written and published case studies for the Stanford Technology Ventures Program in the Stanford School of Engineering.

Ms. Sinha Haldea is a regular contributor on the financial markets and private equity on CNBC, Bloomberg, BBC and is often quoted in the media on financial markets and private equity. She has won numerous awards and accolades for entrepreneurship and leadership. Sunaina is passionate about diversity and inclusion in the workplace. She often credits vipassana meditation as the key to her success and has shared her personal and professional journey on numerous podcasts and platforms, including in the UK parliament.

Ms. Sinha Haldea obtained a BS in Management Science and Engineering and an MS in Chemical Engineering, both from Stanford University. She has an MBA from Harvard Business School.

In her spare time, Ms. Sinha Haldea is a keen wine enthusiast, having qualified as a Certified Sommelier from the Court of Masters Sommeliers.

Işıl Tanrıverdi-Versmissen is an accomplished infrastructure finance professional and is currently serving as the Head of Infrastructure Debt Transactions at MEAG in Munich. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing the from origination to execution activities of a senior team of investment experts across all infrastructure sectors, who are ensuring best asset selection for MEAG´s investors. With a passion for infrastructure industry, she is stays engaged in origination and execution in her role, while contributing into strategic direction, fundraising activities and close communication with investors.

With extensive experience in structured infrastructure finance, she has held roles at institutions like Nomura, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Moody's Investors Service and UniCredit in the past.

She values relationships across her professional network and takes pleasure out of broadening her horizon with new contacts and their ideas.

MEAG

MEAG manages the assets of the Munich Re Group, leveraging over 140 years of experience and more than 100 investment professionals. With €347 billion in assets under management (as of June 30, 2024), including around €36 billion in alternative investments, MEAG provides comprehensive management across core asset classes such as fixed income, equities, real estate, and investments in renewable energy and infrastructure. MEAG emphasizes the importance of integrating sustainability factors across investment processes and internal operations, aligning with the belief that sustainable practices will remain essential for long-term value.

Tanya Tracey is the Chief Executive Officer of GAIN UK (Girls Are Investors) and a Board Trustee for GAIN Sweden. An experienced executive leader, Tanya has worked across the non-profit sector and global investment banks. At GAIN, she champions gender diversity in investment management by empowering and educating the next generation of professionals through school and university partnerships and outreach programmes. Previously, Tanya held senior roles at firms including J.P. Morgan, Nomura, and BNY Mellon, and has been a committed advocate for inclusion through her work with CFA UK’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion programmes.

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

Natalia graduated from Loughborough University in Business Studies.

Hanna is a member of the Credit Manager Research team at WTW. She leads the Securitised Credit research within the team, and also covers illiquid credit strategies. Hanna was previously a credit analyst at a boutique investment manager. Prior to this, she was at Altria Group within the corporate audit division, and before that at Ernst & Young in their assurance and advisory services. Hanna studied Cognitive Psychology at Cambridge University, and holds an MSc in Analysis, Design & Management Information Systems from the London School of Economics and a BEng in Electronics & Communication Engineering from the University of Bath.

Dr. Lulu Wang leads the Research and Strategy function of the Global Private Markets Fund (GPMF) and Aberdeen Diversified Income and estate, infrastructure and natural resources Growth Fund in abrdn. Her focus is on the analysis of fundamental drivers of private markets and the application of economic forecasts, thematic ideas, and market insights across the global private classes. Lulu is also responsible for the production thought-leadership projects, to provide a strategic and tactical asset allocation on the major asset classes between public and private markets globally. She is a Board member of the GPMF ICAV and Cambridge Centre for Risk Studies, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.

Lulu started her career in 1999 and holds a Bsc first class and Msc degrees in international banking and Finance and a PhD in international real estate portfolio diversification.

Barbara Weber is the Founding Partner of B Capital Partners.

Barbara has over 25 years of infrastructure investment, private equity as well as project finance experience gained at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, PolyTechnos Venture and, since 2003 with B Capital Partners. Beforehand, she worked for the Private Sector Development Group of the World Bank. Barbara is a Member of the Board at B Capital Partners AG as well as of various of its portfolio companies. She is and has been on the Investment Committees of Palisade’s Real Assets Fund and the Impact Fund. Before, she served as Non-Executive Director for the London Pension Fund Authorities (LPFA). Further, Barbara was key in setting up IST3, an infrastructure investment platform for Swiss pension funds, as well as its Investment Committee, of which she also was part for several years. She is a prolific author and has written four books on infrastructure investments, the latest one being "Infrastructure as an Asset Class. Second Edition" (2016). Barbara wrote her Ph.D. in Economics at Harvard University and University of St. Gallen. She holds an MSc in Business & Operations Research from Warwick University and a post-graduate degree in International Relations from Mannheim University.

B Capital Partners

Established in 2003, B Capital Partners is a premier, Zurich-based, partner-owned infrastructure investment house with a proven track-record of generating both positive impact and superior returns. It shows that highly attractive risk/return profiles and sustainability (Art. 9 SFDR) go well together.

With close to EUR 3 bn invested and advised capital since 2010, B Capital has proven that highly attractive risk/return profiles and sustainability go well together. B Capital built its outstanding track record by focusing on Core+ assets with a value-add angle in the underserved, small- and mid-sized infrastructure market in North-Western Europe.

B Capital’s vision and purpose are clear: investing in sustainable infrastructure, which serves society and protects nature, while continuing to deliver financial excellence to its investors.

Jiaying Zhang advises a range of clients through all stages of the investment cycle within the energy and infrastructure industry. In particular, she counsels infrastructure funds on a wide range of complex domestic and cross border mergers and acquisitions, joint venture and consortium transactions, management equity plans and restructurings. Jiaying was recently named a 2025 “U.K. Female Rising Star” by Law.com International. She was earlier recognized as a finalist in the “Rising Stars” category at Law.com International’s 2022 British Legal Awards and was named a 2022 Top 25 Up-and-Coming Lawyer most active on UK Listing Authority deals by MergerLinks.

Jing joined LPPI as a as Deputy Portfolio Manager in 2022. She supports the team with the origination, execution and management of Infrastructure Investments for both LPPI and GLIL. She has 13 years of experience in the financial services industry.

She worked in capital and investment management at Legal and General Capital, Scottish National Investment Bank, and Bank of America.

Jing is a Chartered Accountant, Chartered Financial Analyst and Chartered Tax Adviser. She holds an MBA from Oxford University.

Deborah Zurkow is Global Head of Investments at Allianz Global Investors and a member of the Executive Committee. In January 2020, Deborah took on responsibility for leading AllianzGI’s investment platform, which comprises Private Markets, Equities, Fixed Income and Multi-Asset strategies.

Before joining AllianzGI, Deborah was CEO of Trifinium Advisors Limited and head of Public Finance EMEA for MBIA UK Insurance Limited.

Deborah holds an MBA from Yale School of Management and a BA from Wellesley College. She is on the board of the ACC (Alternatives Credit Council) and a Founding Board member of the LTIIA (Long-term Infrastructure Investors Association).

She has been included in Financial News’ list of ‘100 Most Influential Women in European Finance’ on multiple occasions.