Women in Private Markets Summit

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.

Jenny has over 30 years’ experience in investment asset management. She has a wealth of experience in private markets as well as public markets. Before joining London CIV in March 2025, she spent 13 years working at the Tesco pension fund where she experienced the closing of the DB scheme, its growth from £5.5bn to over £25bn, the introduction of an LDI programme and eventually its outsourcing to Schroders. She was Chief Investment Office from April 2020.

Jenny is a Church Commissioner for the Church of England where she chairs the Securities Sub-Committee. She is also the chair of the Swiss Life UK Asset Management; a real estate investment management business in the UK.

Xi Chen joined QIC in 2022 and is a Partner in the Private Debt Infrastructure team, based in London. Xi is responsible for originating, structuring, and executing infrastructure debt investments across the UK and Europe and is a member of the Private Debt Infrastructure Investment Committee.

With nearly two decades of experience as a direct lender to infrastructure projects and businesses, Xi brings deep expertise across origination and execution in the European infrastructure debt market.

Prior to joining QIC, Xi held senior roles at HSBC, Société Générale, and Barclays, where she originated, structured, and executed infrastructure and project finance transactions across EMEA.

Xi holds a Master in Finance from HEC Paris and is a CFA Charterholder.

Clare joined BC Partners in 2020. She is a Director in the Credit team based in New York. Previously, Clare worked as an Associate in the Global Credit Financing & Solutions Group at Deutsche Bank. She holds a BSBA from the Haas School of Business at University of California, Berkeley.

Toni joined Arrow in 2023 as Head of Credit and Lending. During her career spanning more than 25 years, Toni has invested in and managed performing and non-performing portfolios and businesses across Europe including UK, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany and Greece. Before Arrow Global, Toni spent three years in Hong Kong running Morgan Stanley’s APAC Loan Solutions and Securitisation Group. In Europe, Toni was responsible for Centerbridge’s European Asset Backed Special Situations business for almost five years. Post GFC, Toni was one of the architects of Deutsche Bank’s European Portfolios principal business. Toni also has extensive experience in asset-backed and real estate lending, securitisation, as well as special servicing businesses.

Toni is a trustee of Coram’s Fields and Harmsworth Memorial Playground. She has a BCom International (BCIT) from University College Dublin.

Pravi is an Investment Manager in Private Markets at Railpen, where she has played a leading role in shaping and scaling the organisation’s approach to private equity secondaries investing, with a particular focus on single-asset continuation vehicles.

Pravi has been instrumental in advancing Railpen’s SACV programme, positioning the strategy as one of the core pillars of its private markets portfolio. She has led the underwriting of complex GP-led opportunities, driving detailed asset-level diligence across business performance, growth levers, downside protection and exit pathways. Her work has enabled Railpen to deploy capital into high-conviction assets through innovative deal structures aligned with long-term institutional objectives.

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.

Katherine Robertson is a senior real estate investment professional at Aware Super, based in London, where she contributes to European and Asia real estate strategy development and leads origination, execution and portfolio management across Europe. In her role, she is responsible for sourcing, structuring and executing investments, as well as overseeing portfolio performance. Katherine brings over 13 years of experience across European private markets, with a strong focus on operational real estate and platform investing. Prior to Aware Super, she was a Principal at KKR, where she played a key role in establishing and scaling its pan European PBSA strategy. Earlier in her career, she worked at Real Estate Venture Capital Partners (Revcap), PGIM Real Estate and Rockspring, investing across pan European credit and equity strategies.

Anne-Laurence Roucher brings over 25 years of experience in the financial industry, combining strategic leadership, entrepreneurial drive, investment experience, and a deep commitment to sustainable investing. Anne-Laurence joined Edmond de Rothschild from Mirova (Natixis), a leading impact asset manager she co-founded in 2012. Over her decade as Deputy CEO, she played a central role in structuring and developing Mirova’s investment platform, growing assets under management from inception to €25 billion. From 2021 to 2025, Anne-Laurence has served as Head of Private Equity and Natural Capital at Mirova, overseeing multiple strategies dedicated to growth equity, agroecological infrastructure and climate finance. Prior to joining Mirova, Anne-Laurence spent more than a decade in strategy and corporate development roles at Natixis Group and A.T. Kearney. Anne-Laurence holds a Master’s degree in Management from ESCP Europe, completed the General Management Program at Harvard Business School, and is certified as a Non-Executive Director by the Institut Français des Administrateurs (IFA).

Anne Valentine Andrews is the Global Head of Private Markets, Manulife Investment Management, based in New York City. She leads the strategy, business development, and growth of the firm’s global private markets platform, which spans real estate, infrastructure, private credit, private equity, timberland, and agriculture. Anne oversees the investment teams across these asset classes, working closely with their CIOs and partnering with the global product group to drive innovation across institutional, retail, and retirement channels.

She joined Manulife from BlackRock, where she spent nine years in senior leadership positions, most recently as Global Head of Infrastructure and Real Estate. Prior to BlackRock, Anne served as Co-head and Chief Operating Officer for Morgan Stanley’s infrastructure platform and held earlier leadership positions at Macquarie Bank in Melbourne and New York.

Anne holds a Master of Applied Finance from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management, as well as a Bachelor of Economics and Master of Laws from Monash University. She serves on the board of directors of Edible Schoolyard NYC, an organization dedicated to helping children to build healthy eating habits early in life.