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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.