Advisory Board

Steve Darrington
Partner & Chief Operating Officer
Phoenix Equity Partners
Steve Darrington
Partner at Phoenix since 2001, Steve is Chief Financial & Risk Officer and sits on Phoenix’s Board & Management Committee. Steve is also a director of the Phoenix Boards in Guernsey. Before Phoenix, Steve held senior finance positions in the US and UK, including four years as CFO at Netnumber (previously Unifi Communications) in Boston and five years as Controller at The Economist. Steve is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and has degrees from Leicester Business School and Manchester Business School (MBA). Steve recently completed a Certificate in Business Data Analytics at Columbia University.

Jeremy Dennison
General Counsel
LivingBridge
Jeremy Dennison
I am the General Counsel at Livingbridge, a mid-market private equity firm. I provide legal support to the business in relation to new investments, divestments, portfolio company matters, risk management, fundraising and platform-related matters and I help to run the operational side of the business alongside senior colleagues in the finance, HR and IT teams. Prior to joining Livingbridge, I spent over a decade in private practice, mainly in the private equity M&A team at Travers Smith.

Kevin Early
Partner and European Chief Financial Officer
Ares Management
Kevin Early
Kevin Earl, European Chief Financial Officer at Ares, with +15 years experience managing various fund types and investments strategies across jurisdictions. His responsibilities include oversight of all financial, statutory and regulatory reporting, as well as operational support of fundraising, business operations and process improvements.
Previous to Ares he was Senior VP at Nielsen Holdings and had a variety of tax and finance leadership roles at GE Capital Corporation.
Mr. Early holds a B.S. Magna Cum Laude for Marquette University in Accounting.
Previous to Ares he was Senior VP at Nielsen Holdings and had a variety of tax and finance leadership roles at GE Capital Corporation.
Mr. Early holds a B.S. Magna Cum Laude for Marquette University in Accounting.

Malcolm Goddard
Partner
Zetland Capital Partners
Malcolm Goddard
"Malcolm Goddard is a Partner and CFO/COO of Zetland Capital; a European distressed and special situations manager which was established and whom he joined in 2016. Zetland presently manages €1.2bn of assets, has a team of 28 and was voted Special Situations House of the Year, 2022. Its invests in both listed and private assets.
Before Zetland he spent 10 years as a Partner and COO of Altima, who managed $5bn of hedge and private-equity assets in a number of strategies and markets. He joined Altima after 15 years in investment banking iwhere he performed a number of development and operational roles.
Malcolm is a frequent speaker at industry conferences on operational and fund matters; has sat on industry committees, has consulted to emerging and developing managers and was the Drawdown’s COO of the year in 2020.
"
Before Zetland he spent 10 years as a Partner and COO of Altima, who managed $5bn of hedge and private-equity assets in a number of strategies and markets. He joined Altima after 15 years in investment banking iwhere he performed a number of development and operational roles.
Malcolm is a frequent speaker at industry conferences on operational and fund matters; has sat on industry committees, has consulted to emerging and developing managers and was the Drawdown’s COO of the year in 2020.
"

Diana Meyel
Managing Partner
Cipio Partners
Diana Meyel
"Short biography:
At Cipio Partners, Diana is a Managing Partner and the company’s COO/CFO. She is located in Munich and leads our funds’ operations and investor relations. In addition, she also oversees transaction structuring and represents Cipio on the board of selected portfolio companies. Prior to Cipio, Diana was a Finance Manager at Wellington Partners, the pan-European venture capital firm and worked as a Senior Risk Analyst for Dresdner Bank group aka Commerzbank in Germany and Bogotá, Colombia.
Diana holds a degree in Banking Administration from Frankfurt School of Finance & Management.
Company profile:
Founded in 2003, Cipio Partners is a leading investment management and advisory firm for European Growth Capital & Minority Buyouts for Technology Companies. Cipio Partners targets European growth stage technology businesses with €10-50 million in revenue and makes initial investments ranging from €5-10 million. Cipio Partners operates from offices in Luxembourg and Munich. Further information is available at www.cipiopartners.com
"
At Cipio Partners, Diana is a Managing Partner and the company’s COO/CFO. She is located in Munich and leads our funds’ operations and investor relations. In addition, she also oversees transaction structuring and represents Cipio on the board of selected portfolio companies. Prior to Cipio, Diana was a Finance Manager at Wellington Partners, the pan-European venture capital firm and worked as a Senior Risk Analyst for Dresdner Bank group aka Commerzbank in Germany and Bogotá, Colombia.
Diana holds a degree in Banking Administration from Frankfurt School of Finance & Management.
Company profile:
Founded in 2003, Cipio Partners is a leading investment management and advisory firm for European Growth Capital & Minority Buyouts for Technology Companies. Cipio Partners targets European growth stage technology businesses with €10-50 million in revenue and makes initial investments ranging from €5-10 million. Cipio Partners operates from offices in Luxembourg and Munich. Further information is available at www.cipiopartners.com
"

Prem Mohan Raj
Chief Operating Officer
NorthEdge
Prem Mohan Raj
"Prem joined NorthEdge as Chief Financial Officer in 2016 having worked in the private equity industry for 12 years. He has responsibility for the finance and tax functions in relation to both the NorthEdge funds and the management company and was promoted to Partner in September 2017.
Prior to joining NorthEdge, he worked in senior finance positions within private equity at Livingbridge, Brockton Capital and Coller Capital having initially trained as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte."
Prior to joining NorthEdge, he worked in senior finance positions within private equity at Livingbridge, Brockton Capital and Coller Capital having initially trained as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte."

Rebecca Noyes
Chief Financial Officer
Stable Asset Management
Rebecca Noyes
TBC

Christopher Parmo
Chief Operating Officer
Verdane
Christopher Parmo
Christopher joined Verdane as Chief Operating Officer in 2018. He has experience from a number of executive management positions, such as SVP at Linas Matkasse, Deputy CEO at Godtlevert as well as Finance Director at Software Innovation and Visma. Christopher’s previous experience further includes management consulting at Deloitte.

Giovanni Pericolini
Partner and Chief Operating Officer
Medicxi
Giovanni Pericolini
Giovanni is a Partner at Medicxi and a member of the co-founding team. He oversees the finance operations at Medicxi and recently won the award for Chief Financial Officer of the Year at the Drawdown Awards 2021. Prior to joining Medicxi, Giovanni spent five years in the finance industry with senior positions at Index Ventures and Intermediate Capital Group. He began his career at PwC in Auckland, New Zealand, joining their audit and transaction services divisions and qualified as a Chartered Accountant during this time.

Karen Sands
Chief Operating Officer
Hermes GPE
Karen Sands
Karen is Hermes GPE’s COO with overall responsibility for operating a best-in-class organisational infrastructure to support clients, investment teams and business development activities. She joined Hermes Private Equity (a Hermes GPE predecessor organisation) in 2004 and previously worked in finance at Matrix Property Management and Equity Asset Management. Karen is a member of the Hermes GPE Executive Committee, the Private Equity and Infrastructure Management Committees and Chair of the Hermes GPE Operational Management Committee. Karen is Vice-Chair on both Invest Europe’s Working Group on Accounting Standards, Valuation and Reporting, and Invest Europe’s Professional Standards Committee. She is a member of the BVCA Legal & Accounting Committee, and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment.

Anne Sheedy
ESG Advisor
Bowmark
Anne Sheedy
"A CFO with over 15 years’ Private Equity experience. ESG advisor to Bowmark Capital and CFO for Leon Capital. Previous companies include EQT, Terra Firma and Vision Capital. Recently completed studies in Sustainability and Sustainable Finance with the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL)"

Daniel Silverton-parker
Chief Financial Officer & Partner
Synova
Daniel Silverton-parker
Prior to joining, Daniel spent four years at Zouk Capital, a private equity and infrastructure fund manager, where he served as Finance Manager & Head of Compliance. He previously worked at Samena Capital and Man Group Plc, both investment managers. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant at Ernst and Young, where he spent five years in the investment management team.

Klas Tikkanen
Chief Operating Officer
Nordic Capital
Klas Tikkanen
Joined in July 2011 as part of Nordic Capital’s effort to institutionalise its successful investment franchise and is today responsible for the CFO function, legal and tax, HR, sustainability, communications, public affairs, IT/IS, and liaising with Fund operations on Jersey. He has helped drive Nordic Capital’s transformation the past decade, including the development of its strategy, governance, culture, and operations, and sits on Nordic Capital’s top management company board, the investment review committees for Nordic Capital X and Nordic Capital Evolution, portfolio review committee, fair value committee, operations advisory board, and value portfolio committee, as well as chairing the HR and compensation committee and charities boards.

Luke Venables
Chief Financial Officer/Chief Operating Officer
ARA Venn
Luke Venables
Luke is a Partner and CFO/COO at ARA Venn. Luke has 26 years of experience in financial, operational, compliance and infrastructure roles, with a particular focus on credit products. Before joining ARA Venn in 2015, Luke was Head of Operations at CQS, Product Control at Cairn Capital, and was an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs leading the structured credit middle office. Luke has a degree in Mathematics from the University of East Anglia.