EMPEA Council

Yichen Zhang is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CITIC Capital. He joined CITIC Group in 2000 as an Executive Director of CITIC Pacific and President of CITIC Pacific Communications, before founding CITIC Capital in 2002. Prior to joining

Luiz Lopes is the Senior Managing Partner of Brookfield in charge of Brookfield’s operations in Brazil and is the Chief Executive Officer of Brookfield Brazil. Luiz is based in Rio de Janeiro and has over 38 years of experience in

Mr. Hisham El-Khazindar is Managing Director and Co-Founder of Citadel Capital, the leading private equity firm in the Middle East and Africa. Established in 2004, Citadel Capital now controls investments worth more than US$ 8.7 billion in industries including mining,

Alex Rossi has over 24 years of investment banking and private equity experience in the U.S. and Latin America. Since 2014, Mr. Rossi is a Managing Partner and co-founder of Latin Idea Ventures, the largest Mexico-based institutional venture capital fund

Gregorio Schneider is the Founder, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of TC Latin America Partners. Prior to forming TC Latin America Partners, Mr. Schneider was Managing Director and Head of Emerging Markets at Och-Ziff Capital Management. During his tenure

Josh Lerner is the Jacob H. Schiff Professor of Investment Banking at Harvard Business School, with a joint appointment in the Finance and Entrepreneurial Management Units. He graduated from Yale College with a Special Divisional Major that combined physics with

Carola is Director and Head of DEG’s Africa Investment team for Funds, Equity and Mezzanine. Carola joined DEG in 2009 and, prior to her current role, was responsible for origination, execution and portfolio management for DEG’s Asia Equity and Funds

James E. McGuigan is a Private Equity Managing Partner focusing on investor relations. He joined the Capital International Private Equity Funds (CIPEF) team in 2000 after spending over 16 years as a lawyer and later as an investment banker in

Prakash H. Mehta co-heads the firm’s investment funds and private equity practice group. Mr. Mehta regularly represents a broad range of investment management clients and regularly advises on complex international corporate transactions. He represents investment banks; private equity and hedge

Scott Voss is a managing director who joined HarbourVest in 1999. He focuses on primary partnership investments in the emerging markets, Asia, and the U.S., as well as global cleantech investments. Scott has worked out of both HarbourVest's Boston and

Vincent Chan is a Senior Managing Director and Head of Asia for Samena Capital Hong Kong Limited. Samena Capital is a principal investment group, which invests across multiple asset classes including private equity and corporate credit within the Subcontinent,

Andrew M. Ostrognai is a corporate partner of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP and Chair of the firm’s private equity practice in Asia. He has extensive experience in forming all types of private equity funds, from large pan-Asian buy-out funds to

Antonio Felix is Head of the Capital Markets and Banking and Finance practice groups and one of the coordinators of TozziniFreire's Japan Practice Group. Antonio Felix has extensive experience in capital market operations, national and international financings, securitizations, project finance,

Dalip Pathak is a Special Limited Partner at Warburg Pincus. He joined Warburg Pincus in 1994 and has previously been both head of India and head of Europe for the firm. He remains engaged in India, and currently focuses on

John Daghlian is a partner in O’Melveny's London office, and head of the Firm's Investment Funds Practice. He acts on a large range of international and domestic private equity driven transactions, including the establishment of private equity funds, private equity portfolio transactions, management buy-outs,

David M. Rubenstein is a Co-Founder and Managing Director of The Carlyle Group, one of the world’s largest private equity firms. Mr. Rubenstein co-founded the firm in 1987. Since then, Carlyle has grown into a firm managing more than $85.5

Mark Davies leads Ashurst's Investment Funds Group in Asia. Mark has been living and working in Tokyo and Singapore since 2000.

Mark specialises in advising fund sponsors and fund managers on the structuring and formation of private investment funds, including private

Paul E. Tierney, Jr. is a Partner of Development Capital Partners, LLC and a General Partner of Aperture Venture Partners, two private investment firms specializing respectively in frontier and emerging markets and early stage healthcare ventures. For the past 21

Folake Elias-Adebowale is a partner at Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie, where she co-heads its private equity and corporate advisory teams, and is a member of its energy and natural resources team. Her specialisations include acquisitions, project finance for energy, gas

Laura Friedrich is a partner in the firm’s Global Asset Management Group, with a concentration in private fund formation, structuring and compliance matters. She is also the firm’s co-hiring partner. Ms. Friedrich has extensive experience working with U.S. and international

André Roux is the Founding Partner of Ethos Private Equity, having established the business in 1984.
He is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of South African private equity and held the post of Chief Executive since Ethos’ inception

Geoffrey Kittredge, a corporate partner, focuses his practice on private equity and investment fund formation. Labeled a “private equity ace” by Legal Week, he is ranked as a leading individual in Chambers UK (2011) and described as “one of the

Gordon Myers is Chief Counsel, Technology and Private Equity, of International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group. Gordon is global lead counsel for IFC's funds investment practice. He has represented IFC in a number of complex funds

Mr. Cowan co-founded 57 Stars in 2005, and is a member of the firm’s Investment Committee.

Prior to 57 Stars, Mr. Cowan served at Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) as a Director in the Investment Funds Department, where he was responsible

Thierry Dalais completed degrees in accounting and commerce at the University of the Witwatersrand and served articles at Deloitte, qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1984. Mr. Dalais was then employed in trade financing activities with Merchant Shippers, a subsidiary

Albert Alsina has more than 25 years of international experience in multi-national settings where he held several executive positions in General Management at global and European levels in the US, UK, Brazil, Germany, Zimbabwe and Spain. In 2007, Albert joined

Zia Mody is the Founder and Senior Partner of AZB & Partners. Zia is one of India’s foremost corporate attorneys. She has a B.A. (Law) from Cambridge, an LLM from Harvard, and is a member of the New York State

Hurley Doddy is a Managing Director, Founding Partner and Co-CEO of Emerging Capital Partners (ECP).  With six funds and over $1.6 billion under management, ECP is a leading private equity manager focused exclusively on Africa. Headquartered in Washington DC, ECP

Chike Obianwu is a Partner at the leading Nigerian law firm, Templars. He holds a Master of Laws degree from the University College London and is admitted to practise in Nigeria and in England & Wales. He was formerly joint

Bayo Odubeko is a corporate finance partner in the London office of Norton Rose Fulbright. Bayo has advised extensively in the emerging markets with a particular focus on Africa. Bayo advises many of the leading Africa focussed private equity and

Matthew Hunt has 19 years of professional experience and is currently lead portfolio manager for an established South African fund-of-private equity funds and sits on the Investment Committee of the first independent Africa focused fund of private equity funds. He

Adiba Ighodaro began her career in commercial and corporate law, providing advice to international banks and multinationals, many of which had subsidiaries in the emerging markets. This experience triggered her interest in the provision of finance in to markets where

Paul Owers is our General Counsel, based in London. He is responsible for all corporate and transactional legal support. Paul joined Actis in 1994 with responsibility for all legal aspects of the portfolio in sub-Saharan Africa. The scope of his role

Brian is a Partner and Head of Pantheon’s Asia and Emerging Markets Investment teams. Prior to joining Pantheon, Brian worked as a Portfolio Director at CDC Group and before that worked at Watson Wyatt advising institutional investors on private equity

George Springsteen joined AMC in May 2010 as the Head of Legal where he has overall responsibility for legal matters relating to AMC and its Funds. Before joining AMC, George was Chief Counsel in IFC’s Legal Department, working on private

Mara Topping is a member of White & Case's corporate funds group and concentrates on domestic and international private equity investment funds, venture capital funds and hedge funds.

Ms. Topping has extensive experience in the formation, structuring and issuance of securities

Henry Obi is a partner and the Chief Operating Officer for Helios Investment Partners (“Helios”), an Africa-focused Private Equity firm which operates a family of funds and their related co-investment entities, aggregating more than $1.7 billion in capital commitments. He

Afolabi Oladele joined African Capital Alliance in 1999, following a successful career in the oil & gas industry, He was responsible for ACA’s investment and other related activities in the oil & gas sector until mid 2013. Afolabi has worked

Harald Zeiter is a Managing Director, General Counsel, Head of Legal and Compliance and member of the Executive Committee at Capital Dynamics, a Swiss based asset management company that invests in private equity and clean energy infrastructure. Capital Dynamics manages

Nicolas Bañados Lyon is Managing Director of Private Equity at Megeve Investments, one of the leading family offices in Latin America. Formerly, he held the position of VP and Portfolio Manager at Megeve Inverstments managing a portfolio of fixed income

David Pierce is Managing Director & Head of Asia for HQ Capital, a leading independent alternative investment manager that currently has more than US$12 billion in assets under management in private equity and real estate. Based in HQ Capital’s Hong

Peter Amour has worked with AIF Capital since 1998 and became Chief Executive Officer in 2003. He has resided in Hong Kong since 1985 and has over 25 years of private equity and investment experience in Asia. He was a

Alcina Goosby joined the New York State Common Retirement Fund (“NYSCRF”) in 2007. While at NYSCRF, she has lead or co-lead approximately $4 Billion in Private Equity Fund Commitments, and manages a Private Equity portfolio of over $5 billion. Ms.

Akhil Awasthi is a consummate private equity professional having raised/managed US$ 1 Billion across 4 private equity funds, invested in 24 transactions with 8 exits across a span of 2 decades. He joined Tata Capital in 2009 after working with

Sebastián Popik is the founder and managing partner of Aqua Capital. He has fifteen years of private equity experience in South America focused on agribusiness, food and logistics and a comprehensive experience creating operational value. As part of his

Harjit Bhatia rejoined Asia Growth Capital Advisors (AGCA) as Executive Chairman, effective 1st December 2014 from PineBridge Asia Partners, where he was responsible for managing Asia Opportunities Fund II (AOF II) as Managing Partner & CEO from July 2012 –

Anthony O’Toole is the Executive Vice President, Chief Financial and Investment Officer who oversees the Foundation’s Finance, Administration, and Investment Activities. He oversees the Foundation’s operatingbudget and working closely with the Foundation’s board treasurer and investment advisory committee, manages the

Alona Ponomareva is Principal Portfolio Manager, Private Markets, for the World Bank Pension Plan. The World Bank Group (WBG) is the world’s largest development finance institution.

Mrs. Ponomareva is directly responsible for making private equity investments and managing the private equity

Richard Rincon is an Emerging Markets (EM) investment officer at UTIMCO, which manages the $34+ billion University of Texas endowments and associated funds. At UTIMCO, Mr. Rincon is responsible for global EM private equity investments with a particular focus on

Marcus Simpson has more than 20 years’ experience establishing and expanding private equity programs across the globe. He founded QIC’s Global Private Equity capabilities in 2005 and today, manages $5.0bn of AUM invested into funds and direct investments globally.

Before joining

Ranjit Shah is Co- Founder and Managing Partner of Gaja Capital and is based in Mumbai. He has over 12 years of experience in Private Equity and over 24 years of prior experience in  consulting, investment banking and in CFO /CEO roles.

Mark Shipman has extensive experience advising on the structuring, establishment and promotion of all types of investment funds, including private equity and real estate funds, hedge funds and other alternatives. Mark also specialises in asset management, securities, banking and insurance

Kerem is a Partner and Investment Committee member at Turkven Private Equity. Kerem joined Turkven in 2003 from McKinsey & Company in Berlin. Since then Kerem has led numerous investments. Currently Kerem serves on the Boards of four portfolio companies,

As an Associate Director in EY’s private equity group, Pete leads EY’s research and analysis initiatives in the PE space, managing a global team of industry analysts to produce insights and thought leadership designed to keep clients informed about topics

Ahmad Al-Sati focuses on special situation private investments in emerging markets. He has more than 15 years of direct experience in credit analysis, bankruptcy investing, restructurings, private equity and rescue finance.

Prior to his time at Albright Capital, Mr. Al-Sati was

Ali Saigol is a founding partner at Baltoro Capital, Pakistan’s leading private equity firm. Baltoro seeks to capitalize on Pakistan’s burgeoning domestic consumption market and growing competitiveness in product and service export opportunities. Baltoro invests in entrepreneurial opportunities to create

Yee Hean Teo joined the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as an Investment Specialist in 2015. As part of the Private Sector Operations Department, he is responsible for sourcing and executing private equity (PE) fund investments for ADB. Additionally, Mr. Teo

Hoda Abou Jamra as the Founding Partner of TVM Capital Healthcare Partners, a specialist Dubai-based private equity company, Hoda has been instrumental in identifying gaps in healthcare provision across the MENA region, raising capital internationally and executing innovative and value-creating

Elizabeth has worked for over 25 years in the Banking Industry and currently oversees Private Equity & Venture Capital investments at CAF –the Development Bank of Latin America. Additionally, she is a member of the Board at CAF-AM, an asset

Marcus Thompson, Chief Executive Officer, joined HPEF Capital Partners Limited in 1992 and has been a member of the firm’s Investment Committees since 1993 and became Chief Executive Officer in 2012.  HPEF Capital is one of Asian’s longest established regional private

Sabita Prakash is Managing Director at ADM Capital and chairs ADM Capital’s Investment Committee for Asia. Sabita also champions within the firm those investments that have an impact angle in partnership with the ADM Capital Foundation. Prior to joining ADM

Pote Videt is Managing Director of Lombard Investments with primary responsibility for investments in Southeast Asia. Lombard is a leading international private equity investment manager with offices in Bangkok, Hong Kong and San Francisco, and extensive working relationships in Manila,

Henry Potter is a Partner at Alpha Associates, responsible for investing Alpha’s private equity funds of funds in eastern Europe. Henry joined Alpha Associates in September 2008 from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London. Since then

Gilles de Clerck has been an Executive Director of the EuroMena private equity funds since 2004. He chairs and sits on the board of several companies in the MENA region. Mr de Clerck has more than 20 years of experience

Anne Fossemalle has been the Director in charge of Equity Funds at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development since 2009.

Previously, she was the Director, Bank Equity, responsible for EBRD’s direct equity investments in banks. Prior to this appointment in

Lynn Nguyen is a Managing Director in the Investment Funds Department (IFD) at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC).  OPIC is one of the largest private equity fund sponsors in developing nations, providing support for the creation of privately-owned and

Simon is a co-head of SA & Africa Fixed Income and portfolio manager on various credit strategies. He joined the firm in 2005 when he was tasked with building its domestic credit business and capabilities. Investec Asset Management now holds

Zahid Kamal is a Managing Director at Fajr Capital. He is actively involved in various aspects of Fajr Capital’s transactions (including origination, execution and portfolio management) and strategic initiatives. He is also a board and executive committee member of several

Michael Calvey started working in Moscow in 1994 as one of the managers of the First NIS Regional Fund. Before joining Baring Vostok, Michael worked for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Salomon Brothers. At EBRD he

Mariana Bárcena is a Director at German development bank DEG and responsible for Corporates & Funds providing equity and mezzanine products as direct investments as well as commitments to private equity and mezzanine funds in Latin America. Ms. Bárcena heads

David has accumulated over 35 years of experience in international capital markets in a career that has taken him around the globe. Returning to his native Montreal in 1999, he co-founded Cordiant, a pioneer of private credit financing for investments

Barış Öney is the founder and the Chairman of Globalturk Capital. Prior to founding Globalturk Capital, Barış Öney worked as an investment banker and investment manager for 17 years. He set-up 5 corporate finance/M&A paractices and managed numerous M&A, private

Colin Rezek is a director of Vantage Capital and a founder of the business. He has day-to-day responsibilities for the origination and assessment of mezzanine fund and balance-sheet investments. He is a member of the Vantage Mezzanine Fund’s investment committee.

Colin

Dominic Reed joined UFG Private Equity in 2007. He has eighteen years of operational and investment experience in Russia and the CIS.Prior to arriving in Russia, he worked at NYNEX CableComms in the UK in both operational and corporate development

William R Watson, is the Managing Partner of Value4Capital, a Central European focused private equity firm. Bill has over 20 years of experience in Eastern and Central European private equity and a track record of active involvement in numerous transactions

Ben is the Managing Partner of Syntaxis and a founder of the Firm. He has over 25 years of direct leveraged finance experience and is responsible for implementing the investment strategy of the Funds the Firm advises. In addition to

Richard Frank joined Darby in 2007 and is responsible for the management of Darby's Latin America Mezzanine Fund I and Fund II (DLAMF I and II). He serves as Investment Committee member for DLAMF II and he was a member

R. Michael Barth is Managing Partner of Barth & Associates LLC, an independent Emerging Markets investment advisory firm. Mr. Barth is a member of the Board of Directors of FINCA Microfinance Holding; the SEC
registered TriLinc Global Impact Fund; SFC— Finance Company

Keith Innes joined Clearwater in 2014 and is a member of the Firm’s Management Committee. Based in New York, Mr. Innes is responsible for Clearwater’s Business Development and Investor Relations activities. Mr. Innes has more than 25 years of experience

George Monserrat is a Managing Director at the Rohatyn Group (“TRG”), an asset management firm focused on emerging markets. Mr. Monserrat joined TRG’s New York office in 2004 to build the special situations investment practice, where his primary focus has

William (“Bill”) Pearce has been with OPIC since July 2005, having held a number of investment and management roles with the agency, working predominantly in the Investment Funds Department (IFD). Within IFD he originates new fund opportunities in numerous

Luc Rigouzzo is Executive President and Co-Founder of Amethis Finance an investment fund focusing on long term responsible investment in Africa built in partnership with the Edmond de Rothschild Group.

Luc Rigouzzo was, from June 2006 to December 2010, the CEO

Vikram Raju leads emerging markets investing for Morgan Stanley AIP and serves on advisory committees of funds in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Previously, he was a principal investment officer at the IFC, World Bank Group, where he led the

Andrea Heinzer joined Obviam’s predecessor SIFEM in 2006 from SECO, where she worked in the Department for Economic Development Cooperation. Andrea was responsible for SECO’s investment portfolio in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the implementation of SECO’s Investment and Technical Assistance Program

Carole Maman is Chief Investment Officer of BIO. She joined BIO in 2003 as investment officer for Africa and afterwards headed the Financial Sector Department.

Previously Carole had worked during 4 years for the International Finance Corporation/IFC in Washington for the Latin America Department and

Alagappan Murugappan joined CDC in October 2013 having worked previously in senior roles in private equity and investment banking in India. His private equity experience includes a stint at Actis in India and more recently, he headed the infrastructure fund

Mukul Gulati is the Co-founder and Managing Director of Zephyr Peacock Management India.

Mukul has 18 years of experience in the investment business including private equity, investment research and general management. Mukul is responsible for overall leadership of the

Mr. Elvin Guri is an entrepreneur and investor with a successful track record in financial services. Currently CEO of Empower Capital Advisors, manager of Empower Capital Fund, a EUR 26 million fund investing in Bulgarian lower and mid-market industrial companies.

Will Poole is a serial entrepreneur and venture investor, focused on investing in profitable businesses that bring social and economic opportunity to low-income populations. In 2012, Will co-founded Unitus Seed Fund, now India's leading venture seed fund supporting startups innovating for

Amie Patel is a Director with Elevar Equity and manages and cultivates Elevar’s global partnerships including LP and co-investor relationships. Amie was previously a Vice President with Goldman Sachs Asset Management which she joined through the acquisition of Imprint Capital.

Dr. Felix Olale is a Partner at LeapFrog and the firm’s Global Co-Leader for Health Investments. He is also an entrepreneur and physician-scientist, renowned for his work building businesses and investing in healthcare in emerging markets.

Prior to Leapfrog, Dr Olale

Stewart leads investments in LeapFrog’s priority markets in South Asia. He co-led LeapFrog’s landmark investments in Shriram, Mahindra, BIMA and SMK.

Stewart has 15 years of experience in investment banking, corporate finance and private equity. His experience includes mergers, acquisitions, disposals,

Riikka Talvitie joined Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation Ltd (Finnfund) in 2006 after working as a legal counsel at a Finnish private equity fund. Started in Finnfund in the legal department as legal counsel in charge of most of the

Jerome Briere joined Export Development Canada (“EDC”) in 2012 and engages in both direct investments as well as fund commitments. Jerome manages a diverse portfolio of private equity investments deployed across South America and Asia. Mr. Briere sits on several

S. Sriniwasan (Srini) heads Kotak Investment Advisors Limited (KIAL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kotak Mahindra Bank, since January 2017.

Srini has played a crucial role in setting up and building the Alternate Assets business at KIAL. He established one of

Reyaz joined AMC in September 2010 from IFC’s Global Manufacturing and Services Department where, through August 2010, he headed the sector team responsible globally for IFC’s investments in solar, wind and other renewables supply chains, as well as for energy-efficient

Cyrille Arnould became Head of The Global Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Fund within the European Investment Bank (EIB) in 2009. Previously, he was a Senior Investment Officer in the Africa Caribbean and Pacific department, where he oversaw the development

Lance Crist is Global Head of Oil & Gas for IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group. Mr. Crist leads IFC’s investments in equity, mezzanine and senior debt, for exploration & production, pipelines, LNG export and regasification,

Mrs. Rodrigues is a senior partner responsible for the consumer, retail and services private equity practice at Crescera Investimentos. She holds an MBA from Columbia Business School with concentration in Private Equity and Real Estate. Prior to joining Crescera Investimentos,

Mr. Guillermo Cabieses acts as Principal, General Counsel & Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Nexus Group and has been with the Firm since 2017. Before joining Nexus, Mr. Cabieses worked at Credicorp Ltd., where he was Credicorp Capital’s Corporate General

Emile joined Harith General Partners in 2011 as the Head of PAIDF 1, a $630 million Private Equity Fund investing in both Greenfield and expansionary Infrastructure Projects on the African Continent. Emile leads the PAIDF Investment Team in identifying, evaluating,

Ana joined Pantheon in 2012 and has over 10 years of investment experience. At Pantheon focuses on the evaluation, selection, and monitoring of Latin American investment opportunities. Ana is an observer member on the Emerging Markets Investment Committee and a

Mr. Donath is a Managing Partner at L Catterton focused on Latin America. He was a Senior Managing Director and Partner at Eton Park Capital Management, responsible for private equity and illiquid investment activities in emerging markets. Previously, he was

Darius joined AMC in November 2012 as the Head of the Global Infrastructure Fund. Prior to joining AMC, Darius was Global Head of Equity for the Infrastructure & Natural Resources sectors at IFC.  Between 2001 and 2009, Darius headed IFC’s

David Mathewson joined SEAF as President in 2016. Mr. Mathewson chairs SEAF’s Global Investment Committee and works on all aspects of SEAF’s strategic development and daily operations.

From 2010 to 2015, David served as Senior Managing Director of Darby Private

Mr. Guillermo Cabieses acts as Principal, General Counsel & Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Nexus Group Nexus Group and has been with the them since 2017. Before joining Nexus, Mr. Cabieses worked at Credicorp Ltd., where he was Credicorp Capital’s

Jurie has been involved with AIIM since its inception. He has served as a Director on the AIIM Board since 2009 and was appointed as CEO in 2014. Jurie is also a member of the AIIM investment committee.Since the beginning

Somit Varma is based in New York, joined Warburg Pincus in 2011 and focuses on energy investments. Previously, he was global head of the natural resources group at the International Finance Corporation with a focus on emerging markets. Mr. Varma

Aygen Yayıkoğlu is the Founder and Managing Partner of Crescent Capital, a private equity firm focused on energy and infrastructure, based in Istanbul.

Aygen has 19 years of project finance and investment experience in emerging markets. His areas of expertise include

Jake Cusack is co-managing partner of CrossBoundary, a frontier market investment firm whose clients include development finance institutions, private equity firms, Fortune 100 companies, public policy research institutions, and the US Government. In addition to their advisory business, CrossBoundary has

Sulaiman M. Al-Rubaie has more than 14 years of experience in merchant banking and private equity. He has a wealth of experience across many areas including private equity, mergers & acquisitions, equity and debt capital markets and restructuring.

He started his

Eldar Abdrazakov is the Founder & Chief Executive of Centras Capital, a Kazakh leading non-bank financial services group. He chairs the Boards of Group’s principle subsidiaries in insurance, capital markets and private equity. Centras through its two insurance subsidiaries commands #3

Stuart Bradley, Senior Partner, Phatisa has 18 years of private equity experience in Africa with CDC Capital Partners, Aureos Capital and Phatisa Group. He is the co-founder of Phatisa Group, which has over US$ 285 million of capital under management.

William Doffermyre serves as the Vice President and General Counsel of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. As Vice President and General Counsel, Mr. Doffermyre leads the agency’s legal affairs department, which provides legal guidance to OPIC’s main business lines in

Jérémie CEYRAC is the Head of the Private Equity Department at PROPARCO, covering both the fund of fund and direct investment activity. Since joining the French DFI in 2010, Jérémie has worked on numerous transactions in East, North and West

Yana Watson Kakar is the Global Managing Partner of Dalberg Global Development Advisors. In this role, Yana stewards the firm’s global strategy and oversees activities across Dalberg’s 14 offices worldwide.In her client work, Yana advises leaders across the public, philanthropic,

Marcell Hetesi is Senior Investment Manager at the Development Bank of Austria in the equity team covering buy-side equity investment and portfolio management of funds.He is responsible for the origination and execution of finance transactions and portfolio management, and serves
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Tim Purcell is the Managing Partner and co-founder of Linzor Capital Partners. He previously worked for close to twenty years at J.P. Morgan in the investment banking and private equity areas. He started his career in New York in 1986

Enrico Canu is Head of Unit, Equity, at the EIB responsible for investments in private equity and venture capital funds outside the European Union. Previously, he focused on environmental and infrastructure fund investments. Prior to EIB, he held positions at

Leith Masri is a Founding Partner of Foursan Group, a leading Middle Eastern private equity firm which was established in 2000 and manages funds primarily investing in accelerated growth companies in the Levant and North Africa.  Previously, Mr. Masri was

Geoffrey Tassinari is a French national who was educated in France and the USA.

Since 2004, he is the Antananarivo-based Executive Chairman of Madagascar Development Partners LLC (MDP), a pioneering venture capital/private equity company focused on Madagascar and the Western Indian

Patricia M. Dinneen has focused on Emerging Markets for most of her 36-year career. She joined EMPEA in February 2014 as a Senior Advisor and was appointed Chair of the EMPEA Impact Investing Council in 2013, to help professionalize and

Monica Brand is the founding principal director of Accion’s Frontier Investments Group. Monica has spent her career in the financial services and social enterprise sectors, expanding and enhancing the value offered to the majority. Prior to assuming this role, Monica

Gema Sacristán is the Chief Investment Officer and part of the senior management team of IDB Invest, the private sector arm of the IDB Group. She is responsible for all IDB Invest’s business areas that includes Infrastructure and Energy, Corporates,

Rob Petty is Co-Founder of the Clearwater Funds and Co-CEO and Co-CIO of Fiera Capital (Asia). Since founding the Clearwater Funds in 2001, Rob and his partner Amit Gupta have invested profitably across cycles, sectors and geographies, building an Asia-focused

Arun Gore as the President and CEO of Gray Ghost Ventures is responsible for portfolio management and day-to-day operations of the management company Gray Ghost Management & Operations. He also serves as a board member of a number of the

Gloria Nelund spent 30 years on Wall Street as one of the most successful and visible executives in the international investment management industry. After retiring from Deutsche Bank as CEO of their $50 billion North America Private Wealth Management division,

Rebecca Xu is a Co-Founder and Managing Director of Asia Alternatives. Ms. Xu leads Asia Alternatives' Beijing office and is also a part of the Hong Kong office. She is on the Firm's Investment Committee and co-leads Asia Alternatives' investments

Dr. Jim Roth co-founded LeapFrog Investments, a profit-with-purpose fund manager which invests in high-growth financial services companies in Africa and Asia. Jim leads LeapFrog’s work in South Asia as well as the firm's Europe office.

Jim is a leading expert in

Jean-Michel Severino succeeded Patrice Hoppenot in May 2011 as CEO of "Investisseurs et Partenaires" (I&P), an impact investing and private equity firm, which focuses on small and medium-sized enterprises and microfinance institutions in Africa. He now works on implementing the

Eytan M. Stibbe, Founding Director of Vital Capital Fund, has been involved in investment in Africa for the past 26 years. Mr. Stibbe studied Mathematics & Computer Science at Bar Ilan University and completed his Master’s degree in Business Administration

Mark Kenderdine-Davies, a British national, is General Counsel of CDC Group plc (CDC) with oversight of the company’s legal and regulatory affairs. Mark manages the company’s legal team and corporate secretariat and sits on its private funds investment committee.

CDC, established

Rik Vyverman's role at responsAbility includes heading the Ventures Equity department as well as being responsible for all venture capital/private equity investments in sectors such as health care, energy, education, sustainable agriculture, etc.
Professional Background:

• Earned a Master of Science degree

Maninder Saluja joined Quilvest in 2005 and is a Partner based in and responsible for the oversight of Quilvest’s Hong Kong office, from where he co-manages QS GEO PEP, Quilvest’s Global Emerging Opportunities Private Equity Program. In addition, he sources

Joseph McDonald is an Associate at Zurich Alternative Asset Management, LLC (“ZAAM”), the in-house alternative asset investment unit of Zurich Insurance Group. At ZAAM, Joe is part of the private equity team responsible for sourcing, evaluating, and executing on

Runa Alam is a Co-Founding Partner and CEO of DPI. She has 28 years of investment banking, emerging market management and private equity experience. For the three years before starting DPI, Ms. Alam was Chief Executive of two African private

Adam Wolfensohn is a Managing Director of Wolfensohn Fund Management and a member of the Investment Committee. Wolfensohn Fund Management is an emerging markets oriented investment firm with focus areas in financial inclusion and low carbon energy. Since 2002, he

Thomas C. Barry is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Zephyr Management, L.P., an emerging markets investment management company which he founded in 1994.  Zephyr has sponsored twenty-two specialized investment funds with approximately US$2 billion in committed capital. Zephyr’s

Fernando Borges serves on EMPEA's Board of Directors and its Latin America Council.

Mr. Borges is a Managing Director and Co-Head of the Carlyle South America Buyout group focused on private equity investment opportunities in South America. He is based in

Felipe Vilá Gonzalez is the CEO of “Fondo de Fondos”, a corporation established by NAFIN, BANOBRAS, BANCOMEXT and FOCIR, four development banks in Mexico. The Corporation has committed US 709 million in 59 Private Equity / Venture Capital Funds that

Joaquin Avila currently acts as Senior Managing Director and Co‐founder of EMX Capital. Prior to this, he served as Managing Director and Fund Head for Carlyle Mexico Partners of The Carlyle Group. Global Partner since 2008. Spearheaded opening of Carlyle

Haydee Celaya is a co-founder of Avanz Capital where she is the Chief Investment Officer and Chairs the Investment Committee. Ms. Celaya has direct oversight for the firm’s investment activities in several emerging markets, including Latin America, and leads the

Jeffrey Liebert is the CEO of the fund manager Gazelle Finance and successfully raised $42M in capital  commitments for the Gazelle Fund, which invests in SMEs in Central Asia, Caucasus, and East Europe. Prior to this Jeffrey was a co-founder

Cesar Collier is a Managing Director of Siguler Guff and head of the Firm's São Paulo office. Mr. Collier, who joined Siguler Guff in February 2011, is a senior member of the BRIC investment team. Prior to joining Siguler Guff,

Diego Córdoba is a Co-founder, Managing Partner and Investment Professional of Teka Capital. He has more than 20 years of experience in strategy, M&A and corporate finance. Prior to founding Teka Capital, he served during 4 years as CEO of

Piero Minardi serves on EMPEA's Board of Directors and its Latin America Council.

Piero Minardi is based in São Paulo and joined Warburg Pincus in 2014. Previously, Mr. Minardi was a Partner in the Private Equity Group at Gavea Investimentos, a

Peter Cornelius is a Managing Director at AlpInvest Partners, the private equity arm of The Carlyle Group’s Global Solutions Group. In his current position, he heads AlpInvest’s economic and strategic research. Prior to this, he was the Group Chief Economist

Sanjay Nayar (Mumbai) joined KKR in 2009 and is CEO of KKR India. Prior to joining KKR, he served as CEO of Citigroup’s Indian and South Asian operations and as a member of Citigroup’s Management Committee and Asia Executive Operating

Ziad Oueslati is the MD and co-founding Partner of AfricInvest the first PE fund management company in the Maghreb and one of the leading players in Sub-Saharan Africa.  Mr. Oueslati participated to the structuring and raising of several investment funds

Carlos Heneine joined Quilvest in 2005 and is a Partner based in Dubai, from where he co-manages QS GEO PEP, Quilvest’s Global Emerging Opportunities Private Equity Program. He is involved in direct and co-investment opportunities primarily in Latin America and

David Wilton is a Managing Director for the Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners Private Equity Fund Group where he is leading initiatives in Investing With Impact. David is currently the Chairman of the Advisory Council of the EMPEA and a

Janusz is a Managing Director and Head of Investment Management Emerging Markets at Capital Dynamics. He has some 30 years of private equity, corporate finance, and industry experience. Prior to taking on his current role, he was Head of Asset

Drew Guff is Managing Director and founding principal of Siguler Guff & Company. Siguler Guff & Company is a private equity firm managing over $12 billion in domestic and international private equity funds on behalf of corporate and government pension