Private Markets Profile Live: Inside the deal

Callum is a DC Investment Partner at XPS with nearly 18 years’ experience in investment consulting and driving defined contribution strategy and proposition. A qualified actuary, he is well known for his focus on improving member outcomes, sustainable investing, and the effective use of private assets. He pioneered the ‘10‑10‑10’ rule for illiquid investments and has played a key role in evolving major DC investment propositions, including at Standard Life. At XPS, Callum leads strategic growth within the DC investment business.

Vanessa joined London CIV in November 2020 and brings with her 14 years of industry experience, covering primary, secondary and co-investment opportunities across the private markets spectrum, including private credit, infrastructure, real estate, private equity and hedge funds. In her previous roles, Vanessa has gained extensive experience in investment sourcing, manager selection and investment and operational due diligence. She has also focused on responsible investment and ESG and the importance of integrating these into investment management platforms and support functions.

Richard runs the Private Markets portfolio at Railpen. The Private Markets team has the remit and responsibility to invest across high-risk illiquid strategies through a variety of investment structures (funds, co-investments, secondaries, directs), focussed primarily on equity strategies. Having joined Railpen in 2007, Richard has evolved and implemented Railpen’s current approach to private market strategies promoting the principles of flexibility, control and cost. Earlier in his tenure at Railpen, Richard was responsible for the commodities pooled fund. Richard started his career in 2003 as a strategy consultant serving the Private Markets industry. He is a guest lecturer on the Private Equity executive education programme at University of Oxford’s Said Business School.

Beverley is Founder and Managing Partner of Clean Growth Investment Management, a venture capital fund manager that  invests in the UK’s most promising early stage cleantech companies that have the potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. She is also CEO of Carbon Limiting Technologies (2006), a cleantech consultancy for corporates, financiers, government officials and SMEs. Prior she was she was a founder and Vice President, Shell Technology Ventures. 

Beverley is a thought leader in early stage cleantech investments and commercialisation with over 40 years’ experience in the international energy sector. She specialises in accelerating innovation to market and scaling companies by providing strategic insights, developing industry partnerships and identifying novel ways to overcome barriers to entry. Her ambition is to create a better, sustainable world and she firmly believes that this will be achieved through climatetech innovation playing a transformative role in the global economy. In 2023, Beverley was awarded an OBE by His Majesty King Charles III for services to Net Zero innovation. She is a NED and Chair of Investment Committee at Great British Energy and previously an independent member of the UK’s cross-government Net Zero Innovation Board chaired by the chief science advisor, Dame Angela McLean. Beverley is a Fellow of the Energy Institute. She holds a BSc in Mining Geology from University College Cardiff.

George retired from his role as Director of the South Yorkshire Pensions Authority after nearly 8 years in December 2025, after a career in local government finance and pensions which included senior finance roles in district and county councils and leading the Lancashire Pension Fund during the creation of LPP follows by leading LPP’s administration business. He now acts as an independent adviser to Border to Coast Pensions Partnership on local investment and is Independent Chair of Lincolnshire’s Local Pension Board as well as providing advice on a range of issues to other LGPS funds. 

Will Hitchcock is the founder and CEO of Above, a global solar software and data analytics company. Having brought the first aerial condition monitoring services to the solar industry in 2016, where he pioneered the use of drones and AI, Above now works with over 150 customers throughout the world and is operating in 30 countries. Above is driving the digitalisation agenda within the utility-scale solar industry through helping customers use technology to increase plant performance, manage risk and reduce cost.

He is the Chairman of the Solar Energy UK Utility-Scale Technical Working Group. The group focuses on establishing and advancing technology, operations and best practices across the industry.

Will has extensive knowledge of the solar industry, previously a Director at leading EPC, where he led the construction of 150MW of ground-mounted solar. He is also the founder of the UKs first community owned solar generator, Green Energy Nayland, for which he is still a Director. Will holds an BEng in Aeronautical Engineering.

Mark leads the origination, execution and portfolio management functions in Europe. As a senior leader in the Corinthia business, he is also a member of the European Investment Committee and a Portfolio Manager. Prior to joining Corinthia, Mark spent 18 years in a senior management role leading Barings’ European private credit business. Through this time, Mark was instrumental in the platform’s development into a leading European private credit business and a consistent top 3 manager in the European league tables over the last 5 years. At Barings, Mark managed a team of 26 professionals responsible for the origination, management and underwriting of the European middle market loans. Previous roles include working in corporate finance advisory at Catalyst Corporate Finance (now Alantra) and leverage finance at RBS. Mark qualified as Chartered Accountant (ACA) in 1996 at PwC and holds a first class B.Sc. (Honours) degree in Management Sciences from Loughborough University of Technology.

Eamon Ray is the Head of Private Credit and Alternative Income at USS. He is responsible for managing USS’s activities across private credit, alternative income and matching asset classes, including a team of 20 personnel and £7.8bn of assets under management.

Eamon has led the team’s sourcing, investment and asset management activities across a wide variety of sectors including social housing, equity release mortgages and property development finance.

He holds multiple Board positions including at Registered Providers in the social housing space as well as at specialty finance businesses.

Prior to joining USS, Eamon worked at GE Capital and Deloitte. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales, and is a CFA Charterholder.

Umang is a Director in the Private Markets team at bfinance, with a focus on Private Debt. He has over 11 years of experience advising institutional investors, with a particular specialism in private markets and alternative investments.

Prior to joining bfinance, Umang held a senior role at Barnett Waddingham as an investment consultant and Head of Alternative Research, leading research and strategy across private markets and supporting client delivery. Earlier in his career, he worked at Willis Towers Watson, supporting institutional clients on funding and investment strategy, having begun his career at OCBC, where he contributed to regulatory oversight and risk monitoring.

Umang is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation, and has completed the CFA Certificate in Private Markets and Alternative Investments.

James is a Workplace Investment Director looking after FutureWise Target Dated Fund Strategy and a number of key strategic IO clients since February 2023. He comes with 13 years DC Investment industry experience from Aon, where he was Head of DC Investments for 8 Years and is qualified as a Regulated Financial Planner, with a specialism in DC investment strategy design, sustainability, less liquid asset integration and provider market knowledge. His responsibilities included working on the Bank of England’s Productive Working Finance Group, governing the Aon DC Product (including the Aon Master Trust), reviewing the investment and bundled proposition of pension providers and advising Employers and Trusts on their workplace investment strategy.

Steven serves on the Investment Committee and is responsible for developing and supporting the firm’s business development initiatives. With over 25 years of global timberland experience, Steven has broad experience developing timberland investment strategies, acquiring timberland, and managing portfolios. Prior to joining RMS, Steven was Managing Director, Global Strategies at Campbell Global, playing a key role in the successful launch of their first global timberland fund.  Prior to that he held positions at RMS, Rayonier, James W. Sewall Company, and Jaakko Pöyry Consulting.  Steven received his M.S. in forest resources from the University of Georgia and a B.S. in forest resources and conservation from the University of Florida.

Kunal Shah is the Co-Head of Originations on the Investment Team at Brightwood Capital, a private credit firm focused on investing in U.S. middle market companies. He also serves on the Brightwood Funds’ Investment Committees.

Prior to joining Brightwood in 2014, Kunal spent six years as an investment professional at Solar Capital, a private credit firm, where he was responsible for evaluating, executing, and managing senior secured and other loans to U.S. middle market companies.

Prior to joining Solar Capital, he was an Investment Banking Analyst in the Leveraged Finance Group at Merrill Lynch, where we worked on the diligence, structuring, and underwriting of a number of debt financings.

Mr. Shah earned his B.S. from the University of Southern California.

Since founding Mercia Capital Partners in 2013, Ian has helped GP’s to raise capital, principally from UK investors, for both early and later vintage private credit funds investing across the capital structure in a wide spectrum of strategies and geographies.

Mercia maintains an extensive network of institutional and private wealth LP’s and their advisers, helping them extend their origination capabilities to the next wave of institutional quality, yet often under-the-radar, managers.

Prior to founding Mercia, Ian’s wide-ranging IR experience spanned a 30-year career in the European investment management, pensions and insurance industries, raising capital in public and private markets fixed income, equities and alternatives for the respective fund management businesses of Hill Samuel, Barings, Rothschild, Credit Agricole/Amundi and as a senior consultant with private credit placement adviser, Arbour Partners.

Ian is the host of the “Investor Revelations” podcast and a regular speaker and moderator at private markets conferences globally.

Mercia Capital Partners Ltd is an appointed representative of Messels Ltd, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Leah is the Deputy Head of Sustainable Investment Insight at Isio. She leads on Isio’s sustainability IP agenda, researching climate, nature and social concerns for investors. She also leads sustainable investment advice for some of Isio’s largest pension scheme clients, including a focus on sustainable implementation in practice.

She has a climate change-focused masters, with over ten years of experience working on sustainability issues. Before moving into the pensions industry in 2019, she worked with thinktanks, providing sustainability research to national governments and international institutions, including banks.