Room151’s LGPS Private Markets Forum 2023

Aoifinn is passionate about financial markets, knowledge sharing and education. She strives to demystify the world of investing for clients by educating them rather than merely offering advice. Her commitment to reducing complexity has empowered countless clients to make informed decisions.

In her role as Managing Director – Global Wealth, Aoifinn is responsible for leading the team’s overall investment efforts and serving as a liaison to Moneta’s in-house investment department. Aoifinn also operates as the team’s Chicago Market Leader with an emphasis on serving the Family Office Practice.

Originally from Ireland, Aoifinn began her career in London as an investment banking associate at Goldman Sachs International and a specialist consultant at Cambridge Associates Limited. She subsequently founded Clontarf Capital, a pan-alternatives research and consulting firm. She later served as CIO for the Policemen’s Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago and head of investment for Ireland at Hermes Fund Managers Ireland Limited.

When Aoifinn joined Moneta in 2021 as CIO, she brought with her a wealth of experience in institutional client management and alternative investments, coupled with a robust background in portfolio oversight. Her illustrious global career, spanning key financial hubs such as London, Hong Kong, New York City, and Chicago, has enriched her perspective and nurtured her creativity, innovation, and adaptability. Over the years, she has cultivated a vast network of industry contacts and gained exposure to a diverse array of investment manager talent. Most recently, Aoifinn excelled as Moneta’s Chief Global Market Strategist, leveraging her over two decades of experience in the financial industry to provide a truly global investment outlook.

Aoifinn is also a licensed attorney and has been a member of the New York Bar since 1996. She holds law degrees from Trinity College Dublin and Oxford University, an MBA from INSEAD in France, and an MSc in Applied Neuroscience from Kings College London.

In addition to her professional achievements, Aoifinn hosts and produces The Fiftyfaces Podcast, which highlights diversity and inclusion within the investment industry and other professions. She has completed 55 marathons, speaks German, French and Spanish, and enjoys traveling, particularly when it involves some skiing in the winter months.

Tom is a Director in Baillie Gifford’s  Private Companies Team.  Prior to this he led Baillie Gifford’s LGPS business for many years with responsibility for reporting to a number of LGPS funds and pools.

As part of the investment management team at Merseyside Pension Fund Adil is involved in asset allocation, risk management and portfolio construction decision making and developing investment strategies that align with long-term objectives of the Pension Fund focusing on generating stable returns while managing risk effectively. Adil is also member of the Fund’s Investment Committee.

Leandros is the Chief Investment Officer of West Yorkshire Pension Fund (‘WYPF’), which has approximately £18bn of assets and 300,000 members. He leads a large investment team directly investing across public, private and alternatives markets, alongside the collaborative partnerships in infrastructure though GLIL and in private equity through NPEP. He was most recently Head of Portfolio Solutions at abrdn and Head of Credit at USS, and started his career in banking and alternatives firms.

Leandros has an MBA from INSEAD and an MA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford

David is an actuary with over 25 years’ experience in the pensions industry, having spent 10 years at KPMG, where he provided advice to the social housing sector as well as leading KPMG’s proposition around pensions to the higher education sector.

David supported the National Housing Federation with their response to the Pension Regulators Code of Practice around pension funding and he has also advised on asset backed funding vehicles and strategic asset allocation for pension funds more generally.

More recently, David has joined Barnet Council as their Head of Pensions and Treasury, where he will be working closely with the Pension Fund Committee to help reshape their investment strategy as they seek to develop their Responsible Investment policy and prepare for, what could be, a very different investment outlook to that experienced over the last 10 years or so

David Atterbury joined HarbourVest in 2004. He is currently head of the firm’s London office and co-leads the firm’s secondary investment activity in Europe. During his tenure, David has led a number of European secondary transactions, including Absolute Private Equity and SVG Capital plc. David serves on a number of European fund advisory boards.

David joined HarbourVest after five years with Abbey National Treasury Services Plc, where he was Director of Private Equity. His responsibilities at Abbey National included the development of a direct private equity portfolio and the subsequent disposal of a large diversified portfolio of partnership commitments and direct holdings. His previous experience also includes five years with PricewaterhouseCoopers, which included a one-year assignment to Bridgepoint Capital in London.

David received a BSc (with honors) in International Management and French from the University of Bath in 1994, and completed professional examinations in 1997 to qualify as a Chartered Accountant.

Adi is a Principal at ICG, based in London. Adi is a member of the ICG Strategic Equity team, which focuses exclusively on GP-led transactions.

Prior to joining ICG in 2019, Adi was at Bain Capital in New York, focusing on direct private equity transactions. Before that, he worked in investment banking at Morgan Stanley in Sydney and New York.

Adi holds an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School. He graduated with a Bachelor of Business (Distinction and University Medal) and a Bachelor of Laws (1^st Class Hons.) from the University of Technology, Sydney.

William has worked in institutional asset management for 40 years, including three spells in Tokyo.  Since 2009 he has been advising public sector funds and currently acts as independent advisor to three LGPS funds.  He also acts as independent chair of the Lancashire County Pension Board.  He has a Masters in Finance from the LBS, and is Director of Linchpin Advisory Limited, providing advisory services on investment and governance.   William has three millennial and one Generation Z children and lives with his wife in Kent.  Outside work he plays bridge competitively and spends most of his spare time looking after and occasionally sailing a 55-year-old wooden boat on the River Medway.

Edward joined AlphaReal in April 2021 as Chief Investment Officer and Head of Sustainability. He chairs the Investment Committee, oversees the investment process and fund performance, and leads ESG integration across the group.

Edward has over 25 years’ financial services and investment management experience covering investment management, insurance and investment banking. Prior to joining AlphaReal, he spent 14 years at MetLife where he was Chief Investment Officer, EMEA, overseeing approximately £10 billion equivalent of AUM across public and private credit, infrastructure, and real estate. Prior to becoming CIO, he was Managing Director and Head of Credit having previously undertaken roles in portfolio management and credit research. Earlier in his career, Ed spent two years as a Senior Analyst at Moody’s Investors Service, having started his career at Barclays Investment Bank where he worked in IBD and debt advisory.

Edward holds a B.A. in European Studies from the University of Manchester.

Bruce Richards is Chief Executive Officer & Chairman of Marathon Asset Management and is responsible for general oversight of Marathon manages on behalf of its institutional investors. Mr. Richards leads Marathon’s Executive Committee, representing senior leadership at Marathon, where the firm’s strategic direction is established. Mr. Richards sits on Marathon’s Investment Committee, which convenes weekly to evaluate select investments and establishes guidelines for asset allocation. Prior to founding Marathon in 1998, Mr. Richards worked on Wall Street for 15 years, including 10 years as a Managing Director in the fixed income divisions of Smith Barney and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette where he was head of a trading desk responsible for principal investments and market making. Mr. Richards has demonstrated a strong commitment to philanthropy and was the recipient of Help for Children | Hedge Fund Cares’ Award for Caring in 2014 and the CFA Society’s Humanitarian Award in 2017. He has also been honoured by the UJA Federation of New York and HELP USA and was the recipient of the Boomer Esiason Foundation’s Most Valuable Player Award and the R Baby Foundation’s Philanthropic Leadership Award. Mr. Richards served on the Investment Committee of The University of Maryland for the past 10 years. Mr. Richards is married with two children and resides in Manhattan. He received his B.A. in Economics, summa cum laude, from Tulane University and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Lei is responsible for co-leading the European Credit Opportunities (“ECO”) strategy at Ninety One. He is a member of the ECO Investment Committee and is responsible for portfolio management, transaction origination and team management.

Lei has 18 years of experience in European credit investing and investment banking. Prior to joining Ninety One, Lei was a Portfolio Manager and Managing Director at Oak Hill Advisors (“OHA”) and a member of OHA’s $2.7 billion Strategic Credit Fund investment committee. At OHA, Lei helped to build OHA’s successful European business from 2009 to 2020. Earlier in his career, Lei worked in the leveraged finance team at Merrill Lynch.

Lei is British and Chinese and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Nemashe Sivayogan is an Associate member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. Nemashe is currently working as Head of Treasury and Pensions at the London Borough of Merton. Before Merton, she worked at the LB of Lambeth where she gained her technical knowledge and skills. Nemashe has 18 years of Local Government experience, with significant knowledge in LGPS.

Trevor Castledine is Chief Client and Advisory Officer at LGPS Central Limited. He has extensive LGPS and broader investment management experience and has worked as an investment consultant recognised as a leading expert in private market investment. A Chartered Accountant and former Investment Banker, Trevor has been a member of the LGPS community since working as Deputy CIO at Lancashire County Pension Fund (LCPF) and then Deputy CIO and Investment Director for Private Credit at LGPS pooling entity LPPI. Before joining LGPS Central, Trevor served as an Independent Adviser to the South Yorkshire Pensions Authority.

Alongside his role at LGPS Central, Trevor acts as an NED on the board of a regional direct lending fund manager based in the Northeast of England.

Olly Hughes is a Managing Director and a member of the Forestry Investment Committee at Gresham House since January 2019 leading the Forestry Division. He is responsible for managing the growth and development of Gresham House’s forestry

activities including acquisitions, fund and private client management and forestry asset management. Prior to joining Gresham House, he was a Partner and Head of Infrastructure at Oxford Capital for six years where he built and managed a portfolio

of over £300m of solar and wind renewable energy assets. He started his career at ING Barings in 1995 focusing on asset backed structuring and since then has focused his career on real asset investment management.

Olly has over 20 years of investment experience and holds a Bachelor of Arts and a master’s degree from the University of Oxford in Biological Science. He also obtained the Investment Management Certificate from the CFA Society in the UK.

Jessica joined Fiera Real Estate in 2020, where she was responsible for the firm’s ESG strategies and initiatives across its real estate investments, developments and operations. In 2023, Jessica’s role broadened to oversee and drive Fiera Capital Private Market’s sustainable investing strategy across infrastructure, agriculture, private credit, private equity and real estate. Prior to Fiera Capital Jessica worked in the Commercial Real Estate Credit Team at RBS (now NatWest) where she was responsible for environmental and sustainability risk processes. Previously, Jessica was at MSCI Real Estate, where she led their global sustainability benchmarking initiatives, and at the Public Investment Corporation Real Estate Asset Managers (PICREAM) in South Africa, where she managed a portfolio or retail assets in underserviced townships. Jessica currently sits on the Association of Real Estate Funds (AREF) ESG and Impact Investment Committee.

Sherief currently has a dual mandate. As the Head of Treasury & Banking at Worcestershire County Council he is responsible for the strategic management of the Council’s financial positioning and fiscal planning. As the Head of Pension Investments, Sherief leads on the strategic direction of the Worcestershire Pension Fund investment portfolio.

An education in English Law and French Law saw Sherief embark on a career as a solicitor. However, the desire to follow a more commercial path soon led to a change of career with Sherief qualifying as an Accountant with Grant Thornton followed by FP&A roles with Nationwide plc, Vanguard Healthcare, Nuffield Health, SuperGroup plc and West Corporation (Intrado).  

In 2017, Sherief was offered the significant challenge of transferring that skillset into the public sector, initially with the NHS, followed by Worcestershire County Council in 2019. Having quickly established himself as a key part of the Corporate Finance team, Sherief recently transitioned to his current role.

Sherief enjoys being busy and complements his professional life with coaching rugby and football for his local teams as well as being Chair of Governors at the local primary school.              

A specialist in sustainability, stewardship and responsible investment, Jacqueline joined London CIV in 2020 with 12 years’ prior experience working for and engaging with global companies, governments, regulators and investors on ESG-related issues.

She joins LCIV from Trucost, S&P Global, where she directed business development and responsible investment, assessing investment risks relating to climate change, natural resource constraints and broader environmental, social and governance factors.

Jacqueline has extensive experience working with government bodies and regulators such as The Environment Agency, UNEP, PRI as well as previous engagement with London Authorities and pension funds to quantify ESG risks and advise upon the development of policies and guidance. 

Nick founded Resonance Asset Management Limited in 2012 to create and manage investment funds of real industrial operating assets for institutional investors. Resonance has grown to manage US$550m in AUM with funds investing in operating wind farms and industrial water treatment and bioenergy plants in the UK, EU, China, SE Asia and Australia. Resonance operates from offices in London, Hong Kong and Sydney.

From 2000 to 2009, Nick held a number of senior management positions at Man Group plc, one of the world’s largest independent alternative asset management businesses (EMG.L) in London, New York and Zurich. He founded and served as CEO and CIO of Man Environmental Capital Opportunities (Man ECO), and was a member of the Management Committee of Man Investments. Prior to joining the Man Group, Nick was an investment banker at Schroders for 8 years where he originated and executed public and private M&A transactions. Nick’s early career was spent at Oracle Corporation Inc. (ORCL.US) as a business systems consultant and at Marconi Space and Defence Systems (part of GEC plc) as an electronic systems design engineer. Nick holds Bachelor of Science (BSc) and Master of Engineering (MEng) degrees in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Bath, and an MBA from the London Business School.

Barney is a Managing Director, Co-Head of the Clean Energy team and member of the Executive Committee. He is also a member of our Responsible Investment Committee. He has over a decade of renewable energy financing experience across Europe. Prior to joining the team, Barney spent over six years in energy corporate finance at Ernst & Young in London, working across lead advisory, project finance, and M&A in the clean energy and utility sectors. He also provided transaction advice to both the private and public sector on large-scale clean energy infrastructure procurement processes. Barney has a bachelor’s degree in Economics from University of Cambridge and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.

Mark Lyon is Deputy Chief Investment Officer at Border to Coast Pensions Partnership, one of the largest LGPS pools in the UK responsible for the management of £38.3bn. He oversees the management of the internal equities, fixed income and private markets investment functions. Mark has more than 20 years’ experience in investment management and is a CFA Charterholder. He was previously the Head of Investments for the Derbyshire and East Riding local authority pension funds. Prior to working in investment management, Mark worked in Corporate Finance and Audit for BDO Stoy Hayward where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant.

Neil leads the £5bn+ Surrey Pension Fund, with over 110,000 members and more than 300 employers. Surrey is part of the Border to Coast asset pool, nearly qualifying as the “Coast”.

The Surrey Fund has been acknowledged for outstanding approach to risk management and governance in recent years and continues to strive for new ways to innovate and collaborate. It has also been recognised for its excellence in sustainable investing, winning accolades at the Pensions Age Awards, the LAPF Awards and the Public Finance Awards.

Neil is a member of the PLSA Policy Board and Local Government Committee. He is also an independent member of the Local Pension Board at his old stamping ground, the London Borough of Hounslow.

He is the father of twin 18 year old boys and a long suffering supporter of Queens Park Rangers. The inability to watch them live during lockdown was a blessing.

Emma Gullifer is the co-fund manager of the Columbia Threadneedle UK Housing Fund, a strategy focused on delivering resilient income and positive impact through the delivery of affordable build-to-rent housing. Emma joined Columbia Threadneedle REP following a portfolio manager role at DTZ Investors, where she worked across two discretionary balanced UK Property pension fund mandates. Emma holds a BA in Linguistics from the University of Cambridge, an MSc in Real Estate from Bayes Business School, and is a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. Emma is the also the Fund Manager of the CT UK Property Fund.

Adrian joined Edmond de Rothschild REIM in 2022 as Fund Manager of Funding Affordable Homes and is responsible for growing the UK affordable housing platform.

Adrian has 15 years’ experience in real estate fund management, having acquired, developed and managed over £1 billion of real estate across traditional commercial, alternative and social strategies including the acquisition, development and management of over 1,250 affordable homes.

Most recently, Adrian was Head of Social Real Estate at Alpha Real Capital, where he led the strategy and growth of the group’s social real estate funds including a pooled open-ended social long income and a bespoke regional segregated mandate. Prior to joining Alpha, he was fund manager of Henley’s £410 million specialised supported living fund, having previously led AXA’s £350 million long income fund, along with the AXA Group Pension Scheme and AXA Insurance UK real estate portfolios (£300 million+). Prior to working in fund management, Adrian held research and strategy roles at both AXA and Savills IM.

Adrian holds a MSc Geographical Information Science and BSc Geography, both from the University of Nottingham and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

John is Independent Advisor for Governance and Investment to the Pension Funds of the London Boroughs of Barking & Dagenham, Haringey, and Waltham Forest. John is also Independent Chair of the Merseyside Pension Board and is  Advisor to the Nottinghamshire Pension Board.

John has also provided support to a number of other LGPS Funds and other LGPS stakeholders including Asset Managers.

John was previously Head of two LGPS Funds and a Chief Officer in local government for approximately twenty years. This included appointments as Director of Finance/Chief Finance (Section 151) Officer of both a London Borough and County Council.

John is Qualified CIPFA Accountant, holds the Investment Management Certificate of the CFA UK, a MBA (with distinction) in Public Service Management from the University of Stirling, and a BA in Ancient and Medieval History from the University of Sheffield.

John has been a frequent panellist and moderator at both Investment and Local Government Pension Scheme conferences and seminars.

Philip is a senior consultant in our LGPS investment practice and has a strong track record of identifying and evaluating new investment opportunities, building investment cases, structuring appropriate solutions (involving funds or direct investments), and in their execution.

Prior to joining Hymans Robertson in 2020, Philip worked for over 20 years in the asset management industry supporting institutional clients in the development and implementation of their investment strategies.

Tricia joined the Redington team in June 2021 as a Director in Manager Research, with responsibility for leading the private credit team to source, select and deliver best-in-class investment solutions to Redington’s institutional and wealth management client base.  

Tricia most recently gained experience in the Public Sector at Greater Manchester Pension Fund, developing the private credit, private equity and infrastructure programmes, alongside helping to build the ESG framework for private markets. 

Tricia launched her career on the Graduate Programme at Goldman Sachs over 20 years ago, where she also qualified as a Chartered Accountant, an ideal foundation before moving into a credit hedge fund.   In 2008 Tricia joined Absolute Return Partners, an alternatives investment management boutique, as a credit and ILS analyst.  In 2010 she was made Partner and built out the investment research and management teams for private markets, with a continued focus on private credit.  Tricia also took on responsibility for key advisory relationships with pension funds and Family Offices clients supporting strategy education, fund selection, implementation and monitoring of managers.

Deborah Wardle is the Alternatives Leader for the UK at Mercer. She works in London and leads discussions with our clients on their asset allocation, portfolio construction and manager selection decisions across both private market and hedge fund strategies.

Ms. Wardle has 13 years investment experience and is responsible for bringing Mercer’s Alternatives capabilities to clients and prospects in the UK, delivering best-in-class alternatives programs. 

She is a member of Mercer’s Infrastructure Ratings Review Committee and in 2019, Ms. Wardle was named Investment Manager of the Year at the Professional Pensions Rising Star Awards.

Deborah Wardle holds a First Class degree in Mathematics, is a CFA® charter holder and a CAIA® charter holder. 

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. 

Anne joined AlphaReal in 2022 as Co-head of Social Infrastructure. 

Anne is an investment, development, and social operational specialist with an accomplished background in delivering thematic solutions for institutional investors.  Prior to joining AlphaReal, Anne recently completed a successful healthcare portfolio sale and fund closure.  She has a proven track record in delivering bespoke solutions, transactions, and overall responsibility for leading social infrastructure investment funds, as well as securing new business.

Anne has a BSc Honours from Reading University, is a Chartered Surveyor and falls within the Senior Managers and Certification Regime.  She recently completed the Financial Times Board Director Programme.

Bola recently joined Harrow Council as Treasury and Pensions Manager and prior to this worked at Enfield Council as a Finance Manager (Pension & Treasury) overseeing and directing the management of the council’s pension investment strategy of £1.5bn assets and treasury strategy of some £50m of investment portfolio and over £900m of borrowing portfolio.

Previously Bola was responsible for directing and overseeing the management of £1.7bn assets of Tower Hamlets Pension Fund. Prior to joining Tower Hamlets, she worked in a similar role for over 7 years with London Borough of Lewisham Pension Fund before moving on in 2007 to oversee a private corporate pension fund, Trafalgar House Pension Trust with over 40 fund managers with investments in different asset class such as hedge funds, liability matching investments, swaps, CLOs, infrastructure, property, private equity, etc. for almost 3 years.

Bola has gained first-hand experience on a wide range of activities, such as creating and enhancing external relationships with key stakeholders, project management, procurement, performance measurements & monitoring, cash flow management, funding gap management, investment portfolio restructuring, managers’ selection, asset allocation, managing the valuation of swaps legs and collateral managements.

Bola is a frequent participant on the local government conference circuit, she is currently the chair of London Treasury Officers Forum (LTOF). Bola holds a degree in chemical engineering and an associate member of chartered institute of management accountant (ACMA CGMA).