Room151’s LGPS Private Markets Forum (cancelled)

Aoifinn Devitt is CIO, Moneta Group, one of the top 10 independent RIAs in the US with over $27 bn in assets under advisement, where she is responsible for setting strategy for the investment team, overseeing model portfolios, manager selection, client solutions and content generation.  She formerly was Head of Investment – Ireland, for the international business of Federated Hermes and CIO of the Chicago Policemen’s Annuity and Benefit Fund, a $2.6 bn defined benefit public pension fund. 

She has had a long career in investment consulting, fund management and advising institutional investors. Aoifinn is passionate about advancing greater diversity and inclusion in the investment industry, and in 2020, she launched The FiftyFaces Podcast, showcasing the richness of the world of investment by telling stories of a diverse group of people.

Jill recently joined Redington as Head of LGPS to support them with understanding the LGPS landscape and to develop closer relationships with funds and key stakeholders. Jill also works part-time at London Borough of Sutton helping to manage the Fund there.

Jill worked as AD, Investments at the West Midlands Pension Fund, initially covering the broad spectrum of finance and investments for the Fund including investment strategy before moving to focus on responsible investment and investment partnerships.

Previously, working as Head of Financial Services at LB Hackney for 12 years managing all aspects of the Pension Fund and other financial services. She worked closely with others on setting up the investment pooling company, London CIV, before moving to the company as Head of Client Relations.

Previously, Jill worked for over 20 years as a fund manager concentrating mainly on equities but also being involved in strategic asset allocation and derivatives.

Benjamin has been the Chief Executive Officer of Octopus Real Estate since its formation in May 2019 through the combination of Octopus Healthcare and Octopus Property. He was previously Chief Executive Officer of Octopus Healthcare from January 2018, having moved to Octopus Healthcare in 2014 from Octopus Investments where he led the Intermediate Capital and Healthcare Construction Finance investment teams. Benjamin is a member of the Octopus Group Executive Committee, and leads the Octopus Real Estate Executive Committee. Prior to joining Octopus, Benjamin was an Investment Manager at private equity investor YFM Equity Partners, where he invested across a range of sectors. Before that, Benjamin was an Associate Director at investment bank Interregnum, working across the corporate finance and venture capital investment teams in the UK and the USA, and a management consultant for various companies in both the UK and New Zealand. Benjamin holds an MBA from the University of Cambridge and a BCom (Hons) in Commerce from the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Stephen has led the OneSource Shared Service for Newham LBC, Havering LBC and Bexley LBC for the last six years. OneSource provides shared back office support services for local government and other public services.  Prior to this he was the Corporate Finance Manager at the London Borough of Newham.

Damien Pantling heads up the Royal County of Berkshire Pension Fund and is responsible for all fund matters including investment strategy, pooling, fund administration and governance.

Damien is a CIPFA qualified accountant and has recently joined Berkshire having spent much of the last decade working in various finance and LGPS roles across various London boroughs.

Odi is the COO of MJ Hudson. He is responsible for the data & analytics division, the investment consulting business, and technology strategy. Odi also acts as the Executive Sponsor for ESG and sustainability for the group. He is a Member of the Executive Committee and Chair of the Operations Committee and the Environmental Sustainability sub-Committee and is a director of the MJ Hudson PLC Board. Odi has c.25 years of professional experience as an actuary, primarily working in institutional investment and risk, with a focus on strategy and alternative investments.

Odi has experience as an investment consultant to pension funds, family offices, wealth management firms and charities. As an investment professional, he has over the past several years, specialised in alternative investments and their application for institutional investors. More broadly, his career has been centered on investment management, risk and governance. Odi has worked primarily in the private sector, but also spent a number of years in the public sector, in supervision at the Canadian financial regulator OSFI. Prior to forming MJ Hudson investment advisory (formerly known as Allenbridge), he was a Vice President and Head of the Alternative Investment Group at Moody’s. He has also held roles at Mercer in Canada and Alexander Forbes in South Africa.

Matt heads up Temporis’ UK equity investment team and is responsible for originating, appraising, and executing investments that contribute to the UK’s low carbon transition.  Matt trained as an accountant and worked as a corporate finance advisor at PWC and EY before moving to Temporis 7 years ago to focus on investments in renewable energy. In that time Matt has led the investment, development, construction and/or operations of over 20 renewable energy investments gaining broad experience in the sector.

Sarah works as a Vice President in the Manager Research Team where she has a primary focus on private market strategies and specialises in impact investing. Sarah leads on Inclusion and Diversity within fund research and also chairs Redington’s Inclusion & Diversity Committee. Sarah joined Redington in July 2019 having previously worked at BMO Global Asset Management and Janus Henderson. She is a CFA charterholder and holds a BSc (Hons) in Mathematics with Psychology from the University of Birmingham.

Sarah has over 20 years experience in economic development, finance and social entrepreneurship both in the UK and internationally. Prior to founding The Good Economy, Sarah worked for the World Bank, the New Economics Foundation and Big Issue Invest, the social investment arm of The Big Issue.  She has a holistic and strategic view of the role of business and finance in social change with experience in fund design, impact measurement and investor relations in the areas of microfinance, social enterprise development, SMEs and public markets. 

Tom is a Director in Baillie Gifford’s Clients Department where he specialises in late-stage venture capital funds.  Prior to this he worked with the firm’s LGPS clients, reporting to a number of funds and pools across a range of strategies.

Stephen has led the OneSource Shared Service for Newham LBC, Havering LBC and Bexley LBC for the last six years. OneSource provides shared back office support services for local government and other public services.  Prior to this he was the Corporate Finance Manager at the London Borough of Newham.

Deborah Wardle is the Alternatives Leader for the UK at Mercer and is based in London.​ Ms. Wardle is responsible for bringing Mercer’s Alternatives capabilities to clients in the UK, delivering best-in-class alternatives programs​ across both private market and hedge fund strategies.

Prior to this, Ms. Wardle worked within Mercer’s core Investment Consulting department, advising institutional investors on a variety of issues encompassing the design of investment strategy, manager selection and investment monitoring and reporting.​

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

Dario is a Managing Director, Co-Head of the Clean Energy team and member of the Executive Committee. He has over a decade of energy related and renewables experience. Prior to joining Capital Dynamics, he was an investment director at Bluefield Partners LLP and an Investment Manager at Platina Partners where he worked across multiple renewable energy transactions and project financings in the UK and Europe. His previous experience also includes roles at the international energy developer MedEnergy and on the Energy Corporate Finance team at Jefferies International. Dario holds a bachelor’s degree in International Trades from the University of Turin and a master’s degree in European Business from ESCP Europe.

Bola is currently working with a Local Authority assisting in the management of Pension Fund Investments, loans and cashflows having previously worked with a Local Authority and a private Pension Fund Administration Company for 10 years. Here she was responsible for assisting in the management of funds of some £750 million in one organisation and over £1.3 billion in another with over 45 institutional fund managers and investment banks.

Bola is an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (ACMA) and also runs a consultancy business specialises in helping SME (small to medium enterprises), Social Enterprise and Start ups to improve efficiencies in their business practices. Her expertise includes fund management. performance analysis, risk analysis, strategy and business planning, budgeting and forecasting, financial and management accounts preparation and independent review of accounts.

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.

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

Adrian has over 14 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.

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 and directly lead 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 long income 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.

Mr Scott Auty is a London based Partner in DWS’s infrastructure investment business, Europe, and is responsible for the origination and execution of infrastructure investment opportunities as well as the ongoing management of the acquired assets. He is Portfolio Manager of the Sustainable Growth Infrastructure Fund and chairs it’s investment committee and is a member of the investment committee for the three European infrastructure funds also managed by DWS. Prior to joining DWS’s infrastructure business in 2005, Scott started his career at N M Rothschild & Sons’ investment banking division where he was a specialist in the utilities and natural resources sectors. Scott is a Non-Executive Director of Yorkshire Water Services Limited and its parent Kelda Holdings Limited, a supervisory board member of Dutch waste management company Attero Holdings BV, a non-executive director of the Spanish bioethanol producer Vertex Bioenergy SL and a non executive Director of Stagecoach Group Limited, the UK’s leading public transport operator.

James is a portfolio manager within Border to Coast’s £10 billion alternatives programme that covers infrastructure, private equity, private debt and climate opportunities.

James has been with Border to Coast Pension Partnership for 2 years and co-leads on infrastructure, which has over £3 billion of commitments from the pool’s partner funds. The mandate is broad geographically and across sectors and strategies. James also leads on the alternatives co-investment programme.

Prior to joining Border to Coast, James was an Investment Manager at Greater Manchester Pension Fund for 5 years where he was part of the initial team that set up GLIL Infrastructure LLP, the LGPS joint venture vehicle created to invest directly into core UK infrastructure.

James started his career in accountancy and qualified as a Chartered Accountant.

Adil Manzoor is a member of the Investment Team at Merseyside Pension Fund and is responsible for Infrastructure and Local Investment Portfolios. Prior to joining Merseyside Pension Fund, Adil worked at a ­rm of chartered accountants providing accountancy, tax and business consultancy services across the north west of England. Adil is an associate chartered accountant and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Ben Schryber joined Kennedy Lewis in 2018 and is a Partner and the Head of Business Development with responsibility for the Firm’s investor relations activities. Ben was formerly a Managing Director at the Carlyle Group where helped its credit sales activities globally. Prior to Carlyle, Ben was the Global Head of Credit at First Avenue Partners, a leading credit placement agent, where he oversaw the origination, distribution, and ongoing management of credit funds. Prior to First Avenue, Ben worked for Albourne Partners where he led the Firm’s due diligence on private credit funds. Prior to that, he worked for Blue Ridge Partners as a management consultant focused on company-level due diligence on behalf of private equity funds. Ben earned a B.A. with Highest Honors from the University of Florida and was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Cambridge.

Graham has 25 years’ industry experience in the UK and Australia, primarily helping asset owners like pension funds efficiently implement their investment strategy. He joins the EAPF from Macquarie Group, where he focused on LGPS pooling.

Graham is Vice-Chairman of CFA UK and is particularly involved in educational activities, where he has been instrumental in the development and launch of the UNPRI supported Certificate in ESG Investment.

Graham has qualified as chartered Financial Risk Manager (FRM) and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. Graham graduated from Coventry University with a B.A. (hons) in Financial Economics and from Durham with MSc in Corporate and International Finance.

Mike Gillespie manages the private debt strategies for LGPS Central. He has over 30 years’ experience in finance in a career spanning a multi-disciplined field including private equity investing, corporate and acquisition finance, project and infrastructure finance.

Mike is a Fellow of the Chartered Banker Institute and a recent graduate of the Financial Times Non-Executive Director Diploma.

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.

Sam is bfinance’s head of client consulting for the UK and Ireland, a market representing more than 20% of the firm’s revenues. He joined bfinance in 2004 where, as a Senior Associate in the research team, Sam advised clients on manager selection in a wide range of asset classes. Since 2007 Sam has been responsible for relationships with many of bfinance’s largest Corporate and Local Authority Pension clients in the UK. More recently, Sam led the expansion of bfinance into the US and bfinance’s activities with the LGPS Pooling organisations. Sam advised on the design of the ACCESS Pool private markets proposition and is leading the Private Markets procurements for Wales Pension Partnership.

In 2020, Sam was appointed as Independent Adviser to Cambridgeshire Pension Fund.  Prior to bfinance, Sam spent 4 years with Standard & Poor’s in their fund rating business. Sam holds the CFA charter, IMC and Series 7, 24, 62 and 79 designations in addition to an MA (Oxon) in Mathematics from the University of Oxford.

Sophie Durham is based in London and is Director of ESG for Infrastructure Investments.

Prior to joining the team in 2021, she worked at listed oil and gas company Kosmos Energy, where she was responsible for climate change and global public policy, and previously social performance at several of the company’s assets in West Africa.

Prior to joining Kosmos Sophie was a Senior Associate at Critical Resource, an advisory firm that supports mining and oil and gas companies to manage social and political risk. Sophie holds a BA in Geography from Cambridge University and an MA from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London