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Insights Conference 2023
LuxExpo The Box
What's next, now!
What’s new this year…
Luxembourg’s leading Private Equity and Venture Capital (PE/VC) conference will take place during the Luxembourg venture days in collaboration with Luxinnovation, LBAN and the Luxembourg Startups Association (Startups.lu).
Join this event designed by and for GPs, LPs and which will also be the meeting point for all Private Equity and Venture Capital practitioners.
Agenda - Programme
Main Stage
8:30 AM | Breakfast & Registration
9:30 AM | Welcome
Stephane Pesch, CEO of LPEA
9:40 AM | Introduction
Claus Mansfeldt, President of LPEA
9:50 AM | 360º Buyout market overview
Moderated by Claus Mansfeldt, LPEA / SwanCap
– Britta Harper, Blackstone
– Joshua Stone, EQT
– Hind el Gaidi, ICG
10:20 AM | Secondaries and GP-led secondary transactions
Interview of Matthieu Coisne (MANHOSIOL) by Gerald Carton (Coller Capital)
10:40 AM | Invest in… Space
by Bogdan Gogulan, New Space Capital
10:50 AM | coffee break
11:20 AM | Profiling Private Capital investors
– Thomas du Pasquier, Unigestion
11:30 AM | From multi-asset to Private Assets
Moderated by Stephane Pesch, CEO of LPEA
– Ingrid Edmund, Columbia Threadneedle
– Sébastien Roca, Cedrus & Partners
11:50 AM | Invest in… Biotech
by Guy Geldhof, Vesalius
12:00 AM | Mutualisation 2.0 : in the midst of revolution for Private Markets?
Moderated by Mathieu Perfetti, Threestones Capital Partners
– Fabrice Jeusette, Apollo
– Vanessa Grueneklee, Schroders
– Markus Pimpl, Partners Group
– Giacomo Barchetta, Neuberger Berman
12:30 PM | CSSF AIFM Dashboard: latest figures
by Simon Emeri, CSSF
12:45 PM | Luxembourg elections where do we stand?
by Raphaël Kies, Uni.lu and Patrick Dumont, Australian National University
1:00 PM | Lunch break
2:25 PM | The path towards Net Zero
Moderated by Matteo Squilloni, European Investment Fund
– Jack Azoulay, Argos Wityu
– Pierre Abadie, Tikehau Capital
– Oliver Heiland, Finance in Motion
2:55 PM | Invest in… Ukraine
by Andrey Kolodyuk, UVCA
3:10 PM |The impact of AI in Private Markets
by Jérôme Wittamer, Expon Capital
3:20 PM | 2023 – the year of Private Debt?
Moderated by Michael Maldener
– Cécile Mayer-Levi, Tikehau Capital
– Matthew Maguire, Park Square
– Billyana Kuncheva, MV Credit
– Lukas Eckhardt, Golding Capital Partners
3:50 PM | coffee break
» LUXEMBOURG VENTURE DAYS «
Welcome note by Michel Rzonzef, President of LBAN
4:20 PM | Get ready for Exits
Moderated by Christophe Bianco, Excellium
– Hans-Jürgen Schmitz, Mangrove
– Ingo Drexler, ältitude
– Riku Asikainen, Evli Growth Partners
4:50 PM | From Startup to Scale up
Moderated by Simone La Torre, Stellar
– Genna Elvin, TadaWeb
– Xavier Buck, Startups.lu
– Andre Cordesmeyer, Teylor
– Laurent Hengesch, Ilavska Vuillermoz Capital
5.20 PM | Ecosystem Ceremony
– Welcome speech by Stephane Pesch, CEO of LPEA
– A Scale Up Journey – Fireside chat with Laurent Hengesch, Founding Partner of Ilavska Vuillermoz Capital & Andre Cordesmeyer, CCO of Teylor
– Luxembourg, a platform for scaling up by Kenneth Graham CEO of Tomorrow Street
– Official launch of the legal toolkit by Patrick Kersten, Chairman of Luxembourg Startups Association
– Closing remarks by Sasha Baillie, CEO of Luxinnovation
– Fit 4 Start selected startups announcement
6.20 PM | Luxembourg Venture Week Cocktail
Second Stage
10:30 AM | Workshop: Implementing Impact
Organised by LPEA’s ESG Committee
Identify potential impact gaps in your strategy, co-design your impact investment process, and integrate the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure (SFDR) and Taxonomy regulations in your strategy and processes.
– Chantal Genovese, Impact Finance Consultant, Innpact S.A.
11:20 AM | Workshop: Valuation: LP-GP alignment
Organised by LPEA’s Market Practice & Operations Committee
– Hind el Gaidi, ICG
– Ryan McNelley, Kroll
– Wolfgang Schmid, Prime Capital AG/Prime AIFM Lux S.A.
12:00 PM | Workshop: Revolutionizing the Luxembourg Alternative Fund Industry – Unveiling the Future of Fund Administration
Organised by LPEA’s Fund Administrators Club
Let us collectively envision a future where standardization, digitization, and artificial intelligence converge to propel the Luxembourg alternative fund industry into new realms of success.
Moderated by Nathalie Stift, Executive Director, Head of Alternative Fund Services Luxembourg, JP Morgan
– Maria Karekla, Director, Corporate Governance, Arendt
– Raj Purmessur, Managing Director, Global Head of Alternative Fund Services Product Development, JP Morgan
– Declan Ohannrachain, Managing Partner, Cascade
– Philippe Belche, Partner, PwC Luxembourg – FS Consulting – Alternative Investments
2:20 PM | Workshop: Infrastructure – trends and insights on greenfield and smart cities investments
Organised by LPEA’s Infrastructure Club
– Francisco da Cunha, Deloitte
– Jean-Francois Willame, Patrizia
– Pedro Alonso-Lamberti, Allianz Capital Partners
– Petya Dimitrova, ATOZ
3:00 PM | Co-investments & syndicates for a dynamic early stage ecosystem
LUXEMBOURG VENTURE DAYS
Co-organised with the Luxembourg Business Angels Network (LBAN)
– Nicolas Milerioux, Encevo
– Larissa Best, Business Angel
– Pierre Schoonbroodt, LuxSE
– Gabriel Marquardt, Verve
4:20 PM | Workshop: Get the most out of your Independent Non-Executive Directors in challenging times
The value of working side by side with INEDs from the perspective of governance, regulation, ESG and valuation.
Organised by LPEA’s iNEDs Club
Moderated by Anne Canel
– Anabela Lourenço
– Christine Panier
– Aubry Pierre
– Jane Wilkinson
– Gabriela Nguyen-Groza
Meet our Main Stage Speakers
Claus Mansfeldt
Claus Mansfeldt
Claus is the President of LPEA and the Chairman / Managing Director – Luxembourg of SwanCap.
Prior to SwanCap, Claus was heading UniCredit’s Principal Investments unit in London for 10 years where he was responsible for managing the origination, structuring and execution of private equity investments with a focus on Central & Eastern Europe (CEE).
Before UniCredit Claus worked for Commerzbank in the Corporate Finance & Capital Markets division in London and was responsible for origination in the Nordic Region.
Prior to this Claus also worked 12 years for Nomura International plc (London), in the Merchant Banking division, focused on direct investments in CEE (1995-2000) and in the Capital Markets division (1988-1995).
Education: BSc.(Econ), London School of Economics.
Giacomo Barchetta
Giacomo Barchetta
Giacomo Barchetta joined Neuberger Berman in 2018. He is the Chief Financial Officer and one of the Conducting Officers of Neuberger Berman AIFM SARL (Luxembourg) in charge of the Finance and Valuation function of multiple funds and strategies. He is also part of the Executive and Valuation Committee of the management company running the Neuberger Berman Alternative business in Europe.
He has been in the industry for more than 20 years, with leadership roles in the advisory, finance and operations departments. Prior to Neuberger Berman, he was the Chief Financial Officer of a listed investment company in Milan. Prior to that time, he worked in audit and was an Advisory director in the M&A transaction service department at Deloitte Financial Advisory Service.
He graduated in Business Administration from Bocconi University and is a qualified Chartered Accountant and Statutory Auditor.
Matthew Maguire
Matthew Maguire
Matthew is a Director at Park Square Capital and a member of the firm’s ESG Committee and the AIFM’s Valuation Committee.
Prior to joining Park Square in 2016, Matthew worked at the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, an independent philanthropic organisation focused on improving children’s lives and mitigating climate change, where he provided financial and technical advice on investments and strategy.
Matthew graduated from Loughborough University with Bachelors of Science in Geography and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PwC.
Riku Asikainen
Riku Asikainen
Being one of the first e-commerce entrepreneurs in Europe, Riku’s entrepreneurial career started already in 1988.
Having sold his first company in Finland and second in France, he became one of the first professional angel investors in Finland.
In the meantime, Riku has actively participated in building the startup ecosystem of the region through angel networks and Startup Sauna Accelerator. With 30 years and almost 50 companies of experience, Riku is the go-to guy to help your beautiful company to grow.
Oliver Heiland
Oliver Heiland
As Head Business Solutions & Partnerships, Oliver provides leadership, strategic direction, and overall management in the build-out of Finance in Motion’s private market business and Luxembourg fund hub.
His coverage responsibility includes business development of new private market business, partnerships, strategy, and organizational development. He serves as branch head of the Luxembourg branch and as member of the management board of FiM Asset Management S.a.r.l.
He holds a Ph.D. in public international law and is a fully qualified attorney. Oliver publishes frequently and is an adjunct lecturer at the Institute for Law and Finance in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Matthieu Coisne
Matthieu Coisne
Matthieu has founded Manhosiol, an advisory and investment company based in Paris.
As such, he advises private equity firms and private investors but is also a private investor himself through Manhosiol.
Before creating Manhosiol, Matthieu was in charge of the direct and indirect investments of Colam Entreprendre, privately owned holding of Sonepar.
He seats at various boards and investment committees
Ingrid Edmund
Ingrid Edmund
Ingrid Edmund is Head of Portfolio Management & Financing within the Infrastructure Investments team at Columbia Threadneedle Investments.
In this role she has responsibility for managing global infrastructure portfolios, including our European Sustainable Infrastructure strategy.Ingrid has 18 years’ experience in infrastructure investments, financing, strategy and fund raising.
Simone La Torre
Simone La Torre
Simone La Torre is a Director, Spectrum Management and Business Development at stellar.
He is a professional negotiator, space engineer,business manager and investor.
Patrick Dumont
Patrick Dumont
Patrick Dumont is Professor of Political Science at the Australian National University. He has published extensively on political elites and coalition governments in comparative perspective.
He is currently working on several projects around political representation and accountability. Among them is a Mobility Out project funded by the Luxembourgish FNR on the use and impact of voting advice applications.
Hind el Gaidi
Hind el Gaidi
Hind recently joined ICG, a UK listed global alternative asset manager, as Head of Luxembourg.
ICG has been active for 30 years in corporate, credit and real asset strategies and boasts today over €80bn of assets under management.
Present in Luxembourg since 2013, ICG continues to invest and develop its Luxembourg presence to keep abreast of market changes and its growth ambitions.
Prior to ICG, Hind was the head of marketing and financial information at Astorg and spent 10years in M&A in Amsterdam.
Mathieu Perfetti
Mathieu Perfetti
Over 15 years of experience within the private equity industry. Prior to joigning Threestones Capital in 2021 as Head of Private Equity and now Conducting Officer, Mathieu Perfetti was Conducting officer & Head of Private Markets & Alternatives at CA Indosuez Wealth (Asset Management) in Luxembourg.
From 2012 to 2018, Mathieu was heading Indosuez Wealth Management’s Private Equity platform in Asia from Singapore.
Previously, he was Investment Manager at Indosuez based in Switzerland. Mathieu started his career in France as Investment Analyst with the fund of fund team of Ardian (fka AXA Private Equity) and then with the VC fund manager Alto Invest.
Mathieu holds a post-graduate Master’s Degree in Corporate Finance from EMLYON Business School and a Master’s Degree in Finance from Paris Nanterre University.
Joshua Stone
Joshua Stone
Joshua Stone joined EQT in October 2015.
He is one of the directors of EQT Fund Management S.a r.l., EQT’s regulated fund manager, and acts as Head of Strategic Initiatives within EQT’s Fund Operations (FO) department, acting as sponsor for initiatives encompassing due diligence and integration of group acquisitions and new product launches, amongst others.
Josh has formerly acted as the regulated portfolio manager for EQT’s Credit and Large Buy-out strategies.
Cécile Mayer-Lévi
Cécile Mayer-Lévi
Cécile Mayer Lévi joined Tikehau Capital in 2013 as Head of Private Debt activity.
She has built a talented team to become one of the leading players in Europe in private debt, in particular in direct lending and is actively involved with a very hands-on role in closing transactions, chasing opportunities and monitoring investments.
To date, she has arranged over 150 financing transactions and was one of the pioneers of the private debt strategy. Cécile previously worked at Ardian (formerly AXA Private Equity) where she notably broadened the investment scope to include unitranche debt, with a strong focus on forming partnerships. She began her career in 1988 at Merrill Lynch (Corporate Finance and M&A) in Paris and then in New York.
Cecile is a member of the investment committee of the endowment Alma Mater HEC, a leading European business school, and also Board member of the ACC- Alternative Credit Council in connection with AIMA to cover Private Debt related regulatory and legal evolutions in Europe and worldwide.
Matteo Squilloni
Matteo Squilloni
At the European Investment Fund since 2014, Matteo is heading the Southern European investment activity focused on private equity and mezzanine funds.
While at EIF, he finalized over EUR 2.5bn commitments in c. 80 European private equity and private debt lower mid-market funds and he is currently member of over 40 LP Advisory Committees.
He is also a member of the EIF’s Climate and Sustainability Centre of Expertise and have previous experience in M&A and direct investing in energy and renewable energy sector.
Laurent Hengesch
Laurent Hengesch
Laurent Hengesch is a Luxembourgish investor and founding partner of Ilavska Vuillermoz Capital (IVC).
Established in 2019, IVC has risen swiftly to become one of the prominent alternative investment firms founded in Luxembourg, which manages one of Europe’s most rapidly growing FinTech investment funds.
Andrey Kolodyuk
Andrey Kolodyuk
Andrey Kolodyuk is the Chairman of UVCA Supervisory Board.
Andrey is a serial entrepreneur and venture capital investor. He started his entrepreneurial career in New York in 1992 and eventually has founded and built over 10 companies in IT, telecom, internet and media , some of them with $1 Billion revenues.
In August 2014, Andrey has initiated a foundation of UVCA (Ukrainian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association) and in November 2014 was selected as Chairman of it.
In addition, Andrey was elected as Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum in 2008.
Raphaël Kies
Raphaël Kies
Raphaël Kies is researcher at the university of Luxembourg.
He is specialized in citizen participation, electoral studies, digital and deliberative democracies, media studies.
He is the co-founder & coordinator of the Luxembourgish Platform of Participatory Democracy (PLDP.lu)
Fabrice Jeusette
Fabrice Jeusette
Mr. Jeusette is Managing Director at Apollo Global Management, a US based high-growth Alternative Asset Manager, and leads the Luxembourg office.
He joined the company in February 2011 in the Finance team. Prior to that time, Mr. Jeusette was a Manager in the Private Equity Central Administration Department of Alter Domus Group in Luxembourg from October 2006 till February 2011. Prior to that Mr. Jeusette was a Senior Auditor at Ernst & Young Luxembourg from September 2003 till October 2006.
Mr. Jeusette serves on the boards of directors of Apollo Global Management’s affiliates including Apollo Investment Management Europe (Luxembourg) Sarl (an AIFM supervised by the Luxembourg regulator), of Luxembourg based Alternative Investments funds managed by Apollo and Holding entities investing across Europe in different fields of activities. Previously, Mr. Jeusette was a member of the Ordre des Experts Comptables, the Luxembourg association of chartered accountants.
Mr. Jeusette serves on the board of directors of LPEA (Private Equity Association in Luxembourg).
Mr. Jeusette graduated with Distinction from HEC Liege with a Master in Management and Finance.
Stephane Pesch
Stephane Pesch
After his role as the Director of Strategy, he became the CEO of the LPEA in September 2020.
He has 15 years of experience in the investment funds industry, great entrepreneurial spirit and a deep local network.
Stephane is in charge of different LPEA Technical Committees and Clubs (Legal, Tax, Operations, VC and others), public advocacy, governance and the LPEA Academy.
He loves education and not only is he a professor and mentor for many young talents in town, but also he has an irresistible desire to improve his own knowledge and skills.
Vanessa Grueneklee
Vanessa Grueneklee
Vanessa Grueneklee is one of the Conducting Officers from Schroders Investment Management Europe and is responsible for Distribution/Marketing activities as well as the oversight of all activities performed by the branches of the company.
She is also, since 2018, one of the Executive Directors of the management company. Prior to Schroders, she was responsible for the client operation departments of AXA IM based in Frankfurt, Germany. Vanessa’s background was previously in Sales, before taking on the different responsibilities of more operational departments.
This background serves as a key asset when it comes to improving client service processes or client communication. She has been working in Paris, London and Frankfurt before moving to Luxembourg.
Pierre Abadie
Pierre Abadie
Pierre Abadie is Group Climate Director at Tikehau Capital. He has over 21 years of experience in the energy transition sector.
He is an early decarbonation and climate investor who has been actively investing in renewable assets and decarbonisation companies for more than a decade. Pierre previously worked at TotalEnergies for 16 years, most notably in the Gas, Renewables and Power division, before joining Tikehau Capital in 2018 to launch the Private Equity Climate Practice.
Pierre currently co-heads Tikehau Capital’s flagship private equity decarbonisation fund (T2 Energy Transition) which was launched in 2018 in partnership with TotalEnergies.
In his capacity as Group Climate Director, Pierre spearheads Tikehau Capital’s impact investment platform that is constituted by more than 40 investments professionals in 7 countries and more than €3 billion of Asset Under Management.
The Group’s impact platform focuses on climate and biodiversity dedicated strategies that address the climate emergency and spans across all Tikehau Capital’s asset classes within private and public markets.
Lukas Eckhardt
Lukas Eckhardt
Director, Conducting Officer (AIFM), joined Golding Capital Partners in 2018 and is responsible for risk management, valuation and monitoring of Golding investments across all asset classes.
Prior to joining Golding Capital Partners, Mr Eckhardt spent several years in Risk Management at Union Investment and in the Capital Markets department at EY. Throughout his career, he focused on investment funds and gained experience in investment, risk, valuation and accounting.
Britta Harper
Britta Harper
Britta Harper is a Managing Director in the Real Estate Group based in London, where she focuses on investment opportunities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Before joining Blackstone, Ms. Harper was a Partner at Orion Capital Managers where she focused on the acquisition, financing and asset management of real estate across Europe for 13 years. Prior to that, Ms. Harper worked in both the Global Real Estate and Foreign Exchange groups at Lehman Brothers.
Ms. Harper received an MPhil. in Economics with Finance from the University of Cambridge and a BSc. in Economics from the University of Surrey.
Simon Emeri
Simon Emeri
– Economist, UCI – Prudential Supervision and Risk Management, Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier, Luxembourg
Simon Emeri works as economist in the OPC PRUD division responsible for the investment funds prudential supervision and risk management with the Luxembourg Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (“CSSF”). His work notably focuses on the analysis of the Luxembourg Alternative Investment Funds market (i.e. “AIFs”) and the possible systemic risks that may arise from it. He is also involved at ESMA level in tasks forces related to the financial stability and risk monitoring of AIFs.
Before joining the CSSF, Simon worked at KPMG Luxembourg as advisor in financial restructuring and in project management for the asset management and banking sector.
Simon holds a Master in Management from SKEMA Business School as well as a Master of Science in Accounting and Finance from University of Lille II.
Sébastien Roca
Sébastien Roca
Sebastien is the Managing Partner of Cedrus & Partners, an investment firm based in Paris, Madrid, and Luxembourg. For over 15 years, he has been advising the wealthiest families and non-profits organizations (foundations, associations and endowments) in the construction and deployment of robust and resilient portfolios over the long-term.
Since 2019, he has been dedicated to promoting the democratization of alternative assets for retail investors, primarily through alternative fund-of-funds and real estate impact funds that replicate the allocations of the top-tier investors he advises.
Markus Pimpl
Markus Pimpl
Markus Pimpl is part of the Private Wealth Europe and Asia team, based in Zug. He has been with Partners Group since 2007 and has 24 years of industry experience.
Prior to joining Partners Group, he worked at Reuters, Saunders & Zellweger and Sal. Oppenheim Jr. & Cie. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Applied Sciences, Lahr, Germany.
Gerald Carton
Gerald Carton
Gerald is a Partner with responsibility for the firm’s Investor Relations activities across Southern Europe and the Middle East.
He is based in the firm’s London office. Gerald joined Coller Capital in 2004 and previously spent 14 years in the Investment team, where he was responsible for origination and execution.
Prior to joining Coller Capital, Gerald worked for the Investment Bank of Ireland in Dublin and in the M&A team of Jefferies Broadview in London.
Gerald has a BComm in Banking and Finance from University College Dublin, and an MSc in Quantitative Finance from the University College Dublin Graduate Business School.
Ingo Drexler
Ingo Drexler
Ingo is a seasoned investor with operational, entrepreneurial, VC and Angel experience. He began his career at a software company, leading the Finance & HR department before joining Mountain Partners.
Over time he became its Group Chief Investment Officer and co-founded the company builder Rheingau Founders on behalf of Mountain. Following his passion for watches, he founded Montredo, an eCommerce / content platform, which was sold in 2021. Also, he co-led Retail Capital Partners’ vehicle Scail Capital and build an angel portfolio of 30 technology companies, while now co-running āltitude, an early-stage VC fund for SME focused-software startups.
Michael Maldener
Michael Maldener
Domiciled in Luxembourg, he has been in the industry for nearly 20 years, serving in different functions and leadership roles within Distribution, Legal & Compliance, sustainable finance and as Managing Director of NAM’s Luxembourg AIFM/Management Company.
He holds a Law degree as well as an Executive MBA in Private Wealth Management and is an adjunct teacher at the University of Luxembourg.
Christophe Bianco
Christophe Bianco
Co-Founder & Managing Partner of Excellium Services (part of the French Thales Group)
In 2022, he celebrated the 10th anniversary of Excellium Services, a company he co-founded with Xavier Vincens. Passionate about cybersecurity, Christophe Bianco has led one of the most beautiful entrepreneurial adventures that Luxembourg has known in recent years. This entrepreneur already had a long experience in cyber risk management. From 2010 to 2012, he was Vice President and General Manager EMEA of Qualys, a leader in IT vulnerability management solutions.
Prior to that, for ten years, he managed the development of the security division of Verizon Business in the European region. With Excellium Services, he wanted to implement a project that reflects his own image: pragmatic, innovative, committed and full of enthusiasm. Active in several countries on two continents, with more than 200 employees, the company became part of the Thales group in 2022.
Christophe Bianco is passionate about his job, driven by an insatiable thirst for learning. He holds a degree in network and information systems engineering and obtained an Executive MBA from HEC Paris in 2008. Recently, he studied criminology at the University of Paris Assas II and economic intelligence at the Ecole de Guerre Economique de Paris.
He is an associate professor at Telecom Nancy, dealing with cybersecurity topics and active in multiple projects aiming at cybersecurity awareness and education.
For the past four years he has also been involved in supporting entrepreneurs as an Business Angel and contributes to the development of the entrepreneurial eco-system.
Guy Geldhof
Guy Geldhof
Guy Geldhof has over 24 years of relevant experience, i.a. since 2008 as CFO, Partner and Managing Partner of Vesalius Biocapital and as Co-Founder of Value4Growth (a specialized consulting and management firm to support life science companies together with Stéphane Verdood and Gaston Matthyssens).
Guy was a member of the business advisory and audit team at Arthur Andersen in Houston and, later, in Brussels He also held the position of Secretary General of the BVA, the Belgian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association. Guy Geldhof has a Master’s degree in commercial engineering from the Free University of Brussels.
Billyana Kuncheva
Billyana Kuncheva
Billyana is a Conducting Officer for Portfolio Management.
Previously with M&G Investments for over eight years, Billyana initially served as the country head for its Finnish branch and co-Head of Nordic business development. She then acted as Portfolio Management Conducting Officer and Executive Director with M&G Luxembourg S.A. with key responsibility for the investment oversight of all M&G EU domiciled retail and institutional funds covering equity, government bonds, private and listed corporate credit, real estate, private equity and infrastructure.
Billyana’s earlier experience in the investment industry includes senior roles in investment management oversight and equity capital market positions working with leading Nordic institutions. She is a MSc (Econ) graduate from the University of Oulu, Finland and is a CFA charterholder.
Jérôme Wittamer
Jérôme Wittamer
Jérôme is a co-founder and Managing Partner at Expon Capital, in charge of sourcing opportunities in the Nordics, Baltics, Central & Eastern Europe and Israel.
He has been active both as an investor and as an entrepreneur, all in the technology, telecom and Internet space during many cycles and across many trends.
Jérôme honed his skills in the early 90s backing the pioneer of flash memory M-Systems (sold to SanDisk) and cybersecurity company Aladdin Knowledge Systems (listed). At BIP Investment Partners he led successful investments in media and communication technology companies such as EVS (IPO), Option (IPO) and Evertz (IPO), all of which became a world leader in their field. During that period, he contributed to the foundation of VOXmobile, a mobile operator (sold to Orange). Prior to founding Expon Capital, he was with Genii Capital for whom he led the successful sale of SecureIT, the datacenter used by Skype since day 1 in Luxembourg.
In 2000, he co-founded his first startup, a marketplace for the telecom industry. A defining moment where he discovered the true meaning of burn rate and how to survive on a nickel.
Hans-Jürgen Schmitz
Hans-Jürgen Schmitz
TBA
Thomas du Pasquier
Thomas du Pasquier
Thomas Du Pasquier, Directeur Général of UAMF (Unigestion Asset Management France), Head of France and BeLux, is a member of the Business Development team.
He joined Unigestion in October 2008. Before that, he worked at Crédit Agricole Group and Crédit Agricole Asset Management from 1995 to 2006 as Head of Money Market Middle Office until 1999, International Sale until 2005 and finally as Product Specialist for Absolute Return and Global Fixed Income products.
In 2006, he joined ADi Alternative Investment in charge of Business Development for Northern Europe. Thomas holds a DESS in Financial Institution Management from University of Paris IX-Dauphine, France.
Jack Azoulay
Jack Azoulay
Jack Azoulay has taken part, as Senior Partner at Argos Wityu, in the successful launch of “Argos Climate Action”, a fund focused on acquiring small and mid-sized European companies with a view to strongly reducing their carbon footprint.
He was previously deeply involved, as chief of staff at the Ministry of Ecological Transition, in the French Government’s environmental initiatives.
He also gained extensive knowledge of industrial companies when managing industrial investments at APE, the French Government agency in charge of managing public investments.
Formerly, he actively contributed to the transformation of the French Postal Group by holding various strategic and operational positions at La Poste.
Genna Elvin
Genna Elvin
Genna co-leads Tadaweb direction, steering the growth, strategy and company culture.
In addition to her role at Tadaweb, Genna is also the founding Board member of Startup.Lu and the Australia New Zealand Chamber of Commerce Luxembourg.
In 2013, Genna was recognized by Forbes Magazine Europe’s Top 100 Female Founders list. When out of the office, Genna is a passionate foodie, dedicated to learning to cook and master techniques and dishes from around the globe.
Andre Cordesmeyer
Andre Cordesmeyer
Andre Cordesmeyer joined Teylor in 2019, shortly after the company was founded.
He previously worked as regional sales manager for Ulm-based industrial group Liqui Moly in the UK. At Teylor, he took the role of Head of Sales and was responsible for establishing and expanding the origination efforts of the Teylor platform. Since Teylors foundation, his team has executed over €300 million in financing volume.
As CCO, Andre Cordesmeyer will build on this success and lead the expansion of the company’s lending origination and partner network in Europe.
Bogdan Gogulan
Bogdan Gogulan
Mr. Bogdan Gogulan is a Co-Founder and serves as Managing Partner & Chief Executive Officer at NewSpace Capital.
Mr. Gogulan has 20 years of experience in finance, product and business development. Before initiating NewSpace Capital, he had accumulated a unique combination of cross-border experience in communication, security and defense industries. He served as VP of international operations and business development for AT Communication (Switzerland), Defendec (Baltics) and Katmerciler (Turkey), managing breakthrough projects for security and defense agencies in the Middle East and Central Asia.
Patrick Kersten
Patrick Kersten
Patrick Kersten is a seasoned entrepreneur as well as the chairman and co-founder of Startups.lu.
Patrick is the founder of Doctena, a medical appointment scheduling application, atHomeGroup a real estate portal in Luxembourg and Greater Region, and MediNation, a job board dedicated to the healthcare and social services sectors.
Michel Rzonzef
Michel Rzonzef
C-suit Executive and officer at a Fortune 500 Company with over 15 years of experience in international board governance, Michel has proven track record in driving sustained growth in Emerging Markets as well as in rejuvenating mature business models across economic cycles.
Highly agile, visionary leader, designing and implementing disruptive strategies through customer-centric transformation. Michel has a strong interpersonal and cross-cultural skills, with particular empathy for people development.
Meet our Workshop Speakers
Maria Karekla
Maria Karekla
Maria Karekla is a Director in the Governance Services department of Arendt Services SA.
She specialises in corporate governance matters for regulated and non-regulated alternative investment funds as defined under the AIFM Law.
Maria has over 12 years of professional experience in corporate and commercial law. In the course of her career, she has been involved in complex corporate restructurings and M&As, and provided legal advice to HNWIs, family offices and reputable company groups.
She joined Arendt Services in 2022 managing a portfolio of CSSF regulated and non-regulated alternative investment funds investing mainly in real estate, private equity, infrastructure and renewable energy assets worldwide.
Gabriel Marquardt
Gabriel Marquardt
Gabriel Marquardt works as Senior Investor Relations Manager at Verve Ventures based in Zürich, Switzerland.
Verve is one of Europe’s most active early stage VC Firms and invests about EUR 60m each year in science based technology startups.
Gabriel joined Verve in 2019 and has supported +130 Startups across Europe in raising funds through syndicates and fund investments.
Before joining Verve, Gabriel worked as a Strategy Consultant with Roland Berger.
Declan O’hAnnrachain
Declan O’hAnnrachain
Declan O’hAnnrachain is founder and managing partner of Cascade Lab S.A., a Luxembourg Fintech offering an administration, compliance and governance platform. He is also the director of a Luxembourg domiciled real estate fund.
Declan has over 25 years’ experience in the Luxembourg financial sector. He has extensive TA and Fund Accounting experience and has been an MLRO / RC since 2002. Much of this experience is reflected in the Cascade platform which allows clients to digitalise their client and counterparty databases and provide an embedded Risk Based Approach covering AML/KYC needs.
Declan has also used his extensive fund industry knowledge to develop and deliver training programmes and seminars for both national and international entities, including financial regulators, often via the House of Training and the Agence de Transfert de Technologie Financiere (ATTF). Declan speaks English, French, German and Luxembourgish.
Chantal
Genovese
Chantal Genovese
Chantal has 5+ years of experience in the private impact investing market.
She supports the Advisory and AIFM team at Innpact by strengthening emerging and leading fund managers’ investment process and overall impact management framework.
She acts as the Impact Manager of several funds and has worked on 20+ EU SFDR, EU Taxonomy and IMM
Petya Dimitrova
Petya Dimitrova
Petya is a Partner in the International & Corporate Tax department at ATOZ.
She has more than 15 years’ experience in private equity, real estate, infrastructure and multinational corporations. She advises clients on tax matters relating to set-up of funds, carried interest, deal structuring, mergers & acquisitions and divestitures.
Petya is a member of the International Fiscal Association (IFA) in Luxembourg. With a particular interest in private equity, Petya is an active member of the Luxembourg Private Equity Association (LPEA).
Petya is qualified as a Chartered Accountant in Luxembourg (“Expert-Comptable”) and holds a Master’s degree in Business and Tax Law from the University of Nancy in France.
She speaks English, French and Bulgarian.
Aubry Pierre
Aubry Pierre
Aubry has over 30 years of experience leading the boards of publicly quoted and Private Equity companies to address their most high stakes issues in Corporate Strategy, M&A and Corporate Governance.
He is the Chairman of the Board of Vedihold, a large Private Equity fund, and serves on the board of Advent International portfolio companies, as well as several international insurance companies and pre-eminent family offices.
Aubry was a Senior Partner of London-based L.E.K. Consulting, where he led the Organizational Strategy & Governance practice, serving leading multinationals and Private Equity firms worldwide. He was previously partner with Pof. Michael Porter of Harvard Business School in Monitor Group, the global strategy consulting firm now part of Deloitte, where he led the Financial Services practice.
Aubry is a graduate of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and INSEAD IDP, where he contributes to the Advanced Strategy for Directors programme.
Christine Panier
Christine Panier
Christine is a specialist in Private Equity, Venture Capital and Debt funds.
She has spent all her career in fund investment and management, where she developed a strong interest and expertise in all aspects of fund management, in particular for governance, valuation, GP-LP balance and ESG.
She started at BNP Paribas where she was successively part of the Private Equity team and leader of the investments in VC / Healthcare.
She moved to one of the pioneers of hybrid debt-equity (Euromezzanine, now EMZ) and then to AXA Private Equity (now Ardian) where she led the VC practice.
In 2006 she joined the European Investment Fund in Luxembourg, where she has been responsible for investments in Private Equity funds in Western Europe until end of 2022.
Since end of 2022 she is a member of corporate bodies of private equity players, participating to their governance at different stages of their development.
Christine holds an MBA from HEC (France)
She is a member of LPEA, where she is a member of the Independant Directors committee, and ILA.
Gabriela Nguyen-Groza
Gabriela Nguyen-Groza
Gabriela’s experience spans across sectors and countries, as a Trusted Advisor for Boards, CEOs and their executive teams. She is specialised in international executive searches (iNED and C-Suite) and leadership development work with PE investors, Family Offices, VCs and their portfolio companies around the world.
Her track-record includes recruiting a multitude of non-executive (Chair of the Board, Head of the Audit Committee, Head of the Risk Committee, Non-Executive Director etc. ) and C-Suite executive positions. She is quick to grasp the sector challenges and nuances while bringing rigor, insight, care and pragmatism in her approach.
Her expertise in search is completed by her activity in Organisational Design, Leadership Development and People Due Diligence.
Anabela
Lourenço
Anabela Lourenço
Anabela is an experienced Non-Executive Director (NED) with expertise in corporate and tax governance. She has more than 20 years of experience in advising large financial sector clients and their boards with their tax strategy and fiscal risks.
She serves various boards, as NED, among which several sustainable Private Debt and Private Equity funds.
She was previously a Partner at EY Luxembourg and have held various roles at PwC Luxembourg.
To include a sustainability lens in her advice to clients she certified in Sustainable Finance and Transition to Net Zero Carbon at Cambridge University.
She is chartered accountant in Luxembourg.
She is an active member of the LPEA NED club and ESG workgroup.
She holds a Master in Business and Economics from the Solvay Business School (Brussels) and a Master in Tax Law from Brussels Tax College (Fiscale Hogeschool).
Francisco Da Cunha
Francisco Da Cunha
Francisco is a Partner in the Cross-Border Tax department, Deloitte Luxembourg’s Real Estate Tax Leader and Infrastructure Industry leader.
Francisco is currently assisting a wide variety of public and private clients in the Real Estate, Infrastructure and Private Equity industries.
As part of his work, Francisco handles international tax structuring advice for these clients and assists in determining the most efficient tax structure for the purposes of (i) financing, (ii) on-going repatriation mechanics and (iii) exit/divestment.
As part of this work, Francisco handles a team of tax professionals in Luxembourg and is in frequent contact with the Deloitte affiliated offices so as to offer the most suitable and tailor made solution to his clients.
Aside from this, Francisco handles Latin American and Southern European business development, counting with a multilingual team of Portuguese, Spanish, Brazilian, and Peruvian professionals for these purposes. As a part of these efforts, Francisco travels frequently to Latin America, Portugal and Spain and is a frequent speaker on conferences related to tax structuring in these countries.
Francisco is a Lawyer registered in the Portuguese Bar Association and since beginning of his career has always performed its activity in the field of international tax.
Having started in Lisbon in Andersen’s VAT department where he then moved to the International Tax Department, Francisco was also in charge of the Madeira representation of one of the most reputed law firms in Portugal and worked as well as Tax Lawyer in the Lisbon representation of a Spanish Law firm, before joining Deloitte Luxembourg in 2008.
Francisco is a frequent speaker in conferences and author of several articles related to International Tax.
Larissa Best
Larissa Best
Experienced business angel and versatile professional, leveraging an MBA foundation to navigate dynamic landscapes. Thrives on new challenges, seamlessly transitioning roles and sectors every 3-5 years. With a steadfast commitment to fostering innovation, has been a pivotal jury member at the European Innovation Council for over 5 years. A visionary catalyst for growth, empowering ventures and shaping industries through strategic insights and unwavering support.
Nicolas Milerioux
Nicolas Milerioux
Nicolas leads the Venture Capital efforts at Encevo.
As such, he is responsible of scouting and selecting innovative solutions for our business units across the entire Encevo Group as well as, when relevant, conduct a number of hand-picked equity in early stage companies on the European market and preferably at Series A stage.
The Encevo Group serves clients in Luxembourg, Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. It is present all along the energy value chain, from production, storage, supply, transport to trading, distribution and services.
Encevo actively helps shaping the transition to a sustainable energy sector by embracing technology, deploying innovative solutions and partnering up with local communities.
Philippe
Belche
Philippe Belche
Partner, PwC Luxembourg – FS Consulting – Alternatives investments
From strategy analysis to operational implementation, Philippe Belche has successfully supported local and global asset managers and fund service providers over the last 10 years.
A seasoned professional in the alternatives industry (private equity, real estate, infrastructure, private debt) and AIFMD regulations, his expertise ranges from strategy advisory, operational setup and improvement to process automation and digitisation, project management, and both service and software provider selection.
Philippe also designs and gives technical and soft skills training both within PwC and externally. He is fluent in Luxembourgish, English, French and German.
Wolfgang
Schmid
Wolfgang Schmid
Wolfgang Schmid joined Prime Capital AG as Head of Valuation in 2019 and is currently Chief Operating Officer.
Prior to joining Prime Capital, Wolfgang held several investment servicing roles in Cape Town, Frankfurt and since 2009 in Luxembourg. He holds an MSc in Business Administration and is a Certified Real Estate Investment Analyst (EBS).
Prime Capital is an asset manager specialised in alternative asset classes with proven expertise in absolute return, infrastructure including renewable energy and private debt. The company also offer comprehensive asset management outsourcing. EUR 4.2bn assets under management and EUR 8.5bn assets under administration.
Jane Wilkinson
Jane Wilkinson
Jane is an experienced non executive director (NED) and chairs the LPEA NED club.
She currently works with international groups, including LPEA members, as board chairperson, director and/or advisor, including private equity, infrastructure and private debt groups, PE portfolio companies, UCITS fund platforms and AIFMs.
She is also an ESG expert and teaches sustainable finance at the LPEA Academy as well as adjunct lecturer for the sustainable finance Masters and Executive programmes at the University of Luxembourg. Prior to going independent in 2019 and setting up her own company, Ripple Effect, offering directorship and ESG advisory services, Jane was Head of Sustainable Finance at Luxembourg Stock Exchange (2017-2019), and a Partner at KPMG Luxembourg, leading the Private Equity Group and Sustainability Group (until 2017) where she began her Luxembourg career 20+ years earlier.
Nathalie Stift
Nathalie Stift
Nathalie Stift is the head of Alternative Fund Services (AFS) in Luxembourg of J.P. Morgan Securities Services. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing the fund administration operations for Luxembourg alternative funds. Nathalie joined
J.P. Morgan in 2022 and is based in Luxembourg. She is a member of the Fund Administrators working group at the LPEA.
Prior to joining J.P. Morgan, Nathalie was heading operations and client management for large US alternative asset managers at RBC Investor & Treasure Services.
She has worked in the Luxembourg alternative fund industry for 15 years and prior to this worked in Canada as an auditor.
Nathalie has a Bachelor of Business Administration from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) in Montreal, as well as a Master’s degree in Public Accountancy from the same institution.
Ryan
McNelley
Ryan McNelley
Managing Director and EMEA Portfolio Valuation Leader.
Ryan McNelley is a managing director in the London office of Kroll, and part of the Portfolio Valuation service line within the Alternative Asset Advisory business unit.
Ryan’s clients primarily include alternative investment fund managers, including private equity and private debt fund managers, hedge fund managers, infrastructure fund managers, real estate debt fund managers, etc., in both Europe and in the U.S.
Pedro Alonso-Lamberti
Pedro Alonso-Lamberti
Pedro is part of the ACP portfolio management team sitting Luxembourg focusing on renewable energy and infrastructure responsible for: financial planning, performance monitoring and optimization of investments, including modelling and forecasting
Besides, Pedro serves on different boards as director and acts as a voting member of related investment committees.
In his 15 years of professional career he deployed his past experience within corporate finance departments of Big 4 firms (dealing with M&A, valuation and business modelling) based in Madrid, LatAm and Luxembourg focused on renewable energies, core infrastructures and natural resources
Pedro holds a double B.Sc. in Business Management and Law by Carlos III University in Madrid, together with an executive program in Advanced International Corporate Finance (INSEAD_Paris). Besides, he is a registered lawyer in Madrid´s bar association.
Raj Purmessur
Raj Purmessur
Raj Purmessur is the global head of Alternative Fund Services (AFS) product development business of J.P. Morgan Securities Services. In this role, he is responsible for setting the technology and digital strategy, executing transformational change across client functions and partnering with sales and market influencers to identify business opportunities. He also serves as the head of Alternative Fund Services U.K. from an oversight perspective. Raj joined
J.P. Morgan in 2017 and is based in London.
Prior to joining J.P. Morgan, Raj was the global head of alternative fund services product development at Deutsche Bank.
He has extensive global experience in the financial industry and has worked in Minneapolis, Chicago, Mauritius, Bangalore and London.
Raj earned a Bachelor of Science in management information systems and finance from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management.
Pierre Schoonbroodt
Pierre Schoonbroodt
Pierre Schoonbroodt is a Member of the Executive Committee of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange since January 2016.
He leads the Markets and Surveillance activity, as well as Finance and the Strategic & Corporate Development departments.
Before he joined the Luxembourg Stock Exchange in 2013, Pierre held various positions in finance and business development departments in the corporate and investment banking sector at BGL BNP Paribas (formerly Fortis Banque Luxembourg).
Pierre holds a Master’s Degree in Management and Business Administration from the University of Namur (Belgium) and is an alumnus of IMD business school, Switzerland.
Anne
Canel
Anne Canel
Anne Canel, serves a large diversity of Boards as Non-Executive Director, among which several Private Equity funds in various regulatory formats, and also a systemic Bank and 2 insurance companies.
Anne’s areas expertise run across the broader private equity, governance and sustainability fields
She gained during 25 years experience as CxO for various companies and as COO for a Luxembourg based Private Equity until 2021,.
In former life(s) she has also been an entrepreneur and a Philanthropy Advisory and committed herself a lot to create Fondation de Luxembourg.
Anne has actively contributed to the alternative investment fund management industry, having previously been a Board Member of the LPEA and launched its ESG workgroup.
She is French, graduated from Sciences Po, living in Luxembourg for 15 years
Jean-Francois Willame
Jean-Francois Willame
Jean-François is an Operating Partner, leading asset management of PATRIZIA Infrastructure in the digital sector with a focus on operational excellence and value-creation.
Jean-François has spent more than 27 years in the IT, telecom and digital sector across Europe mainly in C-level,corporate, operational and general management functions, including 5 years as CEO of Tango (first alternative telco in Luxembourg) and 7 years as Head of the Wholesale division of Proximus, the leading telco operator in Belgium.
In addition, Jean-François spent a significant time in investment and asset management roles in Europe, including three years with Cube Infrastructure Managers in Luxembourg.
Our speakers give you a foretaste of the panels!
Sponsors
Luxembourg Venture Days Initiative
The LPEA Insights Conference is part of the Luxembourg Venture Days. More information here.
For any additional information please contact events@lpea.lu
or call +352 28 68 19 602.
