2011 Judging Panel
Alex Brabers - Gimv
Executive Vice President Venture Capital, Gimv NV
Chairman, EVCA Venture Council
Alex Brabers (1965) is Executive Vice President of Gimv, responsible for all venture capital investments in the technology sector. Through his experience of over 15 years in venture capital, Alex brings to Gimv a rich experience in private equity.
Alex exited several companies through either trade sales or IPO’s and holds board positions in Telenet, Inside Secure, Nomadesk, Virtensys, OTN Systems and Oree.
Previous mandates: Option International, Barconet, Telos, Emme, L&C and Mobistar.
Prior to joining Gimv in 1990, Alex worked in the banking industry, first as trader in international money market instruments, later in the strategic planning department.
Alex holds a Master in Economics from the University of Louvain.
Richard Brass - Berenberg Bank
Richard Brass joined Berenberg in June 2011 and is a member of the management team of Berenberg's UK private banking business. His responsibilities include Berenberg"s Entrepreneur's Office and family office advisory business.
Having trained as a chartered accountant with KPMG and worked in their corporate finance team, Richard moved to Compass Advisers, an international corporate finance advisory business, where he co-founded their European office. He moved to Montpelier Asset Management in 2006, an emerging markets investment firm before joining Schroders Private Banking in 2008, where he used his experience to advise business owners and entrepreneurs. He is a Director of the recently founded Montpelier Foundation Limited which will look to support charities and social impact businesses globally.
He also works with the owners of a wide-range of social impact businesses through his involvement with Wavelength Connect, a global leadership programme for business leaders, entrepreneurs and social innovators.
George A Coelho - Good Energies
Managing Director, London, UK
George Coelho heads the Venture Capital fund of Good Energies, which he joined from Balderton Capital. Prior to that he led all of Intel Corporation’s international venture capital investment activities and before was Assistant Treasurer in charge of M&A.
George holds a B.S. from The American University and an MBA from The George Washington University where he is both a Trustee and an advisor to the School of Business. In addition he is co-President of the UK chapter of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs).
Robert Easton - Carlyle Europe Technology Partners
Dr. Robert Easton is a Managing Director and Co-head of Carlyle Europe Technology Partners, a team of dedicated investment professionals who focus on European growth capital and buyout opportunities in a variety of sectors including media, software, telecom, aerospace and defence, healthcare and technology. He is based in London.
Since joining Carlyle in 2000, Dr. Easton has worked in both Europe Buyout and Europe Technology and has also been involved with a number of cross-fund transactions at Carlyle in the United States and Japan. He has sector expertise in chemicals, advanced materials, renewables, aerospace and defence.
Prior to joining Carlyle, Dr. Easton was Vice President of Corporate Development at Invensys plc with responsibility for the execution of acquisitions and disposals. Dr. Easton was a key figure in the mid-nineties transformation of BTR from a diversified conglomerate to a focused engineering group. During this period of substantial change, he executed a total of 35 acquisitions and disposals with an aggregate value of €7 billion. Dr. Easton joined BTR in 1996 from Trafalgar House, another major U.K. engineering group where he was Director of Corporate Finance and Planning with responsibility for strategic planning and acquisitions and disposals.
Prior to becoming a corporate development executive, Dr. Easton spent eight years in the investment banking business working initially for CSFB and then for a period of five years for Wasserstein Perella, a mergers and acquisitions specialist boutique. Dr. Easton has a first class honours degree in chemistry from Imperial College in London and a Doctorate in organic synthesis from Oxford University.
Dr. Easton is currently a member of the Board of Directors of a number of Carlyle portfolio companies including Ensus. In addition to his Directorships of Carlyle portfolio companies, Dr. Easton is the Vice Chairman of the British Venture Capital Association (Chairman in 2012) a member of Walker Guidelines Monitoring Group for private equity disclosure and also sits on the Advisory Board of the Imperial College Business School.
David Holbrook - MTI Partners
Dr David Holbrook leads MTI's healthcare practice, joining the firm in 2003. David, a qualified physician, spent seven years in Global Business Development with Glaxo and Roche, subsequently heading Imperial College's spin-out operations, raising and managing the College's seed fund. David also served on the Board of Onyvax Limited, a cancer vaccines company. David also has an MBA from Harvard University.
Ben Holmes - Index Ventures
Ben is a Partner at Index Ventures, having joined the London office in 2002. Ben focuses on the software and internet sectors and has been actively involved with many of the firm's consumer and media investments. He currently sits on the boards of Just-Eat, Mind Candy, Netlog, Notonthehighstreet, Rebtel and Stardoll. He was previously a Director of Panther Express and Playfish (Electronic Arts).
Prior to joining Index Ventures, he worked at the NewMedia Spark investment fund, before becoming Vice President at EO plc, a Spark portfolio company in the consumer financial services sector. Previously he spent four years at OC&C Strategy Consultants, advising firms in the retail and IT sectors.
He has a Masters degree in Engineering, Economics and Management from Oxford University.
For more info, please follow Ben's blog at www.ben.vc
Wol Kolade - ISIS Equity Partners
Wol is Chairman of the BVCA’s – British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association – Responsible Investment Advisory Board, that advises the BVCA Council on how the industry should approach the important environmental, social responsibility and governance agenda. He was previously Chairman of the BVCA in 2007 and a Council Member from 2002 – 2009. He is a Governor of the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Wol is a Trustee of the Guys and St Thomas’ Charity. It is the second largest medical charity in the UK and awards grants to facilitate improvements to healthcare services in the London Boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark. He is also a Non-Executive Director of Social Finance.
Manish Madhvani - GP Bullhound
Manish is a co-founder and partner at GP Bullhound, the specialist investment bank focused on providing fundraising and mergers & acquisition advice to public and private companies in the technology sector. Manish has worked on a number of high profile fundraising and M&A transactions in the digital media sector. Prior to co-founding the company Manish worked in the venture capital markets working in Europe and Asia working for Barclays Capital's Technology & Media Private Equity team. Manish recently advised the Treasury on Entrepreneurship and Funding and was short-listed for business person of the year in the KPMG London Business Awards.
Gail McManus - PER
Gail McManus founded Private Equity Recruitment, PER, in 1998 to focus on the specialist needs of the sector. She has over twenty years of private equity experience beginning her career at 3i in the 1980s. PER places people at all levels within a wide range of firms across Europe and the Middle East.
Pär-Jörgen Pärson - Northzone Ventures
General Partner, Northzone Ventures
Northzone Ventures really likes the expressions 'consistent' and 'top-tier returns' as they describe the company's absolute commitment from the financial viewpoint to its fund invesors. Financial reward for investors, as well as for the portfolio companies, is the ultimate proof of success.
Marie Reinius - SVCA
Marie Reinius, Managing Director, Swedish Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (SVCA).
Marie Reinius is Managing Director of the Swedish Private Equity & Venture Capital Association. Marie has extensive experience from leading positions within sales and business control in large and small companies as well as start-ups. Until June 2008 Marie worked as Strategic Pricing Director at Electrolux. Prior to this she was CFO of Stokab. Previous experience also includes setting up her own business, Reinius Consulting, a consultant firm within Interim Management. Before starting Reinius Consulting, Marie worked for Posten during nine years as Controller, Financial Director and Sales Manager.
The Swedish Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (SVCA) is an independent, non-profit association supporting the interests of companies and individuals active in the Swedish private equity industry. The SVCAs objective is to promote an efficient private equity market, to inform and educate about the industry and to promote entrepreneurship.
www.svca.se
Sara Williams - Vitesse Media
Sara founded Vitesse Media Plc in 1997 and is its executive chairman. Her role includes developing the company’s growth and acquisition strategy. Sara is a well-known business author. Over two million copies of her book, The FT Guide to Business Start Up (formerly the Lloyds TSB Small Business Guide) have been published. Her former roles include accountant and investment analyst.
Stephen Ziff - Coller Capital
Stephen is a Partner responsible for origination and execution activities in the UK and overseas.
In addition to LP fund portfolios, he is responsible for many of the firm’s secondary direct transactions with significant experience of structured solutions having transacted with corporates, banks and hedge funds.
Prior to joining Coller Capital in 2003, Stephen was an Investment Manager at an early-stage venture fund listed in London.
He previously worked for the investment banking division of Rothschild, where he spent five years advising on corporate M&A and IPO activity in the Telecommunications and IT sectors.
Stephen has a BA (Hons) in Accounting and Finance from the University of Leeds and sits on the advisory boards of Absolute Income Fund, CIP Industries, Cody Gate Ventures, New Venture Partners and Nova Cross.
