Our Board

Philippe Costeletos joined the Board as a non-executive Director in July 2017 and became its Senior Independent Director in April 2019. He is Chair of the Conflicts and Remuneration Committees and a member of the Audit and Risk, Nominations, and Valuation Committees.

He has over 30 years’ of private investment and board governance experience and is Founder of Stemar Capital Partners, a private investment firm focused on building long-term investment platforms. Philippe was formerly Chair of International of Colony Capital, a global real estate and investment management firm. Previously, he was Head of Europe at TPG, a leading global private investment firm and a member of TPG’s Global Management and Investment Committees.

Prior to that, Philippe was a Member of the Management Committee at Investcorp, a leading manager of alternative investment products. Previously, Philippe held positions at JP Morgan Capital, JP Morgan’s Private Equity Group and Morgan Stanley.

Philippe is Chair of Janus Fertility and a board member of Digital Care, Vangest Group and Generation Home. He is a Senior Advisor to the Blackstone Group. Philippe is a member of the President’s Council on International Activities at Yale University and the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence Advisory Board. He graduated magna cum laude with a BA with distinction in Mathematics from Yale University and received an MBA from Columbia University.

Maggie Fanari joined the Board of the Company as a non-executive Director in April 2019 and is a member of the Conflicts, Nominations and Remuneration Committees.

Maggie is the Senior Managing Director, Global Group Head High Conviction Equities at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan which has a global mandate to invest in public and private companies.

She started her career as an auditor at KPMG and previously worked in equity research at Scotia Capital.

Maggie is a chartered accountant and a CFA charterholder.

She also holds a BBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University and ICD.D certification from the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Vikas Karlekar joined the Board as a non-executive Director in August 2022 and is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee. 

He is a qualified chartered accountant, and a graduate of the London School of Economics specialising in Management Sciences and has held a number of senior finance roles across the financial services industry. Vikas is currently Managing Director of Group Finance at Intermediate Capital Group PLC, a UK listed asset manager specialising in private markets, covering all aspects of financial and regulatory reporting, valuation governance, key accounting judgments, financial planning and analysis, and platform and operating model transformation. In addition, he is a member of the Board of Trustees, and Treasurer, of the Pepal Foundation, a charity focused on bringing together NGOs and global corporations to develop leaders and find practical solutions to challenging social issues.

Vikas previously spent 10 years at Barclays in a series of pan finance leadership roles, including Global Finance Controller for Barclays International Division, managing all aspects of financials, key accounting decisions, valuations, driving technology and process improvements, and leading key regulatory relationships. He also spent 13 years at UBS Investment Bank, in both London and New York in various finance leadership roles. Vikas qualified as a chartered accountant with KPMG.

Sir James Leigh-Pemberton is non-executive Chairman having joined the Board of the Company as a non-executive Director in April 2019. He is Chairman of the Nominations Committee and a member of the Conflicts, Remuneration and Valuation Committees. He previously served as an independent non-executive Director of the Company from 2004 to 2013.

Sir James joined UK Financial Investments (UKFI) in October 2013 as Chief Executive and in January 2014 was appointed Executive Chairman. On 1 April 2016 he became Non-Executive Chairman of UKFI. Following the merger of UKFI and UK Government Investments (UKGI), he became Deputy Chairman of UKGI, a position he held until September 2022.

Before joining UKFI, Sir James was Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Credit Suisse in the UK, based in London. In this role, he was responsible for developing the Bank’s client relationships in Private Banking, Investment Banking and Asset Management in the UK. He was also a member of the Credit Suisse Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) Operating Committee. He joined Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) in 1994. Prior to joining CSFB, he was a Director of SG Warburg Securities, where he worked for 15 years.

In the 2019 New Year Honours List, Sir James received a knighthood for services to financial services, British industry and government.

Cecilia joined the board as a non-executive director in August 2022 and is Chair of the Valuation Committee. 

She is a qualified accountant and has held senior investment roles for banks and hedge funds. Her investment experience encompasses several asset classes including distressed debt, private equity and credit.

Cecilia is a non-executive director and audit Chair of both Northern 2 VCT plc and Polar Capital Global Financials Trust plc and recently resigned as an independent NED of Alcentra Limited, an asset manager wholly owned by Bank Of New York Mellon, specialising in sub investment grade credit. She is also a member of the Industrial Development Advisory Board, part of The Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) which advises on grants to UK businesses.

She has held senior roles at Centaurus Capital, Barclays Capital, Royal Bank of Scotland and PwC. She qualified as a chartered accountant with Peat Marwick (now KPMG) in Glasgow. She has also held a number of charity roles including Chair of the Finance and General Purposes Committee for English National Ballet.

André Perold joined the Board of the Company as a non-executive Director in April 2018 and is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee.

André is Co-Founder, Partner and Chief Investment Officer of HighVista Strategies, a Boston based investment firm. He is a board member of the Vanguard Group, the global investment company. He was previously the George Gund Professor of Finance and Banking at the Harvard Business School where he also held senior roles including Chair of the Finance Faculty and Senior Associate Dean.

Jutta af Rosenborg joined the Board as a non-executive Director in May 2022. She is Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee, and is a member of the Valuation Committee.

She is a qualified accountant and holds a Master’s degree in Business Economics and Auditing from Copenhagen Business School and has held a number of senior roles in group finance, auditing and risk management.

Jutta is a non-executive director of JPMorgan European Growth & Income plc and Chair of its audit committee. In addition, she is a non-executive director of Nilfisk Holding A/S and chairs its audit committee. She is also a member of the supervisory board of BBGI Global Infrastructure S.A., where she chairs the audit committee.

She was previously a non-executive director at abrdn plc (formerly Standard Life Aberdeen plc) and NKT A/S, and was also executive vice president, chief financial officer of ALK Abelló A/S and Chair of Det Danske Klasselotteri A/S.

Hannah Rothschild joined the Board of the Company as a non-independent non-executive Director in August 2013 and is a member of the Nominations Committee.

In addition, she is a non-executive director of WHAM, a Director of Five Arrows Limited and serves as a Trustee of the Rothschild Foundation.

Hannah is an award-winning writer and filmmaker with a long standing career in the media.

She was the first woman to Chair the Trustees of the National Gallery.

In the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Honours, Hannah was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to the arts and to philanthropy.