Faculty

World-class faculty
The faculty who teach the programme are not only academic experts in private equity, each with an extensive publication history on the subject; they are also practicing consultants to businesses. In addition, they have considerable experience of bringing this blend of academic insight and applied experience to the classroom so that students can benefit from their insights.

Professor Eli Talmor
Eli Talmor is Professor at London Business School and Chairman of its Private Equity Institute. He has extensively consulted to corporations internationally, and has been a director of European, and American corporations. He serves on the advisory boards of the African Venture Capital Association, ETV – a leading European venture lender and was also on the Board of Governors of London Business School.

Professor Talmor has been frequently invited to deliver keynote speeches to business executives worldwide and interviews to international television networks and newspapers on timely private equity matters. Recently he was asked by the UK Parliament to testify on private equity in its high-profile hearings on the subject.

Formerly Professor of Finance at the University of California (UCLA and Irvine), and the Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania), Professor Talmor holds a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a BSc (Cum Laude) from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.

Assistant Professor Oliver Gottschalg
Oliver Gottschalg is a member of the Strategy and Business Policy Department at HEC School of Management in Paris. He holds a Wirtschaftsingenieur Diploma from the University of Karlsruhe, an MBA from Georgia State University and a M.Sc. and PhD degree from INSEAD.

His current research focuses on the strategic logic and the performance determinants of private equity investments. A second stream of work looks at the implications of employee motivation for firm performance in different settings.

In parallel to his faculty position at HEC, he is affiliated with INSEAD as a research fellow and the co-director of the INSEAD Buyout Research program. His work has been published in leading academic journals and in various publications for practitioners. He regularly presents his research at academic conferences and private equity symposia and serves as an advisor to leading investors in the private equity industry. At HEC he teaches a core course on business strategy and offers an elective on Management Buyouts.

Head of Bain Capital Europe, Dwight Poler
Dwight is Head of Bain Capital Europe and on the management board of the global firm. As such he led some of the most spectacular business acquisitions over the last ten years. Bain Capital enjoys a nearly unparallel esteem in the world of private equity. It is one of the top funds both in performance and in size.

Mr. Poler was selected by Sir David Walker to serve on the Walker Commission, a panel established to investigate and publish industry standards regarding disclosure and reporting, at the behest of the Chancellor's office, for the Private Equity industry in the UK. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Toys R Us, Boart Longyear, Claricom, Walco International, Small Fry Snack Foods, Blue Ridge Pharmaceuticals, Waters Corporation, Jack Wolfskin, Edgars Consolidated and TeamSystem.

Mr. Poler is an Executive Fellow at London Business School. He holds MBA with distinction from the Tuck School at Dartmouth College and a BA from Amherst College.