Family Office Conference at LBS

Experience

Luisa Alemany is an Associate Professor of Management Practice at London Business School and the Academic Director of its Institute of Entrepreneurship and Private Capital. She is a Fellow at St Hugh’s College (U. Oxford). Her main areas of interest are Entrepreneurial Finance and Venture Philanthropy. She is a director on the board of the Newton Venture Program and she sits in the Investment Committee of Oxfam’s Enterprise Development Program and DeepTech VC fund Fond-ICO Next Tech in Spain. She is also part of the Advisory Committee of FMO Ventures, the Dutch development fund. Her book, together with J. Andreoli, “Entrepreneurial Finance: The Art and Science of Growing Ventures” (Cambridge University Press, 2018), was the first European textbook on the topic and was awarded “Most Promising New Textbook” by TTA in 2021. She holds a PhD in Economics & Business from Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain) and a MBA from Stanford University (USA). 

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Tareq Almunajem is an investment professional with over 20 years of experience. He started investing during his college days after being fascinated by the modern portfolio theory. He started his career working for Citibank in Singapore, where he managed MENA relationships in Asia Pacific. He then joined his family business, Almunajem Group, to manage the international investments activities, where he transformed the investment portfolio into an institutional quality portfolio following and adhering to institutional practices. He managed investments in multiple assets classes, including fixed income, public equities, derivatives, hedge funds, private equity, infrastructure, and direct and indirect real estate holdings. 

Tareq started his journey in private equity in 2010. Since then, Tareq focused on finding the best private equity managers, which led to accumulating great experience in this area. Now, Almunajem portfolio includes many of the top decile managers who are not known or accessible by many similar investors. After the success in managing his family private equity portfolio, Tareq and the investment team decided to extend their platform services to third party investors by establishing their asset management firm, Investors Capital, which will manage a fund of private equity funds. 

Tareq serves on several boards including board member at Alarjan Projects, FAB Capital, and as an independent investment committee member at AL Rajhi Capital. 

Tareq holds a bachelor’s degree in finance and accounting from the American University of Sharjah and an MBA from London Business School. 

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ohan Henrik Andresen is a distinguished industrialist and investor renowned for his transformative role at the helm of Ferd, one of Norway's largest privately held companies. Since assuming the position of CEO in 1998, Andresen has strategically reshaped the company, leaving an indelible mark on Norway's business landscape. 

Beginning his professional journey in the United States as Product Manager at International Paper Co. from 1989 to 1991, Andresen later joined the Norwegian industrial group Tiedemanns-gruppen in 1993. Taking over as the sole owner and CEO in 1998, he oversaw the merger of Tiedemanns Tobaksfabrik's tobacco production with the Scandinavian Tobacco Company in 1998. In 2005, Andresen sold all his shares in the tobacco company for NOK 3.3 billion, marking a strategic shift for the company.  

In 2001, under Andresen's guidance, Tiedemanns-gruppen transformed into Ferd, diversifying its holdings to include Elopak, Aibel (50%), TeleComputing, Interwell, and Swix Sport. The company's net asset value skyrocketed from NOK 7.4 billion in 2003 to an impressive NOK 24.3 billion by the end of 2013.  

A bold move in 2006 saw Andresen bidding NOK 11 billion for a controlling stake in the Swiss packaging company SIG, with plans to merge it with Ferd-owned Elopak. Though the transaction did not materialize, it showcased Andresen's readiness to explore global opportunities. 

Beyond Ferd, Andresen held key leadership positions, chairing the Council on Ethics for the Government Pension Fund Global and serving as Chairman of the Board at Ferd AS. Additionally, he is a board member in organizations such as Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (SEB) and Junior Achievement – Young Enterprise, Europe and Norway. 

Experience

Stephen is a private investor with interests in climate change and impact investing. For 30 years he was involved in the family-held retail business, C&A in USA, Japan, England and throughout Europe. He has been active in impact investing since 2002, and founded Willows Investments in 2008 with the aim of supporting promising ventures with a social mission, including those below. 

Experience

Dan Cable is Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School. Dan’s research and teaching focus on organizational culture, activating positive emotions, and getting employees into commitment instead of just compliance. Dan is Shortlisted for the Thinkers50 Talent Award, and The Academy of Management has twice honored Dan with “Best article” awards, and The Academy of Management Perspectives ranked Dan in the “Top 25 most influential management scholars.” 

Dan’s newest book is Exceptional, published September 2020. Alive at Work: The Neuroscience of Helping Your People Love What They Do appeared in 2018, and his first book was Change to Strange. He also has edited two books and published more than 50 articles in top scientific journals. His most recent research was published in the Academy of Management Journal and Administrative Science Quarterly. This research recently has been featured in the Economist, Financial Times, Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, CNBC, New York Times, Sloan Management Review, and Business Week. 

Dan’s recent clients include Amazon, BMW, Capital One, Deloitte, Deutsche Bank, DHL, EY, Estee Lauder, Facebook, HSBC, Ikea, MetLife, NBC Universal, O2, Porsche Consulting, Prudential, PwC, Rabobank, Randstad, Roche, Rolls Royce, Siemens, and Twitter. 

Experience

Heinz-Peter Elstrodt is active as guest lecturer on family businesses at London Business School and INSEAD. He also acts as a board member of family firms and the Family Firm Institute (FFI). He is a Director Emeritus at McKinsey & Company.  

After joining McKinsey in 1983, he worked in Germany, USA and Brazil, where he co-founded the São Paulo office in 1988. Between 2004 and 2011 he was responsible for the Latin American region. From 2011 -2015 he built and led McKinsey’s global Family Business practice, working with leading family businesses around the world, conducting research and collaborating with key conveners like the WEF. HeinzPeter has also worked and published extensively on themes of Brazilian and LATAM economic development.  

After his retirement from McKinsey in 2015, he took up residence in London and has dedicated himself to teaching, board memberships and advisory in the field of family firms and to impact investing in the area of agriculture, sustainable finance and environmental technology.  

Heinz-Peter earned a Dr. rer. pol. in Economics from the University of Augsburg, Germany (1982), and a degree in Business Administration and Industrial Engineering from the University of Karlsruhe, Germany (1979).  

His publications include: “The five attributes of enduring family businesses”, “A succession memo to a family business founder”, “Building a house that last : a framework to guide the succession from few owners to many”, “The family business factor in emerging markets”, “What executives are asking about Latin America”, “How Brazil can grow”, “ Reconnecting Brazil to the World” “Five Priorities for Brazil's Economy”, “Reining in Brazil's informal economy”, “Helping nonprofits do business” and “Keeping the family in business”. 

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Dr Ethiraj, originally from India, received his PhD in Management from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and served on the faculty at Ross School of Business, University of Michigan for over a decade before joining London Business School. 

His teaching and research interests span core topics in strategic management including innovation, competitive strategy, and managing human capital. 

A member of the Governing Body since 2022, Dr Ethiraj is deeply committed to furthering the research and teaching excellence of faculty at LBS. His primary focus is on designing structures and reward systems to attract and retain the best and diverse research faculty from all over the world. 

Experience

Rhian-Anwen Hamill Leadership Advisor and Business Coach  

Rhian works in leadership advisory and business coaching with management teams and family groups. She is an experienced advisor on people and their work, helping organisations address strategy, culture, 

leadership, team and board effectiveness, succession, and talent development. Clients come from a wide range of businesses with a particular focus on family enterprises. Generally, they are individuals and teams at pivotal points in their evolution who want a safe – but not insipid – place to reflect, receive feedback and be pushed to think more deeply. 

She holds and facilitates honest, enjoyable, often powerful, incisive, goal-oriented conversations on topics that concern people – new roles, conflicts, succession, transition, handling change, identifying a sense of purpose, retirement, balancing demands, team dynamics, trust, and psychological safety. 

After graduating from UWC Atlantic College (International Baccalaureate) and Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge (MA Cantab English), Rhian worked for many years in two US investment banks (Goldman Sachs, Salomon Brothers), leaving to be the project director of a major national arts project in her native Wales (The Wales Millennium Centre). She then held senior positions for twenty years in talent acquisition with two global executive search firms (Whitehead Mann, The Rose Partnership) and eventually built and ran her own leading firm (RAH Partners). She is a qualified Executive Coach with Meyler Campbell, The Tavistock Institute, and the Kets de Vries Institute. She is also a Director of Cool Bananas, a Zambia-based family agri-business and lives in West London with her husband Michael and two children. 

Experience

Richard spent 28 years in the British Diplomatic Service, serving in the Caribbean, Nicaragua, the United States, the Middle East, Germany and Africa. He was also seconded to the Treasury and Cabinet Office. Richard headed the cross- government team on Terrorist Finance and Financial Crime post- 9/11. He was also director of national security policy in Africa, and communications director for national security issues under the National Security Council. 

Richard spent 7 years as a partner at Brunswick Group, the global strategic communications firm. He headed their global corporate crisis practice, and founded the Family Business team. He led mandates for a range of global leaders and companies, including Rolls Royce, MTN, Richemont, Saudi Aramco, Walgreens, the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, the British Museum, and a number of prominent private families. In 2018 Richard founded Hampden Advisory to advise families on their public engagement, communications and philanthropy. He has worked for Larry Ellison in mapping out his philanthropic ambition, Michael Millken and works with a number of other global entrepreneurs and business leaders. Richard studied at Trinity Cambridge and Rice University, Texas. He lives near Oxford.

Experience

Anjel leads the Private Equity programme at Aureum, enabling a deployment of c.$20-25m to private equity and venture funds per year. She has over 10 years of financial services experience. Anjel started her career at PwC Investment Advisory team and qualified as a CFA charterholder, working on fund analysis, review, and selection with a $1bn AUM institutional investor. Then at ACL Asset Management, worked on c.$50m portfolios of HNWs focusing on investment analysis and execution across public equities and direct investments into start-up. Anjel was also an Angel Investor for Ada Ventures and recently completed a Venture Capital Fellowship at London Business School.

Experience

Joining LBS after completing a PhD in Finance at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Dr Naaraayanan’s research interests lie in the area of empirical corporate finance – including corporate governance, entrepreneurship, financial intermediation, and law and finance. His research has won several awards including the USC Marshall School of Business Trefftzs Award at the Western Finance Association Meetings. His work has been featuring in numerous publications such as the Financial Express, Forbes, Oxford Business and Law, and the World Bank.

Lakshmi's research is featured in the Wheeler Institute for Business and Development brochure.

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Experience

Professor Narayan Naik is recognized as one of the leading experts on hedge fund investing. Over the last decade he has authored a significant body of work in hedge funds benchmarking, performance evaluation of long-only managers, tail-risk hedging, life settlements-longevity risk and market microstructure. His work has appeared in the top finance journals, leading practitioner journals and financial press. Professor Naik’s teaching includes the following subjects: Strategic Investment Management, Equity Investment Management and Hedge Funds. 

Since joining London Business School (LBS) in 1991, Professor Naik has played a key role in the development of the finance group at LBS, most notably in the role of Director of the PhD Programme in Finance, Director of the School’s Investment Management Programme, Director of the Hedge Fund Research Centre and more recently, one of the Academic Directors of the AQR Asset Management Institute at LBS. 

Professor Naik has designed, and taught tailor-made courses in corporate finance, investment management, Islamic Finance and hedge funds for investment banks and financial institutions. His most recent innovation has been the creation of FinTech and the Financial Services Industry Transformation elective. This course examines innovative technology-driven transformation of old business models in the financial services sector. Professor Naik’s research interests also lie within this field, exploring how Financial Technology is breaking the financial services value chain through more efficient provisioning of Payments, Deposits and Lending, Capital Raising, Wealth Management, Insurance, Market Data Analytics, as well as the impact on businesses on by the BlockChain and Cryptocurrency technology. 

Professor Naik has appeared many times on CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg, the BBC, ITV and other news channels as an expert finance academic. He has consulted widely during his career for the World Bank, sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East, and private corporations in the UK, USA, Middle East and Far East. 

Experience

Simona Heidempergher is currently the Managing Director of a Dutch-in-origin, large family office based in Brussels on whose board she has served as an executive director for 20 years. This single-family office was a pioneering equity investor in venture capital and private equity, both through funds and direct investments. Sector experience encompasses healthcare (pharma, devices and services), consumer, AI, cybersecurity, as well as a range of specialised engineering businesses.

Over the past 10 years she has acquired additional main board-level and asset allocation/portfolio risk supervisory experience serving also on the boards of third-party asset management companies, including listed and family-owned entitles, located in Europe and in the USA. She has acted as lead-director in listed companies and served on both compensation as well as audit committees as a member and/or chair. She sits on various fund advisory boards in the US and Europe, mainly in tech, life sciences, and mid-market PE.

She travels extensively and has supported the work of some charitable private foundations; notably, as a board member of Fondazione Bruno Kessler in Trentino (technology innovation and university tech transfer), and as an ambassador for Telethon in Milano, in its pioneering work in life sciences.

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Prof. Ioannou is a leading strategy scholar whose research focuses on Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). More specifically, he seeks to understand whether, how, and the extent to which the modern business organization contributes towards building a sustainable future. His award-winning academic work evolves around two main themes: a) understanding how the broader investment community perceives, evaluates and reacts to corporate engagement with, and integration of, environmental and social issues into strategy and b) understanding the multiple and multilevel factors that may affect the corporate decision to adopt environmentally and socially responsible strategies. 

Prof. Ioannou regularly publishes in top-tier peer-reviewed academic journals including some of the most prestigious academic journals such as the Strategic Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Management Science, Organization Science, The Accounting Review and the Journal of International Business Studies.  

Moreover, Prof. Ioannou is deeply engaged with the world of practice. He is the co-Chair of the Sustainability Advisory Panel of Merck KGaA, a member of the ESG Advisory Board of the DWS Group, one of the world’s leading asset managers with about $900 billion of assets under management, a member of the Advisory Board of the Sustainable Risk Assessment Framework (SRAF), the Board of the Alliance for Research on Corporate Sustainability (ARCS) and serves as an Advisor to TreeApp. He is also a member of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Expert Network with expertise in the area of Sustainable Development and a member of the experts’ network of KKS Advisors, a leading sustainability advisory firm. Recently, Prof. Ioannou served on the Stakeholder Working Group of the UK Treasury's Asset Management Taskforce. 

Prof. Ioannou has presented his research at many academic conferences, and universities around the world and also, he is very often invited to deliver keynote speeches on issues of responsible management and sustainability at numerous high-profile events and conferences globally.  

Experience

Ena Inesi is Professor of Organisational Behaviour. She has been at London Business School since 2007. Ena’s education includes a BSc in Civil Engineering (magna cum laude) from Duke University and a PhD in Organisational Behavior from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. Her research focuses on power and how it affects relationships and decision-making. 

Ena teaches across all degree programmes at London Business School. In Executive Education, she has taught on the “Emerging Leaders” and the “Negotiation and Influence Skills for Managers” open programmes, and has taught on custom programmes for a variety of companies, including Prudential, YPO, World Economic Programme, Carlsberg and Arla. 

Her work has been presented at the most respected conferences in her field, and the leading journals have published her work. The popular press has also featured her research, including The New Yorker, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Slate.com, and US News and World Report. 

Before earning her PhD, Ena worked as a consultant at Bain and Company in Atlanta, Georgia and Rome, Italy. She was also part of the founding team of Velodea Srl – a website start-up in Milan, Italy – where she worked as a consultant and project manager. 

Experience

Real estate

Experience

Edgar Nehme is the Chief Investment Officer for Keystone Group, L.P., the family office of Mr. Robert Bass. Edgar joined Keystone in 2017. The office is active in the private and public markets, through a combination of best-in-class funds enhanced with selective co-investments and direct opportunities. 

Prior to Keystone, Edgar worked at KAUST Investment Management Company (2010-2017), managing one the world’s largest university endowments. The endowment supports the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (“KAUST”) and its mission to provide world-class, graduate-level education and research in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Edgar was the Managing Director responsible for identifying, implementing, and monitoring absolute return strategies.  

Prior to KAUST, Edgar was in New York, performing senior investment roles in alternative at UBP, Lehman Brothers and Lighthouse Partners (2003-2010). Previously he was a Principal in the Global Capital Markets and Investment Banking Group at Banc of America Securities (1997-2003), underwriting and syndicating debt for Latin American corporate and sovereign issuers. 

Edgar earned a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the Monterrey Institute of Technology (1993) and an MBA from Stanford University (1997). 

Experience

Colby is an investment professional based in London. He is a sixth-generation family business owner of James Richardson and Sons, Ltd., a privately-held Canadian corporation whose subsidiaries operate across agribusiness, energy exploration, real estate, financial services, and logistics.  

Apart from the larger family business, Colby serves as head of investment strategy for his family office, Countryman Investments. Founded by his father, Dave Richardson, the company focuses on building sustainable-technology solutions for the construction and agriculture industries. Currently, he is also supporting growth in clean-tech investment at Greentrail Capital, a London-based cross-over investment company. Prior to moving to London, he worked for Canadian tech start-ups in EV and mobility.  

Colby was born in Vancouver, Canada. He holds degrees from Brown University and London Business School. 

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Experience

Charlie leads Pentland Ventures, the direct investment arm of Pentland Group. His mission is to partner with iconic brands for healthy people on a healthy planet. Recent investments include Misfits Health, Player Data, Mirror Health and Oxwash.

Charlie started his career at Strategy and before joining the family business he spent 3 years working in the Pentland Brands Division. Charlie read Economics & Management at the University of Bristol.

Charlie is part of the 4th generation of the family behind Pentland Group. Pentland owns global brands Speedo, Canterbury, Berghaus, Endura and Mitre and is the global footwear partner for Lacoste. The Group is the majority shareholder in JD Sports Fashion plc, a publicly listed international multichannel retailer in sports, outdoor and fashion, operating over 3,500 stores in 30 countries.

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A fourth-generation family business owner, Alex is Chairman of Schroders Family Office Service. He joined the company when Schroders acquired Sandaire, a London-based family office that he founded in 1996 following the sale of Kendal-based Provincial Insurance.

Alex was previously Chairman of Applerigg, a private, family-owned business built on the foundations of a financial services group established by his great-grandfather in 1903. He founded and grew the Applerigg portfolio of companies. This included Sandaire, along with Yealand Fund Services Ltd (a fund administration company) and Horizons, a networking and educational environment for future leaders. He is a Non-Executive Director of several private companies.

Alex is a Trustee of the Grosvenor Estate and chairs Grosvenor Food and AgTech.

He is a Director of the Family Business Network International, co-founded and is Joint Life President of Family Business UK. Alex is a Trustee of the Francis C Scott Charitable Trust and the Cumbria Community Foundation.

He was born and schooled in Cumbria, graduated from Exeter College, Oxford with an MA in Philosophy, Politics & Economics and holds an MBA from IMD, Lausanne. Alex lives in Cumbria with his wife Sam and they have three adult children. He was appointed His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of the County of Cumbria in July 2023.

Experience

Professor Florin Vasvari teaches courses on Distressed Investing as well as Private Equity and Venture Capital. He is an expert on the use of accounting information in credit markets and private equity funds.  

His research investigates the pricing and the role of accounting information in secondary debt markets, debt contracting issues, securitizations of syndicated loans, debt market intermediaries, bankruptcy valuation and private equity funds reporting practices and performance. His work on private equity includes work on ESG reporting, limited partners' private equity allocations, private equity valuation and performance measurement, private equity secondaries and aspects of risk management.  

Florin has published over 20 academic articles in leading academic journals and many other articles in industry journals. He is frequently invited to present at top business schools around the world as well as academic and practitioner conferences.  

Professor Vasvari currently serves as an Editor at The Accounting Review, a top journal published by the American Accounting Association. He also serves on the School’s Management Board and Finance Committee.  

With Eli Talmor, he co-authored Private Capital (vol. 1 Funds and vol. 2. Investments) in 2019. The book has been endorsed by leading figures in the private equity industry. Together with Eli, Florin has also co-authored International Private Equity, in 2011. 

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Timothy (Tim) Wates joined Wates in 1993 and has served on the Board from 2006 to 2008 and since 2011. He assumed the role of Deputy Chairman in October 2022 and was appointed Chairman in May 2023.Tim is Chairman of the Nominations Committee, as well as being a trustee for Wates Family charities. Prior to joining the Wates Group, Tim started his career at Cazenove & Co. He is a Deputy Lieutenant of Surrey and is High Sheriff of Surrey for 2023/2024.

Outside of the company, he serves on the Advisory Board of the Cambridge Judge Business School, is a Non-executive Chair of Tampopo Limited and a Non–executive Director at Pedder Property. For six years he was Chairman of the Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership, completing his two terms in July 2020. Tim has particular expertise and interest in housing and regeneration issues, as well as the facilitation of effective management of public–private partnerships. He holds an MBA from the University of Cambridge. 

Experience

Prof. Dr. Kay Windthorst was born in Heidelberg, Germany. He studied Law at the University of Munich (LMU), where he also obtained his PhD. He was habilitated at the University of Cologne in 2008. Since 2009 Dr. Kay Windthorst is ordinary professor at the University of Bayreuth. He is the holder of the Chair for Public Law, Legal Doctrine and Legal Didactics of the Faculty of Law, Business Administration and Economics at the University of Bayreuth. In 2011 he founded the Research Center for Family Enterprises at the University of Bayreuth of which he is Managing Director since. Furthermore he is Visiting Professor at the Witten Institute for Family Business at the University of Witten/Herdecke, Germany (since 2012) and at the University of Bordeaux, France (2016 - 2021). 

Prof. Dr. Kay Windthorst is Member of the Council (since 2003) and the Supervisory Board (since 2012, since 2019 as Deputy Chairman) of the Franz Haniel & Cie. GmbH, Duisburg, Germany, a family owned Company since 1756 with a revenue of more than 4,2 Billion Euro (2022). He is also Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Haniel Foundation (Foundation assets: 50 Mio. Euro) and member of the Advisory Board of the Foundation for Family Businesses, Munich.  

Prof. Dr. Kay Windthorst lives in Munich, Germany. He is married and has 3 children.

Experience

Dr Sushil is the Chief Investment Officer for PGIM Wadhwani, originally founded as Wadhwani Asset Management in October 2002. Prior to joining PGIM, Sushil served as the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Wadhwani Asset Management. Previously, Sushil was a member of the Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of England. He also served as the Director of Quantitative Systems at Tudor Investment Corporation, Director of Equity Strategy at Goldman Sachs, and as an academic economist at the London School of Economics. Sushil is an emeritus governor at the London School of Economics and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In addition, Sushil serves on the Economic Advisory Council, convened by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to advise on UK and international economies and financial markets. Sushil earned a BSc, MSc and PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science.