Tavneet is Co-Head of Project Management and Due Diligence. Tavneet spent the majority of her career with Morgan Stanley in London and Hong Kong. Most recently, Tavneet worked with Pioneer Alternative Investments (Hong Kong) as a Senior Analyst in Fund of Hedge Funds business with responsibility for Asia Hedge Fund Managers. Tavneet received a BSc (Hons) in Economics from the London School of Economics.

Christian acts as the Head of Liquid Products. Prior to co-founding First Avenue Partners LLP, Christian worked principally at GLG Partners LP in London. Christian has developed extensive coverage of Germanic speaking Europe including a particular reach into the family office space. Christian graduated as Diplom Kauffmann from Westfalische Wilhelms-Universitat in Munster.

Clenia joined First Avenue in August 2011 to support the finance team. She has a breadth of experience in financial services and in particular the hedge fund industry, enjoying stints at Man Investments and RAB Capital. Clenia holds a BA in International Business and is currently studying towards becoming a Chartered Accountant.

Mike is Co-Head of Head of Project Management and Due Diligence. For the past 13 years, he has been raising capital for alternative investment fund managers as a placement agent and investor relations professional leading fundraising for over 40 funds.  Previously, Mike was the Global Head of Marketing at Citigroup Alternative Investments (CAI), Head of Project Management at JPMorganChase's fundraising business and served as a principal at Capital Z Investment Partners (CapZ), a sponsor of private equity and hedge funds.  Mike spent the first ten years of his career at GE and GE Capital. He earned his BA from the Pennsylvania State University and has a MBA from Harvard University.

Rachael is an Executive Assistant who works closely with Christian Benigni, Clive Norton and our marketers across all asset classes. Rachael has worked with First Avenue since 2009. Prior to joining First Avenue, Rachael worked at Houlihan Lokey Investment Bank in the Finance team.

David is responsible for institutional fund placement in the Western United States. Prior to joining First Avenue, David was a Managing Director in the Private Capital Solutions Group at Madison Williams.  He also spent 9 years at Deutsche Bank/RREEF in San Francisco as a Director in the Client Relations Group raising capital in the Western and Central US for RREEF's proprietary real estate, infrastructure, REIT securities, structured debt and private equity secondaries funds. Prior to that, he also spent 8 years as a commercial real estate investment broker with Cohen Esrey Real Estate in Kansas City, MO, and later BT Commercial Real Estate in San Francisco, CA. David received a BA in Business from the University of California at Berkeley, and thereafter spent 7 years in the United States Navy flying the F-14 Tomcat.

Jo-Anne joined First Avenue at inception to assist the Partners in setting up the company.  She has since moved to become Head of Administration. Prior to First Avenue, Jo-Anne worked at Standard Chartered Bank and Bank of New York and has 20 years experience working in the financial sector.

Paul is Partner and Chief Executive Officer. Prior to co-founding First Avenue Partners LLP, Paul worked in the European capital markets principally at Credit Suisse First Boston in London. He has covered investors and run coverage groups across every region of Europe since 1987.

Nick is responsible for preparing private equity managers for institutional fundraising. This includes defining and differentiating the investment proposition; and, creating the marketing and due diligence materials necessary for a successful fund raise. Prior to First Avenue, he held similar roles as an independent fundraising adviser and as head of research at Helix Associates. Nick has a post graduate degree in Finance from London Business School.

Jonathan is Chairman of and provides corporate governance to First Avenue Partners LLP. He has operated in a number of senior roles across Credit Suisse and its predecessor organisations.  Most recently, he served as Vice Chairman of Credit Suisse (formerly Credit Suisse First Boston). Jonathan is a full time operating partner while also serving as Chairman of the Board of IG Group plc and on the board of Persimmon plc.

Tom runs the distribution efforts for the Midwestern United States. Prior to joining First Avenue, Tom held the same position at Madison Williams Private Capital Solutions. Before joining Madison Williams, Tom was the Director of Infrastructure and a consultant for Courtland Partners, Ltd., a real asset consulting firm. He also practiced law for over ten years. Tom earned his J.D. and M.B.A. from Stetson University and a B.S.B.A. in Marketing from Xavier University (Ohio).

Derek is responsible for distribution in Northeastern US and Canada. Prior to joining First Avenue, Derek was a Managing Director at Madison Williams Private Capital Solutions. He has been raising institutional capital for alternative investment products for over 10 years, with each of Fortress Investment Group, Lehman Brothers, Deutsche Bank and Allianz Hedge Fund Partners. Over the last 10 years, Derek has helped raise over $25billion of capital commitments for over twenty five offerings. Derek graduated from Yale University (BA) and the Wharton School (MBA).

Alasdair is Head of Real Estate. He most recently served as Director, Business Development and Client Services, Europe and Middle-East (EMEA) at Citigroup Property Investors, where he was responsible for all private equity real estate Capital raised in Europe and Middle-East. Alasdair earlier held at similar role at Henderson Global Investors and prior to that was Head of FIG at HVB in Munich after an investment banking career in New York at Merrill and Bankers Trust. Alasdair has a M.A. in Modern Languages from St. Andrews University (Scotland) and an MBA from INSEAD.

Nick Ganz serves as the firm's Chief Compliance Officer and General Counsel responsible for maintaining oversight for all regulatory aspects of the firm.

Previously, Nick was the General Counsel and Chief Compliance officer for Madison Williams and Company LLC, a boutique energy-focused Investment Bank. Before joining Madison Williams, Nick was Deputy General Counsel and Managing Director for Cowen and Company LLC, a full service Healthcare and Technology oriented Investment Bank. In that role, Nick managed the Legal and Compliance function for Cowen's Investment Banking, Equity and Research Divisions.

Nick was Co-Head of the Equity Capital Markets Legal Group of Banc of America Securities (in both New York and San Francisco) and also was Executive Director of  UBS Warburg serving both in Investment Banking and as Senior Counsel to the Corporate Finance Division.  Nick began his career at S.G.Warburg & Co. Nick received a B.S. from the State University of New York and his J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York.

Sacha is responsible for the due diligence of private equity funds and direct deals. Prior to joining First Avenue, Sacha worked at IFC Metropol as an Investment Associate and earlier, at Merrill Lynch in the CEE Mergers and Acquisitions team. Sacha started her career at Lehman Brothers in the European Mergers and Acquisitions team in London. Sacha holds an MBA from INSEAD and a Master's degree from ESSEC Business School.

Francesca is responsible globally for project administration. In this capacity, she manages the interface with our clients.  In addition, her role is to enhance and institutionalise our understanding of investors. Francesca joined First Avenue from National Australia Bank in Sydney where she worked within the Wholesale Banking Division.

Alan joined First Avenue in September 2007 from Cambridge Place Investment Management (CPIM), a specialist credit-oriented investment manager. Prior to that he worked for Citigroup Asset Management in their long-only investment management business. Sometime CFO of international Financial Markets Trading. Alan has an MSc from The London Business School, is a Chartered Accountant and a member of the Securities Institute.

Jennifer joined First Avenue in 2011 as Executive Assistant. She works closely with Alasdair Findlay-Shirras and our marketers across all asset classes. Jennifer has 7 years of previous finance experience working for Citigroup, London and Russell Investment Group, Sydney.

Stephen is a Principal at First Avenue, where he has primary responsibility for origination of private funds and direct private placements. Stephen was formerly a Managing Director at Madison Williams where he was responsible for new business development. Stephen has more than thirty years' experience in mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and private equity investing. He spent the first twelve years of his career at Goldman Sachs with subsequent time at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (where he also served on the Operating Committee for Investment Banking) and Lane Berry, Stephen was also the partner responsible for origination at C.P. Eaton, and a general partner of J.H. Whitney, a private equity firm. Stephen holds a BA in Economics from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard University.

David is responsible for First Avenue's consultancy relationships. With over 20 years' in institutional investment consulting, fund manager research, selection and ratings, David qualified as an actuary with Mercer. At Aon, he was responsible for UK asset-liability management and worldwide manager research. David also advised S&P on Asset Manager and Sponsor Covenant Assessment Services. He sits on the advisory council of AIMSE International and was a founding member of the Pension Risk Transfer Advisory Council. David holds a B.Sc. in Mathematics and Computing from King's College, University of London.

Mike is responsible for distribution in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern US. Previously, Mike was a Managing Director at Mallory Capital Group where he held similar responsibilities. Mike began his career as in private equity as a portfolio manager at the Florida State Board of Administration where he focused on due diligence and monitoring of a $4 billion private equity portfolio.

Caroline is responsible for the private markets coverage of the UK and Netherlands. Prior to First Avenue Caroline worked as a surveyor for the Valuation Office Agency, an agency of HMRC. Prior to the Valuation Office Agency, Caroline served as Business Coordinator for the Global Asset Management and Private Banking business of Arab Bank London. Caroline started her career at Baring Asset Management in operations and client services. Caroline is a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Caroline holds a n M.Sc. in Estate Management from the London South Bank University and a B.A. (Hons) from the University of Greenwich. Caroline is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

David is responsible for the coverage of the UK, Middle East and Asia ex-Japan. He joined First Avenue from Deloitte Consulting where he worked in the M&A Strategy team and advised private equity firms and large corporations on their acquisition strategies and provided commercial due diligence on potential acquisition targets. Prior to this, David spent time in JP Morgan, working with derivatives and foreign exchange trading. David has a Ph.D in Computer Sciences from Cambridge and a Master of Engineering from Imperial College.

Vicky is responsible for the coverage of the UK and greater China. Vicky joined First Avenue Partners from Hundredstone, a corporate finance firm engaged in facilitating China and European fund placement, where she was a founding partner.  Vicky is a qualified solicitor in England & Wales and has previously worked at Linklaters and Norton Rose. Vicky speaks and writes fluent Mandarin, Cantonese and English. V icky received her honors degree in law by Zhong Nan University of Economics and Law, and was awarded her Master's degree by the University of Manchester.

Kate joined First Avenue in June 2008 initially in the fund accounting team before moving to the corporate accounting area. Kate started her career at Martin Currie Investment Management in Edinburgh, a specialist investment manager, where she was the Client Service Accountant for a variety of major offshore funds, including hedge funds, Asian based equity funds and US Mutual Funds. Kate has an MA in Accountancy & Finance and is a Certified Chartered accountant.

Jim is Head of Real Assets (includes energy, infrastructure and natural resources) and also Head of the Americas business. Prior to First Avenue, Jim founded the Private Capital Solutions Group at Madison Williams in New York. For seven years prior to that, he was a Partner at CP Eaton responsible for global real asset fundraising. Jim also worked in the fund raising groups of Lehman Brothers, Banc of America and Farrell Marsh where he raised capital over a wide range of private equity, real estate, real asset and hedge fund offerings. Over the last 18 years, Jim has helped raise over fifty funds, many of which were first-time funds. Jim earned an MBA in finance from Fordham University and BE in chemical engineering from Manhattan College.

Philippe is a member of the due diligence team. Previously Philippe worked as an Analyst at JER Partners' real estate private equity unit. Prior roles include property valuation and financial due diligence at PricewaterhouseCoopers and financial audit at Deloitte in Paris. Philippe received a Master in Real Estate Development from Columbia University and a B.B.A. from the University of Georgia.

Frédéric is responsible for the coverage of Scandinavia, France and Southern Europe. Frédéric's background includes time at Old Mutual Asset Managers (OMAM) in London in charge of Hedge Fund Sales to European Investors. Prior to OMAM, Frédéric worked for Barclays Global Investors where we he was in charge of Business Development for France and Iberia across all of BGI products and solutions. Frederic has a Master in International Business Management from CESEM (Reims) and ICADE Madrid.

Mei is responsible for distribution in Greater China and the UK. Mei has extensive work experience both in China and the UK. She joined from the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association where she researched the investment performance of UK and Pan-European PE managers and led the organization's engagement with the Chinese government, PE managers and institutional investors. Mei also spent time at Capital Dynamics working on fund due diligence and their on-going engagement with PE managers.  Prior to moving to the UK, Mei worked as a business consultant for an US-headquartered firm in China. Mei was awarded a PhD in Corporate Finance and a MSc in Finance and Management by the University of Exeter. She is fluent in Mandarin and English, and speaks conversational Cantonese.

Clive is Head of Private Equity and primarily responsible for origination and marketing of private equity funds. Clive was formally a Managing Director at Helix Associates and Co-Head of the Fund of Funds Group at Goldman Sachs covering Europe and Asia. Prior to Goldman Sachs Clive worked in
the Private Equity Group at Merrill Lynch.

John concentrates on the UK and Ireland institutional markets. John began his career as a pensions manager before moving to consultancy where he provided advice on all aspects of pension fund benefit design and investment strategy. For the last 20 years John has worked for a variety of asset managers responsible for investment sales, client service and consulting relationship teams across a wide range of market segments. John has a B.A. in Law and Economics from the University of Strathclyde.

Eugene joined First Avenue as Vice President, Project Management in June 2012. Prior to joining First Avenue, Eugene covered healthcare services in the equity research departments at BB&T Capital Markets and Madison Williams. Eugene holds a BS with concentrations in finance and management information systems from Binghamton University.   

Rachel is an Associate within the Project Management team. In this capacity, she is responsible for campaign management, project administration and managing the interface with our clients. Prior to joining First Avenue, Rachel worked within the Healthcare Investment Banking team at Madison Williams. She holds a BA in International Studies from the University of California at Irvine.

Claudia is responsible for the coverage of Latin America and the U.S. East Coast. She focuses on Latin American investors, both institutional and family offices accessing investment opportunities in and outside of the region. Prior to her role at First Avenue Partners she worked at Strategic Value Partners, a distressed Hedge Fund. Claudia began her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers in its distressed debt fund and restructuring practice. Claudia is fluent in German, English, Spanish, French and Portuguese.

Stefan Sarles has practiced law for over 20 years in the US and the UK.

Stefan Sarles has an extensive background in domestic and international mergers and acquisitions, capital markets and general business transactions.

Stefan Sarles worked with Mayer Brown in Chicago from 1990 to 1994, then in the London office until 1999. Before starting his own firm in 2003. Stefan was the Managing Partner of the London office of Fredrikson & Byron. Stefan received a B.S. with distinction from the University of Wisconsin and received his J.D., cum laude, from the University of Minnesota Law School.

Whitney is an Associate in the Project Management Team responsible for project administration in the Americas. Whitney joined First Avenue from Madison Williams where she worked as an analyst for the Private Capital Solutions Group. Whitney received her BA from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 2009.

Rebecca works within the project administration team. In this capacity, she is responsible for campaign management and managing the interface with our clients.  In addition, her role is to enhance and institutionalise our understanding of investors. Rebecca joined First Avenue from Wood & Company where she worked as Marketing Co-ordinator for the Equities division.

Rebecca graduated from University of Glasgow with BaHons in Business and Management.

Kaz covers investors in Japan, Korea and Australia. Prior to joining First Avenue, Kaz was a Director of Nomura Funds Research responsible for private equity fund investments. Prior to Nomura, he had a range of experiences in manager research, investment product marketing and pension advisory at Watson Wyatt and ABN AMRO. Kaz holds an B.S. from Tokyo University and an MBA from the University of Michigan.

Daniel is responsible for the coverage of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Daniel was formerly at Citigroup's Alternatives Distribution Group in London where he was responsible for German speaking Europe. He planned and executed capital raising campaigns for a number of private equity, infrastructure and real estate funds. Daniel received a B.B.A. from the  Faculty of Business Darmstadt.