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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.