2023 Advisory Board

Stefano joined Ambienta in 2012 and is based in London where he has been involved in a number of transactions including Tower Light, Calucem, Oskar Nolte, IP Cleaning, Namirial, and SF Filter.

Prior to joining Ambienta, he was a Partner at Palamon Capital Partners (London) for nine years and spent eight years with the Boston Consulting Group (Milan, Stockholm, Helsinki), focusing on European industrial companies.
Stefano started his career at BASF in Basle, first in the R&D division and eventually in the stabilisation of recycled plastics.
He graduated from Politecnico University of Milan with a degree in Chemical Engineering and holds an MBA from the Helsinki School of Economics and MIT in Boston. He also studied Physical Chemistry at the Technische Universität Darmstadt.

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Maria joined Mayfair in 2015 to work alongside portfolio companies to identify, quantify and unlock business process improvement activities. Maria’s expertise as both a former practitioner and consultant allows her to focus on opportunities to drive incremental value in areas such as tax, ESG and finance with the aim of supporting the teams Mayfair partners with to deliver their plans faster or with less risk.

Maria is a qualified accountant, tax and treasury adviser, has a first-class honours degree in Chemistry from The University of Surrey, a PhD in Nanotechnology from Cambridge University and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation. Maria is also a member of the British Venture Capital Association’s Tax Committee and Responsible Investing Advisory Group.

Joana Castro, Partner, Head of Primary Investments, is product head for the Climate Impact Fund and responsible for ESG integration in private equity. Joana is a member of the advisory board of several private equity funds and member of British Venture Capital Association’s Responsible Investment Advisory Group. She joined Unigestion in September 2016. Joana began her career in 2007 in investment banking at Goldman Sachs. In 2010, she joined the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) as Senior Analyst focusing on private equity funds investments and became Principal at EBRD in 2013. Joana graduated in Economics from Catolica Lisbon School of Business and Economics in Lisbon, Portugal.

Michele co-founded Bridges alongside Philip Newborough and Sir Ronald Cohen in 2002. In addition to co-running Bridges, which is a specialist sustainable and impact fund management company, Michele has played a leading role in the growth of the sustainable and impact investing sectors in the UK and worldwide, including chairing the UK National Advisory Board on Impact Investing (part of the Global Social Impact Investment Steering Group) from 2016-18 and a Global Working Group on Policy. She is currently a Non-Executive Director on the board of CDC, the UK Government’s Development Finance Institution. Michele is also a trustee for the Bridges Impact Foundation and chairs the Board of Bridges Insights.

Victoria is responsible for the management and development of JTC’s ESG Service offering to clients and supports JTC Plc’s ESG Strategy.

She is a Certified Chartered Accountant with 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry, specialising in various aspects of E S and G. Victoria has conducted bespoke projects, including working with Fundsmith to assist with their oversight and supplier governance framework for the Equity Fund when it launched in 2011.

Victoria holds the Investment Operations Certificate awarded by the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment, Certificate in ESG Investing with the CFA Institute, Certificate in Sustainability within Finance, awarded by ACCA and Certificate in Leading Sustainable Organisations, Certificate in Private Markets – both awarded by Oxford Said Business School.

As Director of ESG and Responsible Investing, Mr. Hill is the Chairperson of Adams Street’s Environmental, Social, and Governance Committee, and supports Adams Street’s ESG efforts across all investment strategies, including impacting investing. He collaborates with internal and external stakeholders to analyze, measure, and report ESG performance, as well as drive improvement. Mr. Hill’s career in the fields of ESG research and sustainability spans two decades, helping both companies and financial institutions increase transparency on ESG-related risks and opportunities. He joined Adams Street from S&P Global Trucost, where he where

Elin has a broad experience of leading positions in investor relations, sustainability and communication, and has applied this within Private Equity, Financial Services, IT and Media sectors. Having throughout her career worked almost exclusively to drive sustainable transformation, Elin brought extensive experience from integrating ESG across the full investment cycle and supporting companies in setting the sustainability agenda. Before joining Nordic Capital she worked as Head of Corporate Communications at the listed investment company Ratos, as Marketing and Communications Director at Bisnode and before that in leading positions within industries including IT, Financial Services and Media. Elin holds a Bachelor of Science in Applied Electronics and Media Technology from Umeå university and additional studies in Business Administration.

Lucie joined NorthEdge in 2019, with eight years’ experience in industry working in a PE backed business – four of which were spent working closely with the PE firms and senior team leading transformation projects to maximise value at exit.

At NorthEdge Lucie works closely with portfolio management teams to support them to create and deliver their value creation plans, as well as taking responsibility for ESG at the firm.

David is a Senior Managing Director on the Co-Investment team and a member of our Responsible Investment Committee. He is also Chairman of the firm’s Clean Energy Infrastructure Investment Committee in respect of certain existing investment mandates. He has over 30 years of experience in private equity and infrastructure financing. Prior to joining Capital Dynamics, David worked with GE Capital in the UK and the US from early 1990 until late 2002, serving in its energy infrastructure finance and private equity business. Earlier in his career, David was engaged as an adviser to AXA Private Equity (now known as Ardian) and established the European business of First Reserve Corporation, prior to which he was with BP Ventures’ solar photovoltaics business. David serves on the board of directors of the Major Projects Association and is a member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology. David holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and a master’s degree in Engineering, each from the University of Southampton, and an MBA from the Cass Business School of City University London.

dr Robert Sroka is the ESG Director and Chief Ethics Officer for Central Europe at Abris Capital Partners. He is responsible for developing and overseeing a responsible investment policy and all ESG areas. He has 15 years of experience working on business ethics, ESG, corporate governance, ant-bribery, human rights, and sustainable development projects.

Previously, Manager at EY Climate Change and Sustainability Services and EY Business Integrity and Corporate Compliance practices. Robert is a member of the Invest Europe Responsible Investment Roundtable and the European Business Ethics Network. Author and co-author of many research reports, books and articles available on www.robertsroka.pl.

Serge is the Head of Sustainability at Investindustrial, responsible for Sustainability (ESG), Responsible Investing, Impact Investment and sustainable growth. He leads a team of highly experienced domain experts in Sustainability & ESG to deliver tangible value and impact in the investment process working closely with portfolio companies. Serge was previously a Director at Accenture Strategy and previously was a Director of Sustainability Services at WSP Environment & Energy.