Mike Powell, Head of Alternative Assets Mike joined USS in September 2006 as the Head of Alternative Assets to build the alternatives investment programme. USS has targeted a 20% allocation of total assets into alternatives over the medium term and currently has approximately £5 billion invested across the alternative asset classes. Mike has overall responsibility for the Alternatives programme which includes private equity, private debt, infrastructure, timberland and hedge funds. He also Chairs the Alternatives Investment Committee which approves investments within the alternative asset programme at USS. Mike is also a member of USS’s Asset Allocation Committee and the London Investment Office (LIO) Management Committee. Mike serves on a number of private equity fund advisory boards and boards of portfolio companies on behalf of USS. He is also a member of the Institutional Limited Partners Association Best Practice Committee.
Prior to joining USS, Mike has over 15 years experience in the asset management industry and spent the majority of his recent career at Shell Pensions Management Services Limited in a variety of investment roles, latterly as the Head of Strategy.
Mike graduated with a First Class Honours degree in Economics from Warwick University and is an Associate of the UK Society of Investment Professionals (UKSIP).
Tahir Bhimji, Analyst Tahir joined USS in August 2011 as an Analyst for Private Markets. Tahir assists in the sourcing, evaluation and execution of fund commitments and direct investments across private equity, private debt and infrastructure. Before USS, Tahir was a senior associate within the start-up corporate finance business at LBG working on equity raise mandates in the lower UK mid-market. Tahir started his career at RBC Capital Markets in M&A in both Toronto and London offices. He holds a BA (Hons.) in Business Administration from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. Fraser Booth, Senior Investment Manager Fraser Booth joined USS in 2007 as Senior Investment Manager for Private Markets. Fraser currently focuses on fund sourcing, selection, implementation and monitoring for the private equity and infrastructure portfolios. In accordance with his role, he sits on a number of advisory boards for private equity and infrastructure funds of the Scheme. Fraser reports to Mike Powell, Head of Alternative Assets and is a voting member of the Alternatives Investment Committee. Previously, Fraser was employed by Railpen Investments (RPMI) where he occupied a similar role, which included fund selection and implementation of illiquid investments. Prior to RPMI Fraser worked at Mellon HR&IS where he was a founding member of the research team, specialising in illiquid assets. Fraser has an Honours degree in Business Decision Analysis from the University of West England. Nan Cai, Analyst Nan joined USS in 2009 as an Analyst for Hedge Funds. Nan focuses on the hedge fund allocation program and her responsibilities include assisting the portfolio managers in sourcing, making investment decisions and monitoring existing investments. Prior to joining USS, Nan worked for Atlas Capital Limited (now part of Sciens Asset Management) as a Hedge Fund Analyst primarily focusing on European Equity Long Short managers. Nan has received a Bachelor of Mathematics and Statistics for Finance with First Class Honours from Imperial College London and a Master degree in Applied Statistics from University of Oxford. She has also passed the CFA Level III and Investment Management Certificate exams. Becky Dixon, Team Secretary Becky joined USS in 2009 as Team Secretary. Becky’s main responsibilities include diary management and travel booking for the team plus secretary support. Prior to joining USS Becky worked for Henderson Global Investors for 4½ years as Team Secretary in the property department. Luke Dixon, Senior Investment Manager Luke joined USS in July 2009 as a Senior Investment Manager for Hedge Funds. Luke focuses on the sourcing, evaluating and monitoring of hedge fund investments for the Alternatives programme. Luke reports to Mike Powell, Head of Alternative Assets and is a voting member of the Alternatives Investment Committee. Previously Luke was Executive Director at JPMorgan with responsibility for global hedge fund due diligence for structured products in the EMEA. Prior to JPMorgan Luke held senior analyst and portfolio advisory positions with Ermitage (UK) and Aurum Funds Limited in London and Northwater Capital Management in Toronto. Luke's hedge fund research responsibilities have spanned global macro, fixed income relative value, credit, distressed, multi-strategy, commodity-focused and niche strategies. Luke holds BComm (Finance) and MBA degrees and is a CFA charterholder and a CAIA charterholder. Luke is also the founding and current President of the CAIA London chapter. Michael Dymond, Senior Investment Manager Michael joined USS in June 2010 as Senior Investment Manager for Private Markets. Michael focuses on fund sourcing, selection, implementation and monitoring for the private equity and infrastructure portfolios. Michael is a member of a number of advisory boards for private equity funds. He reports to Mike Powell, Head of Alternative Assets and is a voting member of the Alternatives Investment Committee. Prior to joining USS, Michael was employed by Pinebridge Investments in London in a role which included manager selection, monitoring and strategy in the private equity fund of funds programme. Before that, he worked at Fortis Bank in Brussels as a member of the global private equity team. Michael has a degree in Economics and Political Science from McGill University in Canada, and holds an MBA from Nyenrode University in the Netherlands. Geoffrey Geiger, Senior Investment Manager Geoffrey Geiger joined USS in 2007 as Senior Investment Manager for Private Markets. Geoffrey focuses on sourcing, evaluating and monitoring co-investment opportunities for USS. In his role at USS, Geoffrey sits on a number of advisory boards for private equity funds. Geoffrey reports to Mike Powell, Head of Alternative Assets and is a voting member of the Alternatives Investment Committee. Geoffrey has been working in private equity for over ten years. Prior to USS, Geoffrey was with Klesch & Company in London for six years, where he worked on a number of buyout and turnaround private equity transactions. Before which he worked at Deutsche Bank in New York and Frankfurt in investment banking focusing on private equity. Geoffrey began his career in private equity as a placement agent with MeesPierson in Geneva, Switzerland. Geoffrey received an MBA from UCLA Anderson and a Bachelor of Arts from Middlebury College in Vermont. Alice He Yu, Analyst Alice joined USS in 2009 as an Analyst for Hedge Funds. Alice is responsible for assisting in sourcing, evaluation and monitoring of hedge funds. Prior to joining USS, Alice spent 4 years in the fund of hedge funds industry. Alice worked for Caliburn Capital Partners in London as a Research Analyst. Previous to that she worked for NewFinance Capital Partners initially as a Marketing Analyst and subsequently as a Research Analyst focusing on Fixed Income and Global Macro hedge fund strategies. Alice received a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics with Upper Second Class Honours from the London School of Economics & Political Science. She is also a CFA Charterholder. Rob Horsnall, Senior Analyst Rob joined USS in January 2010 as an Analyst for Private Markets. Rob assists in the sourcing, evaluation and execution of fund commitments and direct investments across private equity, private debt and infrastructure. Before joining USS, Rob worked at 3i plc, having started in accounting and subsequently moving into the fundraising area. Rob started his career at Shipleys LLP in Corporate Finance and Audit, where he became a qualified accountant with ICAEW. He holds a BA in History from the University of Liverpool. Gavin Merchant, Senior Investment Manager Gavin joined USS in September 2011 as Senior Investment Manager. Gavin is responsible for sourcing, evaluating and monitoring direct and co-investments within the infrastructure programme. Gavin reports to Mike Powell, Head of Alternative Assets and is a voting member of the Alternatives Investment Committee. Gavin has worked in the infrastructure sector in the UK and Australia for fifteen years.
Prior to joining USS, Gavin was a Director at Equitix Limited. Earlier in his career, Gavin was an Investment Director of ING’s European infrastructure fund having previously been a founder member of Merrill Lynch’s global infrastructure investments business. Gavin also spent five years as a member of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s infrastructure and privatisation team.
Gavin graduated with an honours degree in Law from the University of Edinburgh. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland. Teia Merring, Analyst Teia joined USS in August 2011 as an Analyst for Private Markets. Teia assists in the sourcing, evaluation and execution of fund commitments and direct investments across private equity, private debt and infrastructure. Before joining USS, Teia worked at Goldman Sachs International in the Healthcare Investment Banking division. She holds a Master in Applied Economics and Finance and a BSc in Economics and Business Administration from Copenhagen Business School. Scott Palmer, Co-Head of Operational Due Diligence Scott joined USS in June 2011 as Co-Head Operational Due Diligence. Scott focuses on the initial operational due diligence of prospective fund investments and the on-going operational monitoring of existing fund investments within the alternatives programme. Prior to joining USS, Scott was responsible for hedge fund operational due diligence globally on JPMorgan’s Hedge Fund Derivatives trading desk. Scott held a number of positions at JPMorgan before joining the hedge fund derivatives trading desk and previously worked at Amber Partners, the Royal Bank of Canada and PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he qualified as a chartered accountant. Scott received a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree from McGill University in Montreal, Canada and is a Chartered Accountant and CFA charterholder. Sanjeev Phakey, Analyst Sanjeev joined USS in September 2011 as an Analyst for Private Markets. Sanjeev’s responsibilities include the sourcing, evaluation and execution of fund commitments and direct investments across private equity, private debt and infrastructure. Before joining USS, Sanjeev worked at Spayne Lindsay, a corporate finance advisory firm operating in the international consumer and retail sectors. Sanjeev started his career in corporate finance at UBS. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the London School of Economics & Political Science. Emily Porter, Senior Investment Manager Emily joined USS in January 2009 as a Senior Investment Manager for Hedge Funds. Emily focuses on the sourcing, evaluating and monitoring of hedge fund investments for the Alternatives programme. Emily reports to Mike Powell, Head of Alternative Assets and is a voting member of the Alternatives Investment Committee. Previously, Emily was employed by Key Asset Management as a Portfolio Manager and Investment Director where she concentrated on Event Driven and Distressed hedge fund research, as well as managing Multi Strategy Fund of Hedge Fund portfolios. Prior to joining Key Asset Management, Emily worked for Asset Alliance as a European and Asian focused generalist hedge fund senior analyst, Aurum in hedge fund analysis and ABN AMRO Asset Management as a hedge fund analyst. Emily received an Llb in Law from Southampton University and is a holder of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation. Terry Raby, Co-Head of Operational Due Diligence Terry Raby joined the alternatives team in April 2008 and is Co-Head of Operational Due Diligence. Terry’s main role is the operational due diligence of prospective fund investments across the alternatives programme with a particular focus on hedge funds. Terry reports to Mike Powell, Head of Alternative Assets and is a member of the Alternative Investment Committee for hedge fund investments. Prior to joining the alternatives team he was Head of Internal Audit for USS for over 10 years and occupied senior audit posts in financial service organisations prior to joining USS. Terry is a Certified Practicing Accountant, has university qualifications in philosophy, mathematics, and computing science and is qualified as a Financial Risk Manager with the Global Association of Risk Professionals. He is a director of the Pensions Research Accountants Group. Donna Wheeler, Investment Coordinator Donna joined the Alternatives team in 2008 as Team Coordinator. She initially set up the administration processes and supported the team. In 2009 Donna’s main responsibilities became processing and prioritising investment deal flow and overseeing administrative support of the investment team. Prior to joining the Alternatives team, Donna worked at USS for 7 years as personal assistant to the Chief Investment Officer. This pivotal role involved working alongside both the internal and external fund managers as well as liaising with the chairman and members of the Investment Committee and Trustee Board. |
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