Selin Bucak began covering the private markets in 2019, after becoming editor of Private Equity News at Dow Jones and has been following the increase in interest in the wealth market since then. Previously, she was News Editor at Citywire Wealth Manager. As a freelance journalist, she has combined her experience covering private markets and wealth management to write about alternative asset managers’ private wealth push extensively, breaking stories from new fund launches to geographical expansion plans, conducting interviews with some of the biggest names in the sector, as well as writing in-depth features on key trends. She leads Citywire’s private markets coverage and her writing has also appeared in Alternative Credit Investor, Private Equity International and Real Deals.

Simon Jennings joined HarbourVest in 2017 and leads our wealth management business in EMEA and Asia. He is also head of the firm’s new Zurich office, having relocated there at the beginning of 2024. Simon brings over 30 years of experience to this role and has extensive experience in private equity investment, strategy, business building, client relations, and fundraising. Simon joined the Firm having previously founded the Private Markets businesses at UBS and HSBC where he served as the global head of private equity responsible for creating, structuring, and accessing private equity investment opportunities for private and institutional clients. His other experience includes leadership positions at UBS AG in both London and Zurich, UBS Capital, Phildrew Ventures, and Hermes Investment Management. Simon received a BA (with honours) in European Business Administration from the Middlesex Business School, London and a Diplom-Betriebswirt from the Fachochschule Reutlingen in Germany. Simon speaks German.

Paolo Simonato has been a private equity investor for over 20 years with significant track record and a broad international network. Paolo advises Mediobanca on the Mediobanca-BlackRock Co-Investments Program for high net worth individuals (€1.4B committed), which he helped structuring in 2020. From 2022, he also advises Trilantic Europe Energy Transition Investments, a sector-focused private equity fund with €375mm in commitments. Formerly, he was co-head of BlackRock Private Equity Partners in Europe (>$17B global AUM) with a large pan-european team based in London and Zurich, where he launched the 1st BlackRock ELTIF program in Europe. Prior to BlackRock, Paolo was at General Electric and GE Capital for 24 years. As Chief Strategy Officer and Credit Committee member at GE Corporate Finance Bank, he underwrote €4B in 100 LBO transactions. He also established a multi-awarded JV with Ares Capital Management for unitranche financing. Previously, he turned-around the Latin America private equity portfolio at GE Investments and set-up a European private equity office in Paris with >$800M AUM for GE Asset Management Inc. Earlier, he was part of GE’s industrial operations in the energy M&A team and with the corporate audit staff since 1994 in Fairfield, CT. Paolo graduated from Bocconi University cum laude, he is a well-known speaker at major private equity industry events.

Jim Strang is an experienced Private Markets investment professional and strategy consultant with a wide range of Board and C-level experience gained across multiple organisations over the last 25 years, notably with Hamilton Lane Inc (NASDAQ:HLNE), the largest investor globally in Private Markets strategies with AuM of over $900B, where he served on the Global Investment Committee and as Managing Director and Chairman of the EMEA business until 2021. Jim now holds several Board and advisory roles across the industry and is a Professor and Faculty member at London Business School. Chairman of the Board at Hg Capital Trust plc (LON:HGT). HGT is a publicly listed private equity focused Investment Company with market cap. ~£2b/$2.5b providing investors with exposure to a fast-growing portfolio of private companies, primarily operating in the technology and technology-enabled services sectors, which are located across Europe and North America.

Greta Teot is Head of Private Markets at Mediobanca Private Banking and oversees the Private Bank’s offering of illiquid investment solutions. In her role, Greta covers private markets funds, fund of funds and co-investments, with a strong focus on solutions that are tailor-made and distributed exclusively for Mediobanca’s clients. Prior to joining Mediobanca in 2020, Greta was part of the Investment Team of a multi-family office, investing in funds and co-investments predominantly in the United States. Prior to that, she was working at Societè Generale in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Greta holds a Bachelor in International Economics, Management and Finance from Bocconi University and a Master of Science from ESADE Business School. She attended the Executive Education Program in Private Equity and Venture Capital at Harvard Business School.

Dr. Andrea Vathje is Head of the Private Markets Institute at Privatize. Previously, she was a senior expert for investment products at Scope Fund Analysis, where she was responsible for Private Markets fund ratings. Before that Andrea headed up the advisory business for structured products in Germany, Luxembourg and Austria as Executive Director at Vontobel Bank. Prior to that, she was a Division Director at Macquarie Bank, co-heading the structured products business. She started her career in finance at Sal. Oppenheim where she was Managing Director and deputy head of equity and derivatives trading. Andrea holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, where she also graduated in Economics.