VULPES - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Executive Chairman of VALIC
- Portfolio Manager, Agriculture
Alistair is Executive Chairman of VALIC (Vulpes Agricultural Land Investment Company) and has been an active investor in agricultural businesses and farming in New Zealand since 2004.
Over his career, Alistair has been CEO of Alcor Investment Management Pte. Ltd in Singapore, held the position of Country Head for Jardine Fleming NZ, and worked at Lehman Brothers in Hong Kong running Equity Trading and Derivatives. He brings together ‘best practice' from his experiences in both finance and farming.
Alistair holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the Massey University, New Zealand.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Advisors and Non - Executive Directors Team
Andrew Main is the former Managing Partner of Stratton Street Capital LLP which he co founded in 2000. He remains a consultant to the group and is a Non-Executive Director of their two Renminbi Bond and other Guernsey Funds.
Bert Verdicchio has over thirty years of capital commitment, risk management, and financial engineering experience in all major asset classes: a core in global fixed income, credit, interest rate. equities, and currencies-and derivative products thereon. He also has over twenty years of hedge fund ("HF") and HF-linked product experience.
He has dedicated over a decade to managing the liquidity and cash-flows/working capital of Vulpes and its family office sponsor, including sourcing lenders, managing asset disposals, and effecting recoveries.
Bert holds a BA cum laude from Yale University.
Bill Crispin is a senior legal professional with over 25 years' experience in providing asset management/ fund advisory across the APAC region, the U.S., the UK, and the Cayman Islands. He specializes in investments with an emphasis on private equity and investment fund formation. Bill has advised investment managers, private equity houses and financial institutions on their hedge funds and private equity funds, including their formation, maintenance, ongoing operations, restructuring and dissolution. He also has experience advising on a broad range of general corporate matters including M&A, and joint ventures.
He completed a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in 1985 at Washington & Jefferson College. He later received a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 2003, a Master of Laws (LL.M) from the Boston University School of Law in 2004, and a Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) from the Warwick Business School in 2005.
Bill, his wife, and their three children, call Singapore home and are permanent residents.
Chee Seng Ng - Chief Compliance Officer
Chee Seng joined Vulpes in 2019. He began his career in the funds industry with Citco Fund Services as a Fund Accountant, eventually leading a team as an Account Manager. Prior to joining Vulpes, he was a Fund Controller in the multi-billion dollar hedge fund, Alphadyne Asset Management (now Astignes Capital Asia).
Chee Seng holds a Bachelors of Science from the University of London in Banking and Finance.
Job Titles:
- Portfolio Manager, CEO of Stronghold Capital
David has held senior roles relating to corporate and REIT management, real estate investment banking and fund management over a 25 year period. Most recently as President, Corporate and Strategy at LMIRT Management Ltd., the REIT Manager for Lippo Malls Indonesian Retail Trust, a listed REIT. Prior to this he was RBS Regional Head of Real Estate from 2009 to 2012 across all sectors for APAC.
From 2000 to 2009, Mr Mackey formed and managed a real estate funds management business which included roles as Executive Chairman and Chief Investment Officer claiming a #1 ranking (Morningstar) in 2007. From 1998 to 2000 he was a Director, Corporate Finance with HSBC Securities in Sydney and prior to this an institutional real estate analyst in Australia with the then #1 securities firm, McCaughan Dyson, where he attained a #2 analyst ranking as polled by Baring Securities. He subsequently became Head of Regional (Asia) Real Estate Research for top tier firms such as SG Warburg (now UBS) and Salomon Bros. (now Citigroup) in Hong Kong from 1993 to 1997.
Mr Mackey received a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Tasmania.
Job Titles:
- Managing Partner of Vulpes Ventures
Field is the Managing Partner of Vulpes Ventures and launched its first venture fund in the early days of the Covid-19 Pandemic in 2020. He and his partners saw an opportunity to provide liquidity to the venture markets of Southeast Asia when other venture investors were paralyzed with fear.
Previously he was the Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel for Vulpes Investment Management. Field joined Vulpes in 2015. Field has been in Singapore since 2011 and began his career working on a Wall Street sales desk before getting his law degree and working as an M&A associate for an international law firm. He has a degree in History from the University of Colorado-Boulder and a J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Advisors and Non - Executive Directors Team
Geoffrey started his career in London with L Messel and Co. Stockbrokers, MW Marshall, Money Brokers and Merrill Lynch Government Securities Inc. After 15 years he then joined Reuters Plc. in 1980 and was posted to Japan in 1983 to take up the position of Head of Sales and Marketing. During his tenure at Reuters he spent time as Country Manager and President for Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, Korea and Japan. With the latter he took the business to a level where it was generating 42% of Reuters revenue in Asia.
In 1996 he moved to New York to join Instinet (a Reuters company) after which time Geoffrey returned to Asia as CEO Instinet Asia Pacific, the same year after he gained membership of the Tokyo Stock Exchange and later the Sydney Stock Exchange. Having built the Instinet business in Asia Geoffrey decided to retire in 2002 and return to Europe to take up residence in Italy. In 2003 he formed his first company in Italy, Montecastelli Srl. and now has 3 companies where the principal activity is property restoration.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Advisors and Non - Executive Directors Team
Glenn Blasius has over 30 years' experience in portfolio management, trading and risk management in global fixed income credit. Prior to Vulpes, he worked at Antarctica Capital, assisting in developing an asset acquisition and management strategy for life insurance companies.
He was a co-founder and senior portfolio manager at Christofferson, Robb & Company (CRC), an $8Bn fund management firm specializing in Private Credit between 2003 and 2012. Mr Blasius was a Managing Director of Bear Stearns from 1998 - 2003, founding their European Asset Backed trading effort. Prior to Bear, Stearns, Mr. Blasius traded and structured US Agency Securities and CMOs, having worked at trading desks for Smith Barney, Lehman Brothers, and Prudential Bache.
Mr. Blasius received a BS in Engineering Physics from Cornell University in 1984.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Advisors and Non - Executive Directors Team
Grant has 26 years of trading experience in Asian equity markets, beginning his career with Robert Fleming in 1986 trading Japanese equities and derivatives in both London and Tokyo.
Subsequently he has run Asian equity, convertible bond and ADR/GDR trading desks in New York, Hong Kong, and Singapore as well as spending several years trading Australian equities in Sydney. During that time, he spent 6 years with UBS and a further 9 years with Credit Suisse. Most recently he was Head of Asian Equity Trading for Jefferies in Singapore.
Job Titles:
- Director of Research
- Director of Research and Portfolio Manager, Allium
Jamshed Dadabhoy is the Director of Research at Vulpes, with a focus on equity markets - both public and private. Prior to this, he was at Citigroup Global Markets for 15 years - based in Mumbai and Singapore. His research was primarily concentrated around the automotive, consumer staples and consumer discretionary sectors. Additionally, he has covered sectors like aviation and shipping. Prior to Citigroup, he was at CRISIL (an S&P subsidiary) as a credit analyst for 2 years, covering the chemical and automotive sectors.
He holds an MBA with a specialization in Finance from NMIMS, Mumbai University. He graduated with a First class degree in Commerce and Economics from Sydenham College, Mumbai University.
Job Titles:
- Chief Financial Officer
- Chief Financial Officer at Vulpes Investment Management
Jasmine is the Chief Financial Officer at Vulpes Investment Management. Her role is to oversee and manage all financial affairs associated with the funds and asset management functions within Vulpes. She joined Vulpes in 2013 and has assumed her current role from 2019.
Jasmine is an experienced finance professional with extensive experience in the asset management and fund administration industry. Prior to joining Vulpes, she was with established fund administrator in the banking industry. Jasmine holds a BA in Accountancy from the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Advisors and Non - Executive Directors Team
John A. Dawson, CBE, is an eminent and widely-respected figure in the healthcare sector who consults for the Vulpes Life Sciences Fund.
As former Chief Executive Officer of Oxford Biomedica, he was recognized for his outstanding leadership in delivering the life-saving Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine with unprecedented speed in 2021. During his 13-year tenure at Oxford Biomedica, the business grew into a global leader in viral vector technologies for cell and gene therapy, resulting in it entering the FTSE 250 index in 2020.
John currently serves as a non-executive director at Ergomed, a specialized provider of services to the pharmaceutical industry, Chinese Speciality Pharma Ltd., a company that brings innovative specialty and rare disease products to China, Norgine, a leading European specialist pharmaceutical company that has been committed to bringing transformative products to patients for over a century, and Virocell, a gene therapy manufacturing company
Prior to his tenure at Oxford Biomedica, John held several senior executive roles, including Managing Director for Europe at Cephalon, Inc., and Financial Director for Serono UK. Mr. Dawson is a Chartered Accountant and holds a BSc in Mathematics from Swansea University.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Advisors and Non - Executive Directors Team
- Adviser
During his early career Kim worked at Merrill Lynch Private bank and Citibank in corporate finance, prior to becoming the National Practice Leader for Asset Consulting at Towers Perrin, advising large Australian superannuation schemes. Kim then became Head of Risk at the Commonwealth Bank funds management division overseeing over US$20bn in assets. In 1998 Kim founded Vertex Capital Management (VCM), one of Australia's pioneer long/short equity and market neutral hedge funds. Kim also served as an AIMA (Alternative Investment Management Association) global director from 2004 to 2008 and as AIMA Australia's Chairman until 2010.
Now retired from full time employment, Kim works as an adviser to hedge fund managers, investors and regulators while devoting time to assist indigenous Australian charities, NPOs and Land Councils in Western Australia.
Job Titles:
- Chief Technology Officer
- Chief Technology Officer at Vulpes Investment Management
Kirti serves as the Chief Technology Officer at Vulpes Investment Management. Since joining Vulpes in 2011, she has overseen and managed our IT infrastructure, as well as supported users by leveraging the help of outsourced vendors. With prior experience as a Software Developer in various IT firms, Kirti brings a strong foundation to her role.
She holds a Master's in Computer Applications from the University Banasthali Vidyapith in India.
Job Titles:
- Portfolio Manager, Life Sciences
Martin, who is a director and the fund manager of the Vulpes Life Sciences fund has been a passionate and active investor, with over 20 years of experience in life sciences.
He has served on the Board of several public and privately listed companies within our portfolio, including Oxford Biomedica, Scancell, Proteome Sciences, Chronos, Leucid and Oxford Endovascular.
Over the years he has been a huge advocate and supporter of life sciences where he has contributed both his own capital and extensive business experience to ensure that these companies reach their full potential.
Prior to Vulpes Martin was a Partner and Director of UBS/Brunswick. Before that, he spent 7 years at Morgan Stanley. Martin graduated from the University of Oxford with a Masters in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
Martin's career spans 35 years of Global Asset Allocation & investment where he has actively managed institutional mandates (especially for US ERISA accounts & endowments), unit trusts, mutual funds, UCITs, and hedge funds. This has included positions at Morgan Grenfell, Fidelity International, TT International as well as a number of other leading firms.
Martin is a Pan Asia Pacific and Emerging Markets specialist (especially Myanmar) where he has managed funds and businesses based in Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, and London. During his career he has established, launched, and marketed various closed-end country funds as well as independent fund management businesses.
Martin has a strong understanding of the compliance and regulatory environment. He also advises family offices & EIS funds on a wide range of investment opportunities.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Business Development
- Director at Vulpes Investment Management
- Director of Business Development and Venture Capital
Nicholas is a Director at Vulpes Investment Management and leads Business Development across the Vulpes platform of businesses.
Nicholas began his career in London at Canaccord Genuity, initially with the Investment Management business, co-managing portfolios of up to $10m, before moving to the Investment Banking Division, where he worked on a variety of M&A and Equity Capital Market transactions in the leisure, consumer, and gaming sectors.
After a number of years in London, Nicholas moved to the newly opened up Myanmar, where he launched the Corporate Advisory practice for a local consulting group, and completed some of the earliest joint venture and capital raising deals in the country across the F&B, logistics, and technology sectors. He went on to become Country CEO of a Silicon Valley fintech business launching in Myanmar in 2018, before moving to Singapore with Vulpes in 2019.
Nicholas holds a Bachelors of Science from the University of Bath in Economics and Politics.
Job Titles:
- Portfolio Manager, Distressed Fund
Philipp von Bernstorff, the primary manager of the Distressed Fund at Vulpes, specializes in special situations and turnaround investments. He holds a key role on the Testudo Fund's Investment Committee and operates closely with various company boards. His work focuses on enhancing growth and success within portfolio management teams and nurturing crucial partnerships. Philipp's broad work experience spans from Eastern Europe, South East Asia, to Africa.
Before joining Vulpes in 2012, he managed the Russian Opportunities Fund at Artradis Fund Management in Geneva. His prior roles include being the Director of Equity Sales and Trading at IFD Kapital, Moscow, and a proprietary trader at Centre Invest Securities. Philipp earned his MSc in international Politics from MGIMO and his BA (Hons) from Staffordshire University in the UK.
Job Titles:
- Head of Sustainability
- Investment Management 's Head of Sustainability
Sadiq Currimbhoy is Vulpes Investment Management's Head of Sustainability. The role includes developing both new investment ideas and assessing existing investments, their business models and resilience as the globe transitions to a low-carbon economy.
Prior to joining, he was the first Head of Sustainability for Maybank Kim Eng Securities in addition to being Head of Research. He initiated their sustainability drive pursing his passion, which included a defining trip to Antarctica.
Sadiq has been in financial services since 1995 primarily in research, working in New York, London, Hong Kong and Singapore. While on the sell-side, he had two periods at what is now Bank of America Merrill Lynch and was consistently top-ranked for investment strategy. In between his Merrill stints, he was Global Strategist on the NewSmith Global Opportunities Fund, a multi-asset hedge fund.
Sadiq grew up in Hong Kong. He has a Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Business from the University of Cambridge's Institute for Sustainability Leadership. He completed his BSc (Economics), Honours at the London School of Economics and has a PhD in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director, Investments & Corporate Development
Solon's background is in strategy and corporate finance, and he has over 15 years' experience in investments & corporate development with a focus on real estate transactions and portfolio management.
Prior to joining Vulpes in 2013, Solon was National Manager, Group Business Development & Capital Transactions at Stockland, Australia's largest diversified REIT, where he was responsible for managing acquisitions and divestments across all real estate asset classes. He had previously held roles at Stockland in the Group Strategy & Corporate Development team, and at RBS Global Banking & Markets in the Asia-Pacific Real Estate Investment Banking team.
Solon is responsible for developing new business for Vulpes, with an initial focus on the sustainable investment landscape, and he continues to oversee Vulpes' German real estate fund management activities, Stronghold Capital, as its Chief Investment Officer.
Solon holds a Bachelor of Applied Finance from Macquarie University, a Masters of Applied Finance from Macquarie University, and a Master of Science (Real Estate) from National University of Singapore where he was class valedictorian and recipient of the Real Estate Developers' Association of Singapore (REDAS) Gold Medal Award, and he is currently completing the Global Executive MBA program at INSEAD.
Stephen Diggle has been working in finance since 1986
After 15 years working at international Investment Banks in London, Sydney and Hong Kong he was one of two founders of Artradis Fund Management, a Singapore based hedge fund company which launched in 2002 with US$4m and peaked at nearly US$5bn late in 2008. Artradis was multi-award winning and for some time the largest and most successful hedge fund in Asia making US$2.7bn for investors between 2002 and 2009, especially during the financial crisis of 2008 when it was most successful.
The hedge fund closed in March 2010 returning cash in full to all investors and being one of the few multi $bn hedge funds never to have gated investors capital. Following this, he founded Vulpes Investment Management, a family office backed investment manager that runs a diverse portfolio of assets, including significant investments in U.K.-based biotechnology companies, where he acts as one of the two portfolio managers.
Vulpes has been an early investor in companies such as Scancell and Oxford Biomedica, providing capital at critical times to keep the companies afloat. With a decade of experience investing in this sector, he is more passionate than ever about finding undervalued biotech firms and helping them grow.
Stephen holds a Master's degree from the University of Oxford in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer
- Portfolio Manager, CEO of Vulpes Investment Management UK Ltd
Stuart Merrilees is Chief Operating Officer for Vulpes Investment Management UK Ltd, an independent operating company using the Vulpes brand.
Stuart brings experience in institutional investment management, capital markets and high growth tech company engagement to the UK based firm. His primary focus is on operational efficiency and regulatory compliance.
He is a graduate of Newcastle University.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Advisors and Non - Executive Directors Team
- Member of the Florida
Will Garner started his career as analyst for Grant's Financial Publishing, Inc. based in New York. He then worked for David W. Tice and Associates, an investment research and money management firm, based in Dallas, Texas. Will is a strategic partner of Latitude World serving as a US immigration lawyer; based in Jersey, Latitude is one the premier immigration firms for high-net-worth individuals seeking second residency and citizenship. Will is also an advisor to Greenwing Ventures, a boutique Canadian merchant bank focused on disruptive companies in the agriculture, energy and mobility space.
Will earned his Bachelor's Degree in Finance from the University of Georgia graduating Magna Cum Laude. Will earned his Juris Doctorate degree from the William S. Boyd School of Law, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Will earned his MBA from the University of Florida graduating Cum Laude. Will obtained a certificate in Brewing Arts from the University of South Florida.
Will is a member of the Florida bar. Will holds real estate licenses in Florida, Washington and Nevada.