OUR GUEST SPEAKERS
Raj Rao
President and COO, Global Infrastructure Partners
Raj Rao is the President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and is a founding partner of the firm, having joined at GIP’s inception in 2006. He is a member of the Office of the Chairman and is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee and Investment Committee.
Raj was previously GIP’s Global Head of Energy. He is based in New York.
Before GIP, Raj worked in the Global Energy Group of the Investment Banking Division of Credit Suisse and, prior to that, was in the Energy Investment Banking Group at Barclays Capital in London. He began his career in the equity sales group of Kotak Securities in Mumbai.
Raj currently serves on the board of directors of Naturgy and Vena Energy. He has previously served on the board of directors of CLH, London City Airport, Saeta Yield and Transit Gas Pipeline. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of Asia Society, as well as the Board of Directors of Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO).
Raj holds a Bachelor of Engineering from the National Institute of Technology Karnataka, an M.B.A. from the Faculty of Management Studies of Delhi University and a Masters in Finance from London Business School.
Dan Pottorff
Head of Debt Investment, Tristan Capital Partners
Dan is Head of Debt Investment at Tristan. He is responsible for all of Tristan’s lending activities including the Tristan Income Plus Strategies (TIPS) Fund series.
Since it’s launch in 2021, Tristan’s lending platform has originated more than €1.2bn of debt financing across Europe and the UK. Dan has an experienced track record in real estate lending, structured finance and distressed investing, spanning 20 years.
Prior to joining Tristan in 2021, Dan was Managing Director in the Debt & Special Situations team at LaSalle Investment Management where he was responsible for originating and executing transactions for the LaSalle Real Estate Debt Strategies fund series and several separate account mandates encompassing development finance, whole loan lending and special situations. During his time at LaSalle, Dan was directly responsible for transactions representing over €1.4bn of lending and was fund manager for the Special Situations program.
Prior to joining LaSalle in 2014, Dan worked at Strategic Value Partners (SVP) where he was involved in acquiring c.€300m of distressed collateralized mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), whole loans and mezzanine loans backed by real estate in the UK, Germany and Spain.
Previously, Dan was part of the Securitized Products Group at Morgan Stanley where he was involved in underwriting c. €10bn of loans in the UK, Spain, Benelux and Germany as well as structuring CMBS for the European Loan Conduit (ELOC) program.
Dan holds an MSc with Distinction in Global Market Economics from the London School of Economics and a BBA in Business Administration and BSc in Economics from the University of Iowa. He has been living and working in London since 2002.
Benoît Durteste
Chief Investment Officer and Chief Executive Officer, ICG
Benoît joined ICG in Paris in September 2002 from Swiss Re where he was a Managing Director in their London Structured Finance division.
Benoît is an experienced investor with a strong understanding of the markets in which the Group operates. During his time on the Board he has been a strong contributor to the Group’s strategic development.
Prior to Swiss Re, Benoît worked in the Leveraged Finance division of BNP Paribas and in GE Capital’s Telecom and Media Private Equity team in London. He moved to ICG’s London office in 2007 and became ICG’s CEO and Chief Investment Officer in 2017.uding leading our European investment business. He contributes a thorough understanding of financial markets and the Group’s investment portfolio to Board proceedings.
Miguel Toney
Partner, CVC Credit
Miguel Toney, Partner at CVC is a member of the Private Credit team based in London. Prior to joining CVC, Miguel was a Partner at Park Square Capital. Miguel also spent 11 years at MezzVest (now MV Credit), and two years at Credit Suisse. Miguel holds an MBA from Said Business School (University of Oxford), and a BA in Economics and International Politics from Vassar College, New York.
Charlie Tafoya
Co-Founder and CEO, Chronograph
Charlie is the Co-Founder and CEO of Chronograph, provider of next-generation portfolio monitoring and reporting solutions to private capital LPs and GPs. He previously was a private equity secondaries investor with Pantheon Ventures and investment banker with Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Charlie is an SEO alum and current mentor of both the Investment Banking Career program and Alternative Investment Fellowship and joined the SEO Junior Leadership Board in 2018.
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SEO Investment Banking Career Alum 2008, Mentor
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SEO Alternative Investments Fellow 2012, Mentor
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SEO Junior Leadership Board 2018