Frank Boehnke

Since joining Wellington Partners in 1998, Frank has focused on the potential and dynamics of the internet. He is widely recognised as a European pioneer in the internet space. Since the late 1990s he helped companies like Alando (acquired by eBay) and Ciao! (acquired by Greenfield Online) to spectacular success. Prior to Wellington Partners, Frank spent eight years in technology investment banking at JP Morgan in New York, London and Frankfurt. He advised customers such as IBM, Bertelsmann and Siemens on numerous M&A mandates and helped many technology companies to achieve NASDAQ listings.

George Coelho

George Coelho is managing director of Good Energies (UK) LLP, London. Previously he was a partner at Balderton Capital, which he co-founded as Benchmark Capital Europe. Before that he led all of Intel Corporation’s international venture capital investment activities. He was a founder of the group that evolved to become Intel Capital and ran the Intel M&A group as assistant treasurer. George holds a BS from The American University and an MBA from George Washington University. He is a trustee of George Washington University and on the board of directors of TiE UK.

Antoine Colboc

Antoine Colboc has been head of Crédit Agricole Private Equity’s venture capital activity since 2002. Graduating in Engineering from the Ecole Centrale (Paris), he began his career in 1977 at IBM France. In 1984, he joined Europe’s leading computer leasing group, ECS, as sales director, then became managing director of the UK arm from 1986 to 1991, and then managed the Japanese subsidiary. From 1993 to 1999, he was the Partner in charge of the technology sector in the executive search firm Russell Reynolds Associates. In 2000, he became co-founder of Netcre@tion, an independent, early-stage, venture capital company.

Claus Højbjerg Andersen

Claus Højbjerg Andersen is a general partner and co-founder of Nordic Venture Partners. During the last eight years he has focused mostly on enterprise software and internet-related investments. Claus currently holds seven board seats in companies ranging from early seed phase to more mature exchange-listed companies. Prior to joining Nordic Ventures Partners he had an international career in the financial industry, working out of London, Luxembourg and Scandinavia.

Dr David Holbrook

Dr. David Holbrook leads MTI’s healthcare practice. He joined the firm in 2003. David qualified as a physician in 1983 and after a short spell in hospital medicine joined management consultants LEK. He spent seven years in Global Business Development and Licensing with Glaxo, Glaxo Wellcome and Roche, and subsequently headed up Imperial College’s spin-out operations for four years as well as raising and managing the College’s seed fund. Immediately prior to joining MTI, David was on the board of Onyvax Limited, a VC-backed cancer vaccines company. David also has an MA from Oxford University and an MBA from Harvard University.

Timothy Jones

Timothy Jones, a partner at Coller Capital since 2000, is responsible for the firm’s global origination activities, and is deputy CIO. Prior to joining Coller, Tim was managing director and global head of a division of ScotiaBank, chief executive of a global division of Standard Chartered Bank and executive vice-president of Standard Chartered Bank in New York. Tim sits on the advisory committees of 3i, ABS Ventures, Deutsche Bank Special Opportunities Fund, Deutsche Equity Partners, RBS Special Opportunities Fund, Shell Technology Ventures, Washington & Congress and Euro Atlantis.

Wol Kolade

Wol Kolade joined ISIS Equity Partners in January 1993 and is managing partner of the business. He has overall responsibility for strategic development and active involvement in investments. Wol initially trained as an engineer, having studied civil and structural engineering at King’s College, London. After obtaining an MBA from Exeter University, he spent three years with Barclays in various head office roles before joining ISIS. Wol is also a council member and past chairman of the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association. He is a non-executive director of the Social Finance Board and also a governor and council member of the London School of Economics, chairing its audit committee.

Manish Madhvani

Manish Madhvani is a co-founder of GP Bullhound, a research-centric investment bank focused on providing private placement and mergers and acquisition advice to public and private companies in the technology sector. He has worked on a number of high profile fundraising and M&A transactions in the digital media sector. Previously Manish worked in the venture capital markets in Europe and Asia for Barclays Capital's Technology & Media Private Equity team. He recently advised the Treasury on ‘Entrepreneurship and Funding’ and was short-listed for business person of the year in the KPMG London Business Awards.

Gail McManus

Gail McManus founded Private Equity Recruitment in 1998 to focus on the specialist recruitment needs of the private equity and venture capital community. She has an MBA from London Business School and has been involved in private equity for more than 20 years. Gail started her career with 3i in a regional office investing in some of the UK’s earliest management buy–outs; she later became 3i’s UK business development manager.

Pär-Jörgen Pärson

Pär-Jörgen Pärson joined venture capital firm Northzone in 2003, bringing another 15 years of strategic analysis, creativity and entrepreneurship onboard. He has been in private equity and venture capital since 1994. From 1998 to 2001 he built Cell Ventures into one of the hot European internet investors, funding highly successful companies such as Cell Network, Pricerunner and Tradera. Before that he was active in the private equity sector, investing in consumer goods companies and serving as a director in companies such as Falcon Breweries, Gillebagaren and Candelia. During this period he also privately acquired a distressed seafood producer, which he managed through a successful turnaround process.

Sara Williams

Sara is CEO of AIM-listed Vitesse Media, the publishing company she started in 1997. A former investment analyst with Kleinwort Benson, Sara is the author of The FT Guide to Business Start-Up(over one million copies of this acclaimed guide
have been sold). She has written for several national newspapers and appears regularly in broadcasts on television and radio.