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Bruno Scherrer is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PhiSquare Holdings SA, a proprietary investment group involved in early stage venture capital, opportunistic investments in various illiquid asset classes, as well as systematic trading in global markets.
Mr. Scherrer started his career at Lehman Brothers (Investment Banking Division - London and Paris) in 1993 and subsequently joined Lehman’s Principal Business Group in London, one of the few significant players in the then nascent European distressed asset market.
He joined Lone Star Funds in 1997 where he helped create the Fund’s European operations. He retired from his position as Head of European Investments of Lone Star Funds in 2013 after 16 years of intensive investment activity in the European distressed debt and asset markets, including the acquisition and extensive restructuring of several banks. Mr. Scherrer was Chairman of IKB Deutsche Industrie Bank from 2008 to 2016.
He is now a non-executive director of several of his portfolio companies and a director of Theleme Partners (hedge fund with AU Mabove $2.5bn). He holds a Master’s degree in finance and business administration from the ESSEC business school in Paris.
General Nick Houghton is a former United Kingdom Chief of Defence Staff - the professional Head of the UK’s Armed Forces. He stood down in July 2016 and is now the Constable of The Tower of London and a Cross-Bench Peer in the House of Lords.
Nick Houghton joined the Army in 1973 straight from school aged 18. He was commissioned from Sandhurst into the Green Howards, a Yorkshire Infantry Regiment. In his early twenties he undertook an in-Service degree in Modern History at St Peter’s College, Oxford.
In a 43 year military career he served seven times in Northern Ireland earning operational awards as both a Commanding Officer and a Brigade Commander in Belfast. He was the Deputy Commander of the Multi-National Force Iraq in 2005-6 for which he was awarded the US Legion of Merit. He was the Chief of Joint Operations from April 2006 to May 2009, in charge of all overseas operations of UK Forces, including the final extraction from Iraq. He was both Vice Chief then Chief of Defence Staff over the period 2009-2016 during the time of two Strategic Defence Reviews and the end of combat operations in Afghanistan.
He was the Colonel Commandant of the Intelligence Corps and the founding Colonel of the Yorkshire Regiment. On leaving the Army Nick Houghton established his own consultancy company which specialises in giving strategic advice to multinational corporates. He also advises a number of technical start-ups. More widely he is a Trustee of the Royal United Services Institute, Historic Royal Palaces, Royal Armouries and The HM Tower of London Chapels Royal Foundation. He is an Honorary Fellow of St Peter’s College, Oxford.
Business angel, board director, honorary president, French Chamber of Great Britain; co-founder, Le Cercle d’outre-Manche.
Pascal Boris CBE is a private investor focusing on early stage companies in the technology sector. He also sits on a number of corporate boards as an independent non-executive director.
Pascal had a distinguished international banking career with The Chase Manhattan Bank and Paribas (later BNP Paribas) in Paris, New York, Geneva and London. He was CEO of BNP Paribas in the UK from 1999 to 2007. Pascal was President of the French Chamber in Great Britain from 2001 to 2007 and is now honorary President. He is one of the two founders of Le Cercle d'outre-Manche, the influential London think tank.
Pascal is a graduate of HEC Paris, the NYU Stern Institute and the London Business School. Pascal was awarded a CBE for service to British-French commercial relations in 2007 and was promoted to officier de la Légion d'Honneur in 2011.
