Recruitment and promotions in private equity.
BGF has promoted Ben Barker (1) to chief investment officer and BGF board member. He joined BGF in Manchester in 2016 from Caird Capital. He has been national head of portfolio since 2023. As CIO, he now oversees investment activity and portfolio management nationally.
Corporate Finance Faculty chair, Alistair Brew (2) has moved into a new role as London and the South East regional investment partner. He joined BGF at its inception in 2011 from Octopus Private Equity, having started his career with PwC, where he trained as an ACA.
Jill Williams (3) has been promoted to regional investment partner for the North and Midlands. Based in Manchester, she joined BGF three years ago from Mercia Asset Management. She previously spent 10 years with RJD Partners as an investment director and trained as an ACA with PwC.
Matt Simcox (4) and Graham Clarke (5) have been promoted to regional portfolio partners – for London and the South East, and for Scotland, Ireland and the South West, respectively. Simcox, who is based in London, joined BGF seven years ago from Caird Capital. Edinburgh-based Clarke joined BGF 11 years ago from KPMG, where he trained as a chartered accountant.
Matt Widdall (6) has been promoted to portfolio partner, Gemma Hamilton (7) to origination partner, and Leo Casey (8) to head of Ireland. Widdall, who joined the Manchester office in 2013 from Lloyds, previously spent 16 years working for Deloitte in corporate finance. Hamilton joined the firm’s Edinburgh office 13 years ago from Maven Capital. Casey joined in 2017 from IBI Corporate Finance, where he spent 18 years.
Mid-market digital investor Mayfair Equity Partners has promoted Aryo Tehranian (1) and Omar Kanafani (2) to managing director. Tehranian joined Mayfair from Credit Suisse, having previously worked in investment banking in Canada. Kanafani joined Mayfair in 2019 from Partners Group, having previously advised private equity funds and corporates at EY-Parthenon.
Abbie Robus (3), Matilda Kanjere (4) and Ryan Pugh (5) have been promoted to associate director, and Akash Roy (6) to senior associate. Robus joined Mayfair in 2022 from KPMG; Kanjere in 2022 from CVC Capital Partners, having previously worked at Houlihan Lokey; and Pugh in 2021 from OC&C. Roy joined Mayfair as associate in 2025, having been a strategy consultant at Strategy&. He previously worked at PwC on valuation and capital market audits.
Sarah Hollyhead has joined Marlin Equity Partners, as portfolio operations director, from Funding Xchange, where she spent six years. She previously worked in investment at Elaghmore and Rutland Partners, and before that spent seven years with KPMG.
Edward Young has joined Downing as an investment executive from Kings Park Capital, where he spent two years as an investment associate, after five years at KPMG.
Jenny Knott, ex-CEO of Standard Bank, has been appointed chair of Big Issue Invest, the Big Issue Group’s social investment arm. She was CEO of Standard Bank from 2010 to 2015, and CEO of NEX from 2015 to 2018 before founding FinTech Strategic Advisors. She is a non-executive director at the British Business Bank, Simplyhealth and EQUIIDA. She started her career with Nomura Securities.
Connections: March 2026
Who's on the move in the world of corporate finance, private equity and legal.