Press Release
February 22, 2022 – Global private equity fund advisory Triago is pleased to announce that four of PE’s most experienced leaders – Theresa Whitmarsh, Pierre Sauvagnat, Roger Gray and Dave Brown – compose its brand-new Advisory Board. The four provide Triago with strategic and tactical counsel across all business areas and geographies. The launch of the four-person board is an integral part of an expansion that has seen team numbers rise 29 percent in a year, with expertise reinforced across all of Triago’s businesses, geographies and seniority levels.
“The common thread between our Advisory Board members is that they’ve each succeeded spectacularly shepherding the growth of private equity investments for limited partners across economic ups and downs,” says Triago founder and Chairman Antoine Drean. “At a time of unprecedented opportunity – and complication – in our industry, their advice is close to priceless.”
During nearly 20 years as Chief Executive of the Washington State Investment Board, Theresa Whitmarsh increased assets almost four-fold to $185 billion, significantly boosting returns through the investment of nearly half the pension fund in private assets. Under her leadership, the WSIB became the best performing US public fund over 20 years, delivering top decile performance over most other time periods. During a 40-year career spanning investing, business, the government and media, Whitmarsh developed a conviction in the power of rigorous, data-driven analytics that is the hallmark of the WSIB. She earned a Bachelors in English Literature from Seattle Pacific University and an MBA from Pacific Lutheran University.
As Head of Financial Markets, Treasury & Proprietary Investment and at Banque Cantonale de Genève, one of Switzerland’s largest banks, Pierre Sauvagnat successfully developed the group’s highly respected private investment program, investing on behalf of both the bank and its clients. He began his career at Credit Lyonnais, rising to head trading rooms on three continents. After training in mountain & arctic warfare, skiing and leadership at France’s Ecole Militaire de Haute Montagne, Sauvagnat earned a BA in Business Administration from the American University of Paris and an MBA from Madrid’s Instito de Empresa.
Over a decade as Chief Investment Officer of the Universities Superannuation Scheme, the largest pension fund in the United Kingdom, Roger Gray expanded assets two-and-a-half fold to £67 billion. This was achieved in part by dramatically growing private equity investment. While there, Gray founded and was Chief Executive of USS Investment Management, a governance structure ensuring managers greater freedom to make investment decisions. Previously, Gray was successively CIO at Rothschild Asset Management; CIO and CEO at UBS Management (Switzerland) – rising to Global Head of Asset Allocation; and CIO of Hermes Investment Management. He earned a Masters in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from University of Oxford and an AM in Economics from Harvard University.
With over 35 years’ leadership experience successfully building, restructuring or enhancing investment platforms incorporating a generous dose of private equity, Dave Brown successively served as Chief Executive and Chairman of Members Capital Advisors, the $35 billion-in-assets investment division of diversified insurer CUNA Mutual Group. Earlier, Brown oversaw $220 billion invested across public and private fixed income, structured securities, real assets, alternatives and public equities as Chief Investment Officer & Head of the TIAA General Account and Stable Value Portfolios. After graduating Summa Cum Laude with a BS in Business & Economics from Boston College, Brown earned an MBA with Honors from Harvard Business School.
About Triago
With offices in New York, London, Paris and Dubai, Triago provides fundraising services, secondary transaction advisory, and strategic solutions for general partners and limited partners seeking to optimize success in the global private equity market. Founded in 1992 as one of the first private equity fund placement agents, Triago has completed over 180 fundraisings on five continents and has advised on the transfer of more than 3,500 private equity fund stakes on the secondary market on behalf of 200 clients across the world. Triago has also undertaken over 50 strategic advisory mandates for general partners and limited partners looking to launch, boost or restructure PE fund operations. Triago’s fastest growing sector in 2021 was direct single-deal advisory and co-investments. https://www.triago.com/
Contact: David Lanchner, dlanchner@lanchner.com, +33 6 33 43 50 76