Marco Severi

Biography

• Director at Capstan Capital since 2012
• 4 years investment structuring at Morgan Stanley
• Extensive international experience in business development for the telecoms industry
• Holds an MBA degree from Yale School of Management

Roman Wolkowski

Biography

• Partner at Capstan Capital since 2015
• Associate Partner, Head of Corporate Finance and Mergers & Acquisitions at SMC, a German M&A advisory boutique
• Director at Transfer Partners Group, one of the exclusive cooperation partners of Deutsche Bank for small- and mid-cap M&A transactions in Germany
• Holds university degrees Master of Laws (LL.M.) and Master of Mergers & Acquisitions from Frankfurt School of Finance & Management (Germany) as well as Diplom-Betriebswirt and Bachelor of Business Administration from Fontys International Business School (Netherlands)

Yaman Al Lahham

Biography

• Associate with Capstan since 2019
• Previous Corporate Finance and M&A experience at Metzler Bank, PwC and HKLW
• M.Sc. Finance (Warwick Business School, Distinction), B.Sc. Economics (University of Bonn, First-class honours)

David Mamatsashvili

Biography

• Associate Partner at Capstan Capital since 2015
• Head of Operations at Informap, a London based Technology and Software Company
• Diplomatic career with over 10 years in the Georgian Foreign Service
• Responsible for economic and commercial affairs at the Embassy of Georgia in London
• Member of the Kosovo Verification Mission of Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 1998-99

Adam Habib

• Special Situations Adviser Capstan since 2019
• Senior Adviser to the Board of Cofely Endel Engie Group
• Credit Suisse: Managing Director and Head of EMEA Structured Products and member of the Distribution Management Committee
• Lehman Brothers: Managing Director and Head of EMEA Structured Products
• ICBC Standard Bank plc: Managing Director Commodities
• MSc from CASS Business School

Sven Peter

Biography

• Non-Executive Director at Capstan and CEO of Credit Capital Corporation
• Managing Director at Strategic Value Partners
• Partner and Co-Head, Europe, Capital Markets Advisory at Lazard
• Global Co-Head of Equity Capital Markets at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein

John Kornblum

• Chairman of Germany at Lazard LLP
• American Ambassador to Germany

Ambassador John C. Kornblum joined our firm as a Senior Advisor in 2012.

John brings a wealth of experience and deep access to Germany's and Eastern Europe’s entrepreneurial elite and decision makers that will help us further expand our presence with mid-sized companies, family offices and institutional investors in those regions.

During a distinguished career as a diplomat and businessman, John has been at the centre of European and Atlantic developments for more than 35 years. He became Chairman of Germany at Lazard LLP in 2001 after completing his tour as American Ambassador to Germany. During his tenure as a diplomat, John Kornblum had played a defining role in many important events including President Ronald Reagan's historic appearance at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin in 1987. John helped negotiate several of the agreements leading to the end of the Cold War, including the Quadripartite Agreement on Berlin and the Helsinki Final Act. As Assistant Secretary for European Affairs in the Department of State, he was also deputy negotiator of the Dayton Peace Agreement and later US special envoy to the Balkans. As Chairman, John helped build Lazard to become one of the leading corporate advisors in Germany and personally helped initiate several important transactions. He was especially active in advising Mittelstand customers in a strategic and financial advisory capacity. Since leaving Lazard in 2009, he is serving as Senior Counsellor to Noerr LLP, one of Germany's leading law firms and has advised a number of German and American companies. He has also been a member of the Supervisory Boards of Bayer AG, Thyssen-Krupp Technologies, and Motorola Europe.

Antonio Kwong

• CEO of International Group 蝨矩圀髮・恫 Hong Kong
• Vice Chairman of the Consumer Council

Antonio continues to enjoy an illustrious career in Hong Kong’s commercial and public sectors : he is Chief Executive of the International Group, a real estate development company focusing on significant projects within the Hong Kong property market.  Besides his corporate executive roles, he holds board appointments with numerous public councils and committees, overseeing matters at the very heart of Hong Kong’s citizens.  Among others, Antonio serves as Chairman of the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health and Vice Chairman of the Hong Kong’s Consumer Council.  He also sits on the boards of a Civic Education committee, the Management of Chinese Permanent Cemeteries, the appeal board of Amusement Games Centres, two public Councils for Medicine, a Family Service Centre and a Youth Development Network.

Besides his many formal positions, Antonio ardently supports philanthropic initiatives both through the Lok Sin Tong Benevolent Society in Kowloon and as founding patron of Hong Kong’s M+ Museum.  Antonio’s philanthropic accomplishments are no better recognised than through his award of the Medal of Honour by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China in 2014.

Antonio is an alumnus of Rugby School in the UK and read Pharmacology at King’s College, University of London.  He later obtained a Bachelors of Law from City University, London, following which he undertook the Legal Practitioners Course and was admitted as a Solicitor in Hong Kong (non-practising).

Elizabeth Lawler

• Partner at Refinery Investments (Boston)
• Founder of cyber security software company Conjur (now CyberArk Conjur)

Elizabeth Lawler is currently a Partner at Refinery Investments in Boston and a VC investor with XXAngels. Prior to becoming a prominent US investor in technology companies, she was the CEO of Conjur, a DevOps security company she co-founded. Conjur was acquired in 2017 by CyberArk, a NASDAQ listed global leader in enterprise-level cyber security software, where Elizabeth became Vice President responsible for the group's DevOps business strategy and execution. In 2019, Elizabeth stepped down from her executive role at CyberArk to focus on her investment activities. She remains an advisor to the firm.

Elizabeth looks back at over 20 years of experience working in highly regulated and sensitive data environments. Before co-founding Conjur, her earlier roles include Chief Data Officer of Generation Health (acq. CVS Caremark) and several leadership positions in research at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

She has been a programmer herself and is constantly working to help organizations move to software delivery models that support greater business agility. In supporting entrepreneurship in this sector, she advises several Boston based start-ups and various venture investment firms internationally. She has a PhD in Epidemiology and a Masters of Public Health and is active in her community assisting various non-profits.