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The Luxurious Challenge of Our Women to Watch List
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Welcome to our special report on Women to Watch, an annual recognition of the work women are doing in the private-equity industry. When we launched our Women to Watch list in 2015, we sought to showcase the expanding breadth and expertise of female talent across private equity.
Each year, the list of nominees, particularly in our rising star category, has increased as more women pursued careers in this industry. But as Jennifer Rossa reports, the industry struggles to retain its female professionals as they move through the middle ranks to more senior positions.
This year, more than 118 firms submitted nominations, many in more than one category. This year’s class of honorees reflects the growing diversity in background, strategy and experience that continue to shape the private-equity industry.
Compiling this list each year is a privilege and one that humbles us. Our sincere thanks to everyone who took the time to submit nominations, and congratulations to both this year’s class of honorees and those in previous years.
Read on for highlights from the issue. Download the entire report here.
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This year’s class of honorees of outstanding senior and junior women in private equity reflects a range of experiences, investment strategies and backgrounds that are as broad as the industry itself. What is notable is that many of them also are making time to give back. They are:
Tara Alhadeff, partner, Permira Advisers LLP
Ruulke Bagijn, head of global investment solutions, Carlyle Group
Sherrese Clarke Soares, founder and CEO, HarbourView Equity Partners
Elizabeth de Saint-Aignan, managing director, Sun Capital Partners
Lucy Heintz, head of energy infrastructures, Actis
Farah Khan, co-managing partner, L Catterton
Annie Lamont, co-founder and managing partner, Oak HC/FT
Olivia Wassenaar, head of sustainable investing and co-head of natural resources, Apollo Global Management
Joanne Yuan, partner and co-head of investments, Turn/River Capital
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“The more examples we can show [of] a woman being able to do this just as well as a man, and even maybe better in some cases, will help create normalcy.”
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— Michelle Noon, co-founder of tech-focused investor Clearhaven Partners LP.
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As we do every year, we take this opportunity to showcase the work of younger women who are poised to become the next generation of female leaders in private equity. This year’s class of such rising stars is making inroads in industries that range from software and healthcare to clean energy and infrastructure.
Sravya Jasti, vice president, Stonepeak
Natasha Latif, principal, healthcare, Vistria Group
Brooke Nakatsukasa, vice president, private equity, flagship fund, Vista Equity Partners
Cynthia Praschnik, principal, Corsair
Angel Pu Shum, principal, Warburg Pincus
Rebecca Schlagenhauf, vice president, Baird Capital
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Seven Women Shaping the Investor and Fundraising World
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Women have had a long history of involvement in both the institutional investor and fundraising communities across the alternative-investment world. Early female leaders in the institutional investor world have often been cited for their efforts to encourage private-markets firms to build more gender-diverse investment teams.
This year’s class of fundraising and limited-partner honorees on our Women to Watch spans a range of backgrounds and organizations that includes large asset managers, the nation’s largest public pension system and private-markets firms themselves.
Pamela Brylski, director of institutional client business, BlackRock
Brenda Chia, chief of capital development, Paladin Capital Group
Anna Golynskaya, managing director, General Atlantic
Alissa Grad, vice chair and chief client officer, Golub Capital
Caroline Green, co-investments lead, private equity, Calpers
Erin Nemser, partner, TPG Capital
Mina Pacheco Nazemi, managing director and head of alternatives, Barings
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PE Firms Strive to Hire, Promote More Women to Senior Levels
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Source: PitchBook Data Inc.
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Anne Tye, now a managing director at Carlyle Group, attributes her decision to join the global investment firm in 2009 partly to the presence of two successful senior women overseeing major sectors for the firm—an unusual level of female representation back then.
“This is proof that you can make it all the way to the seniormost levels. That was really, really impactful to me,” said Ms. Tye, who specializes in technology at the firm.
While private equity is making progress in hiring more women at junior levels, such examples of senior women leaders in that industry remain relatively rare.
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The number of deals led by women-owned, private-equity firms in 2021, the highest in the last decade.
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More Women Are Raising Buyout Funds, but It Isn’t Easy
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More women are setting up their own investment firms, but three-fourths of them say it is easier to set up a venture fund than a private-equity fund, studies show.
Women who want to be founders of private-equity firms are held back largely because of their lack of a personal track record in fundraising, and limited access to pools of capital to help establish initial funds, according to research, industry participants and women in private equity, Selin Bucak writes.
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