Najeh Awad
Founding PartnerHead of MENA
Najeh Awad, Founding Partner and CFO at Petley Partners, has an impressive 30-year career and local & global experience in finance, investments, risk,... and operations. With a track record of transforming, restructuring, and optimising businesses to maximize profit & shareholders' value, Najeh's expertise spans diverse industries, including financial services, construction & contracting, project management, higher education, public services, and project management. His experience includes serving as Group CFO for Abu Dhabi top conglomerates such as Emirates Driving Company PJSC, Arabtec Holding PJSC, Abu Dhabi Ship Building PJSC, Higher Colleges of Technology and Musanada. Prior to moving to UAE, Najeh served as Director of Operations in JPMorgan, and as an executive in Advisory & Audit and Advisory with PWC, RSM and Ernst & Young in the USA. His influential role as a board member at Gulfa General Investments PJSC and contributions to the remuneration committee highlights his commitment to shaping successful business strategies. Holding licenses as an American CPA and Certified Global Management Accountant, Najeh has also completed the Executive Leadership Program at the esteemed Said Business School, Oxford University.
Suresh Balasubramaniam
Founding PartnerCEO of Petley Partners Advisory
Suresh Balasubramaniam is CEO of Petley Partners’ Mumbai operations, Petley Partners Advisory.. Suresh has been an investment banker for over 35 ye...ars and has advised on numerous transactions in equity, M&A, debt, international fund raisings and structured finance. He was previously the Managing Director and CEO of American Orient Capital Partners, India (previously AIA Capital), a pan-Asian financial advisory services firm formed as a JV between AIG and UFJ Bank of Japan, with offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines, and India. Earlier, he was in a leadership position with Credit Lyonnais Bank in India and headed merchant banking, capital markets, project and structured finance and correspondent banking. He also served on all the bank’s apex committees- viz, management, credit, personnel, audit, and risk management committees. Suresh also served on the Board of Directors of Great Offshore Limited, one of the largest O&G offshore services companies, Dhanalakshmi Bank Limited, one of the oldest banks in India, Asianet Communications Limited, south India’s leading TV Media company. He brings decades of experience and relationships across companies, banks, funds, and financial institutions.
Lars Seier Christensen
Founding PartnerCornerstone Investor
Lars Seier Christensen, a Danish businessman, entrepreneur and investor, is a founding equity partner of Petley Partners. At the age of 18, Lars moved... to Spain to open his first business, a restaurant. This early venture into the startup world led to a lifelong passion for the restaurant business, both as a discerning guest and as the owner of several gourmet restaurants, most notably Denmark’s first three Michelin star restaurant, Geranium, The World’s Best Restaurant 2022 on World’s 50 Best Restaurants ranking, and hi-tech restaurant Alchemist which opened in 2019 and is now ranked No.5, with a reservation waiting list of over 100,000. Lars embarked on a financial services career in London in 1988, working in financial derivatives and foreign exchange at Petley & Co plc before co-founding what was to become Saxo Bank, a leading online financial multi-asset trading and investment platform. In 2016, after 20 years as co-CEO of Saxo Bank, Lars stepped down to focus on other investments through his wholly owned private family office, Seier Capital. With assets of over $400m, Seier Capital is invested in a broad range of companies, including the foundational blockchain protocol, Concordium.
Marcel Ivison
Founding PartnerHead of Infrastructure, Energy & Renewables
Marcel Ivison has built a distinguished 30+ year career across the Asia-Pacific region in structured project finance, M&A, and capital markets, with d...eep expertise in infrastructure, energy, renewables, utilities, data centres and transportation. He has advised governments, multilateral agencies, financial institutions, and leading corporates on over USD 250 billion of debt and equity financings, consistently delivering strong shareholder value and leading landmark transactions across emerging and developed markets. Most recently Marcel was Head of Financial Institutional Clients APAC for Bureau Veritas Group responsible for all their key client relationships with global Private Equity Firms, Sovereign Wealth Funds and International Development and Commercial Banks. Prior to Bureau Veritas Marcel was Head of Energy and Renewables Asia at Aurecon Group. Marcel led several regional engagements spanning solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, data centres, hydrogen, waste-to-energy, BESS/battery storage and EV infrastructure. Marcel’s leadership track record includes senior roles as Head of Debt, Capital Markets & Corporates Asia at IQ-EQ, Head of M&A/Project Finance APAC at ENGIE Group, Senior Advisor at John Laing Infrastructure and Managing Director/Head roles in M&A, Project Finance, Infrastructure and Energy at Macquarie Group, Credit Suisse and Standard Chartered Bank. Earlier in his career, he held leadership positions as CEO Hong Kong at SEB and MD Project Finance and Infrastructure roles at SMBC, Barclays and HSBC. Marcel has served as a Board Director for major infrastructure, renewables, and private equity funds, including Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP, now part of BlackRock) India Fund, APIS Partners, and Xander Group, and has acted as lead adviser and overseen multi-billion-dollar projects such as the UAE’s Barakah four nuclear power plants (~USD 35bn) for ENEC / UAE Government while at Credit Suisse. His career reflects a strong focus on public-private partnerships, with a consistent record of high-level negotiations with EPCs, IPPs, contractors, and Sovereign Wealth Funds across Asia, Africa, Middle East and Europe. Marcel holds a BA in Sociology from London University and studied Socio-Economics at Tübingen University. Marcel is a UK citizen with permanent residency in Singapore and Hong Kong, fluent in English and German, and is active in philanthropic initiatives including Special Olympics Singapore and a member of Credit Suisse and Macquarie Philanthropy Foundations.
Marden Fernandes
Founding PartnerChairman of Corporate Advisory
Martin (Marden) Xavier Fernandes, a founding partner and Chairman of Corporate Advisory (India) at Petley Partners, has over 22 years of experience in... private equity investment and placements, corporate finance, and mergers and acquisitions. Marden is a seasoned private investor with a primary focus on the Indian market, with a portfolio spanning key sectors including renewable energy, quantum & nanotech solutions, consumer durables and financial services. As the Founder Chairman of Theseus Group, he has advised multi-billion-dollar investments into India from his global institutional network. A qualified MBA from NMIMS, Mumbai, Marden specialises in raising capital through private equity instruments for a diverse range of leading Indian companies. With an exceptional personal network, built up over many years, Marden holds directorships and strategic advisory roles at numerous prestigious Indian companies, helping the owners and controllers to shape their growth trajectories with profound insights and strategic macro thinking. Marden brings to Petley Partners brings long established relationships and both privileged and exclusive access to prestigious Indian block trades and private placements.
Sergey Orlov
Founding PartnerHead of Inter-Governmental Economic Cooperation & Cross-Border M&A
Sergey Orlov has built a global career in investment banking and corporate development over the past 30 years, with leadership roles spanning Tokyo, L...ondon, New York, and Moscow. His experience includes positions at Japanese government agencies and major international investment banks, where he specialized in cross-border transactions, strategic advisory, and capital markets. Sergey played a key role in establishing the Russian operations of the Japan National Oil Corporation, and later executed equity and debt financings, M&A, restructurings, and privatizations in the Japanese and U.S. markets. At UBS Investment Bank Japan and other leading institutions, Sergey led landmark IPOs and secondary offerings, as well as complex cross-border M&A. While based in London, he focused on connecting top-tier European privatization deals with Japanese institutional investors. Sergey also served for 12 years as Country Chief Representative for Daiwa Securities in Russia and the CIS, managing the firm’s full regional operations. His leadership included overseeing inter-governmental economic cooperation programs mandated by the Japanese government. Sergey holds an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin and a degree from Moscow State University. He is fluent in English, Japanese, Russian, and German.
Guy Hurley
Founding PartnerHead of Investments
Guy Hurley is a founding partner of Petley Partners and Head of Investments. Guy has extensive experience in both government and private sectors. As a... Senior Adviser at the Ministry of the Economy, UAE, he has played a pivotal role in the M2 Project, steering the UAE transformation into a ‘Capital of Wealth.’ As CEO at Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners, a sovereign wealth fund now under Mubadala, Guy orchestrated 16 successful investments, securing an impressive $860 million over three years across start-ups, funds, direct investments, and listed equities. Regulated in the ADGM, he structured funds, optimised tax efficiency, and managed CFIUS risk, showcasing his strategic acumen and regulatory expertise. Prior to this, he was managing director at Merrill Lynch where he led the European hedge fund business, built out their UCITS platform, listed mangers (including Marshall Wace and Brevan Howard) on the London Stock Exchange and advised the Chinese government on the creation of its Sovereign Wealth Fund CIC. Previously Guy was Global Head of Manager Research at FRM, the hedge fund investment specialist, acquired by Man Group plc in 2012. At FRM, Guy managed the award-winning Absolute Alpha Opportunistic portfolio, seeding and allocating capital across all styles, during which time FRM raised $15bn of assets under management. A published author, he has contributed a book on Inflation and a strategy paper for ADGM. Guy holds an MBA Wharton School specialising in finance and decision sciences.
Michael J Petley
Founding PartnerGroup CEO
Michael Petley, a leading global macro strategy investor, financier and entrepreneur, is a founding partner and Group CEO of Petley Partners. Over th...e past four decades, Michael founded Petley & Co plc (in 1987), a leading London based derivatives and fund management business, RFCL (in 1989) a UK private and corporate finance business and The ECU Group plc (in 1988), a leading global macro research, advisory, and investment firm, where he held the roles of CEO, CIO, and Chairman of its Global Macro Investment Committee for 35 years. Under his leadership, ECU became established as the Europe’s leading currency debt management firm and one of the fastest growing and most profitable private businesses in the UK (with 48 consecutive quarters of quarter-on-quarter growth), featuring in both the Sunday Times Fast Track 100 (ranking 19th overall, and 1st in the financial sector) and Profit Track 100 (ranking 40th ). For 30 years, Michael has been a leading commentator on monetary matters (including Economic & Monetary Union (EMU), the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) and the Single Currency). In addition to building and running his specialist $1.75bn currency debt management strategy, Michael has advised government ministers, policy makers and sovereign wealth funds on currency policy and risk, as well as major macroeconomic and geopolitical strategy. Michael has been based in Abu Dhabi for over 5 years, engaged in macro-economic strategy, a passion that led to the formation of Petley Partners to assist in implementing his role as an economic enabler and accelerator, connecting sovereign capital with global opportunities.
Andrew Rozanov
Founding PartnerHead of Sovereign Partnerships
Andrew Rozanov is an independent investment expert who has built a global career in institutional investment over the past 30 years, with senior roles... in Tokyo and London, spanning different asset classes and investment strategies. During the last 20 years, he has focused on researching, advising, and working with sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), specialising in governance, asset allocation, portfolio construction, risk management, and alternative investments, with a particular focus on global macro and tail risk hedging. Currently, Andrew is an independent director on the board of Agaciro Development Fund, Rwanda’s SWF. During 2016-19, he served as an independent non-executive director and chairman of the board of the National Investment Corporation of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, one of the country’s SWFs. Previously, Andrew was an associate fellow in the International Economics programme at Chatham House, having worked prior to that at Permal Group and State Street Corporation, where he was responsible for advising SWFs on various aspects of portfolio management. Andrew is known in the industry for having introduced the term 'sovereign wealth funds' (SWFs) in an article in Central Banking Journal in 2005. Subsequently, he published extensively on SWF-related matters, and edited two highly acclaimed books – Global Macro and Tail Risk Hedging. Andrew holds a Master's equivalent degree in Asian and African Studies, with a concentration in Japan, from Moscow State University. Andrew is a CFA, FRM, and CAIA charter-holder, and is fully fluent in English, Russian, and Japanese.
Gregg Egen
Founding PartnerSenior Corporate Adviser - Global Resources & Infrastructure
Gregg Egen is a seasoned investment banking and structuring executive with over 25 years of experience advising global sovereigns, corporates, and fin...ancial institutions on leveraged finance, structured capital, turnarounds, and cross-border transactions. Having worked in the Middle East and India for a number of years, Gregg strengthens the firm’s capacity to originate, structure, and execute complex sovereign-grade mandates in the region. Throughout his career, Gregg has built deep expertise in: • Leveraged & structured finance: Leading pioneering deals involving debt, equity, convertible instruments and hybrid financing structures. • Restructuring and turnaround advisory: Working with distressed corporates, sovereigns, and bridge platforms to reposition assets and restore value. • Cross-border and sovereign-linked mandates: Aligning capital flows with regulatory, political, and institutional constraints across multiple jurisdictions. Gregg is known for bridging the worlds of capital markets and public-sector strategy — crafting transaction structures that reconcile investor returns with sovereign mandates. His unique skill set lies in combining rigorous financial modelling with political nuance, enabling transactions that win both boardroom and government-level support. Senior management roles include: Director of Laser Capital, a management consultancy boutique covering Infrastructure projects in Africa, Oil & Gas projects in Alaska, Texas and Algeria, Renewables in Europe and Australia, Agribusiness in the Philippines, Mining in Africa and Columbia, and New Technology globally; Managing Director of European leveraged finance and PE sponsor coverage at Espirito Santo, also serving as senior liaison for firm's global M&A teams and for key industry sectors: oil & gas, mining, chemicals, renewable energy; Head of Investment Banking Europe for Kidder Peabody responsible for M&A and Corporate Finance banking teams covering natural resources, energy, pharmaceutical and transport sectors in EMEA; Head of European Structure Finance at Continental Illinois National Bank & Trust. Gregg holds a master’s degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
Shady Elborno
Founding PartnerSenior Adviser - Data/AI Driven Macroeconomic Strategies & Financial Services
Shady Elborno is a distinguished economist and policy advisor with 25 years of experience spanning financial services and government sectors. Holding... a Master of Science degree in Big Data and Business Analytics from ESCP Business School, Shady is at the forefront of integrating AI and data-driven methodologies into policymaking. His ability to translate complex data into actionable insights has made him a trusted advisor to both government executives and corporate leaders. Currently, as the Head of Insights at the Abu Dhabi Executive Office, Shady leads a team dedicated to developing strategic economic and policy insights that inform high-level decision-making. His work focuses on leveraging advanced analytics and big data to enhance economic frameworks and drive innovative strategies across various sectors. Shady’s career has been marked by a commitment to fostering sustainable economic growth and diversification. At the Abu Dhabi Executive Office, he has been instrumental in operationalizing analytics and developing economic composites tailored to critical indicators like GDP growth, employment rates, and sectoral contributions. Shady’s role as a MENA Advisor at Luxembourg based investment firm Alumia further demonstrates his expertise in providing strategic financial, economic, and policy insights to support business growth and alignment with regional economic and regulatory frameworks. As a thought leader, Shady is passionate about using his knowledge and skills to contribute to the sustainable development of the MENA region. His dedication to innovation, collaboration, and strategic foresight aligns closely with the mission of MENA 2050, where he aims to work with fellow members to address regional challenges and create a prosperous future.
Josh Kriesel, Ph.D.
Founding PartnerSenior Adviser - Healthcare
Dr Kriesel is an experienced healthcare entrepreneur and executive with over two decades of leadership in healthcare, life sciences, and technology. ...Josh is Co-Founder and Director of Abu Dhabi based Merova Healthcare Holding, an integrated healthcare platform spanning investment, manufacturing, and commercialisation of high-growth healthcare products and technologies. In 2003, Josh founded BioQ Pharma, an innovative, San Francisco based drug-device combination products company that has more than 25 international partnership and licensing agreements. Josh previously held management positions at Covalent Technologies, a Silicon-Valley healthcare nanotechnology firm and serves as a non-executive director of AllAccem Inc., a California based chemical company developing, manufacturing and selling antimicrobial additives and coatings for use in the pharmaceutical, medical and consumer healthcare industries. Josh holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. He is an inventor on more than 35 patents and has spoken at leading investment forums, including UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and global healthcare investor conferences.