The management team brings together extensive real asset and finance experience as well as a range of complementary talents.
Neil Crowder, Co-Founding Partner
Neil joined Chayton Capital from Goldman Sachs where he was a Partner Managing Director. Most recently, Neil was Co-Head of European Research and Co-Chief Operating Officer of the Global Investment Research Division. Additionally, he served on the firm’s Commitments Committee. Prior to Goldman Sachs, Neil worked for American Express and St. Paul Companies gaining both direct and indirect real estate investment and workout experience. He received a BA from Knox College, an MSIA from Carnegie Mellon University, and is a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) charterholder.
Neil is a frequent speaker on topics related to building sustainable agricultural ventures in Africa and has recently participated as a featured presenter or host at numerous international conferences, including the Africa Trade and Export Finance Conference in Cape Town, "Large Scale Farming in Africa" in Cairo, the IFC’s 12th Annual Global Private Equity Conference in association with EMPEA in Washington DC and the Jetfin AGRO 2010 family office conference in Geneva.
Vladimír Dlouhý, Chairman of the Advisory Board
Vladimír is responsible for the oversight and evaluation of the group’s advisors. He is also an International Advisor to Goldman Sachs, covering Central and Eastern European countries. Prior to his current roles, Vladimír held numerous political offices in Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic, including Minister of Economy and Minister of Industry and Trade. He was responsible for much of the country’s transformation during the period of transition from communism.
Andrew Baird, Co-Founding Partner
Andrew is Chairman and Chief Investment Officer; he joined Chayton Capital from Goldman Sachs where he was a Managing Director. Most recently he was Deputy Head of European Research. He also held senior management roles in Asia for both Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan. While in Hong Kong, Andrew was responsible for various emerging markets real estate activities including public securities analysis. He began his career in the UK Foreign Service and was stationed in Turkey and Cyprus for many years. Andrew received a First Class Honours BA from Oxford University.
Dabney Tonelli, Managing Partner
Dabney has oversight responsibility for the Fund Formation, Finance and Office Management areas. She joined Chayton Capital from Goldman Sachs where she spent 12 years, most recently in a variety of management roles in Global Investment Research in London. Previously Dabney had various responsibilities in the Investment Management Division in New York, including fund development and product management. Earlier in her financial services career she held sales roles at Keystone Investments and American Express. She received a BA, cum laude, from Georgetown University.
Matjaz Cerjak, Managing Partner
Matjaz heads up the Central and Eastern Europe Portfolio Management team, overseeing the firm’s real estate private equity investments in the region. Prior to joining Chayton Capital, he was a senior project manager with Ocado, focusing on operations development and geographical expansion. Matjaz also worked with Deloitte across most of the markets in Eastern Europe as a management consultant, focusing on corporate restructuring and supply chain strategy. Based in Slovenia, he spent considerable time on projects across the Adriatic region, primarily Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia. Matjaz received an MBA from the London Business School.
Karima Ola, Managing Partner
Karima heads the Africa Portfolio Management team, overseeing the firm’s investments in the region. She joined Chayton Capital in 2007, bringing 13 years of broad business experience spanning investment banking, fund management and corporate strategy consulting. Karima’s career commenced with 10 years at HSBC Investment Bank as a highly ranked analyst in both equities and structured derivatives and later as part of the equity portfolio management team at PMA Capital Management. More recently she has been a consultant to large corporations including TNT NV, Aviva plc and Tate & Lyle plc, where she held senior advising roles on corporate development, agricultural commodities risk management and emerging market mergers and acquisitions. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering and a Post Graduate degree in Economics from the University of London.
Philip Nicolle
Philip has been a commercial farmer in Africa and, latterly, in Australia for the past 25 years, growing wheat, maize, soya and tobacco. He has served as director of nine companies comprising farming enterprises, marketing, electrical contractors, agricultural consulting and commercial transport. Philip was Chairman of the Commercial Oilseed Producers’ Association of Zimbabwe from 1995 to 1997, and was Chairman of Biri Combined Irrigation Scheme, a consortium representing farmers and the government, formed to build what would be one of the largest dams in Zimbabwe and irrigate a significant expanse of land. Awards he has received in Zimbabwe include the Soya Beans Grower of the Year in 1990, and the Oilseeds Oscar in 2000. Philip attended the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester, UK.
Stuart Kearns
Stuart has over 13 years’ experience running large-scale commercial farms in Africa as a Managing Director. In addition to maximising on-farm production, his estate management responsibilities included overseeing staff of 300 and managing the combine and transport, earth moving, irrigation and marketing divisions. He has farmed winter wheat, soya beans, maize, nuts, and coffee. He has also accumulated experience in the execution of a diverse range of agribusinesses that span grain storage facilities, fertiliser, blending warehouse receipt financing, marketing and distribution. In addition, Stuart has experience in biofuels and horticulture.
Andrea Berry
Andrea advises Chayton on marketing communications and public relations. She joined Chayton from Squeeze Design Limited where, as an account manager, she was responsible for a diversity of marketing and public relations assignments. Her previous experience includes Massey Partners, where she was a public relations officer, designer and events coordinator. Andrea received a BA Honours degree from Bath University.
Jaromir Peklo
Jaromir is an Executive Director to the Chayton Bank Capital Relief Fund. Prior to joining the Chayton team, he co-founded Aetheon Capital, a private equity firm in the Czech Republic focused on special situations in Central and Eastern Europe. Prior to that he was a Member of the Executive Board for Dexia, a leading infrastructure finance investment bank, and served as a manager with the Deloitte restructuring team, a senior officer in Treasury and Investment Banking at Raiffeisen Bank, and as an executive in the financial and commodity brokerage industry covering Central and Eastern Europe. Jaromir studied private equity and real estate finance at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and holds an MBA from INSEAD as well as an MSc. and a PhD in Management, Organizational Theory and Corporate Governance from the University of Economics in Prague.
Stepan Dlouhý
Stepan is an Executive Director to the Chayton Bank Capital Relief Fund. Prior to joining the Chayton team, he co-founded Aetheon Capital, a private equity firm in the Czech Republic focused on special situations in Central and Eastern Europe. Before that, Stepan was head of the Program Management & PPP service line at Deloitte Czech Republic, with responsibility for PPP, financial restructuring and infrastructure advisory projects. Prior to joining Deloitte, Stepan spent five years as an investment analyst at Bank Gutmann, and was with Unicorn Investments and Creditanstalt Investment Company previously. Stepan’s investment banking experience includes work for consortia formed by Bank Gutmann and Deutsche Bank focused on acquisitions and recovery of non-performing loans in CEE countries. He received an MSc. in Finance from the University of Economics in Prague.
Robin Cracknell
Robin is head of the cross-regional Real Estate team. He joined Chayton Capital from Jones Lang LaSalle where he served as National Director of Investor Project Management for several years, responsible for growing the Project Management team, acting as Development Manager on a £26 million mixed use development in the UK, and Programme Managing the capital investment of €180 million into seven Intercontinental Hotels throughout Europe. Prior to JLL, he was BT Global Real Estates’ Global Workplace Strategy Manager, responsible for setting up project teams, monitoring, controlling and delivering construction related fit out and new build projects for BT in relation to its global real estate portfolio. In addition, he has held Project Manager roles in the UK and abroad for, among others, Currie & Brown and Davis Langdon & Seah Indonesia. Robin is a qualified Project Manager with a broad range of consultancy and client side experience in successfully managing project teams and contracts of varying size and complexity across a variety of locations, including the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Netherlands, Hungary, Czech Republic, Moscow, the Middle East and the Far East. He earned an M.Sc. with distinction in Property Development (Property Management) from South Bank University and is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (FRICS).
Daniel Hough
Daniel advises Chayton on agricultural matters including valuation of potential and current holdings, and provides proprietary analysis of acquisitions and disposals. He joined Chayton from Heron International where he was a Planning and Investment Manager responsible for generating financial analysis and valuations, as well as liaising with agents, contractors and debt providers. Prior to Heron, Daniel held positions in Corporate Finance at BBC Worldwide, Deloitte, and Arthur Andersen; and was an Investor Relations Manager at SABMiller. He has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Sydney University, a Master’s degree in Real Estate Investment from Cass Business School in London, and is a Certified Practising Accountant (Australia).
David Allen, Real Estate Consultant
David was formerly a Partner at Knight Frank and Co-Head of the company’s European Property Valuation team. He has worked with numerous institutional investors and international banks, providing real estate valuation support and advice, and has been involved in all types of commercial and residential projects in virtually all major markets across Eastern and Western Europe. Prior to Knight Frank, David resided in Albania for seven years where he ran his own real estate consulting company and served as advisor to many entities, including the British and Albanian governments. David is a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
Katalin Por
Katalin is a member of the Central and Eastern Europe Portfolio Management team, providing general support to our regional business. Prior to joining Chayton, Katalin worked for the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Budapest. While there, she was responsible for oversight of local land ownership offices throughout the country. In addition, she worked for Agrograin, a joint Hungarian/American grain trading company. Katalin received an Economics degree from the College of Modern Business Studies in Tatabanya, Hungary.
Mubita Lubinda
Mubita is a member of the Africa Portfolio Management team, with responsibility for regional relationships and providing general support to our Africa business. Before joining Chayton Capital, Mubita worked for Empire Estates and Seacourt Developments in the UK, managing their development property portfolio. Prior to that, he spent 6 years working for Woodgate Holdings in Zambia. Mubita managed accounts for IBM, Isuzu and Komatsu and covered their mining, agricultural and chemical agricultural commercial activities.
Richárd Eördögh, Legal Consultant
Richárd is a Consultant for Central and Eastern Europe, advising on legal agreements, contracts and related matters. A partner at Sándor Szegedi Szent-Ivány Komáromi Eversheds in Budapest, Richárd’s previous experience includes the practice of corporate, commercial, M&A, real estate and finance law as well as international litigation and arbitration, at various international law firms such as Squire, Sanders & Dempsey; Stroock & Stroock & Lavan; and Baker & McKenzie. He received a Juris Doctor degree summa cum laude from Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, a Master of Laws degree from Harvard University, and an MBA degree from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.
Aleksandra Kaleta
Aleksandra is a member of the Fund Formation team, with responsibility forstructuring and legal documentation. Prior to joining Chayton, Aleksandra worked for A. Irzycka, R. Zembowicz Solicitors on complex cases including the recovery of nationalised properties in Warsaw. During this time Aleksandra also dedicated herself to pro bono work, providing legal advice to MONAR, a charitable organization that assists people who have suffered from traumatic life circumstances. Aleksandra received a Master’s in Law from the University of Warsaw.
Cristina Obreja
Cristina is a member of the Central and Eastern Europe Portfolio Management team, with responsibility for fund administration. Her academic experience includes post-graduate study in the UK, as well as a Master of Science degree from Stefan cel Mare University in Romania.
Gina Bocek
Gina oversees the Office Management area. She joined Chayton from AllianceBernstein where her responsibilities included office management and facilities coordination. Her previous experience includes marketing, administration and management roles at London and South African firms. Gina received a BA from the University of Port Elizabeth in South Africa.
Nazreen Doomunkhan
Nazreen is a member of the Finance team; she is in charge of management accounting, project/SPV accounting and internal reporting. Having spent the past four years in private equity, she has experience in the areas of finance and fund accounting,. Nazreen started her career with PricewaterhouseCoopers Gibraltar and most recently was working in the private equity division of Mourant International. She is a UK chartered accountant (ACCA) and is currently studying for the investment administration qualification awarded by the SII.
Kingsly Naveratnam
Kingsly is a member of the Finance team with responsibility for Chayton Capital financial accounting and reporting. He joined Chayton from Fila UK where he worked as an accountant. Kingsly is a part qualified financial accountant (ACCA) and he received a BSc (Hons) degree from London South Bank University in Business IT.
