David opened Wendel’s New York office (Wendel North America) which he has managed since 2013. Since then, Wendel has invested approximately $1bn in the United States over the past five years. David previously served as Wendel’s corporate Secretary to the Supervisory Board.
Before joining Wendel, David was a Director of Apax Partners in Paris, where he specialized in LBO transactions for six years. He began his career in M&A at Goldman Sachs in London. 

He is a graduate of Essec and holds an MBA from Insead. 

Currently, David is a Director and a governance committee member at Allied Universal, the largest security group in North America.

Specifically, since 2009 he has headed the management company Winvest Conseil (AIFM), which is in charge of all of the Group’s unlisted investments (except SGI Africa). While leading and developing the investment team, he has managed several value-creating acquisitions for Wendel, such as Editis (France, 2004), Deutsch (United States, 2006), Stahl (Netherlands, 2006) and more recently, IHS (Africa, 2013) and Constantia Flexibles (Austria, 2014). After opening Wendel Japan in 2007, Bernard Gautier also played a significant role in the development of Wendel’s international network, in Asia, the United States and Africa.

Before joining Wendel, Bernard worked for 18 years as a consultant in organization and strategy, first at Andersen Consulting, then at Bain & Co. He became a partner in Bain & Co. in 1995, then Senior Partner in charge of the international Media and Telecom practice. Between 2000 and 2003, Bernard was General Partner of Atlas Venture’s funds V and VI and in charge of the Paris office, as well as founder and Managing Partner of real-estate management company Lineis and the Altineis real-estate investment companies. 

A graduate of Ecole Supérieure d’Electricité (SUPELEC), he has also been president of France’s “Junior-Enterprises” confederation and was a founder of the Supelec Forum and the student newspaper Cactus. 
 
Member of the Executive Board from May 31, 2005 to September 10, 2019. 
 
Current appointments: 
Director of Stahl, IHS, Cromology, Nippon Oil Pump, CSP Technologies, Chairman of Constantia Flexibles.

He was previously a Partner at Atlas Venture, an international venture capital fund with $2.5Bn under management, where he specialized in new technologies, media and telecoms.

He began his career at Bain & Company, a leading strategy consulting firm, where he conducted studies in the telecom, banking and private equity industry in Europe and Central America. He then co-founded and led NetsCapital, an investment bank specialized in TMT.

Stephane graduated from the Ecole Centrale Paris and the Institut d’Etudes Politiques Paris, and holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School (Baker Scholar).

Stéphanie participates in the search for investment opportunities, especially in France. She began her career in the Treasury department of the Ministry of Finance, then worked at the Agence des participations de l’État, the agency that manages the French government’s shareholdings, where she was in charge of the government’s investments in SNCF and SNCM and of the Eurotunnel restructuring. She is a graduate of Polytechnique, Corps des Ponts et Chaussées, and the Paris School of Economics.

Board member of Bureau Veritas and member of the audit committee.

 

He then spent two years with Goldman Sachs in London, within the team responsible for managing the firm’s equity, mezzanine and secondary debt funds. In 2009, Stéphane Heuzé returned to BCG as a founding member of the Casablanca office, covering Africa.

He graduated from Ecole des Mines de Paris and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Board member of IHS and Tsebo. 

He was in charge of financing and structuring operations in capital markets in London and Frankfurt. He is well versed in European equity markets. He began his career in 1988 at Enskilda Securities (Wallenberg Group) in London and Enskilda Effekten in Frankfurt where he set up and developed the equities department for the German market. 

Roland Lienau then worked for Paribas from 1994 to 1999 where he was in charge of capital markets operations and the development of Paribas's investment activities in Germany.

In 1999, he moved to Deutsche Bank where, as Managing Director, he managed equity market investments up to 2004, when he was put in charge of all financing and structuring operations in the German markets. Member of the Operations Committee.

Board member of Constantia Flexibles. 

Jérôme joined Wendel at the end of 2006 as Investment Director and was promoted to Director in January 2010. He was appointed Managing Director on January 1, 2012 and joined the Investment Committee. From 2002 to 2006, he was a chargé d’affaires with the investment fund BC Partners. Prior to that, he worked as a consultant in the Boston Consulting Group from 1999 to 2002, carrying out strategic missions in Europe, particularly in the fields of distribution, transportation, telecommunications and financial services. He is a graduate of HEC.
 
Director of Stahl.

Prior to joining Wendel, Adam worked at Onex Corporation, a leading North American investment firm, where he was actively involved in several successful private equtiy investments and, in 2009, joined the executive management team of Celestica, Inc. as Chief of Staff to the CEO.  Adam began his career at JPMorgan’s investment banking group in New York. 

Adam has a B.S. in Management from Binghamton University and an M.B.A. from Columbia University.  

Board member of Allied Universal.

Félicie graduated from ESCP Europe in 2003 and started her career at Goldman Sachs on the firm's French M&A team between 2003 to 2006. In 2007, she then joined the Wendel Paris investment team as an Associate. 
Since then, she has been involved in several transactions including Deutsch, Helikos, Saham and Stahl. 
Félicie relocated to the United Kingdom in 2016 to contribute to the opening of the London office, and to focus on investments opportunities in Europe. 

Board member of Stahl. 

He is a graduate of Ecole Normale Supérieure in (Fontenay / Saint-Cloud) and HEC.

Board member of Cromology.

In 2007, Bruno joined the investment team of Wendel in Paris as Senior Associate. Since 2013, he has been based in Singapore where he is in charge of M&A and business development support to the Group’s companies, cross-border co-investments, as well as investment origination and execution in Asia. 

He has been involved in several transactions including Helikos, Stahl and Nippon Oil Pump. He has been a member of the Board of Stahl. From 2009 to 2013, he was the Secretary of the Executive Board of Wendel.

Bruno began his career at Bain & Company in the Private Equity and TMT practices in Paris, London and Brussels. He then joined the China-centric business accelerator Asian Business Bridge as Vice President in Hong Kong and Shanghai, where he raised funds and developed the Asian operations of several European SMEs.

Bruno graduated from ESSEC Business School and holds an MBA from the Rotterdam Erasmus School of Economics.

Jérôme began his career at Boston Consulting Group during eight years, developing expertise in operational transformation and turnaround, mainly in the healthcare and industrial sectors.

In 2010, Jérôme joined Schneider Electric and took-on leadership positions in Purchasing then in Sales & Business Development. In 2016, Jérôme was appointed CEO of John Paul (sold to Accor), a Concierge services operator supported by an advanced digital platform.

Jérôme graduated from CentraleSupélec in 2002 (Master of Sciences).

Board member of Cromology and Constantia Flexibles. 

As part of his functions, he is in charge of Bureau Veritas and Stahl, respectively as Board member and Chairman of the Board. 

Claude Ehlinger was previously deputy CEO of Louis Dreyfus Company. He has been appointed interim CEO of Louis Dreyfus from June 2014 to October 2015.
He joined Louis Dreyfus Company in 2007 as Chief Financial Officer after serving three years as Group CFO at Eutelsat. Prior to this he was Regional Controller of Cap Gemini, Group CFO of CCMX (1999-2003) and Managing Director of Finacor (1987-1999), a large brokerage company in Europe. He began his career in 1985 at Thomson Group. He is a graduate of the French business school HEC.

Claude is Board member of Trief Corporation SA and of Winvest Conseil (Luxembourg).

Before joining Wendel in 2013, Mel served as the Chairman of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP for 18 years and was a partner in the law firm’s Corporate Department. He serves as Vice Chair of the Legal Aid Society and on the Columbia Law School Dean's Council and the Columbia Law School Board of Visitors. Mel also serves as executive advisor to venture capital firm Marker LLC and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is also a member of the United States European Command Advisory Panel and a former member of the United States Southern Command Advisory Panel. Mel is Vice Chairman of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum and served on the Defense Business Board of the United States Department of Defense. He is a recipient of The Jewish Theological Seminary Simon H. Rifkind Award, the Legal Aid Society's Servant of Justice Award and the Fund for Modern Courts John J. McCloy Memorial Award. Mel received his BA from the University of Pennsylvania and his JD and MBA from Columbia University.

Board of Allied Universal.

He had begun his career at Fuji Bank, initially in cross border M&A in Tokyo and subsequently in project finance in Tokyo and in London.

Makoto Kawada also held positions at the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group in Washington DC, where he worked initially in Syndications and subsequently as Investment Officer in the Oil, Gas & Mining department. He returned eventually to Mizuho Securities in Tokyo, where he had been involved in turnaround and private equity fund businesses.

Makoto Kawada graduated in Economics from Waseda University and obtained an MBA from the Wharton School, as well as an MA from the School of Arts & Sciences of the University of Pennsylvania in 1989.

Howard started his career as an Engineer with Kingston Technology in California and occupied various operational and investment positions at The Pacific Venture Group, Europtronic, Rotol and Affinity Equity Partners. He graduated with a BS in Mechanical Engineering from John Hopkins University and earned his MBA from The Anderson School at UCLA. 

In 2014, Harper co-founded a transportation-based start-up in New York. Before joining MidOcean, Harper worked as an Associate at Citi Private Equity. Harper began her career as an Analyst in investment banking at J.P. Morgan Chase.
Harper holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

He had previously worked at Neo Capital Private Equity, a small and mid-cap LBO fund based in London as well as at HSBC in financial accounting in India.

Board member of Cromology.

He began his career in 2006 as an investment banker with Credit Suisse First Boston in London, where he advised corporations and financial sponsors on mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, takeover defences and restructurings. Claude holds a BCom in Economics & Finance from McGill University (First Class, Joint Honours) and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Board member of Tsebo.

He started his career in 2007 with Boston Consulting Group in Munich where he worked for 3 years. In 2012 Seif completed an MBA at Harvard Business School and joined Montagu Private Equity in London. Most recently he worked at XIO Group in London as a Director. Seif worked on numerous transactions in various sectors including telecommunications, business services, technology, financial services and industrials across Europe. 

Board member of Constantia Flexibles. 

Prior to joining us, Xavier worked at BC Partners for 8 years as a Principal. He started his career as an Analyst at Merrill Lynch. 

He graduated from Ecole Polytechnique with an Engineer’s degree in Economics and in Applied Mathematics. He also holds an MSc in Corporate Finance and in Quantitative Finance from ENSAE.

Prior to Macquarie, Jamie graduated cum laude from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics with Distinction.

Mohammed graduated from Polytechnique (in Paris) from which he holds a Master in Engineering (major in Applied Mathematics and Economics). He also holds a Master in Finance and Strategy from Sciences Po (in Paris). Mohammed started his career as a Consultant at Bain & Company (covering successively France, the Middle East and the UK).

After graduating from the University of Oxford in 2013 with a Bachelor in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, Joseph worked briefly for Centreville Partners in Burma. He then joined Lazard’s graduate programme in July 2014.

Kyle graduated from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Economics, with concentrations in Finance and Management. He also received a Minor in French Studies.

During his studies, he acquired further practical experiences in several industries including banking (Bankhaus Lampe, UniCredit Group – HypoVereinsbank), strategy consulting (Arthur D. Little), e-commerce (Home24) and venture capital (Heilemann Ventures, now: Earlybird VC). 

Edzard zu Knyphausen, German citizen, holds a B.Sc. in International Business Economics from Maastricht University (among the Top 3% of students in 2009/10) and a Master in Management from ESCP Europe in Berlin and Paris (graduated with distinction). 
He speaks German, English, French and Spanish.

Prior to joining Wendel, Romain worked at BCG as a Senior Associate. In previous years he also completed internships at Lazard and Deloitte. 

Romain holds a degree in Management from ESCP Europe as well as a BA in Applied Mathematics from Sorbonne University.

Vera holds BA in Business Administration from the University of St. Gallen as well as double degree in MA Strategic Management from HEC, Paris and MA Banking & Finance from the University of St. Gallen. 

During her studies she completed internships at KPMG and Credit Suisse in Mid-Market M&A and then in Debt Capital Markets in Zurich.

Since the Summer of 2016, Manuel was a consultant at Boston Consulting Group in Madrid. In previous years he interned at OC&C Strategy Consultants and OneSubsea (Schlumberger), both in the UK.
He holds an MEng (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering from University of Bath in the UK.

Prior to joining Wendel, Elisa worked at the Estin & Co as a Strategy Consultant. In previous years she completed internships at Quadrille Capital, Ardian and BNP Paribas.
Elisa holds a degree in Management from HEC.

Prior to joining us, Andrew worked at J.P. Morgan as an Investment Banking Analyst for 3 years.

Andrew graduated magna cum laude from Cornell University in New York, with a degree in Applied Economics and Management. 

 

After an internship at Total Energie Gaz as a financial controller, he had a series of experiences as an Analyst: fisrt in London for Tikehau Investment Management, then back in Paris at Technip and Artemis – Financière Pinault.

Previously he completed a yearlong internship with Wendel and interned with Morgan Stanley and Mizuho Americas.

Praneeth graduated summa cum laude from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Economics.