Alasdair Maclay
Partner and Global Head of Real Assets & Private Equity Advisory
Alasdair is a Partner and Global Head of Real Assets and Private Equity Advisory at FIRSTavenue, with over 20 years’ international experience in private markets investing and capital raising across private equity and real assets strategies.
He began his career at Bain & Company before moving into private equity at Sovereign Capital. Alasdair then spent 11 years at Actis, the global energy infrastructure private equity firm, where he held senior roles across both investment and investor development. As Investment Director in the energy team, he co-managed and exited Actis’ $1.3 billion energy portfolio, and as Operations Director in investor development, he helped raise over $3 billion across the firm’s private equity, energy infrastructure, and real estate funds.
Prior to joining FIRSTavenue, Alasdair was Managing Director at GSG Impact, where he led the firm’s private capital funds and investment vehicles activity and was responsible for revenue generation and overall strategy.
Alasdair holds an MBA from INSEAD and a degree in Russian and Czech from the University of Oxford. Outside of work, he is an active impact investor and entrepreneur, with interests including Binley Farm and Briisk Ltd., and he advises the natural capital investor Common Nature.
Alex Chaplin
Partner, Co-Head of EMEA
Alex is a Partner in the London office and focuses on LP coverage in Europe and GP Origination in Private Equity. He was formerly a senior member of the Global Fund Advisory Platform at PwC, and a Principal at BerchWood Partners. Alex started his placement career at MVision Private Equity Advisors. He attended the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford and holds a first-class degree in Mathematics and Philosophy from the University of Bristol.
Andrew Rosato
Partner
Andrew Rosato is a Partner based in our New York office, with primary responsibility for investor coverage across the Mid-Atlantic and Mid-West regions of North America. Before joining FIRSTavenue, Andrew was a Partner at Triago and continued with Houlihan Lokey Private Funds Group following its acquisition of the firm. Prior to that, he held roles at MVision and Eaton Partners. Andrew holds an MBA from the University of Virginia’s Darden School and a BA from Colgate University. He is a U.S. national and is FINRA-licensed with Series 7 and 63 certifications.
Clive Norton
Partner
Clive is a Partner and focuses on Private Equity origination. Clive was formerly a Managing Director at Helix Associates and Co-Head of the Fund of Funds Group at Goldman Sachs covering Europe and Asia. Prior to Goldman Sachs Clive worked in the Private Equity Group at Merrill Lynch.
Dominic Schultens
Partner, Global Head of Private Credit Advisory
Dominic is a Partner and Global Head of Private Credit Advisory based in Hamburg. With a background as a credit banker, he brings over a decade of experience in the syndicated loan market. Prior to joining FIRSTavenue, he held positions at WestLB, Credit Suisse, and other institutions. Dominic holds a BSc in Economics and Finance from the University of York and an MSc in Finance from the ICMA Centre at the University of Reading.
Grant Davis
Partner, North American Real Assets Origination
Grant is a Partner specialising in North American Real Assets Origination. He was previously the Managing Partner of Infra-Energy Capital Advisors and a Managing Director with Tenaska Capital Management. Grant headed the Private Placement and Energy Groups at New York Life Investment Management and earlier in his career held positions with GE Capital and Manufacturers Hanover. He has a BA from Colgate University and an MBA from the Amos Tuck Graduate School at Dartmouth.
Hendrik van Rahden
Partner, Co-Head of EMEA
Hendrik is a Partner and responsible for distribution in German-speaking Europe as well as GP Origination in Infrastructure and is based in Hamburg, Germany. Prior to joining FIRSTavenue, Hendrik co-founded Beit Capital Advisors, a placement agent focused on real assets. Before Hendrik was a senior business development professional within real assets at MPC Capital AG in Hamburg, where he focused on clients in Europe and Asia. He began his career at Allianz Global Investors in 2008, managing global dynamic multi-asset strategies for institutional clients and key accounts. Hendrik received a BSc (Hons) in Finance from the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management.
Jeff Davis
Partner, Head of Americas & Global Head of Origination
Jeff is a Partner, Head of the Americas and Global Head of Origination, and has over 30 years of financial service experience, of which 21 years have been spent in private funds placement and advisory. He was previously a Partner and Head of North American Origination at Mercury Capital Advisors, and a Partner and Head of Private Credit and Private Equity at FirstPoint Equity Capital. Earlier he was a Partner at Eaton Partners, where he spent sixteen years across origination, project management and distribution. Jeff also had complementary roles earlier in his career as an LP at Capital Dynamics and as a GP at GE Capital (Equity). He has a BS from Brandeis University and an MBA from The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.
John Linger
Partner
John is a Partner with over 25 years of experience raising capital for private equity funds. Before joining FIRSTavenue, he was a Managing Director at Prospect Avenue Partners, a boutique placement firm specializing in real assets. Previously, he led business development at Square Mile Capital, Cherokee Investment Partners, and Lehman Brothers’ Real Estate Private Equity Group. John began his career in capital formation at Benedetto Gartland & Greene and later co-founded Atlantic Pacific Capital. He holds a BA from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Maulik Patel
Partner, Head of Private Markets Secondaries
Maulik is a Partner and Head of Private Markets Secondaries within FIRSTavenue’s Capital Solutions Group, where he leads the firm’s secondaries platform. He is responsible for origination, project management, distribution, and operations, and manages a cross-functional team of 10 secondary professionals across the U.S. and London. Maulik has over 15 years of experience in private markets, with a focus on advising GPs and LPs on strategic divestments, portfolio rebalancing, and tailored fund solutions across private equity, credit, and real assets. Prior to joining FIRSTavenue, he led the private equity secondaries desk at Tradition Private Markets and held roles at Duff & Phelps and TPICAP Alternatives. He holds a BA in Business Studies & Accounting and is FINRA Series 7 and 63 certified.
Michael Dunham
Partner
Michael Dunham is a Partner in the New York office, specialising in the distribution of the firm’s products to institutional investors across the U.S. and Canada, including insurance companies, endowments, foundations, corporate pension plans, and multi-family offices. Before joining FIRSTavenue, Mike was a Partner at Mercury Capital Advisors for three years. Prior to that, he spent 16 years as a Partner at Pinnacle Trust Partners, an independent placement and advisory firm focused on alternative investments.
Nick Chronias
Partner, Head of Capital Solutions
Nick is a Partner and Head of Capital Solutions, with over a decade of experience raising private capital for funds and direct investments. Before joining FIRSTavenue, he worked as an independent fundraising adviser and served as Head of Research at Helix Associates. Nick holds a postgraduate degree in Finance from London Business School.
Paul Buckley
CEO & Managing Partner
Paul is FIRSTavenue’s CEO and Managing Partner. Paul founded FIRSTavenue in 2006, bringing over 18 years of expertise in advising GPs within the private funds market. His stewardship has positioned FIRSTavenue as a pioneer in various sectors including private infrastructure, private credit, real estate debt, and energy transition. Prior to founding FIRSTavenue, Paul dedicated his career from 1987 to 2006 to the European capital markets, primarily at Credit Suisse First Boston in London. Throughout this tenure, he covered investors and led coverage groups across all regions of Europe.
Rachel Guan
Partner, Head of Asia
Rachel is a Partner and Head of Asia. Prior to joining FIRSTavenue, she led the offshore marketing and investor relations function at Pinpoint Asset Management. Before that, Rachel worked at China International Capital Corporation in Hong Kong and Beijing, focusing on cross-border investment mandates. Rachel holds an MBA from Northeastern University and a BBA with double majors in Finance / Economics and a minor in Mathematics from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Further, Rachel is a CFA® charterholder.
