BerchWood Partners, an independent global placement agent, has appointed Paola Tarazi as Principal in their London office where she will lead the expansion of the firm’s efforts across the EMEA region including fund selection, project management and fund distribution.
Tarzai has 16 years of professional experience in private equity fund investments, management consulting, and investment marketing/distribution experience gained in Europe and the Middle East. She joined BerchWood from BNP Paribas where she was recently focusing on originating and distributing a variety of private equity fund offerings to European Institutional Investors. Previously, Tarazi was a co-founding member of Fortis Investments’ Private Equity Fund of Fund business, where she played a key role in establishing an asset management platform focused primarily on European buyouts. She led numerous fund investments in Europe, and supervised a private equity portfolio encompassing approximately 30 general partners.
David Berchenbriter, founder of BerchWood, says: “We are delighted to welcome Paola to our team. Tarazi is an experienced private equity professional with a breadth of global experience and strong relationships, significantly augmenting the firm’s distribution and origination efforts. The addition of Paola also cements the leadership of our London office and further enhances the firm’s presence in the EMEA region.”
“The London office is an integral part of BerchWood’s global strategy. It is well positioned to capture growth in both the sourcing of talented private equity managers and fund distribution across the EMEA region”, says Paola, “Despite difficult market conditions in recent years, Berchwood has succeeded in raising substantial amounts of capital for its clients from Institutional Investors globally. I am enthusiastic about my new responsibility and look forward to building on the firm’s accomplishments and market leadership.”
Prior to her time at BNP and Fortis, Paola worked on the corporate buy-side for ABN AMRO in strategic planning and business development for its global equities and alternatives business and was a senior consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton’s Middle East practice.
Paola holds a Bachelor of Science degree in statistics and economics from University College London, and a Masters of Science in operational research from the London School of Economics. She has an MBA from INSEAD and is fluent in French, Arabic and English.
