Darby Overseas Investments, the private equity arm of Franklin Templeton Investments, has hired two new executives.
S Scott Gregory has been appointed managing director, with responsibility for seeking new or expanded commitments to Darby’s family of emerging markets private equity funds by communicating Darby’s investment philosophy, process and strategy to current and prospective institutional investors. He reports to David Mathewson, senior managing director, and is based in Franklin Templeton’s New York office.
"Scott Gregory brings a wealth of global private equity and mezzanine finance experience to his new role. We are delighted to have Scott join the Darby team as we continue to expand our business around the globe," says Mathewson.
Arkadiusz (Arek) Podziewski has been appointed principal and head of Darby’s Warsaw office, with responsibility for origination and execution of mezzanine and minority equity investments, primarily in Poland but also in the Baltics and Ukraine. He will also focus on supporting and further developing Darby’s operations and funds in Central and Eastern Europe, which are managed by teams based in Bratislava, Budapest, Warsaw, and Istanbul. Podziewski will report to Nicholas Kabcenell, managing director based in Budapest, and Robert Graffam, senior managing director based in Washington, DC.
"We are very pleased to have Arek Podziewski join the Darby team," says Graffam. "He brings an outstanding background in private equity to his new role and we are pleased to position him as head of our Warsaw office."
Prior to joining Darby, Gregory worked in institutional sales of private equity and hedge funds (e.g. buyout, venture, mezzanine, funds-of-funds and infrastructure) at Knight Capital Partners and at Mallory Capital Group as managing director, Institutional Sales & Business Development. He also worked at Abatis Capital, LLC/AllCapital (US), LLC, as managing director, Institutional Sales/Investor Relations, responsible for the launch of various private equity and infrastructure funds. Previously, he worked at Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners as executive director-portfolio specialist with responsibility for institutional fund raising and consultant relations as well as at State Street Global Advisors as senior principal with core responsibilities for fund raising of private equity and hedge fund vehicles. Earlier in his career, Mr. Gregory held investment positions at General Electric Capital in Stamford, CT, Hong Kong and Tokyo. He earned his MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business and received a Bachelor of Science in finance from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
Podziewski comes to Darby from Innova Capital where he spent nine years, most recently as partner, working on buy-out and growth capital transactions in Poland and Central Eastern Europe. He has served on multiple boards of directors at telecom, industrial and business service companies. Previously he worked as management consultant at The Boston Consulting Group in Warsaw and The Monitor Company in London where he worked on marketing, distribution, reorganisation and M&A engagements for clients in various industries, including banking, FMCG and telecoms. Podziewski earned his MA in Marketing at University of Gdansk.
