The HgT Board
The Board of HgT consists of six non-executive Directors with a wide range of business experience, all of whom the Board of HgT deems to be independent of HgT's Manager
Jim Strang
Chairman of the Board and the Nomination Committee
Jim Strang
Chairman of the Board and the Nomination Committee
Jim has spent over 20 years in the private equity industry and latterly served as Chairman EMEA and Managing Director at Hamilton Lane Inc, a NASDAQ listed alternative investment manager, where he was a member of the Global Investment Committee. Jim’s career in private equity encompasses a wide range of experience gained across multiple transactions, market cycles and global markets both as an investor and an operator. Before entering the private equity industry, Jim served as a strategy consultant at Bain & Company, working extensively within Bain’s Private Equity Group supporting numerous private equity managers. Prior to Bain, he worked as a UK equities fund manager, focusing on growth investments in the UK and assisting in the management of several Investment Companies.
In additon to his role at HGT, Jim currently serves on the Boards of two other private companies, Pictet Alternative Advisers (PAA) SA, the alternative investment division of Pictet AG, a Swiss based private bank wealth and asset manager and BGF plc, a UK based investment company that targets minority investments in a wide range of predominantly UK based SMB companies.
Jim brings a wide range of private equity experience, both at the individual investment level and also from structuring and developing programmes of private equity investments which meet the needs of a large, diverse and sophisticated mix of global investors. Furthermore, his experience in working with private equity managers, while at Bain & Company, and his Investment Company experience gained during his tenure as UK equity fund manager provide a highly relevant and broad mix of skills to HGT.
In addition to his Board roles at HgCapital Trust plc, PAA SA and BGF plc, Jim operates as an independent consultant and adviser to a number of firms in the private equity industry and is an Adjunct Professor at London Business School.
Jim is aged 52 and was appointed to the Board as a non-Executive Director in March 2018 and became Chairman of the Board in May 2020.
Erika Schraner
Senior Independent Director
Erika Schraner
Senior Independent Director
Erika has held a number of senior leadership roles in global organizations with a career spanning 25 years in Silicon Valley, UK and Europe, in Fortune 500 Technology companies and the Big 4 professional services firms. Erika's executive career included, most recently, a role of a partner, UK M&A Integration Leader & TMT M&A Advisory / Delivering Deal Value Leader at PwC in London. Prior to that, Erika held a number of senior professional services roles with Ernst & Young in Silicon Valley where ultimately she became a partner and the Americas' Operational Transaction Services leader for the Technology sector. Before that, Erika worked at IBM, Symantec Corporation and CSC/DXC Technology in the USA. Erika also served as a board member at Kevian Capital Management LLC and an advisory board member at FreeOn Ltd and eBoomerang Inc. Erika has been an investor in early-stage companies.
Erika has a wealth of technology, software and digital expertise, as well as extensive experience in M&A, deal value creation, realisations, and finance.
Erika is a Non-Executive Director at JTC Group plc and Pod Point Group Holdings plc, and a Senior Independent Non-Executive Director at Bytes Technology plc.
Erika is aged 56 and was appointed to the Board in August 2022.
Richard Brooman
Chairman of the Audit, Valuation and Risk Committee
Richard Brooman
Chairman of the Audit, Valuation and Risk Committee
Richard qualified as a chartered accountant with Price Waterhouse. He held senior operational and financial positions at Mars, going on to become Chief Financial Officer at the global consumer healthcare business of SmithKline Beecham. Moving to the SMB sector, he became Group Finance Director of VCI plc and subsequently Chief Financial Officer of Sherwood International plc, both mid‑cap businesses listed on the London Stock Exchange. Richard was also the Deputy Chairman of Invesco Perpetual UK Smaller Companies Investment Trust plc and the Senior Independent Director of DiscoverIE Group plc.
Richard has comprehensive experience of financial and risk management in two leading global companies and of both acquisitions and disposals of businesses. This has provided a strong basis for assessing, and, where appropriate, challenging the financial and risk-management framework of not only HGT, but also companies across a wide range of industries. Richard takes the lead in scrutinising the valuation of each company in the portfolio prepared by Hg.
Richard is a Trustee at British Youth Opera and Governor of Merchant Taylors’ School.
Richard is aged 68 and has served on HgT’s Board since 2007.
Helena Coles
Chairman of the Management Engagement Committee
Helena Coles
Chairman of the Management Engagement Committee
Helena has over 30 years’ experience in public equities. She held responsibilities for Asian and emerging markets equities at Kleinwort Benson Investment Management Limited before co-founding Rexiter Capital Management Limited in a joint-venture with State Street Global Advisors Limited. Here, she headed the Greater China team and had responsibility for asset allocation as well as the firm’s strategy. Combined with her non-executive roles on investment trust boards, she brings a wealth of knowledge of investors from institutions and wealth managers to platforms. She has also held roles at Fidelity International Limited where she specialised in ESG and, in banking supervision with the Prudential Regulation Authority. A Hong Kong native, she has worked in Asia, the US and the UK.
Helena is a non-executive director on the boards of JPMorgan Emerging Markets Investment Trust plc, Schroders Japan Trust plc, and RIT Capital Partners plc. She is also the independent investment adviser to the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.
John Billowits
Non-Executive Director
John Billowits
Non-Executive Director
John has over 25 years of operational experience and a wealth of investment expertise in the software sector, he also brings valuable international perspective, through his past roles and current appointments on Boards of US, Canadian and European software companies. A past CFO and CEO, John is a Chartered Accountant with a depth of financial knowledge. An experienced CFO and CEO, John is a highly regarded investor and operator in the software sector, and brings a unique combination of skills and personal strengths that are highly complimentary to HgT.
John is a Board Member of Constellation Software Inc. (“CSI”), a global provider of software and services to a number of industries in both, the public and private sectors. He also sits on a Board of Togetherwork [Holdings LLC], a privately held vertical market software company, and Topicus.com Inc., a European provider of vertical market software and vertical market platforms to clients in both the public and private sectors. John is also a Partner at KingsPeaks Partnership.
John joined CSI in 2004 as the President of the Jonas Operating Group of CSI, a role he held from 2004 to 2007. He went onto serving as the Chief Financial Officer of CSI between 2007 and 2013, and then served as Chief Executive Officer of Vela Software, a subsidiary of CSI until 2020.
Before, John held a number of roles with Bain & Company, Dell Computers and PwC.
John is a Chartered Professional Accountant, holds an MBA from the London Business School and an Honours BBA with Distinction from Wilfrid Laurier University.
John is a member of the Audit, Valuation & Risk Committee, the Nomination Committee and the Management Engagement Committee.
Pilar Junco
Non-Executive Director
Pilar Junco
Non-Executive Director
Pilar is a Managing Partner and Chief Client Officer at AltamarCAM Partners, a leading pan-European solutions provider for private markets. She heads AltamarCAM’s client teams and internationalisation initiatives for the firm. Before joining Altamar, she worked in London at Blackstone for over 10 years, where most recently she acted as a Senior Managing Director and head of non‑US (EMEA and APAC) private wealth management and retail business.
Pilar has a wealth of industry knowledge in private equity and brings to the board recent and relevant experience in leading international expansion and strategic planning. She provides the board with insights into M&A activity, investment in international private equity and into institutional investors.
Pilar is aged 49 has been on the HgT Board since 2020.
HgT committees
All Directors are members of the Audit, Valuation and Risk, Nomination, and Management Engagement Committees, with the exception of the Chairman of the Board, who is not a member of the Audit, Valuation and Risk Committee.