Meet the team
Get to know the professionals in our investment team and our board of directors
Nalaka De Silva
Head of Private Market Solutions
Nalaka is responsible for developing and implementing strategies across the Private Markets spectrum. This includes investments across Private Equity, Infrastructure, Real Estate, Natural Resources and Private Credit on a global basis. Solutions based strategies are designed around client outcomes including growth, income and proactive ESG strategies.
Nalaka joined the company in 2012. Prior to this, Nalaka held senior roles at Australian and European Investment management firms. He has lead M&A activity, off-market acquisitions and divestments of assets, offshore and onshore capital rising in debt and equity markets. Nalaka is a Qualified Chartered Accountant and holds a postgraduate degree in Commercial Law and Accounting.
Nic Baddeley
Investment Manager
From 2014, Nic has been involved in investment analysis and management, working across public and private asset classes. Nic is responsible for the management of private market portfolios undertaken by the Private Markets Solutions desk, as well as the continual development of investment processes, portfolio management and risk management techniques. Prior to joining the current team, Nic worked as an analyst with the global listed real estate team, responsible for sector coverage of the Chinese housebuilders, portfolio construction, and risk measurement. Prior to joining Aberdeen in 2015, Nic worked as a data scientist for global data consultancy, and as an investment analyst at Mercer focussing on strategy analysis and fund recommendations for institutional investors. Nic graduated from the University of Edinburgh with an MA (Hons) degree in Psychology and is a CFA® charterholder.
Aretaios Chourdakis
Senior Investment Analyst
Aretaios (Teo) is a Senior Investment Analyst within the Private Market Solutions team, where he is responsible for sourcing, screening, analysing, and executing both direct and indirect investment transactions across a range of private market strategies.
Teo joined Aberdeen in 2019 as part of the Valuation & Complex Asset Pricing team, undertaking valuations for a diverse portfolio of illiquid assets across various sectors and geographies. Subsequently, he participated in a secondment with the Small and Mid-Cap Equity Research team, where he was responsible for drafting research notes and presenting investment recommendations. Prior to his current role, Aretaios worked as an Associate at State Street within the Fund Services division and at Forocom, a Greek business consulting firm. Aretaios holds a BSc in Business Management from the University of Piraeus and an MSc in Accounting and Finance from the Athens University of Economics and Business. He has also earned the Investment Management Certificate (IMC), the Financial Modelling & Valuation Analyst Certification (FMVA) and the Commercial Banking & Credit Certification (CBCA) from the Corporate Finance Institute (CFI).
Teo joined Aberdeen in 2019 as part of the Valuation & Complex Asset Pricing team, undertaking valuations for a diverse portfolio of illiquid assets across various sectors and geographies. Subsequently, he participated in a secondment with the Small and Mid-Cap Equity Research team, where he was responsible for drafting research notes and presenting investment recommendations. Prior to his current role, Aretaios worked as an Associate at State Street within the Fund Services division and at Forocom, a Greek business consulting firm. Aretaios holds a BSc in Business Management from the University of Piraeus and an MSc in Accounting and Finance from the Athens University of Economics and Business. He has also earned the Investment Management Certificate (IMC), the Financial Modelling & Valuation Analyst Certification (FMVA) and the Commercial Banking & Credit Certification (CBCA) from the Corporate Finance Institute (CFI).
Davina Walter
Chairman
Appointed a Director on 1 February 2019, Senior Independent Director on 27 February 2019 and Chairman on 26 February 2020, Davina Walter is an experienced investment professional who has been actively involved with investment trusts since 1985 when she joined Henderson (now Janus Henderson) as a fund manager. Having started her career at Cazenove & Co, ending up as Head of US equity research, she then spent over 16 years as an investment manager, most recently as a Managing Director at Deutsche Asset Management. She is Chairman of CT Property Trust Ltd and a non-executive director of Miton UK MicroCap Trust plc.
Trevor Bradley
Independent Non-Executive Director
Appointed a Director on 1 August 2019, Trevor Bradley was a partner and member of the Management Board at Ruffer LLP. He was responsible for growing and leading the firm's institutional investment business and managed over £1 billion of multi-asset portfolios for pension funds, charities and other institutions. Prior to Ruffer, he was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company and a UK equity portfolio manager at Mercury Asset Management.
Tom Challenor
Senior Independent Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee
Appointed a Director on 6 April 2017 and Chairman of the Audit Committee on 31 October 2018, Tom Challenor is a non-executive director and Chair of the Audit Committee of Vanguard Group (Ireland) Limited and its fund companies, and is also a non-executive director of Threadneedle India Fund Limited. Until March 2022, Tom was Senior Independent Director of Euroclear UK & International Limited. Tom is a former non-executive director of Aberdeen UK Tracker Trust plc, Cofunds Limited, Xtracker Limited and Threadneedle Lux (SICAV). At Threadneedle Asset Management he was Director of Strategy and Risk from 2005 to 2009 and Chief Financial Officer from 1997 to 2005.
Alistair Mackintosh
Independent Non-Executive Director
Appointed a Director on 1 May 2021, Alistair Mackintosh was a partner with Actis LLP, a leading investor in growth markets across Africa, Asia and Latin America from its inception in 2004 until 2018. He served as Chief Investment Officer for twelve years, and chaired the Investment Committees of Actis' Private Equity, Infrastructure, Energy and Real Estate funds. Previously, Alistair spent fifteen years with PPM Capital Ltd (now Silverfleet Capital), the mid-market private equity business of Prudential plc.