Private Markets Conference
Tokyo

John Valentini is Executive Director, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fiera Private Markets. In his role, he oversees Fiera Capital’s private markets platform, which includes real estate core and value-add, real estate financing, infrastructure, agriculture, private equity and private credit.

John has over 20 years of experience as a senior executive in managing both public and private organizations, including in the area of investment management. Prior to joining Fiera Capital, he held the positions of Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at PSP Investment Inc., Chief Financial Officer at BCE Emergis and Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Cognicase Inc., as well as senior positions in Corporate Finance at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Caisse de depot and placement du Quebec and Ernst & Young.

John holds a Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) in Corporate Finance and a Graduate Diploma in Public Accountancy from McGill University. He is an Advanced Management Program Graduate of Wharton, University of Pennsylvania. John holds the following professional designations: Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA), Chartered Business Valuator (CBV) and Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA). He is also a graduate of the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Rob Petty is Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer Asia at Fiera Capital and is a member of the Global Executive team. He is responsible for driving Fiera’s strategy and business in Asia and leads the company’s distribution, consultant relations, and marketing teams, providing executive leadership for all employees across all functions in the region. He continues to sit on board seats and investment committee positions in the Fiera Capital (Asia) business.

Prior to joining Fiera Capital through its acquisition of Clearwater Capital Partners in 2018, Rob was a co-founder and managing partner of Clearwater. Rob and his partner Amit Gupta founded Clearwater in 2001 and, since that time, have invested profitably across cycles, sectors, and geographies, building an investment platform that is one of the largest credit-investing firms across the region. Over his career, Rob has focused on international credit investments, with broad expertise in direct lending, secondary credit, and special situations strategies.

Prior to founding Clearwater, Rob worked as a capital committer for fifteen years at Lehman Brothers and Peregrine Fixed Income before moving to the investment side of the business, working for Marc Lasry at Amroc Investments for three years.

Rob holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Brown University and is based in London. Rob has held numerous board positions over the past 40 years and currently sits on two portfolio company boards as well as the non-profit organization EngenderHealth, dedicated to women’s reproductive rights.

Sarah Butcher is Head of Private Markets Distribution within the Canadian Institutional Distribution team. She is responsible for generating new business opportunities amongst Canadian institutional investors for Fiera Capital’s private credit strategies. Sarah also has a leadership role in supporting Fiera Capital’s global growth across its private markets business.

Sarah’s career in the institutional asset management industry spanned nearly two decades before joining Fiera Capital in 2022. Before joining the firm, she was a Dealing Representative assisting global investment management firms cultivate new relationships with institutional investors and their consultants in Canada. Prior experiences include roles within the Institutional Client Group at Neuberger Berman and BlackRock. 

Sarah holds a Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) in Finance from the University of British Columbia and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from York University. 

Matthew Corbett is a Partner, Agriculture at Fiera Comox.

Matthew is involved in deal origination, portfolio management and operating partner relationships within the Agriculture strategy.  Matthew has two decades of experience in the agriculture industry, including investments in the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Chile, Western Europe and across a broad range of sectors including: permanent crops; row crops; dairy; timberland; dairy; grazing and aquaculture.  Matthew currently sits on the boards of several of the fund’s portfolio companies, including Auvil Fruit Company (USA – WA), Eastern Australia Agriculture (AUS – QLD), Warmerdam Fruit (USA – CA) and Rangitata Dairies (NZ).

Prior to Fiera Comox, Matthew spent over five years with PSP Investments where he was a founding member of PSP’s global Natural Resources investment group. Matthew undertook nearly $2 billion of direct investments in timber and agriculture. Notable transactions include the acquisition of a majority interest in Kaingaroa Timberlands (New Zealand), the creation of the Hewitt Cattle joint venture (Australia), as well as the creation of row crop and dairy platforms.

Prior to PSP, Matthew worked in an operational management role for a forestry company for six years and held operational roles in farming enterprises in Canada. Matthew’s family background is in dairy farming and he spent his early years working on farms in eastern Ontario. Matthew received an MBA from McGill University (Montreal, Canada) and a BSc from Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada.

Charles joined Fiera Real Estate in 2013 and was promoted to Head of European Real Estate in July 2022. He is responsible for the management of the UK business and the successful execution of its business strategy.

Prior to joining Fiera Real Estate, Charles worked in the Corporate Finance team at Ernst & Young where he focused on capital raising, M&A and restructuring. Previously, Charles was at BNP Paribas Real Estate where he focused on buying and leasing Central London assets. Charles is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and is a member of the Investment Committee.

Joshua is a member of the Fiera Capital (Asia)’s investment team and leads the direct lending team covering investments in Australia and New Zealand. He is a Portfolio Manager of the Developed Asia Direct Lending Fund and is a member of the fund’s Investment Committee. 

Prior to its acquisition by Fiera Capital, Joshua joined Clearwater in 2007. He has extensive experience in real asset financing in both private and public credit, extending across geographies and sectors. He leads deal teams responsible for originating, underwriting, executing, and monitoring credit investments.

Joshua holds a Master of Business Administration degree specializing in International Finance from Brandeis University International Business School and a Bachelor of Science Business Administration degree from Thomas Edison State College. Based in Hong Kong, Joshua is fluent in English and Mandarin.

Mathieu Desforges is a Partner at Fiera Comox. In this role, he leads the Private Credit strategy in the U.S. & Europe. He is also a member of the firm’s Investment Committee overseeing Fiera Comox’s three strategies: Agriculture, Private Equity and Private Credit.

Prior to joining Fiera Comox in 2019, Mathieu spent seven years with Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), where he was the Head of Junior and Opportunistic Credit. He launched the Junior and Opportunistic Credit strategy in 2013 and grew it to $3.3 billion. In this role, Mathieu was responsible for investing globally in debt instruments (subordinated debt, mezzanine, PIK and preferred equity) as well as in opportunistic credit and distressed debt. He ran direct investments, co-investments and fund investments. Mathieu was a Board member of three CDPQ investee companies: Hilco Global, an American financial services holding company; Avison Young, a full-service global commercial real estate firm; Edelweiss ARC, an investment and financial services company based in Mumbai. Mathieu was also a member of CDPQ’s Relationship Investing Investment Committee as well as Edelweiss ARC’s Distressed Debt Investment Committee.

Mathieu also spent 10 years at Lehman Brothers in London in the Investment Banking & Fixed Income groups, investing Lehman Brothers’ balance sheet and managing distressed debt & special situations across Europe. Mathieu started his career as a corporate lawyer in Montreal at Fasken and then in Paris at BBLP Moquet Borde. Mathieu holds an MBA from London Business School and a law degree (LL.B) from the Université de Montréal.

David joined Fiera Real Estate in September 2022 and is Managing Director and Co-Head of Fiera Real Estate’s European Debt Platform. Prior to joining Fiera Real Estate, David held a senior position in the pan-European real estate debt team at Cheyne Capital where he was responsible for originating new debt investments, underwriting c.€500m of new deals over 24 months and launching the Iberian lending platform. At Fiera Real Estate, David is responsible for fund management and overall strategy of the debt business, leading on capital raising, governance and portfolio risk management.

Paul Colatrella is Head of Infrastructure Debt at Fiera Private Debt. In this role, Paul is accountable for the management of the Infrastructure Debt platform in Canada and in the USA. Before joining Fiera Private Debt in October 2020, Mr. Colatrella was the Head of Clean Energy Infrastructure Credit for Capital Dynamics, a leading clean energy investor. He was responsible for all aspects of fundraising, originating and investing relevant to the strategy he brought to the firm in early 2018.

Previously, Mr. Colatrella was Co-head of the Private Credit Power Generation Team at Ares Private Debt Power Generation from 2011 to 2017. As Co-head, he was responsible for recommending all power related debt transactions to the Ares Investment Committee, which had final investment decision authority. He also served on the Investment Committee for Ares Energy Investors Funds, a private equity acquisition by Ares he proposed and led the due diligence effort for.

Prior to Ares, he was a Senior Vice President at TCW/EIG Global Energy Partners from 2006 to 2011. Prior to 2006, he had a 14-year career in project finance banking at HypoVereinsbank, AG and Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank, LTD (now part of Mizuho Group).

Mr. Colatrella has a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Finance from the University of Fordham and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in European History from the University of Rochester.

Aisha is responsible for managing Fiera Infrastructure’s investor relationships.  As part of her role, Aisha engages with existing and prospective investors and spearheads the firm’s marketing and communications efforts in order to support fundraising. 

Prior to joining Fiera Infrastructure, Aisha led investor relations for Altas Partners, a Toronto-based private equity firm investing in mid-market businesses across North America.  Prior to that, she worked in the Mergers & Acquisitions group at Evercore, advising clients across the transportation, power and utilities, consumer, technology, and industrials sectors.  Before joining Evercore, Aisha was an Associate in the Diversified Industrials group at J.P. Morgan, where she worked on strategic assignments for clients in the transportation and general industrial sectors.  She began her career in Public Finance investment banking at Banc of America Securities, covering clients in the transportation, water and wastewater, public power, and general governmental sectors. 

Aisha holds a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University, an MBA from Columbia Business School, and a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.