Your browser is out of date.

The Board

The Board

 

Petershill Partners is governed by a fully independent Board with relevant and diverse experience focused on promoting our long-term success and creating value for shareholders. Please find more information on the Board's committees and memberships here.

 

Naguib Kheraj

Chairman, Chairman of Nomination Committee and Chairman of Management Engagement Committee

Naguib Kheraj

 

Mr Kheraj is Chairman of Rothesay Life, a specialist pensions insurer and  is a Senior Adviser to the Aga Khan Development Network where he serves on the boards of a number of entities within its network and chairs its Endowment Committee. He is also an advisor to the Queensway Group Ltd, a hospitality focused business and a Member of the Board of Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance where he chairs the Audit and Finance Committee.

 

Mr Kheraj began his career at Salomon Brothers in 1986 and went on to hold senior positions at a number of leading financial institutions. Over the course of 12 years at Barclays, Mr Kheraj served as Group Finance Director and Vice-Chair and in various business leadership positions in wealth management, institutional asset management and investment banking. He also served as Chief Executive Officer of JP Morgan Cazenove. Mr Kheraj was also Deputy Chairman of Standard Chartered plc, a major international bank. During his tenure of over 8 years at Standard Chartered he served as Chairman of the Board Risk Committee and the Board Audit Committee and as Senior Independent Director.

 

Mr Kheraj is a former Non-Executive Director of NHS England and served as a Senior Adviser to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and to the Financial Services Authority in the United Kingdom.  He has also served as a member of the Investment Committee of the Wellcome Trust, the Finance Committee of Oxford University Press and the Finance Committee of the University of Cambridge.

 

Mr Kheraj was educated at Dulwich College London and Cambridge University where he graduated with a degree in Economics.

Everard Barclay Simmons

Senior Independent Director

Everard Barclay Simmons

 

Mr Simmons began his career as a commercial litigation attorney in Bermuda in 1997 before moving to the United States for business school and joining Goldman Sachs as an investment banker in 2004. Returning to Bermuda, he became Managing Partner/Chief Executive Officer of a reinsurance law firm for 13 years. Mr Simmons is currently Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Rose Investment Limited, a Bermuda-based advisory business focused on financial services and corporate restructuring.

 

Mr Simmons has a vast array of Board experience. He was Lead Director and then Chair of the Board of the Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son Limited, where he served from 2011 to 2017 during its ownership by private equity to after its listing on the NYSE, having led a co-investment in the bank alongside Carlyle and CIBC. Mr Simmons served on the board of Bermuda’s financial services regulator, the Bermuda Monetary Authority, for nine years. He also previously served as a Director at FIL Limited and currently serves as a Director at Eight Roads, respectively, the international public and private investing platforms of Fidelity.

 

Mr Simmons also serves as a Senior Advisor at Further Global Capital Management, a private equity firm focused on financial services companies.

 

Mr Simmons is Chair of the Public Funds Investment Committee, responsible for the investment of Bermuda’s pension funds where he has spent 15 years as a member of the Board. He currently leads the Pension Fund Reform Committee established to address the underfunded status of Bermuda’s pension funds, serves as an advisor to Bermuda’s Minister of Finance and sits on the Board of Argus Group, a Bermuda multiline insurer. Mr Simmons was appointed as a Director to the Ivy UK Co-Invest Vehicle II Limited Ivy Re II Limited in May 2022, two co-investment platforms focused on the Life and Annuity Reinsurance industry.

 

Mr Simmons attended the University of Kent at Canterbury where he graduated with a law degree, the Inns of Court School of Law where he qualified as a barrister, and Harvard Business School where he graduated with a Masters in Business Administration..

Annemarie Durbin

Chair of Remuneration Committee

Annemarie Durbin

 

Ms Durbin has 35 years of international business and banking experience with ANZ Banking Group and Standard Chartered PLC. Having qualified and practised as a commercial barrister and solicitor, in New Zealand, she moved into banking in 1987 with ANZ. Ms Durbin joined Standard Chartered PLC, a FTSE100 international banking group, in 1995 and went on to hold a number of senior positions including being CEO and executive director of a large, publicly listed banking subsidiary in Thailand and, separately, as CEO in the Philippines. Latterly she served as Group Company Secretary of Standard Chartered and as a member of the banking Group Executive Committee with a broad portfolio of responsibilities.

 

Ms Durbin has served on public company boards since 2012 and currently is a non-executive director and Chair of the Remuneration Committee at Persimmon Plc and Chair of Yorkshire Building Society. She is also an executive coach/mentor.

 

Until December 2023 Ms Durbin was the senior ringfence bank director and Remuneration Committee Chair for Santander UK plc and Chair of Cater Allen Private Bank.

 

Other former roles included being Chair of the Listing Authority Advisory Panel (LAAP) in the United Kingdom (advising the Financial Conduct Authority on the effectiveness of primary markets), Non-Executive Director & Remuneration Committee Chair of WHSmith PLC, Non-Executive Director of Ladbrokes Coral PLC and Fleming Family & Partners Ltd.

 

Ms Durbin has degrees in Law and Commerce from the University of Auckland, is a qualified barrister and solicitor and has a Masters (MSc) in Executive Coaching from Ashridge Business School. She is also a Fellow of The Chartered Governance Institute.

Erica Handling

Director

Erica Handling

 

Ms Handling began her career in 1988 at Allen & Overy LLP before moving to Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP to help open their office in London. She became a partner there in 1998 and moved a team to Ashurst LLP in 2001 where she founded a securities and structured finance practice. After 10 years at Ashurst she moved to take on the role of General Counsel in Europe for Barclays Investment Bank from 2011 to 2015, where she served on the EMEA Executive Committee and Global Operating Committee. She then moved to BlackRock from 2015 to 2019 as European General Counsel, where she served on various boards and committees.

 

Ms Handling left BlackRock in 2019 to develop a career as an executive coach and non-executive director and charity trustee. In addition to the Petershill Partners Board, Ms Handling is a member of the Supervisory Board of Dutch market maker Optiver Holding B.V.

 

Ms Handling also spends time working with various charities in the criminal justice sector and is currently Deputy Chair of St Giles Trust, as well as Chair of Spark Inside which provides coaching in prisons.

 

Ms Handling was educated at Wycombe High School and Exeter University where she graduated with a degree in Law (LLB) before attending Guildford Law School.

Mark Merson

Chair of Audit and Risk Committee

Mark Merson

 

Mr Merson began his career in the financial services division of Arthur Andersen in London in 1989, becoming a partner in 1999. He provided audit and advisory services to banking and investment businesses throughout Europe before moving to Tokyo, from where he was responsible for all Andersen’s services to investment banks in Asia Pacific. He subsequently returned to London to become a partner in Deloitte Business Consulting.

 

In 2003, Mr Merson joined Barclays PLC as Group Financial Controller, leading the bank in the adoption of International Accounting Standards. In a 14-year career at Barclays he went on to become Head of Investor Relations; CFO for Corporate & Investment Banking; and latterly Deputy Group Finance Director, in which role he was leader of the global finance function.

 

Mr Merson was also a founding partner of Veritum Partners Limited, advisors to European financial services companies on their interaction with the equity market.

 

In a non-executive capacity, Mr Merson is Chair of Absa Securities UK Limited and a governor of Sevenoaks School.  He was formerly an independent non-executive director of Absa Group Limited, chairing the Board Finance Committee, the Group Risk and Capital Management Committee and the Group Credit Risk Committee.

 

Mr Merson is a chartered accountant and a graduate of Oxford University.


THIS MATERIAL DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER OR SOLICITATION IN ANY JURISDICTION WHERE OR TO ANY PERSON TO WHOM IT WOULD BE UNAUTHORIZED OR UNLAWFUL TO DO SO.

Prospective investors should inform themselves as to any applicable legal requirements and taxation and exchange control regulations in the countries of their citizenship, residence or domicile which might be relevant.

The portfolio risk management process includes an effort to monitor and manage risk, but does not imply low risk. There is no guarantee that objectives will be met.

Views and opinions expressed are for informational purposes only and do not constitute a recommendation by Petershill Partners Plc or Goldman Sachs Asset Management to buy, sell, or hold any security. Views and opinions are current as of the date of this presentation and may be subject to change, they should not be construed as investment advice.

Any reference to a specific company or security does not constitute a recommendation to buy, sell, hold or directly invest in the company or its securities. It should not be assumed that investment decisions made in the future will be profitable or will equal the performance of the securities discussed in this document. Company names and logos, excluding those of Goldman Sachs and any of its affiliates, are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Use by Goldman Sachs does not imply or suggest a sponsorship, endorsement or affiliation.

Although certain information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, we do not guarantee its accuracy, completeness or fairness. We have relied upon and assumed without independent verification, the accuracy and completeness of all information available from public sources.

Past performance does not guarantee future results, which may vary. The value of investments and the income derived from investments will fluctuate and can go down as well as up. A loss of principal may occur.

This material contains information that pertains to past performance or is the basis for previously-made discretionary investment decisions. This information should not be construed as a current recommendation, research or investment advice. It should not be assumed that any investment decisions shown will prove to be profitable, or that any investment decisions made in the future will be profitable or will equal the performance of investments discussed herein. Any mention of an investment decision is intended only to illustrate our investment approach and/or strategy, and is not indicative of the performance of our strategy as a whole. Any such illustration is not necessarily representative of other investment decisions.

This material has been prepared by Goldman Sachs Asset Management and is not financial research nor a product of Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research. It was not prepared in compliance with applicable provisions of law designed to promote the independence of financial analysis and is not subject to a prohibition on trading following the distribution of financial research. The views and opinions expressed may differ from those of Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research or other departments or divisions of Goldman Sachs and its affiliates. This information may not be current and Goldman Sachs Asset Management has no obligation to provide any updates or changes. It should not be relied upon in making an investment decision.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management leverages the resources of Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC subject to legal, internal and regulatory restrictions.

Portfolio holdings and/or allocations shown above are as of the date indicated and may not be representative of future investments. The holdings and/or allocations shown may not represent all of the portfolio's investments. Future investments may or may not be profitable.

 

© 2025 Goldman Sachs. All rights reserved.