Board of Directors

 

Erich Bonnet

Erich Bonnet is the founder, principal and managing partner of Smart Lenders Asset Management, an investment management firm specialised in direct lending to consumers and small businesses through marketplace lending platforms. From 2009 through 2014, Mr. Bonnet was the founder and Chairman at Furstenberg Finance and SB Partners, a family investment holding and consulting company, notably advising a major financial institution and private equity and distressed investment funds. From 1998 through 2008, Mr. Bonnet was the founder and Head of Strategy and Asset Management at ADI Alternative Investments, a multi-billion dollar investment firm specialising in alternative asset management.

Sylvie Sauton

Sylvie Sauton’s practice includes advising all types of corporates on structuring and raising equity financing mainly through IPOs and follow-on offerings as well as secondary placements.

She has more than 30 years of banking experience in London covering corporates in French speaking countries having conducted a long career in debt and equity capital markets.

Her latest employment was 17 years with JPMorgan where she mainly headed the French Equity Capital Markets team completing numerous transactions on behalf of her clients as the lead trusted advisor. At JPM she also worked on the execution of transactions in Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Egypt and Russia. Before JPM she worked for 10 years at Lehman Brothers and five years at Salomon Brothers. The transactions were executed on behalf of large, medium-sized and small companies, the latter in the technology sector. Her clients were Private Equity firms, corporates, governments and family offices. Capital raising included acquisition and rescue offerings.

Sylvie holds a Master in Management of HEC Paris, and a post graduate doctorate in International Finance and Economic of Paris Dauphine. She holds citizenship of France and is resident in Paris.

Luke Allen

Mr Allen is an independent non-executive director with almost 30 years’ experience working in the financial services sector, the last 17 of which have been spent in the alternative investment funds industry. Until December 2019 he was the chief executive and managing director of Man Group plc’s Guernsey office, which serviced an extensive range of hedge funds and funds of hedge funds. His primary role was to lead Man’s operations in Guernsey, chairing the local management company board meetings, setting strategy and ensuring effective risk management, outsourced service provider oversight, and compliance with laws and regulations. He has over 13 years’ experience (most recently in an independent non-executive capacity) of working with, and sitting on the boards of, a wide range of fund and management company structures across a significant number of international jurisdictions. He is a chartered accountant (ICAEW) and, prior to running Man’s Guernsey office, he headed up their fund financial reporting and liquidations team, with responsibility for the production of fund financial statements and for fund terminations across their entire product range. He is a holder of a personal fiduciary licence issued by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission..