Best Practice and Capital Ideas at Work Globally

Serving Sovereign Investors with $55 trillion in assets

Global Partnerships

Sovereign Investors is a for-purpose organisation offering global networks and advisory services to promote best practice and assisting sovereign investors like SWFs, Central Banks and Public Pensions Funds to put this is place.

We contribute to thought leadership, participates actively at global events and works with international organisations and universities to enhance best practice and new innovative ideas. We showcase how to put best practice in place and have the relevant talents and partnerships to institutionalize best practice.

Our core DNA is to build bridges amongst sovereign investors aimed at stimulating collaboration, co-creation and co-investment within the sovereign investor universe.

Leadership Team

CEO & Chief Investment Officer

(ex IFSWF, IMF and 3 major CBs)

Kristian Flyvholm, MBA

Global Chief Investment Officer with 30+ years of private and public sector investor roles and global policy experience.

Kristian was the inaugural CEO of the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds and worked at the IMF, ECB and Danish Central Bank with focus on sovereign asset management managing $100+ billion assets.

He was the Chief Investment Officer at Jyske Invest Fund Management and the Central Bank of the UAE; where his team became the 2022 Reserve Manager of the Year for its work on investment policy, SAA and work on the internal and external fund management framework.

Kristian is a frequent speaker, panelist and global thought leader at major global events. He holds an MBA from Aarhus University and a BSc in Finance from Copenhagen Business School. Kristian sits on major global advisory boards, including Global SWF, Tobacco Free Portfolios and the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainable Leadership.

Chief Operation Officer

(ex NBIM, University of California OCIO)

Nic Winterstorm, MBA

Nic has 20+ years of experience from major SWFs, pension funds and endowments.

At Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), Nic ran the investment equity operations, lead due diligence efforts and the enterprise risk management function.

At University of California, he was in charge of the operational risk and compliance team at the University of California’s investment office (OCIO) with $200+ billion in assets. He also was the COO of a Silicon Valley fintech startup, and the CCO and head of risk at a $100+ billion California-based investment advisory managing some of the largest corporate pension plans in the US.

Nic holds a BSc. in Engineering (Lund University) and a MBA from Hawaii Pacific University. He is a Stanford University scholar and licensed stock broker.

Chief Risk Officer

(Ex Oman SWF, ADQ, PWC)

Susan Daniels, FCCA

Susan Daniel is the CRO of Sovereign Investors and the founder and CEO of Aquilae Consulting Limited LLC FZ. She specializes in governance, risk management, and compliance.

With over 36 years of experience, she has held key leadership roles, including Chief Risk Officer at ADQ and Chief Risk and Assurance Officer at the Oman Investment Authority.

Her expertise encompasses developing risk management frameworks across various sectors, including oil and gas, healthcare, and financial services. A Fellow of the Chartered Certified Accountants since 1994, Susan has also served as an advisory partner at PWC, leading significant projects in the GCC region.

Passionate about embedding risk management into organizational strategy, she empowers companies to leverage governance as a strategic advantage. Susan has presented extensively on risk management frameworks and has been instrumental in training boards and committees to enhance their oversight roles.

International Advisory Council

Dr. Patrick J. Schena, Professor, Tufts University at Fletcher School

Patrick J. Schena, PhD, is BLR Professor of Practice in the Department of Economics, Tufts University and Director of Tufts’ Finance Minor. He is also Adj Professor of International Business at The Fletcher School, where for 20 years he has taught courses on finance, investment management, and private equity. Since 2009, he has served as Co-Head of SovereigNet, The Fletcher Network for Sovereign Wealth and Global Capital. In addition, he is an Associate-in-Research at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University.

In parallel to his academic work in finance, which has included teaching in several Boston-area MBA programs, Dr. Schena has 30 years of industry experience in finance, investments, operations, and technology management with a disciplinary focus in asset management.

His professional work has included finance and consultancy positions at Fortune 500 firms, as well as co-founding and serving in executive roles – including CFO, COO, and CEO - in several start-up businesses servicing the global asset management industry. He recently served as Chairman of the advisory committee of a World Bank - PIAFF study on the evolution and role of strategic investment funds.

Dr. Schena holds a PhD from the Fletcher School, Tufts University with a disciplinary concentration in international finance and capital markets, a MA in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School, and MA and BA degrees from Boston College.

Sven Otto Littorin, Former Swedish Minister for Employment

Mr. Sven Otto Littorin is an entrepreneur and board professional with 30+ years of experience in international business and policy making. He is currently Chair of White Pearl Technology Group, an international IT transformation agency with offices in 28 countries around the world, listed on Nasdaq First North in Stockholm. In addition he is Chair of Raytelligence AB, listed on Nordic Growth Market, and Vice Chair of AB Igrene, listed on Spotlight Stock Market.

In 2006-10 he was Sweden’s Cabinet Minister for Employment. Among his previous positions he was Secretary General of the Moderate Party 2002-06 and the Chief of Staff to the Swedish Minister of Fiscal and Financial Affairs. In 2009, during the Swedish Presidency of the European Union, he was President of the EU Council of Ministers in its EPSCO formation.

Mr. Littorin was an advisor to the Ministry of Labor and Social Development in Riyadh in 2017-21, focusing on developing and delivering the New Labor Market Strategy, following Vision 2030. He is still very active in the region. Mr. Littorin holds a B.Sc. in Economics and Business Administration from Lund University, Sweden.

Frank Scheidig, Global Head of Senior Executive Banking

Frank Scheidig is Global Head of Senior Executive Banking at DZ BANK, leading DZ BANK’s high level global strategic engagement with government and official institutions.

His network covers – amongst others - the German government, Bundesbank and KfW; the EU commission, EIB and ESM as well as SAFE, AIIB and the World Bank. Having previously had a 36+ years career in the capital markets, with Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank among others, covering governments, central banks, supranationals, state funds, and development banks. He is Deputy Chairman of the Advisory Board of OMFIF (The Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum), a well-connected think-tank for central banking, economic policy and public investment.

He chairs the Rhein-Main regional committee of the British Chamber of Commerce in Germany, is a member of the Board of the IBF International Bankers Forum and of the Sustainable Finance Advisory Committee of the Federal Government of Germany.

Dr. Guan Seng Khoo, Ex Temasek & AIMCo

Dr. Guan Seng Khoo has over 30 years’ of experience in the design and implementation of enterprise wide investment, banking and risk management models, systems and processes incl. ESG/responsible Investing.

His career spans across financial institutions in the USA, Canada, UK and Singapore, including the UK-listed Man Group, American Bourses Corporation, RHB Capital, Singapore Exchange, Standard Chartered Bank, Temasek Holdings, Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) and other major companies. Recently, he helped to establish the responsible investing unit at AIMCo where he was also the head of ERM. He sits on a number of advisory boards and is part of the SWF Academy.

He holds a PhD in Computational Physics (Material Science) from the National University of Singapore, with post-doc R&D in AI-based data mining and applications in Japan and America. He was also a co-founder of the NTU Centre for Financial Engineering and the MSc in Financial Engineering programme in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh in 1999, when he was an academic at NTU from 1993 to 2000.

Dr. Celeste Cecilia Moles Lo Turco, Ex PwC, NEOM

Dr. Celeste Lo Turco is a Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) and Sustainability Expert. She is the Chief of Staff at Saudi Investment Bank and worked as Director for PwC in the ESG & Sustainability field.

Dr Celeste Lo Turco started her career working for the SWFs Strategic Committee of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the SWFs Law Centre. She became then the advisor for the Italian Municipalities National Association on the development of the national economy through the relationship with SWFs. Former United Nations analyst with a specialization in Security and Middle-East Political Affairs, she worked within the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI).

The Middle East has been her house for more than ten years. She started in the United Arab Emirates working as Vice President Strategy for Future Holding, a Middle Eastern family office based in Dubai, moving then to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia where she worked as a Director at NEOM. As a Director at PwC in Dubai, she worked with emphasis on ESG and Sustainability practices.

A Georgetown University Fulbright Visiting Researcher, she holds a PhD in Political Theory and a Master’s degree in International Relations, Markets and Institutions of the Global System.

Dr. Paul Rose, Dean and Professor, CWRU Law

Professor Rose writes and teaches about sovereign wealth funds, corporate governance, investment management law, and securities regulation. He has consulted with and provided testimony on these topics to numerous regulators and other agencies, including the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; the Government Accountability Office; and the Congressional Research Service.

He has been a Senior Legal Consultant to the World Bank, an affiliate the Sovereign Wealth Fund Initiative at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, a non-resident fellow of the ESADEgeo-Center for Global Economy and Geopolitics, an affiliate with IE Business School, and an affiliate with the Sovereign Investment Lab, a research project at Università Bocconi.

He is an elected member of the American Law Institute and serves as co-chair of the Shareholder Activism and Engagement Subcommittee of the American Bar Association’s Corporate Governance Committee.

Prior to joining Case Western, Rose held the J. Gilbert Reese Chair in Contract Law and served as associate dean at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.

He began his academic career as a visiting assistant professor in securities and finance at Northwestern University School of Law. Before joining Northwestern, Rose practiced law in the corporate and securities practice group of Covington & Burling LLP’s San Francisco office.

He worked as an assistant trader in equity and emerging market derivatives at Citibank, N.A. in New York prior to attending law school.

Dr. Jürgen Braunstein, Ex-Harvard, Senior Fellow Vienna University of Economics and Business

Dr. Braunstein is currently a senior fellow under a Schroedinger grant at the Institute for Economic Geography and GIScience at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. He is also an associate fellow with the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) in Rome, and affiliated with the Harvard Center for European Studies. Prior to this he was a fellow and post-doctoral researcher at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School, where he worked on the Geopolitics of Energy Project.

His research focuses on the drivers as well as consequences of the green energy revolution for the global energy composition and its implications for existing and future economic interstate relations. Braunstein has been a member of the G20 Think20 task force under presidency of Indonesia (2022), Italy (2021), and Saudi Arabia (2020) working on infrastructure financing in a decarbonizing context. Previously, he coordinated the New Climate Economy (NCE) urban finance workstream at the London School of Economics (LSE) Cities research center. Braunstein is the author of Capital Choices: Sectoral Politics and the Variation of Sovereign Wealth (2019, Michigan University Press). In 2022 his revised new edition of Capital Choices was awarded with the ASCINA Principal Investigator Award.

Beyond his peer reviewed publications, he has published numerous articles in media outlets, such as the Financial Times, Forbes, Project Syndicate, and VoxEU. He holds a PhD in comparative and international political economy, and a master of research in political science from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a BA from the University of Vienna (Austria).

Steven Ong, MSc, Data Science

With 15 years of experience in merger & acquisitions, corporate finance and valuation, Steven has a deep understanding of business dynamics. As a data science leader, he transforms cutting-edge technology into actionable solutions, seamlessly bridging the gap between data science and business. Steven drives innovation, enabling organizations to make smarter investment decisions and uncover high-growth opportunities through AI and machine learning.

Steven holds a Master’s degree in Data Science from the University of Michigan, graduating with a perfect GPA of 4.0, and a Bachelor’s degree in Accountancy and Finance from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He is also a Chartered Accountant.

Services

THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

We engage as Executive Board Advisors and offer policy guidance and gap analysis to put in place a best practice framework in line with the Santiago Principles and IMF/World Bank/BIS guidelines..

We put in place investment policy, external fund manager policy and risk management frameworks - and can guide on sustainability and cutting edge technology (AI and machine learning).

INVESTMENT & RISK COMMITTEE

We engage as Senior Advisors to the Investment Committee and Risk Management Function to guide on the strategic asset allocation, tactical asset allocation to review how well risk/return objectives and constrains are best addressed.

We assist also in the design of investment guidelines, risk management frameworks and how to develop an excellent inhouse and external fund manager framework.

INVESTMENT DEPARTMENT

We take on bespoke assignments to meet specific scope and objectives. This could include designing benchmark strategy and offering full guidance on the process to search for external fund managers and sophisticating inhouse teams. We devise investment guidelines and assist in putting the SAA in place.

We offer outsourced CIO function and analytical capabilities to optimize the investment strategy and its execution.

We apply best practices, decades of investment and risk management experience and sophisticated analysis to find the best solutions.

Connect and Network

Reach out to understand how we can work together and put your capital ideas to work in a global partnership.