Best Practice and Capital Ideas at Work Globally

Serving Sovereign Investors with $55 trillion in assets

Global Partnerships

Sovereign Investors is a purpose-driven organization empowering sovereign wealth funds, central banks, and other public investors globally. We excel in:

  • Research: Collaborating with top universities and international organizations to produce cutting-edge insights and thought leadership.

  • Networking: Providing access to our International Advisory Council and a global network of experienced professionals that have held senior positions at major SWFs and Central Banks around the globe.

  • Best practice: Offering tailored board-level advisory service to implement best practices and drive organizational transformation based on deep experience on how to put best practice in place.

Our core DNA is rooted in cross-cultural collaboration, co-creation, and co-investment framework within the sovereign investor universe. We provide the resources and expertise necessary for sovereign investors to fulfill their objectives and navigate the transformation to best practice.

Leadership Team

CEO

(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.

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.

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.

Eugene O’Callaghan, Ex-CEO of Irish SWF (ISIF)

Eugene O’Callaghan served as the Director (CEO) of Ireland’s sovereign wealth fund, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) and its predecessor the National Pensions Reserve Fund (NPRF), from 2010 to 2021. ISIF has a “double bottom line” mandate to invest on a commercial basis to support economic activity and employment in Ireland. NPRF invested via investment managers globally across all asset classes with a mandate to achieve optimal long-term return subject to acceptable levels of risk. The NPRF became the ISIF in 2014. He was previously Head of Investment Manager Programme with the NPRF. He has also been a member of the Advisory Committee for the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds (IFSWF) (2017-2021).

Eugene joined NPRF in 2005 from Irish Life Investment Managers, Ireland’s largest investment management firm, where he had been chief operating officer in addition to numerous other roles in a 15-year tenure. Prior to that he lived in New Zealand for five years where he worked in an investment bank and in a major accounting firm.

Today, Eugene is an advisor to investment funds and businesses.  He is Co-Founder of EHA Advisory, a boutique advisory firm that supports the re-design, reshaping and implementation of sovereign and long-term investment funds based on global best practice standards, and he is a member of the Faculty Board of the SWF Academy.

He is a chartered accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from University College Dublin.

Winston Ma, CFA & Esq. Executive Director of GPIFF and Adjunct Professor, NYU School of Law

Winston Ma, CFA & Esq., is an investor, attorney, author, and adjunct professor in the global AI-digital economy. He is a partner of Dragon Global, an AI-focused family office (founding member: Dragon.AI). He is also the Executive Director of the Global Public Investment Funds Forum (GPIFF) and an Adjunct Professor at NYU School of Law.

Most recently for 10 years, he was Managing Director and Head of North America Office for China Investment Corporation (CIC), China’s sovereign wealth fund. Prior to that, Mr. Ma served as the deputy head of equity capital markets at Barclays Capital, a vice president at J.P. Morgan investment banking, and a corporate lawyer at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP.

A nationally certified Software Programmer as early as 1994, Mr. Ma is the author of more than 10 books on SWF funds, digital economy, and global geopolitics, including The Hunt for Unicorns: How Sovereign Funds are Reshaping Investment in the Digital Economy. He has been a member of NYU President's Global Council since its inception. He was selected a 2013 Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum (WEF), and in 2014 he received the NYU Distinguished Alumni Award.

Sven Otto Littorin, Former Swedish Minister for Employment and Chairman

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.

Scott Kalb, MA, Harvard, Ex-CIO of KIC

Scott Kalb is the former CIO and Deputy CEO of the KIC, Korea’s $200 bn sovereign wealth fund.  Scott presided over 300% growth in AUM during his four-year tenure at the KIC (2009-2012). Currently, Scott serves as Founder and Director of the Responsible Asset Allocator Initiative at the Fletcher School, where he is rating the world's 300 largest asset owners on their responsible investment practices, and producing research to help them think through the next stages of their responsible investing programs.

As CEO of KLTI Advisors since 2013, Scott has worked with sovereign wealth and pension funds around the world, and currently consults for the World Bank/IFC on pension and capital markets projects in developing countries, including Georgia, Rwanda, and Vietnam.  In addition, Scott is Co-founder and Chairman of Bright Feeds, a company that converts food waste into animal feed, saving millions of dollars for businesses while removing harmful carbon emissions. Scott also is Chairman of the Sovereign Investor Institute, the world’s leading community for sovereign wealth and public pension funds.

Locally, Scott served two terms in the town of Greenwich legislature, and in 2023 was elected to the Greenwich Board of Estimate and Taxation, setting the tax rate and developing the town’s $500 million budget. He serves on the Boards of the Greenwich Retirement System and OPEB Trusts, as well as on the Connecticut Coalition for Sustainable Materials Management (CCSMM) organized by the CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP). Scott earned an MA degree from Harvard University and a BA with Honors from Oberlin College.

Arif Shaikh, Banker, Board Member & Senior Risk Advisor

Mr. Arif Shaikh is a Senior Risk & Compliance Advisor in the UAE with stints with different institutions in the area of Risk Management, Compliance, Corporate Governance etc. He has been the advisor to HE the Governor of the Central Bank of the UAE for Risk, Compliance and other banking services and is a Board Member on a CBUAE Subsidiary. Prior to this role, he has been the Senior Executive Vice President / Group Chief Risk Officer at First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB); he has been associated with the Group since Jan 2001 with responsibilities including Enterprise Risk Management function, Information Security, Group Compliance Function, Group Legal function and the overall Corporate Governance of the bank. He has set up these functions at FAB from scratch and has developed the current risk framework at FAB on a global basis.

He has had stints on the Board of CBUAE/FAB subsidiaries and external companies in the Real Estate, Islamic Finance, Dubai First, FGLB, etc. He is currently on the board of Oumulat Security Printing and the Abu Dhabi Awqaf Authority.

Prior to joining FAB, Mr. Shaikh has worked with HSBC, ANZ Grindlays Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, KPMG & PWC covering a variety of positions including Risk Management, Audit, Finance, Trade Finance, Corporate Banking, Branch Management, Banking Consultancy, etc. Mr. Shaikh has had working stints in different parts of the world apart from his current base in Abu Dhabi.

Mr. Shaikh holds a Bachelors Degree in Commerce, Bachelors Degree in Law and is also a qualified Chartered Accountant with the Indian Institute of Chartered Accountants.

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. Demir Bektić, PhD. Head of Asset Solutions and member of Investment Committee at Commerzbank. Adjunct Professor of Finance at the International University of Monaco and at the Institute of Management Technology in Dubai.

Dr. Demir Bektić is Head of Multi Asset Solutions and a member of the Investment Committee at Commerzbank AG. After completing his studies in Business Informatics at the University of Mannheim, he earned his PhD in factor-based investment strategies at TU Darmstadt, where he was also a visiting scholar at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Following his initial positions in portfolio management & trading at Lupus alpha and as a portfolio manager at a single family office, he became Executive Director and Head of Quant Fixed Income at Deka Investment. Additionally, he served as Managing Director at IQ-KAP, the Institute for Quantitative Capital Market Research of DekaBank. Subsequently, he managed a hedge fund at ansa capital management and later became Head of Portfolio Management at the multi-family office FINVIA, where he was a member of the Investment Committee.

He is an Adjunct Professor of Finance at the International University of Monaco and at the Institute of Management Technology Dubai. He has also been a visiting professor at the University of Miami and a lecturer at TU Darmstadt. He regularly presents his research at international conferences and received the Bernstein Fabozzi / Jacobs Levy Outstanding Article Award from the Journal of Portfolio Management for a publication on Factor Investing. Furthermore, he serves as an independent expert on the jury of the German Alternative Investment Association (BAI) for awarding the annual BAI Science Award and is a reviewer for numerous academic finance journals.

Dr. Jürgen Braunstein, Assistant Professor, Vienna University of Economics. Lecturer at Harvard University DCE Sustainability Program & Affiliate, Harvard Center for European Studies.

Dr. Jürgen Braunstein is currently Assistant Professor (tenure track) at the Vienna University of Economics and Business where he leads the Geofinance Unit. He is also affiliated with the Harvard Center for European Studies and lectures at the Harvard DCE Sustainability Program. Prior to this he was a fellow and post-doctoral researcher Harvard's Geopolitics of Energy Project.

He has been actively involved in the G20 Think20 task force during the presidencies of Indonesia (2022), Italy (2021), and Saudi Arabia (2020), focusing on financing in a decarbonizing context. Previously, he coordinated the urban finance workstream for the New Climate Economy (NCE) at the London School of Economics (LSE) Cities research center. He is the author of Capital Choices: Sectoral Politics and the Variation of Sovereign Wealth (2019), published by Michigan University Press. In 2022, a revised edition of his book received the ASCINA Principal Investigator Award. In 2023 his research project on 'Energy Finance Transitions' (ENFIN) was awarded with an ERC Starting Grant from the European Commission

Karina Lunchinkina, MBA, Ex-PwC, Board Advisor

Karina Luchinkina brings 25+ years of global experience in governance, energy, and finance, with a proven track record in performance improvement, strategy, and risk management. She has held senior leadership roles with PwC and has served as a trusted advisor to governments and SWFs. At PwC, Karina led Governance, Risk, and Control services for SWFs, delivering innovative solutions to enhance governance frameworks, responsible investment strategies, and operational resilience. As a Senior Director in Global Deals Origination, she sought off-market transactions for the world’s largest institutional investors, including sovereign funds and private equity firms, leveraging her extensive network and expertise in deal structuring. Her work also focused on responsible investment solutions, helping clients integrate ESG principles into investment strategies and governance practices.

Karina’s executive experience includes serving as Chief Operating Officer and Global Head of Strategic Partnerships at Arabesque Holding, a pioneer in ESG and AI-driven investment technologies. Her leadership was instrumental in corporate transformation, strategic alliances, and financing for high-growth initiatives.

As an Independent Non-Executive Director of Main Gas Pipelines of Ukraine (MGU), Karina guided the company through transformational European certification, asset and corporate unbundling and governance reforms and spearheaded sustainability efforts within one of Europe’s most critical infrastructure entities.

Karina holds an MBA from London Business School and degrees in marketing and engineering. She is passionate about strategic leadership, fostering collaboration, and advancing sustainable solutions on a global scale.

Vitaly Veksler, CFA, CEO of Beyond Borders Investment Strategies

Vitaly Veksler, CFA, is a macro investment professional with 25 years of experience. He is the founder of Beyond Borders Investment Strategies, LLC (BBIS). The firm manages equity portfolios built from single-country exchange-traded funds of nations where stock markets trade at significant discounts to their historical average valuations, usually during major crises. At BBIS, Vitaly aims to earn returns for the firm’s clients and help end country crises by protecting existing jobs and creating new ones within publicly traded companies.

Before BBIS, Vitaly was Vice President at BNY Mellon Asset Management. He authored popular quarterly Global Economic & Market Outlook reports for BNY Mellon’s largest institutional clients, such as central banks, sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), public and corporate pension plans, university endowments, and foundations. In the reports, he analyzed trends affecting various investment asset classes worldwide and recommended appropriate global portfolio allocations. Previously, Vitaly wrote more than 200 investment reports for portfolio managers at Fidelity Investments and State Street Research (now BlackRock). In the reports, he analyzed trends affecting global equities in the Technology, Alternative Energy, and Energy industries.

Vitaly has spoken on global macro and impact investing topics to audiences at events and conferences organized by leading business and academic organizations such as the CFA Society Boston, Asharq/Bloomberg TV, Boston University, Tufts, Cornell, Harvard, and MIT. Articles and interviews with Vitaly have been published on ETF.com, Yahoo Finance, Fidelity.com, The Investors Podcast, Finding Unique Value Podcast, and Advisors Perspectives.

Vitaly received an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy with a focus on international finance from Tufts University’s Fletcher School, and a Diploma in Management Information Systems and Artificial Intelligence from the Moscow Technical University.

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.

Advisory

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.