Executive Management Team

Kevin Lester, AMCT

Managing Partner

Kevin is the Managing Partner and a co-founder of Validus. He started his career in Switzerland, trading currencies and commodities for multinational corporations including Rio Tinto Alcan and Dow Chemical.  An advisor to the alterative asset management sector since 2007, Kevin has pioneered the use of innovative financial hedging tools and strategies for the private equity, private credit, infrastructure and real estate markets.  He holds an MBA from McGill University in Montreal, and regularly lectures at the London Business School on Risk Management, Private Equity and M&A.

Nationality: Canadian and British

Francois Scheepers, CFA

Partner, Head of Technology

Francois is a co-founder of Validus Risk Management and has specialised in financial services technology since 2001. He is responsible for the research & development of the company’s proprietary client-facing technology platform, and his focus is on the application of emergent technologies to financial risk management so that practitioners at alternative investment funds can manage risks more practically and intuitively.

Francois holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa and is a CFA Charterholder.

Nationality: South African and British

Haakon Blakstad

Partner, Head of Commercial Development

Haakon is responsible for the continued growth of the firm and manages a global sales team to source and develop new business opportunities. Together with his fellow partners he also focuses on creating new revenue streams through service development and geographical expansion. Many such initiatives are done in close collaboration with our clients.

Haakon has a decade’s experience in financial services and capital markets, having previously worked in front office roles at Visa, Hoare Capital, and Société Générale. During his career he has built strong relationships with institutional investors globally, and in recent years has been instrumental in the delivery of risk management solutions to alternative investment managers with several hundred billion dollars in combined AUM. Haakon holds a BA with honours in Business Management from Newcastle University.

Nationality: Norwegian

John Glover

Partner, Head of North America

John heads up our North American division from our offices in Toronto, Canada. He manages a team that looks after Validus clients from coast to coast in both the US and Canada, and he is also responsible for growing our presence further in those markets.

John has worked in the foreign exchange industry for twenty-three years, and has been responsible for leading and executing foreign exchange risk management projects for local as well as multinational companies in several industry sectors, including government agencies, technology, utilities, commodities and financial services. Formerly the Head of Foreign Exchange at Barclays Canada as well as TD Bank in the UK, John has expertise in the area of FX risk quantification and hedging policy construction, for companies with FX exposures ranging from $2 million to $5 billion per year across Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. John holds an MBA from Schulich School of Business in Toronto.

Nationality: Canadian and British

Professor Florin Vasvari, Ph.D, MA 

Senior Advisor to the Board

Professor Vasvari is the London Business School (LBS) Term Chair, Associate Professor of Accounting, and Fellow and Board Member of the Coller Institute of Private Equity in London.  He is the co-author of International Private Equity, a leading MBA textbook on the subject of Private Equity.  Professor Vasvari is a senior advisor to, and board member of,  Validus Risk Management, ensuring that our Private Equity Risk team is continually kept abreast of the latest academic research regarding private equity risk management trends and techniques.