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Valerie Benard – Head of Aksia Europe
Valerie has over 15 years of experience in hedge fund research, advisory, investor relations and business development. She joined Aksia in September 2009 as an equity Partner and Head of Aksia Europe in London. Valerie is responsible for the development of Aksia’s presence in Europe and the Middle East. Valerie oversees all business operations in the U.K. and client relationships in Europe and the Middle East.
Prior to Aksia, Valerie was Managing Director and Head of Business Development and Investor Relations for Blackstone Asset Management (BAAM) in Europe from 2007 to 2009. She joined BAAM in 2001 to establish Blackstone’s hedge fund presence in Europe. Her responsibilities included identifying and researching hedge fund managers based in Europe and overseeing non-U.S. institutional sales, marketing and business development strategy for BAAM’s funds of hedge funds.
In 2003, she became Head of BAAM London and was a member of the Executive Committee. Valerie was promoted to Managing Director at the end of 2005, and led BAAM’s business development effort in the U.K., Europe, Asia ex-Japan, and the Middle East.
In 1994, Valerie started her career at TASS Investment Research Limited where she was responsible for marketing, sales and client service for the TASS databases in Europe, and was involved in researching hedge funds and CTAs. Valerie became a partner of TASS Investment Research Limited in 1998. When TASS was acquired in 1999, Valerie became Director of Business Development and was responsible for promoting the firm’s advisory services outside the United States, as well as managing the database sales team globally. Valerie graduated from the Faculté des Affaires Internationales in Le Havre, France in 1994 with a Masters of International Finance and Business.