Women in PE

For Silvia Oteri, who heads Permira's global healthcare investing arm, improving the gender gap isn't just about getting more women into PE, she believes, but creating an environment that leads to success.

MiddleGround’s 'entrepreneurial' vibe allowed Christen Paras to embrace increasing responsibility, and eventually lead six teams. Passionate about female empowerment, she's a sponsor of the firm's Women’s Wing, which backs charities for abused and homeless women and children.

A partner with Bain Capital, Jennifer Davis says her work has 'enabled me to turn consumer and retail industry insight into more tangible investing and operating outcomes.' One big outcome came in February when Bain took retailer Bob’s Discount Furniture public after a 12-year hold.

Julia Wittlin spent 15 years at BlackRock before joining RedBird, whose OneTeam launched with partners from NFL and MLB player associations. Now she's a lead on RedBird's college sports efforts, including its engagement with the Big 12 Conference.

Jennifer James led the way when Thoma Bravo's Fund XVI became 2025's top PE fund close in North America. Also serving on the board of Private Equity Women Investor Network, she's dedicated to advancing representation via mentoring.

Marcie Frost started out as a teenage mother with a temp job as a typist. She would rise to become the CEO of the largest public pension in the US, without receiving a college degree, and experiencing a diversity of roles along the way that no college degree could buy.

For CVC's Cathrin Petty, it's important to 'feel secure about taking risk and learn constantly.' After studying science at Cambridge, she went on to embrace finance and eventually joined Schroders, where she was integral when Singapore's government allocated $100m for an analyst-managed fund.

Manna's Ellie Rubenstein says the female GP route is 'one of the hardest.' Nevertheless, in an industry where women are less than 20% of senior leadership, her firm is nearly two-thirds female. It has also become preeminent in the lower mid-market – growing to $800m in AUM.

When Yangge Seamang was offered a chance to build CHST's PE program, there were challenges, like the covid pandemic, but Seamang was able to deploy capital steadily, bringing CHST well beyond its earlier 4% exposure to PE.

When Katrina Liao joined Coller, she says she 'did not even know what a secondary was.' But Liao went on to originate some of the secondaries giant's largest GP-led and single-asset deals. With mentorship a priority, she launched the Women in Private Equity dinner series.