About Us
Douglas Hansen-Luke - Managing Partner
For 20 years, Douglas navigated emerging market investments through the handover of Hong Kong, the Asian Financial and Global Financial crises, Boxing Day Tsunami and Arab Spring. His skill in meeting the challenges of emerging markets enabled Douglas to participate in projects gathering over USD 13bn assets.
Prior to founding HLD, Douglas worked for Bain & Company, Salomon Brothers, ABN AMRO Asset Management and was most recently CEO of Robeco Middle East. Douglas is Chairman of Gulf Tories, a pan Middle East Conservative association and his support for financial inclusion and sustainability led him to direct a financial literacy pilot-scheme for 300 entrepreneurs in Rwanda. Douglas’s thought leadership has been featured by the Financial Times, BBC and CNBC as well as Gulf regional publications.
Not content with working in Emerging Markets, in 1994 Douglas pioneered a motorbike expedition through the newly opened Commonwealth of States. Frequently found at the forefront of key events - financial and otherwise - Douglas was the first person to conduct an interview with the Taliban and his 1996 interview with Mullah Omar, Mayor of Kandahar, was broadcast by Associated Press TV.
Douglas holds an MA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford and has professional financial accreditation in the UK, US and Hong Kong.
Alex Denby - Managing Partner
Prior to HLD Partners, Alex worked for Osborne & Partners a firm renowned for providing international strategic advice for UHNW stakeholders in social media companies such as Facebook, Zynga and Spotify. Having acquired many investment principles from a family background in property, Alex has amassed a wealth of experience successfully negotiating Emerging and Frontier Markets. He acted as Relationship Manager for Robeco, developing their Institutional relationships in Africa and Central Asia, and spent time with ABN AMRO bank in Paris, both as part of their Multi-Manager team and working alongside a top-performing US equities manager.
Educated at Eton and Bristol before joining Robeco in Bahrain, Alex has developed an expert knowledge of the Middle Eastern markets, particularly Sovereign Wealth Funds. Living and working in the Middle East, France and Argentina, enabled Alex to act as a pioneer for investors in frontier markets.
His success in identifying and developing global investment opportunities led Alex to co-found HLD Partners in 2012. Recent projects have included representing a Premier league football team and working to help investment institutions access African investments.
Stella Park - Director
One of the founding directors of HLD Partners, Stella’s valuable experience of the Far East is a significant asset, which greatly strengthens the company offering. Stella was born and educated in South Korea and holds a BA in English Education from Kyunbook National University. She also completed and attained professional financial accreditation in Hong Kong.
Stella has a diverse range of financial experience that includes working with Morgan Stanley and ABN AMRO Asset Management in Hong Kong. In addition, she was largely responsible for establishing the AAAM Korea Office in 2005.
Over the last two decades, Stella has lived and worked in Seoul, Hong Kong, the Middle East and the UK, providing her with expertise in markets in varying stages of development. In the internet-boom that transformed Hong Kong during the early 2000’s, Stella successfully raised seed funding for Typhoon Eight, an online trading platform. At the same time, she led Company One, a real-time moving screen and advertising company giving her a key insight into the intersection between marketing and investment.
Anothai Thaitirarot - Senior Research Associate
Anothai is a Senior Research Associate at HLD Partners in London focussing on Business Developments within the Middle East and UK markets. Prior to joining HLD, he was a post-doctoral researcher on a number of projects related to energy and aeroplane engines funded by high profile companies in the UK, US and Thailand.
Anothai holds a First Class Honours MEng in Engineering Science and DPhil in Mechanical Engineering from University of Oxford. Whilst at Oxford, he played Rugby League for the University team and Basketball for the Joint College team. He is a keen traveller and has visited most of the countries in Europe and Asia.
Sammy Halabi - Research Associate
Sammy recently joined HLD Partners as a Research Associate and manages HLD’s London office. He works on HLD’s collaborations with some of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds and public pension funds, with a particular focus on those involved in emerging and frontier markets. Sammy is the co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Global Risk Insights, a web-based political risk think tank. Prior to joining HLD, he served as a Compliance Analyst with the G8/G20 Research Group at the University of Toronto.
Sammy holds an MSc in International Political Economy from the London School of Economics, and was awarded an Honours BA with High Distinction in Economics and International Relations from the University of Toronto.
Having lived in Kuwait for some time, Sammy has an avid interest in the Middle East as well as a first hand understanding of the key socio-economic and cultural issues effecting the region. Additionally, Sammy has developed expertise on the Balkans region through numerous visits, including an independent research trip to Kosovo.
In his spare time Sammy plays competitive volleyball for the University of London Union in London’s Premier League.
Georgianna Vaughan
Georgianna helped establish Deverell Associates – a risk assessment and crisis management consultancy - in 2013. She has experience in a wide variety of sectors having worked in communications for the United Nations and various international media outlets. She has written for several publications including contributing a study on migration to a book by the United Nations Association.
As manager of the UK Artists’ Collecting Society, Georgianna directed a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of EU legislation on Arts Law. She has researched for the UK Intellectual Property Office and was a political and security risk analyst for AKE Intelligence. She holds a first class degree from Cambridge and an MSc in International Relations from the LSE.
In addition to having lived and worked in Spain and the US, Georgianna spent six months working in Burma in 2005.
