Judges Panel

Matt Evans

Managing Director, Head of Europe

DigitalBridge

Matt Evans is a Managing Director, Head of Europe at DigitalBridge Investment Management. Mr. Evans is based in London and focuses on European Investments and opportunities. He is an accomplished and a highly experienced global infrastructure investor, bringing more than two decades of relevant industry and transaction expertise to DigitalBridge.

Prior to joining DigitalBridge, Mr. Evans served as Global Head of Digital Infrastructure, Co-Head of Origination and Co-Head of Europe at AMP Capital. During his tenure, he was responsible for the firm's successful investments including Axion, Expedient, Everstream Solutions, eNet and Towercom. Before joining AMP Capital in 2013, Mr. Evans spent 14 years at Macquarie Capital Advisors in various roles of increasing responsibility, most recently as Managing Director of the Telecoms, Media, Entertainment and Technology Group in EMEA.

Mr. Evans has a Bachelor of Science degree and a Bachelor of Arts with Honours from the University of Waikato in New Zealand.

Anu Balasubramanian

Global Vice Chair, Private Equity

Paul Hastings

Olivier Wolf

Global Technology, Media and Entertainment, and Telecommunications Sector Leader

EY-Parthenon

Olivier is the Global Leader for the Technology, Media and Telecommunications sector (TMT) at EY-Parthenon, the strategy consulting arm of EY.
He has advised TMT C-Suite corporate clients and private equity funds in the for more than 25 years. He has extensive international experience in growth strategy, commercial due diligence, market analysis, business plan development, synergy evaluation and post-acquisition strategy.
He has advised a wide range of TMT clients such as BT, Sony, Ericsson, RELX, OVH, WPP plc, Phillips, Channel 4 as well as for Private Equity funds such as KKR, Hg Capital, Carlyle, Macquarie, Apax Partners, Digital Bridge and Bain Capital.
Olivier is a respected industry commentator in the TMT sector, having appeared on TV and industry conferences, as well as being quoted in print media such as FT and TMT Finance.
Olivier has a degree in Engineering from Ecole Centrale Paris and an MBA from INSEAD in France.

Yishai Fransis

Managing Director, Head of EMEA Technology Investment Banking

Citi

Yishai heads the Technology Investment Banking team for Citi in the EMEA region based in London. Yishai’s coverage spans the internet software, hardware and fintech verticals
20 years of tech investment banking in both US and EMEA
Previously worked at Deutsche Bank (Head of EMEA Technology Investment Banking), Electronic Arts (Corporate Development), Compugen and previously for over seven years in Israel’s Intelligence Corps (ranked captain) where he led several large scale multi-disciplinary R&D groups
MBA with honours from UCLA Anderson and BSc with honours in Computer Sciences

Benoît Tanguy

Global Co-Head - TMT

SGCIB

Chris Watson - Partner, Global Head of TMC

Chris Watson

Chair TMC Global Sector Group

CMS UK

Darragh Stokes

Managing Partner

Hardiman Telecommunications Ltd.

Nick Elverston

Practice Group Head, Digital Economy Transactions

Ashurst LLP

Nick Elverston is head of Ashurst's Digital Economy Transactions group. He has 25 years of experience (including six months working in Tokyo and eight months working in Paris) providing cross-border legal advice to clients in the TMT sector and, more recently, in the wider digital economy. Clients include telecoms and media companies, vendors and banks operating in the TMT sector. He has advised on a range of high-profile telecommunication transactions across the globe, including roll-out of new services, network shares, joint ventures, acquisitions and disposals, as well as providing the sector input on financings and disputes.

Nick is recognised as a leader in his field for both legal and industry knowledge. His practice has taken him across the globe with clients and deals spanning Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. He is bi-lingual in English and French and fluent in Japanese. Ashurst has developed a special focus on the TMT sector and the changes being brought about by the increasing importance of the Digital Economy. Members of the digital economy practice are active across the firm's footprint.

Nick is recognised in the Hall of Fame for IT and Telecoms by Legal 500 UK 2024, ranked in Band 1 for Telecommunications by Chambers and Partners UK 2024 and has been peer selected as one of the top TMT practitioners by Euromoney in the 'Best of the Best' Expert Guide 2020.

Michael Knott

Senior Partner Global TMT

Roland Berger

Michael Knott is a London-based Senior Partner in the global Telecoms, Media, and Technology (TMT) practice. Michael has 30 years of TMT experience and 22 years as a Partner.
Michael has extensive history with providing investor transaction support as well as leading strategy, performance improvement, and business transformation engagements for corporations across the TMT sector.
Michael began his career in TMT in the early '90s working for a multinational telecommunications holding company in the pricing strategy field. Later he held leadership roles in a number of consulting firms, driving both organic and inorganic value accretion for his TMT clients across EMEA.
Michael holds a Master's degree in Economics from the University of Western Ontario Canada as well as a MBA from London Business School.

Dominic Emery

Managing Director

William Blair

Dom Emery is a managing director for William Blair based in the firm's London office. He joined William Blair's investment banking team in 2022. Prior to William Blair, he worked for Close Brothers Corporate Finance, Investec, and Raymond James.

Andrew Strudwick