Athene Capital

Allen Thomas is a dual-qualified (US and England) corporate lawyer with over 30 years of experience in international transactions, now serving as Senior Sector Partner and General Counsel at Athene Capital Group. He heads the London office of Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners LLP and was previously a corporate partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison for 20 years, where he founded the firm's Hong Kong office. He holds a degree from Wesleyan University (1961) and an LLB from Yale Law School (1964), and is admitted to practice in New York, Washington DC, and as a Solicitor in England and Wales.

Bill Dietrich is a Senior Sector Partner at Athene Capital Group. He studied Electrical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin in the 1960s and spent much of his career at Kastle Systems, a company founded in 1972 that developed remote electronic office building security access, where he ended his tenure as Executive Vice-President of R&D. He currently serves as CFO of Compliance Alliance.

Brett Akker is a Senior Sector Partner at Athene Capital Group and a serial entrepreneur. He founded and chairs LOVESPACE, a UK storage-by-the-box service, and previously co-founded Streetcar, a UK pay-as-you-go car club that was acquired by Zipcar in 2010 for $50m. He holds a degree in Economics and Law from Durham.

Daryn Edgar is a Senior Sector Partner at Athene Capital Group who specializes in enterprise software, with expertise in CRM and ERM. She spent much of her career at Avanade, a Microsoft technology integrator, where she was Senior Director of Business Solutions, and previously held roles at Allegro, WellPoint, and PwC. She currently advises and mentors startups across several London tech incubators.

John Goldader is a Senior Sector Partner at Athene Capital Group. He is a serial entrepreneur with three exits, a senior leader at Bink, a UK provider of payment-linked loyalty services, and advises early-stage companies. He previously held senior technology and consulting roles at BG Group, Booz & Co, and Deloitte, and studied Mechanical Engineering and Finance at The University of Texas at Austin.

Julien Bruneau is a Partner at Athene Capital with more than 15 years of experience in private equity. He previously held roles at the Regional Growth Fund, Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity, CIBC World Markets plc, and PAI partners, working on pan-European transactions across business services, building materials, capital goods, consumer, healthcare, and TMT. He holds an MSc in Valuation and Finance from Lyon II University and studied an MSc in Corporate Finance at EM Lyon Business School.

Richard Denton is a Director of a general partner of the Athene Capital Partnerships, with three decades of experience across banking, fiduciary, and asset management firms including Coutts Group, Bank of Bermuda, Fortis, and Barclays. He most recently served as CEO of the Triangle Group and previously led international wealth advisory at Barclays Wealth & Investment Division. He holds a degree in History and a Post Graduate Certificate in Education from Nottingham University and an MBA from Warwick University, and is a qualified Associate of the Institute of Financial Services, a Chartered Member of the Securities Institute, and a TEP.

Richard Hickson is a Senior Sector Partner at Athene Capital Group with a background in the security and risk industry. He is currently Managing Director of Spartent Global Solutions and previously spent eight years as CEO of Hill & Associates, alongside senior executive roles at Brink's and Holmes Protections, and began his career in the Royal Army, reaching the rank of Major. He holds a BSc from St Andrews and an MBA from INSEAD.