Brookstreet Equity Partners

Founder and Managing Partner (CEO) of Brookstreet Equity Partners LLP with extensive international M&A and investment experience across London, Zurich, and New York, having executed over 300 engagements. An alumnus of LSE, LBS, CBS, and Harvard Business School, he is a Liveryman of the City of London, visiting faculty in PE/VC at the University of London, and an active speaker, mentor, and competition judge across academic and finance forums.

Chris Smith founded TSP Ventures and previously served as UK Managing Director of BGC Partners, where he rose to Executive Managing Director, Global Head of Strategy and Corporate Development, leading around a dozen transactions and chairing the integration team for BGC's acquisition of GFI Group. Earlier in his career he worked as a bond broker, ending as Managing Director of Emerging Markets derivatives at Cantor Fitzgerald in New York, and later spent time as a strategic consultant and recruitment entrepreneur. He was educated at Dulwich College and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and served as a military officer before entering finance.

Leonid Shapiro is a Partner at Brookstreet Equity Partners and the founder and Managing Partner of Candesic, a European advisory firm serving private equity and venture capital funds, where he has been involved in over 100 engagements. He previously worked at McKinsey & Company on private equity strategy, and has served as COO of a software company and CEO of a telecommunications firm. He holds an MD from Duke University, a PhD from Oxford University, and a BA from Cornell University, and trained in corporate finance at the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment.

Spyros Papaspyrou leads portfolio management at the firm and has over 30 years of experience in financial services. He previously held CEO and Deputy CEO roles at Greek banks including Piraeus Bank, where he managed €32B in assets, and served as Assistant General Manager and Strategic Marketing Director at Eurobank and Group Marketing Director at National Bank of Greece. His background covers retail and commercial banking, private banking, payment systems, asset management, distressed assets, risk management, and insurance. He holds an MBA from Aston University (UK) and a BSc in Finance & Management from the American College in Greece.

Tom Sperry is an Advanced Leadership Fellow at Harvard University and a graduate of Harvard Business School's OPM 55 class. He co-founded and serves as managing director of Rogue Venture Partners, a venture capital firm focused on historically under-capitalized regions, with experience in ESG and IoT ventures. He started his career at Microsoft as a founding member of the Games Division.

Natalia Bolou serves as Brookstreet's Sustainability Officer for the UN-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI) and leads the firm's involvement in global ESG initiatives and alignment with responsible-investment standards. She previously worked in Debt Capital Markets at Natixis Bank in France and holds the CFA Institute's Certificate in ESG Investing. She advises on ESG integration, sustainable finance, climate transition planning, and EU regulatory alignment.

Christopher Willmott is a financial services executive and non-executive director with experience across investment management, asset servicing, fintech, and venture capital. His executive roles include CFO of JPMorgan Global Fund Services, Global Head of Automation at Aztec Group, CEO of Sprint Enterprise Technology, and Director of Investor Services, Operations and Technology at Oxford Capital; he also served as Global Special Adviser at Dentons and earlier worked at Hill Samuel Asset Management. He holds an MBA from London Business School and a BSc from the University of London, and is a member of the CISI.

Active CEO of Piraeus Bank, former CEO of Eurobank and former Vice Chair of CSFB.

Davinia Smith is a private-assets and alternative-funds executive with over 30 years of experience across private equity, real estate, infrastructure, corporate structuring and regulated fund governance. She is Senior Executive Vice President / Managing Director, Private Assets and Client Services at The Citco Group Limited, and previously held senior roles at Apex Group, Actum, Alter Domus, Lloyds Bank and Computershare. She has held regulated positions across the UK, Jersey, Guernsey, Gibraltar and the BVI, with experience in fund governance, cross-border administration and investor servicing.

Executive in Residence focused on longevity medicine, biological aging, and translational therapeutics.

Gottfried Springer is a Partner at Brookstreet Equity Partners and a co-founder of the QINO Group. Since 1985 he held leading roles in equity trading and sales at GiroCredit Bank der Österreichischen Sparkassen AG (now part of Erste Bank Group) and at Unicredit (formerly Bank Austria Group), where he headed CEE trading/sales in the investment banking unit, and he managed the BAI-OST mutual fund. In 1999 he co-founded the Switzerland-based QINO Group of research, investment and advisory firms, where he currently holds executive and non-executive positions, and he holds the CySEC Advanced Certificate.

Former President and CEO of Atlantic Bank in New York and former Chairwoman of the Hellenic American Chamber of Commerce.

Nicolas A. Vernicos is a fourth-generation shipowner and entrepreneur who serves as President of Vernicos Tugs and Salvage and Vice President of Vernicos Yachts SA. He is President Emeritus of the International Chamber of Commerce and Vice-Chair of the Silk Road Chamber of International Commerce in China, and sits on the boards of the Hellenic Chamber of Shipping, the Piraeus Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Chamber of Greek-Chinese Economic Cooperation. Born in Athens in 1945, he holds an M.Sc. in Economics from the Athens University of Economics (ASOEE).

Michael Anthropelos is an Associate Professor of Mathematical Finance in the Department of Banking and Financial Management at the University of Piraeus, with research published in journals including the Journal of Economic Theory, Review of Finance, Finance and Stochastics, Mathematical Finance, and the Annals of Applied Probability. He chairs the investment committee for five occupational pension funds in Greece and has taught executive courses on asset liability management and liability-driven investment strategies. He holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin, an M.A. in Mathematical Finance from Columbia University, and a degree in Statistics and Actuarial Science from the University of Piraeus.

Well-known Greek/Cypriot entertainer and Eurovision/The Voice figure who is also an active VC investor.

Spyros Capralos, born in Athens in 1955, studied Economics at the University of Athens and holds an MBA from INSEAD. His career includes roles as President of the Athens Stock Exchange, CEO of the Hellenic Exchanges Group, Executive Vice Chairman of the National Bank of Greece, and Vice President of Bankers Trust Company across Paris, New York, Milan and London. He currently serves as Chairman of Star Bulk Carriers and of Euroclinic, and holds leadership positions in the European and International Olympic movements.

Theodoros Papapetropoulos holds a BSc (Hons) in Economics from the London School of Economics and an MA in European Economics from the University of Exeter, and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales. He began his career at KPMG Peat Marwick in London, later working at IDV (Grand Metropolitan PLC), co-founding and managing ABC Factors, and serving as General Finance Manager and Executive Director for the ATHENS 2004 Olympic Games organizing committee. He is currently CFO of the shipping company Metrostar (Theodore G. Aggelopoulos Group), focusing on mergers and acquisitions and business financing.

Vasilis Petinis is a Certified Public Accountant and Managing Partner of RSM Greece S.A., with more than 20 years of experience in audit and advisory work. He serves as a Non-Executive Board Member of ONYX Ventures and chairs the Audit Committees of ONYX Ventures and IKTINOS HELLAS S.A., both publicly listed companies. He holds a Chemical Engineering degree from the National Technical University of Athens and an MBA from the University of Sheffield, and previously worked at Kantor Management Consultants, Ovum Consulting, and the British Telecom Group.

A JavaScript programmer who co-runs Enclave Games, a two-person indie studio building hyper-casual mobile web games since 2012.