Advisory Board

James Morgon is CEO and Co-founder of ‘Mindstruck’ , an investment holding company that acquires and operates incredible businesses that fuel human potential.

He sits on the impact advisory board of White Oak Global Advisors, a US based asset manager with $12bn AUM.

Earlier in his career, he served as the Managing Director of Europe at the Milken Institute from 2015 to January 2022 and continues to work closely with the Institute as a Senior Advisor.

James previously worked in financial services and held the title of Managing Partner of a family office in Mayfair, London. Earlier, he worked in investment banking and wealth management in London, New York and Sao Paulo, Brazil and he served as a Global Partner at one of the world’s best performing Venture Capital firms, ‘Antler’.

At 24, he founded an award-winning energy company that helped more than 2,000 UK non-profit organizations reduce their energy consumption while creating sustainable, meaningful employment for disabled and disadvantaged people. It was sold in 2013.

He is an Advisory Council Member of the Toucan Project, an educational charity which is part of the Said Family Foundation.

Maxime Franzetti joined Mubadala in 2008 and was a founding member of Mubadala Capital in 2011 where he currently is a Senior Partner and the Co-Head of Mubadala Capital Solutions. Since the founding of Mubadala Capital, Maxime has held a number of senior positions across the firm, most recently acting as the Head of Public Investments where he was overseeing Mubadala Capital’s public market initiatives.  Prior experiences at Mubadala Capital includes having worked on a number of private market transactions.  Maxime is also a member of the Investment Committee of Mubadala Capital which approves all deals across PE, VC and Brazil.  Prior to joining Mubadala in 2008, Maxime worked in the Mergers & Acquisitions group of Dresdner Kleinwort and R.W. Baird in London.  Maxime graduated with First Class Honours from Queen Mary College, University of London.

Özgür is a Senior Managing Director of CVC where he heads the firm’s investment activities across the Middle East and Turkey. He is based in Dubai.

Prior to joining CVC, he worked for UBS Investment Bank and Booz Allen & Hamilton.

Özgür holds an MBA from Harvard Business School as well as a BA in Economics and BAS in Systems Science from University of Pennsylvania where he was a Simon Kuznets Fellow.

Roberto Croci is currently the Director of Value Creation & Transformation at the Public Investment Fund (PIF) in Riyadh-KSA. Prior to this role, he was the Managing Director of Microsoft for Startups in the MEA region with a vision to drive innovation and develop market-defining ideas in the Middle East. He previously served as Regional Head, Google Marketing Platforms – EMEA Emerging Markets (Middle East, Turkey, Israel, Russia, Africa), having started in Google Milan & London (6 months each), then promoted and transferred to Paris & Singapore and then to Dubai. He has been Awarded and Nominated twice by Google for “Best Coaching Manager” and “Best Googler Inspiring Hero” in 2018 and 2016, respectively. He is also an active conference speaker and panelist, especially around VC Investing and MENA Growth. He regularly speaks at prominent universities and within local school systems. Roberto is passionate about mentoring young people and helping them develop an entrepreneurial mindset to find solutions to problems they see in their community, country, or across the globe. Roberto has earned his Industrial Engineering Degree from Politecnico di Milano. He also did his Master in Business and Management from Duke University in 3 locations (US, UK, Singapore). Along with this, he has earned EMBA from Harvard Business School as well focused on leadership, change, and innovation.

Saskia Howard joined 500 Global’s senior leadership team in 2022 to drive the firm’s global growth strategy, leveraging her track record of building and scaling global funds, leading strategic initiatives and her extensive global business network. As Global Head of Strategic Relations, Saskia leads relationship management and business development with governments and global asset allocators, exploring new investment opportunities across markets and product solutions with this institutional client base. Saskia was previously Director of External Relations at SoftBank Vision Fund for 4 years, where she was part of the CEO Office and played an instrumental role in the build out of the world’s largest technology asset manager. Prior to that, Saskia was Director of Institutional Client Coverage at UBS, managing relationships with sovereign institutions across EMEA.

Spike Hughes is the Founder & CEO Of Cohesion Investments, an India dedicated Investment Manager.

He has 30+ years investment experience and has been directly responsible for raising assets over USD 15bn.

He was one of the founders of the Skandia Investment Group and personally innovated several market-leading fund ranges, including the industry popular Best Ideas funds.

He was the founding Managing Director of the discretionary and multi-manager businesses at FTSE 100 group Hargreaves Lansdown and was also Strategic Adviser to the CEO of AXA, where he contributed to the launch of a market leading asset management business.

Spike has many years of experience as a director on the board of funds, with particular experience of India- focussed investments.

Tom Hudson is a lawyer by background, who moved to the UAE in 2006 with Linklaters, where he worked on many of the regional bond issues and IPOs, including DP World, where he ultimately went in-house. In 2016, he set up an advisory firm that assists companies rapidly expand into the Middle East. Tom is a regular commentator for the likes of CNBC and CNN on the regional tech ecosystem. In 2021, Tom wrote “Exponential Emirates: the Exponential Country for the Exponential Age” a book describing the extraordinary growth story of the UAE and how it has almost uniquely harnessed the features of exponential organisations. In the year of EXPO, and the Golden Jubilee of the UAE, he interviewed 50 people who had all been part of the UAE’s story, and explains the history of the first 50 years of the country and what is in store for the next 50.

Manuel Rogl is a senior investment professional at JIMCO, the global investment arm of the Jameel family. Focus areas range from energy transition and sustainable agriculture to the advancement of mobility, technology, and healthcare.

Prior to joining JIMCO in 2018, Manuel worked in the investment structuring group of UniCredit CIB. He began his career in investment banking at Deutsche Bank.

Manuel received a Master of Commerce in Finance and Accounting from Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, and a Master of Science in Finance and Information from University of Augsburg, Germany. He is a CAIA charter holder.