Esther Peiner is Co-Head of the Infrastructure Group Europe in Partners Group, based In Zug. She previously spent close to 11 years at Macquarie Group, where she was a managing director focused initially on the TMT sector and then infrastructure and real assets.

A deeply personal discussion of the challenges and opportunity of blending work and family in the world of finance, the fascinating world of infrastructure investment and the benefits of a diverse workplace.

Lindsey Bass is Head of Marketing and in charge of Fundraising at ImpactA Global, a position she has held since late 2023. She is a passionate advocate for more diversity in the investment industry as well as emerging managers. She has been active on the Asset Owner Diversity Charter as an Advisory Board Member, and in the Diversity Project – investment industry, where she has co-led the Mental Health Workstream as well as other responsibilities. She has also been an early and consistent supporter of Fiftyfaces – for which we are hugely grateful.

Sam Garetano is Senior Vice President at Brookfield Asset Management, where he works in the infrastructure area with a particular focus on data centers. He has spent his entire career in various roles in finance including at Blackrock and Adams Street Partners.

It has been an exciting summer, but we have managed to squeeze in a set of global guests for Series 4 of our 2025 Fiftyfaces Podcast – which takes us from the evolving world of hedge funds and the support infrastructure needed, to emerging market equities to late-stage venture capital to public pension pooling.

Julie Koeninger is Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager in Agriculture at Manulife Investment Management, where she serves as the senior agricultural portfolio manager for the Hancock Timberland and Farmland Fund and leads business development for Manulife Investment Management global agriculture strategy.  She has over 30 years of experience in agriculture investing, having worked in a series of roles at other institutions prior to joining Manulife and led the first ever securitization of US Agricultural mortgages. 

Jennifer Devine is Head of Wiltshire Pension Fund, and a thought leader in the field of sustainable investing. I was thrilled to welcome her to the podcast in order to capture some of the vision that she implements at Wiltshire and translates for its members in easy to understand and relatable posts on social media and their home page that highlight concrete examples of impact investments.

Kurt Summers is a Senior Managing Director and Head of Public-Private Partnerships in
Blackstone’s Infrastructure Group. In this capacity, Mr. Summers is responsible for
investment strategies in partnership with governments, public entities, civic and labor
organizations, and broader stakeholders to help advance local infrastructure priorities
and he also advances Blackstone Infrastructure’s ESG efforts. Mr. Summers was
elected and served as Chicago’s 70th City Treasurer until 2019. Mr. Summers also
served as both Chairman of the Chicago Infrastructure Trust, where he led the largest
lighting retrofit project in North America, and Chairman of the Chicago Community
Catalyst Fund, a first-of-its-kind $100 million local investment fund focused on private
investments in Chicago neighborhoods.

Asha Mehta is Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer at Global Delta Capital, where she has a thematic focus on Emerging and Frontier Markets as well as Sustainability Investing. She was previously Lead Portfolio Manager and Director of Responsible Investing at Acadian Asset Management and prior to that an investment banker.  She has traveled to over 80 countries and lived in six, and recently released a book, The Power of Capital: An Adventure Capitalist’s Journey to a Sustainable Future.