Our team
Steffen Meister
Partner, Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors
Steffen Meister is a Partner of the firm and Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Partners Group Holding AG, based in Zug. He is also Chairman of the Investment Oversight Committee and a member of its Client Oversight Committee. Steffen Meister has been with Partners Group since 2000 and served as Delegate of the Board from 2013 to 2018 and as Chief Executive Officer from 2005 to 2013. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the firm’s portfolio company* Hearthside Food Solutions. Steffen Meister is furthermore the Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Crossiety AG, a social media platform for local communities in Switzerland, and a member of the Board of Directors of FAIRTIQ AG, a company providing advanced travel payment solutions for the public transport sector. Prior to joining Partners Group, he worked at Credit Suisse Financial Products and had assignments at Swiss Reinsurance Co. and the Department of Mathematics of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. Mr. Meister holds a Master's degree in Mathematics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Switzerland. * Partners Group representatives are members of the board of a portfolio company or a special purpose vehicle (SPV) established in connection with the respective investment.
Dr. Martin Strobel
Vice Chairman and Lead Independent Director of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Risk and Audit Committee
Dr. Martin Strobel is the Vice Chairman and Lead Independent Director of the Board of Directors of Partners Group Holding AG, Chairman of the Board’s Risk & Audit Committee and a member of the Nomination & Compensation Committee. He also serves on the Board of Partners Group's UK entity. Dr. Martin Strobel's background is in technology and he gained a PhD in business computer science while beginning his career as a consultant at The Boston Consulting Group. He subsequently joined the Swiss insurer Baloise Group to oversee technology, before ultimately spending seven years of his 17-year tenure there as Group CEO. After leaving Baloise Group in April 2016, Dr. Martin Strobel spent almost three years as an operating partner at private equity firm Advent International.
Dr. Marcel Erni
Co-Founder, Member of the Board of Directors
Dr. Marcel Erni is the Co-Founder of Partners Group. He is an executive member of Partners Group Holding AG’s Board of Directors, based in Zug. Previously, he served as the Chief Investment Officer of Partners Group until June 2017. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the firm’s current portfolio companies AMMEGA, Global Blue and Telepass. Prior to founding Partners Group, he worked at Goldman Sachs & Co. and McKinsey & Co. He has over 30 years of industry experience and holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Illinois and a PhD in finance and banking from the University of St. Gallen (HSG), Switzerland.
Alfred Gantner
Co-Founder, Member of the Board of Directors
Alfred Gantner is the Co-Founder of Partners Group. He is an executive member of Partners Group Holding AG’s Board of Directors, based in Zug. He served as Chief Executive Officer of Partners Group from 1996 to 2005 and subsequently as Executive Chairman from 2005 to 2014. He was also Chairman of Partners Group's Global Investment Committee from 2011 until June 2017. Furthermore, he served as a board member at various Partners Group portfolio companies such as Careismatic Brands, Universal Security, VAT, USIC, PCI Pharma Services and currently serves as a board member of Breitling, Fermaca and Confluent Health. Prior to founding Partners Group, he worked at Goldman Sachs & Co. He has over 30 years of industry experience and holds an MBA from the Brigham Young University Marriott School of Management in Utah, USA.
Anne Lester
Member of the Board of Directors
Anne Lester is an independent member of the Board of Directors of Partners Group Holding AG. She is a member of the Client Oversight Committee, the Risk & Audit Committee and the Nomination & Compensation Committee. Her mandate is focused on driving forward Partners Group's bespoke private markets solutions for the Defined Contribution ("DC") pensions market. She has over 30 years of experience in senior leadership roles at JP Morgan Asset Management, most recently serving as Managing Director, Portfolio Manager and Head of Retirement Solutions in the Multi-Asset Solutions division where she launched JPMorgan's SmartRetirement Target Date franchise. She also founded the Aspen Leadership Forum on Retirement Savings in conjunction with AARP and holds three patents for the design of a dynamic withdrawal investment process and for the evaluation of target date funds. Anne holds an Bachelor's degree in Politics from Princeton University, New Jersey, USA and a Master's in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Washington, DC, USA.
Gaëlle Olivier
Member of the Board of Directors
Gaëlle Olivier has 30 years of experience in financial services. After a first career in the financial derivatives industry, Gaëlle joined AXA Group in 1998, where she held several senior executive roles over the next 20 years, ten of which were spent in Asia. In 2016, she was appointed CEO of AXA Group's Property & Casualty business, and a member of the AXA Group Management Committee. Most recently, she joined Société Generale in 2020 as Chief Executive Officer of Asia Pacific activities and then held the role of Group Deputy General Manager and Chief Operating Officer until the end of 2022.
Urs Wietlisbach
Co-Founder, Member of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Client Oversight Committee
Urs Wietlisbach is the Co-Founder of Partners Group. He is an executive member of Partners Group Holding AG’s Board of Directors, based in Zug and Chairman of the Board's Client Oversight Committee. He is a Board Observer of the Board of Directors of the firm’s current portfolio company KR Group, UK. He is also the Chairman of Blue Earth Capital AG and a member of the Board of Trustees of Blue Earth Foundation, a foundation that focuses on impact investing globally. In addition, he is a member of the Boards of Directors of Entrepreneur Partners AG, a Swiss asset manager. Prior to founding Partners Group, he worked at Goldman Sachs & Co. and Credit Suisse. He has over 30 years of industry experience and holds a master's degree in business administration from the University of St. Gallen (HSG), Switzerland.
Flora Zhao
Member of the Board of Directors and Chairwoman of the Nomination & Compensation Committee
Flora Zhao is an independent member of the Board of Directors of Partners Group Holding AG. She is the Chairwoman of the Nomination & Compensation Committee and a member of the Investment Oversight Committee. As part of her mandate, she oversees Partners Group's transformational investing approach and contributes to strategic board-level initiatives with a focus on entrepreneurial governance for the benefit of the firm's portfolio companies, especially in Asia and in infrastructure-related assets. She has over 30 years of executive experience with global Fortune 500 companies across the energy infrastructure value chain in Asia. Currently, she serves as a Senior Advisor to Temasek International and is also a member of the Singapore Future Economic Council's Resource and Environmental Sustainability Committee. Previously, she was President of Gas Asia at BP where she was responsible for the gas and LNG business in the eastern hemisphere. Prior to that, Flora was a Managing Director at AES Corporation, a NYSE-listed global power company comprising power generation, distribution and alternative energy businesses. She began her career at the Construction Bank of China. Flora holds a Bachelor's of Engineering from Zhejiang University, China and a Master's of Construction Management from the University of Maryland, College Park, USA. She also completed the Senior Executive Program at the University of Virginia, Darden School of Business, USA.