DEE DEE SKLAR
Co-global Chair
Dee Dee Sklar is a Board and Advisor Candidate. As a senior banking executive with global experience in banking and alternatives, she has managed global businesses providing financing and other solutions to private equity firms, portfolio companies, and asset managers across three international banks. Dee Dee retired from her role as Vice Chair, Subscription Finance (and prior Global Head) at Wells Fargo. She remains Global Co-Chair of Women In Fund Finance and is a part of the Fund Finance Association’s business development initiatives.
Dee Dee is currently a Nuveen Churchill Private Income Fund (PCAP) Board Member, a Coller Capital Senior Advisor, and prior on Atalaya Capital Management Business Advisory Board (acquired by Blue Owl Capital); a prior a 17Capital Supervisory Board Member (acquired by Oaktree Capital). She has advised two women founded firms, The Artemis Fund and TealBook (through Series B) and served as a diligence advisor to two private equity sponsor acquisitions.
She started her career in finance with a real estate asset manager investing debt and equity in commercial real estate on behalf of Insurance Companies, moved into Securitization of multiple asset classes for two global banks, headed financial institutions Americas and seeing an opportunity in 2004 within fund finance solutions built a business acquired by Wells in 2012. Always an advocate for women and diversity is a founding member of KPMGs Women in Real Estate Steering Committee, a member of NYSE ICE, Committee of 200, PEWIN, WAVE, a 30% Coalition Advocate Member and a founding member of EWOB. She is a regular speaker and contributor to publications.
ann knox
Co-global Chair
Ann is a Partner in the Finance practice at Mayer Brown. She has over 20 years of experience financing private funds, sponsors and portfolio companies at every level of the capital stack and every phase of their existence. Ann represents major domestic and foreign banks on subscription credit facilities, net asset value facilities, and other fund financings - regularly acting on the largest and most complex facilities to the world’s preeminent sponsors.
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fazillah durante
Americas COMMITTEE
Co-Head
Fazillah Duante is Head of Fund Finance Origination at TD Securities based in New York. She is responsible for developing cross-product solutions and strategies for Private Capital clients at the Fund, Manager, and Asset level, with close collaboration with the firm's Financial Sponsors, Financial Institutions, and Global Markets teams. Prior to joining TD in 2024, Fazillah was Managing Director – U.S. Financial Sponsors & Fund Finance at Scotiabank, where she drove growth strategies across Global Markets and Corporate & Investment Banking for the past two decades in the Toronto, Bahamas and New York offices. Fazillah is also a CFA Charterholder.
holly loftis
americas COMMITTEE
Co-head
Holly Loftis is a partner in the Finance Practice Group at Haynes and Boone. Holly has over 13 years of experience representing lenders on the structuring, negotiation and documentation of complex and cross-border subscription credit facilities and other fund finance adjacent secured and unsecured lending arrangements, including management fee lines, GP lines, hybrid facilities, employee co-invest loans and SBIC loans. In Holly’s representation of such lenders, she has advised on some of the largest subscription facilities to hit the market dating back to 2008 and has worked across from some of the largest PE sponsors in the world. Holly has an LL.M. in Financial Services Transactions from Boston University School of Law and a J.D. from Wake Forest University School of Law, where Holly served as the Executive Editor of Law Review.
Michele Simons
americas COMMITTEE
co-head
Michele is a universally respected industry veteran and is currently serving as Managing Director and Head of Capital Markets at 5C Investment Partners, where she oversees capital markets and co-investment opportunities. Prior to her current role, she spent 11 years at Wells Fargo, where she held several senior leadership positions within their Subscription Finance and Asset Backed Finance Platforms, serving as Co-Head of Origination, managing lending facilities for private equity-style funds and leading origination, structuring and execution efforts. In addition, Michele had previously served as Head of Subscription Finance and ABF Loan Syndications, offering distribution capabilities, and supporting origination efforts across the Subscription Finance and Asset-Backed Finance platforms. Prior to her time at Wells Fargo, Michele was an Executive Director at WestLB where she was instrumental in building the firm's Fund Finance platform which was acquired by Wells Fargo. Michele holds a B.S. in Accounting from Syracuse University. She is a C.P.A. and is SIE, Series 79 & 63 Registered.
Shani Unantenne
europe COMMITTEE
co-head
Shani joined NatWest in May 2024 as Head of Funds, a newly created role within of the Commercial & Institutional franchise. As Head of Funds Shani is responsible for leading and implementing NatWest’s strategy for the Funds sector, driving greater engagement with clients and deepening coverage across the sector. Shani previously held the position of Head of Funds for Europe for over eight years at ANZ Banking Group and held a range of senior roles at Lloyds across Wholesale Banking, Capital Markets and Financial Institutions. Since 2017, she has been a committee member of the European Women in Fund Financing Association and is an active participant in the European Fund Financing market, including panel participation in industry conferences, seminars and webinars. Shani has a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance from the Securities Institute of Australia and a Bachelor of Business from Monash University, Australia.
emma russell
europe COMMITTEE
co-head
Emma Russell is a Partner and Head of the Finance Practice Group in the London office of Haynes and Boone. Emma is an experienced loan finance lawyer with extensive knowledge in global fund finance, real estate finance transactions, and structured and specialty finance, as well as more general experience in acquisition, leverage, and general corporate finance. Her practice focuses on the full range of fund lending products across all fund sectors.
fantine jeannon
europe COMMITTEE
co-head
Fantine is an Executive Director, acting as Head of Operations and Treasury for LGT Private Debt. She is based in the London office and has direct oversight for the private debt loans operations, as well as all related fund level financing, liquidity and derivatives. Fantine has over 15 years’ experience in the alternative assets space and has been a committee member of WFF since 2020 and co-chair of our EMEA committee since 2022.
Fi Dinh
asia COMMITTEE
co-head
Fi is MUFG's Head of Fund Finance for the APAC Region. Prior to this, Fi was a Director of Investment Industry Finance and Insurance Sector Finance Asia-Pacific at ING, based in Singapore. Before ING, Fi spent nearly a decade at Barclays in London and Dubai, where she was Director, Financial Institutions Group and helped build a successful Private Equity coverage franchise supporting financial sponsors and alternative asset managers in EMEA and the US.
Niamh targett
asia COMMITTEE
co-head
Niamh Targett is a Director at Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ) based in Hong Kong, where she heads the Institutional Funds Coverage team for Asia. Niamh and her team cover private capital firms providing subscription facilities and real estate financing, hedging support and cash management solutions, as well as acting as the primary co-ordination point for such funds ‘engagement with structured and leverage finance teams across the bank. Niamh has over 20 years of banking experience, having worked in London and Hong Kong, covering financial institutions, with a particular focus in the Funds segments across markets and financing products. Niamh holds a Bachelor’s degree in commerce, and has her CFA Level 2.