London, 11 March 2024
| In 2023, Asper welcomed six new team members to the firm, bringing forward a diversity of new skills, backgrounds, and experience. As we experienced a rapid team growth of 17% last year, we aim to ensure that our culture and values remain at the forefront of our operations and embedded at all levels across the firm. In this blog, we reflect on our latest diversity & inclusion figures and provide insights into our performance against our established goals. |
Figure 1: Newest team members as of 2023. Further details about each member’s background can be explored on our Who we Are page.
At Asper, we firmly believe that a diverse and inclusive team is one of the keys to our success. Endeavouring to create a culture that actively seeks and embraces different points of view, our aim is to leverage the diverse backgrounds and experiences of our team members to foster better decision-making, enhance innovation and creativity, and drive productivity.
The power of diversity is backed by numerous research studies, including McKinsey’s latest analysis. Their study reinforces the compelling business case for gender diversity and cultural diversity in corporate leadership. What’s more, it shows that this business case is continuously gaining strength. Currently, the most diverse companies are more likely than ever to outperform less diverse peers in terms of profitability.
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“Diversity does not automatically mean inclusion. It’s not enough to hire women and people from minority groups, we need to empower one another, ensure inclusion in decision making, listen to each other’s views and learn together”
Nicole Gilsenan, Senior Operations Executive
In 2023, we have extended our annual team survey to capture deeper insights and reflections from the team on DE&I. The initial results from our engagement survey showcase encouraging numbers that reflect positively on our diversity & inclusion efforts:
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Diversity in Numbers |
| Reflecting on the numbers above, we are proud to see our share of women investors grow from last year. This also surpasses the average share of women as investment professionals in Europe, which stands at roughly at 20% (Source: Private Equity Wire, 2022). It is an indicator that we hold dear in the context of an industry still affected by gender bias, and that we will strive to consistently increase moving forward. |
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“At Asper, diversity, equity and inclusion sits at the heart of our mission to “Build the New”. By fostering a diverse and inclusive environment, we unleash the potential of our team, enrich our culture and create a workplace of which we can all be very proud”.
Debbie Hudgell Kuhler, Head of Operations
Debbie Hudgell Kuhler
Head of OperationsDebbie has been an integral part of Asper’s operations since 2008, initially joining Hg where she provided logistics and operational support to the renewable energy investment team. Over the years, Debbie’s role with the team has evolved significantly and since 2017 her responsibilities extend across Human Resources, IT Strategy and Cyber Security, and the firm’s corporate support and administrative operations.
Prior to joining Hg, Debbie spent more than 19 years working at senior board level in investment management. She served as an Office Manager and previously held executive support roles at Skandia, working closely with the Group Sales Director of Skandia Life and the Chief Executive Officer of Skandia Investment Management.