Board Members

Duarte Moreira

Board Member

Duarte has over 16 years of private markets investment experience, and received an MBA from the Warwick Business School at the University of Warwick.

Christopher Kile

Board Member

Christopher has over 17 years of private markets investment experience and received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration at Babson College.

Philippe Costeletos

Board Member

Philippe has over 30 years of experience in private markets. He is currently a Senior Independent Director at RIT (“Rothschild Investment Trust”) Capital Partners Plc (LON: RCP) and is the Chairman of the Conflicts Committee and of the Remuneration Committee and a member of the Nominations Committee, and of the Valuation Committee. Philippe is also a Senior Advisor to the Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX), Chairman of Mistral Fertility, and a Board Member of Digital Care, the Vangest Group and of Generation Home.

Formerly, Philippe was Chairman at Colony Capital International, a global real estate and investment management firm with $30 billion in AUM. Between 2003 and 2013 he was a Partner and Head of Europe at TPG, a leading global private investment firm with $135 billion in AUM, and a member of TPG’s Global Management and Investment Committees. Prior to that, Philippe was a Member of the Management Committee at Investcorp, a leading manager of alternative investment products with $50 billion in AUM. Previously, Philippe held positions at JP Morgan Capital, JP Morgan’s Private Equity Group and Morgan Stanley.

Philippe is a member of the President’s Council on International Activities at Yale University and the Yale Centre for Emotional Intelligence Advisory Board, where he graduated with a BA in Mathematics. Philippe received an MBA with honor of Beta Gama Sigma from Columbia University.

C. Kees Verhaar

Chairman of the Board

Kees Verhaar is the Chairman of the Board of the Vangest Group and also serves as the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of TenCate Protective Fabrics.

He has over 30 years of executive experience, with in depth knowledge of manufacturing. He was the CEO and President of Arizona Chemical Company, LLC, a leading global producer of high-value performance products and specialty chemicals derived from non-hydrocarbon, renewable raw materials. As CEO he oversaw $1 billion in revenue and over 1,000 employees, leading the company through its acquisition in 2016 by Kraton Polymers for over $1.3 billions. He previously served as President of the Epoxy & Coatings Division of Hexion Specialty Chemicals. Before joining Hexion in 2006, he served in senior management positions at companies that included Noveon Inc, Johnson Polymer, DeVoe Coatings, and ESHA Group. He served from 2017 to 2019 as the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Avantium N.V., a leading chemical technology company focused on renewable chemistry.

Kees received a Master of Economics from the University of Amsterdam.

Nuno Cipriano

CEO / Executive Board Member

Experienced Executive Board Member with a demonstrated history of more than 25 years working for Mould making and Plastic Injection moulding industries. Senior Mechanical Engineer with an MBA in Management and Strategy, has recently engaged in an Executive Program on M&A’s and Corporate Strategy by INSEAD business school. Highly skilled in Engineering, Quality Management, Plant Management and Operations Direction. From Mould Designer to Engineering Director, then Entrepreneur and Operations Director, his journey brought him to be the CEO of Vangest Group, an industrial producer of high precision tools and engineering solutions based in Portugal, and all of its 5 Business Units – Software & Engineering, New Product Design & Prototyping, Mould Making & Validation, Checking Fixtures & HSM, and Injection & Assembling.

João Ricardo

COO / Executive Board Member

João Ricardo is a skilled Operational Manager with expertise in the automotive and medical device sectors, specialized in ultra-precision injection mould making and moulding technology. He holds a Master’s in Polymer Engineering and a Professional Master’s lectured by the MIT, focusing on Engineering Design and advanced Manufacturing. During his 10-year tenure in the UK as senior Production Manager, he engaged in a leadership program at Lancaster University, enhancing his skills in Organizational Leadership and employee engagement. As Director of Vangest Group, he contributes to the Executive Committee and Vangest’s Board, helping shaping the future of manufacturing with his dedication to excellence, continuous improvement, innovation and positive workplace cultures.

Alessio Zolesi

Board Member

Alessio is a Director at Zeno and a Board Member at the Vangest Group.
Formerly, Alessio was a Senior Manager at KPMG where he advised dozens of private equity firms, publicly listed multinationals and private companies on acquisitions, carve-outs and M&A transactions.
Alessio has more than 15 years of private markets, M&A consulting, and advisory experience. He holds a Master in Accounting Control and Finance from HEC Lausanne (Switzerland), and is both a Swiss Certified Public Accountant and a CFA Charterholder.

Rune Bakke

Board Member

Rune Bakke is a highly experienced board member of Vangest Group, with almost three decades of expertise in the plastics industry. His distinguished career includes 16 years as CEO and Head of Global Sales & Engineering at forteq Group, where he led the company to become a global reference in precision plastic products.

Rune also served as Chief Operating Officer at Balda Mikron responsible for the territory of China, Malaysia and Norway from 1999 to 2004, driving operational excellence in these key markets. Before entering the plastic industry, he was for more than eight years the General Manager and President of Pronova Biopolymer, where he applied his skills in leadership, innovation, and strategic growth across the biopolymer sectors.

Throughout his career, Rune has been active in the pharmaceutical, medical, food, automotive and industrial markets.