Cambridge Associates hires PE expert

Vicky Williams, who until recently served as head of private equity at BP Investment Management, has joined global investment advisor Cambridge Associates to help expand its private markets footprint.

Williams, who joins as senior investment director, brings extensive experience to the advisory firm, having managed the £1.9 billion ($2.8 billion; €2.4 billion) private equity portfolio of BP Investment Management, the in-house fund manager of BP Pension Fund. Before that, she ran the private equity portfolios of British Airways Pensions Management and Shell Pensions Management Services.

“The appointment comes as UK and Continental European pension schemes consider a widening range of private investments to help them generate growth in an era of low interest rates and low investment returns,” Cambridge Associates said in a statement on Wednesday.

“These include not only private equity and venture capital, but also co-investments in real estate and infrastructure as well as credit strategies such as direct lending and more diversifying niche asset strategies,” the firm added.

In her new role, Williams will advise Cambridge’s UK and European corporate and public pension scheme clients – which range in size from £100 million to more than £20 billion in assets – on their private investment portfolios.

Founded in 1973 in Boston, Cambridge Associates now serves more than 1,000 investors worldwide with offices in Arlington, Virginia; Dallas; Menlo Park, California; San Francisco; London; Singapore; Sydney; and Beijing.

Williams will be based in London.