Portfolio Manager

Graham Thomas is the non-executive chairman of the investment committee. Before founding Menhaden Capital Management LLP with Ben Goldsmith, Graham chaired RIT Capital Partners plc’s Executive Committee, was a member of its investment committee and had direct responsibility for its private investments. Prior to his roles with RIT Capital Partners plc, Graham was the head of the Standard Bank Group’s US$3 billion Principal Investment Management division, which was established in 2008 under his leadership. He joined Standard Bank from MidOcean Partners in London, where he was a founding partner.

Before joining DB Capital Partners (MidOcean Partners’ predecessor) in 2001, he was an Executive Director in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs & Co, having joined Goldman Sachs in 1993. Graham is currently the Managing Partner of Stage Capital, a private equity firm backed by Goldman Sachs and Glendower Capital, and is on the investment committee of Apis Partners.

Graham is a Rhodes Scholar, and received a Bachelor of Commerce degree, with distinction, from the University of Cape Town, a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) Degree and Post Graduate Diploma in Accounting from the University of Cape Town, and an MA from Brasenose College, Oxford University.

Ben is the Chief Executive Officer of Menhaden Capital Management LLP. Before founding Menhaden with Graham Thomas, Ben co-founded the WHEB group, one of Europe’s leading energy and resource-focused fund investment businesses.

Ben is a director of Cavamont Holdings, the Goldsmith family’s investment holding vehicle, and also chairs its Family Committee.

Ben also chairs the UK Conservative Environment Network, a group which has a preference for decentralised, market-orientated solutions to environmental and resource issues.

Luciano is the Chief Investment Officer at Menhaden Capital Management LLP. Before joining Menhaden Capital Management LLP, Luciano was a Director for Barclays Capital in the Capital Markets division where he ran the credit trading operations for Brazil out of São Paulo. Before Barclays, Luciano was a Director at Dresdner Kleinwort in London. There he focused mainly on Infrastructure, Utilities and Real Estate assets as head of the Illiquids Credit group.

Luciano holds a Licenciatura in business administration from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and was granted the Premio Extraordinario de Fin de Carrera for outstanding academic performance.

Edward Pybus is a Research Analyst at Menhaden. Before joining Menhaden, Edward was an Analyst at Exane BNP Paribas in the Research division, where he was a member of the Oil & Gas team and covered European integrated oil companies. Edward is a CFA Charterholder and qualified as a Chartered Accountant at Deloitte.