Frans Verhaar, CFA, CAIA, FRM, FDP

Managing Director, Head of Continental Europe

Frans leads bfinance’s Continental European team overseeing client relationships and business development across the continent supported by the offices in Munich, Paris and Rome. With over 17 years of experience at bfinance, Frans has been instrumental in helping institutional investors navigate complex investment challenges, providing tailored solutions that deliver measurable results.

Since joining bfinance in 2007, Frans has demonstrated a deep understanding of institutional investment needs. Initially a part of the manager research team, he supported clients globally in manager search and selection processes. In 2009, he transitioned to focus on consulting for Dutch-speaking institutional investors, playing a pivotal role in expanding bfinance’s presence in key European markets.

Before joining bfinance, Frans built his financial expertise at ING in The Hague, where he managed liquidity, foreign exchange, and interest rate risks for ING Insurance Holding and served as a portfolio manager for pension funds at ING Investment Management.

Frans’s professional credentials include the CFA, CAIA, FRM, and FDP charters, reflecting his dedication to continuous learning and mastery of his field. He has also held leadership roles within CFA Netherlands and CAIA Netherlands, contributing to the advancement of industry standards.

Ottavia Sebastiani

Senior Director

Ottavia is responsible for advisory services for Italian institutional clients and has been part of the advisory team of bfinance since 2007 based first in London and then in Rome. Ottavia previously worked for Goldman Sachs in London for Italian institutional clients and began her career as an analyst in the Private Wealth Management division of Morgan Stanley in Milan. Ottavia also has experience in the hotel industry. She holds a BA (Hons) from University College London and a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Studies from the London School of Economics.

Jill Compton

Senior Director

Jill is a Senior Director at bfinance, serving a diverse range of asset owners including pension, endowments, wealth and insurance companies with portfolio ranging from USD 100m to well over USD 100 billion. She has over 15 years of experience in financial markets and joined bfinance in 2018, advising clients in the UK & Ireland on investment implementation across public and private markets.

Sam Gervaise-Jones, CFA

Managing Director, Client Consulting

Sam Gervaise-Jones leads client consulting with strategic clients in the UK. Sam has over 20 years of experience in financial markets. He joined bfinance in 2004 where, as a Senior Associate in the research team, Sam advised clients on manager selection in a wide range of asset classes. Since 2007 Sam has been responsible for relationships with many of bfinance’s largest Corporate and Local Authority Pension clients in the UK. More recently, Sam led the expansion of bfinance into the US and bfinance’s activities with the LGPS Pooling organisations. Since 2020, Sam has also acted as an Independent Adviser to LGPS Funds, with Cambridgeshire, Essex, and London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham Pension Funds all benefiting from his expertise. Prior to bfinance, Sam spent 4 years with Standard & Poor’s in their fund rating business. Sam holds the CFA charter, IMC and Series 7, 24, 62 and 79 designations in addition to an MA (Oxon) in Mathematics from the University of Oxford.