Dominique Turpin

Chairman

Dr. Turpin is currently serving as a Dean of External Relations at IMD and Dentsu Chair Professor. Previously he was President of IMD from July 2010 until the end of 2016.

He was previously Director of the IMD MBA (Master of Business Administration) and PED (Program for Executive Development).

Professor Turpin has directed customized programs for companies such as Groupe SEB, Panasonic and Japan Tobacco International. He has extensive teaching, consulting and research experience in the areas of marketing and international strategy both in Europe and in Asia, particularly in the area of brand management, customer orientation and communications strategy.

He has worked as a consultant and management educator with a large number of international companies including Coca Cola, CPW, Danone, DSM, Jardine Matheson, Nestlé, Novo Nordisk, Philips and Uponor. He also served as a board member for ITOCHU Europe, a leading Japanese trading company and the Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne.

Dominique Turpin has widespread executive seminar and consulting experience for clients in Europe, Asia and Latin America.

Prior to joining IMD, he spent several years in Tokyo as a representative of a French firm in Japan. He served as Visiting Professor at the Keio Graduate School of Business Administration, Japan. Since 1994, Professor Turpin serves as the IMD representative on the Academic Council of the China-Europe International Business School in Shanghai (People’s Republic of China).

Dominique Turpin received his master’s degree from ESSCA in France. He earned a doctorate in economics from Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan.

He has been a regular contributor to the Nihon Sangyo Shimbun (The Japan Industrial Journal), one of the leading business dailies in Japan. Professor Turpin is also the Continental European editor for the Long Range Planning Journal, the international journal of strategic management and an editorial advisor for the Singapore Management Review.

His current research focuses on brand management, and he has been widely published in more than 100 books, articles and case studies including the Financial Times, European Business Forum and MIT Sloan Management Review.

Alain Dargham

Managing Partner

Alain is co-founder and Managing Partner of DAA Capital Partners SA. He holds over 17 years’ experience in investment banking and private equity. Alain has a strong track record in launching, managing and overseeing investments in private markets.

Prior to founding DAA Capital Partners, Alain was Chief Investment Officer at ABS, the investment management arm of the Arab Bank Group. During his career in the banking industry, Alain created and managed high-performance teams that developed first-rate investment platforms.

Alain holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne in partnership with HEC Paris, and an MBA from IMD Business School.

Bertrand Mueller

Senior Partner

VENTURE CAPITAL

Bertrand is co-founder and Senior Partner of DAA Capital Partners. He boasts over 25 years’ experience in asset management, with a focus on technology investments and an extensive proven track record in equity management.

Previously, Bertrand was a Senior Investment Manager at Pictet Asset Management, responsible for large institutional accounts (CHF 1 billion) as well as for the World Equity portfolio. Prior to that, Bertrand was a Senior Fund manager at UBP Asset Management where he started and successfully managed the UBAM Technology Fund and established a new sectorial management team.

Bertrand holds an M.Sc. Engineering in Computer Science from the Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) and an MBA from IMD Business School.

Philippe Riachi

Senior Partner

REAL ESTATE

Philippe is co-founder and Senior Partner of DAA Capital Partners. He has over 28 years of experience in investment banking and alternative asset management.

Previously, Philippe was co-founder and Managing Partner at Jabre Capital Partners, setting up the alternative asset manager in 2007 which subsequently reached $6 billion of assets under management at its peak.

Prior to Jabre Capital Partners, Philippe was a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley & co and co-head of Global Prime Brokerage Risk Management. Philippe began his career at Morgan Stanley in 1991 where he spent the five years as a Convertible Bonds research analyst.

Philippe graduated with a degree in Economics from Concordia University, Canada, in 1990.

Patrick Zehil

Partner

VENTURE CAPITAL

Patrick has deep expertise in Business Strategy and Execution, drawn from 12+ years’ experience in management consulting across sectors and in technology-driven environments.

Prior to joining DAA Capital Partners, Patrick successfully shaped and delivered tailored business initiatives for start-ups and larger corporations, driving operational excellence and commercial success.

His broad industries’ and cultural exposure, allows him to spot the most promising technology businesses and teams, to provide them with the required support for rapid growth, successful market penetration, and optimized performance.

Patrick holds an M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), an M.Sc. in Banking and Finance from HEC Lausanne, and an MBA from IMD Business School.

Cyrille Flichy

Partner

VENTURE CAPITAL

Cyrille is a Partner at DAA Capital Partners SA. He has over 10 years’ experience in fund management and investment advisory with a proven track record in public and private markets. Prior to joining DAA Capital Partners SA, Cyrille headed up the Investment Advisory department at ABS. He managed several asset allocation funds and a Swiss Pension Fund and was a member of various investment committees. Cyrille oversaw over USD 1 billion on behalf of institutional and private clients. Prior to that, Cyrille was a portfolio manager at Schroder and a structured product specialist at Société Générale, Paris.

Cyrille holds an MBA from both Columbia Business School (USA) and London Business School (UK), as well as an MSc in Finance from European Business School (Germany) and an MSc in Management from Edhec Business School (France).

Pierre Benaddi

Investment Analyst

REAL ESTATE

Pierre joined DAA Capital Partners as Investment Analyst.

Before joining DAA Capital Partners, he had the opportunity to go on internships in the Global Transaction Banking team at Banco Santander and in M&A at Wagram Corporate Finance.

Pierre holds a double degree Master in Management/MSc Corporate Finance and Banking from EDHEC Business School.

Nathalie Dargham

Employee Relations and Finance Operations

Nathalie’s role covers a wide spectrum of responsibilities including employee relations and finance operations.

In addition to her role at DAA Capital Partners, Nathalie is an executive coach and leadership trainer.

Nathalie started her career at adidas AG as Senior Data Analyst and Financial Controller.

Nathalie holds a Ph.D. in Human Resources from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne in partnership with HEC Paris. She also holds the Swiss HR Diploma and a bachelor’s in psychology from University of Geneva.

Sofie Hartmann

Executive Assistant

Sofie joined DAA Capital Partners as the Executive Assistant to the team. She enjoys being the first point of call for the team and keeping everyone organized.

Prior to joining DAA, Sofie had the opportunity to work in different countries in Europe as an Event Coordinator and Executive Assistant. She’s fluent in French, Danish, Portuguese and English.

Sofie holds a BA in Communication and Event Management from a private university in Lyon.

Benoît Leleux

Senior Advisor

Dr Leleux is the Stephan Schmidheiny Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance at IMD in Lausanne (Switzerland) since 1999, where he has been director of the MBA program, director of Research and Development and Vice-President of the Pension Foundation. He was previously Visiting Professor of Entrepreneurship at INSEAD (France) and Associate (Tenured) Professor and Zubillaga Chair in Finance and Entrepreneurship at Babson College (MA, USA).

He obtained his Ph.D. at INSEAD, specializing in Corporate and Venture Finance. He is a leading specialist in entrepreneurship, venture capital, private equity and corporate venturing. He is the author of several books, including “Nurturing Science-Based Startups: An International Case Perspective” (Springer Verlag, 2008), “Private Equity 4.0: Reinventing Value Creation” (Wiley, 2015) and “Winning Sustainability Strategies” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018).

Dr Leleux earned a MSc. in Agricultural Engineering and an MEd. in Natural Sciences from the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium) and an MBA from Virginia Tech (USA). His teaching cases have earned 20+ European case writing awards and he has been running executive educations programs and consulting assignments for more than 50 leading global corporations, family firms and investment funds.

He is also involved with private equity and venture capital funds as well as numerous startup companies in various capacities. His research articles have been published in top academic journals such as Strategic Management Journal (SMJ), Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice (ET&P), Journal of Business Venturing (JBV), Journal of Private Equity (JPE) and Venture Capital (VC).

Antoine Raphaël

Senior Advisor

Antoine Raphael is an acknowledged expert in the financial services sector. He has over 30 years’ experience as a senior bank executive with regional and international banks in Canada, Switzerland and the Middle East.  He has demonstrated skills in strategy, business development, asset management, turnaround management, organization, governance, cost optimization, digitization, governance and risk management. Antoine has successfully planned and led a regional bank-wide restructuring across all its operations in the EMEA region. He also sat on the Board of several investment funds in the UK and Netherlands. 

Mr. Raphael worked at Booz & Co (now ‘Strategy&’, part of PwC) as the Financial Services practice Lead Partner. He helped a number of national champions and regional banks develop their strategy, expand internationally and improve their governance.

Mr. Raphael has recently joined EPOQ Partners, a private investment advisory firm.

Antoine holds a B.Sc. in Management from the University of the State of New York.

Gianluca Colombo

Senior Advisor

Gianluca Colombo is an Advisor to DAA Capital Partners SA. Having worked for over 20 years in fast-moving consumer goods, Gianluca has a recognized successful track record in leading the transformation of Procurement and Supply Chain in large companies, people, organization and supplier development, and driving complex projects in multicultural environments.

Gianluca is Chief Procurement Officer for Firmenich, the world’s largest privately-owned fragrance and flavor company.

Gianluca has previously worked for Coty as Chief Procurement Officer, following 11 years at Ferrero, where he served, among others, as Head of Group Supply Chain and SVP Procurement. Prior to this, he covered various global roles in Marketing and Procurement with Danone and Procter & Gamble.

Gianluca holds an M. Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Milan, and is an IMD HPL alumnus.