Management

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Mr. Kessler has over 20 years of experience on Wall Street, starting his career in Investment Banking at Morgan Stanley, and subsequently Investment Research at Goldman Sachs. He founded African Discovery Group in 2017. Mr. Kessler serves as a board member of Port Energy, a Senegal-based Oil & Gas exploration company, First American Minerals, a mineral resource principal vehicle, and Ogelle, a Nigerian based social media company. Mr. Kessler is the Founder of African Discovery Foundation, a philanthropic organization focused on charitable contributions for education and health care resources in Africa. Mr. Kessler holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania (Cum Laude) and an MBA from Columbia Business School. 

 Mr. Green has decades of experience on the buyside, on both private equity and hedge fund platforms, where he has focused on both debt and equity, performing and non-performing investments across multiple industries. Previously, he served as a senior member of Houlihan Lokey’s Illiquid Financial Assets practice, where he focused on providing strategic advice for Fund M&A, non-core asset disposition and strategic fund raising. Prior to that Mr. Green worked on various hedge fund and private equity platforms including Plainfield Asset Management (a $5.5 bln hedge fund platform), ArcherPoint Capital Management (a partnership based private equity platform he co-founded), Doughty Hanson & Co. (a multi billion international private equity sponsor). He previously served on the boards of Skylink Aviation Limited, a privately held air logistics business; MTI Holdings, Inc., a high mix, low volume contract manufacturer; North American Membership Group, the world’s largest lifestyle affinity membership organization; Dunlop Standard Aerospace Group, an integrated supplier of aftermarket parts and services to the aerospace and defense industry; PQS Acquisition Corp, North American business of FL Group, the largest independent blender and distributor of automotive lubricants; Knowles Electronics Holdings, Inc., a leading international manufacturer of technologically advanced products in micro-acoustics; and Tumi Inc., a leading, high-end luggage and business accessory brand amongst others. Prior to moving to private equity Mr. Green worked in investment banking at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Corporation. Mr Green started his career as an auditor at PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Mr. Green holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a postgraduate honors degree in Financial Accounting from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Ms. Gordon is a business development and government relations executive with 22 years of broad business experience in sub-Saharan Africa, working with heads of state, ministers, and investors to establish deals in 25+ countries. Ms. Gordon has high-level networks in place in Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Cote D’Ivoire, Mali, and Sierra Leone. Ms. Gordon regularly cultivates strategic relations with African governments and business leaders, most recently at the U.S. Africa Leaders’ Summit in New York. She is also a participant of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting. Accomplishments include cultivating strategic relations with H.E. President of the Republic of Tanzania Jakaya Kikwete and appropriate Government Ministers to launch a water purification equipment and technology deal, launching a perimeter security deal in the Gulf of Guinea, working with the Chairman of the Ghana Lands Commission to orchestrate the acquisition of BSY Hostels Ghana to the international student housing group Common Interest Communities. A veteran Africa analyst, Maxine is a Member of the Executive Board of Directors at the Sustainable Initiatives and Alliances for Africa (SIA-Africa) an NGO. Maxine has a BA in International Marketing from NYU as well and attended the American University in Paris. 

 Mr. Adan has held numerous roles in the start-up, technology and development world in both Europe and Africa. These include: Business Development Executive at OSS Technology, VP Business Development for Africa at WindStream Technologies, an affordable and scalable renewable energy technology for a global marketplace. Mr. Adan also holds position of Head of Somaliland International Recognition & Trade for Africa, the goal of which is to promote Somaliland business development and alliances in African countries, provide information to business clients and partners related to business and expansion opportunities available around the world for Somaliland. Securing capital, facilities and physical resources and implementing business strategies for the Somaliland Government, work with foreign investment firms, banks, governments and consulting firms in support of the Somaliland Government, work with foreign governments trade offices to maximize business investment opportunities to Somaliland for business clients as well as trade partners and the Somaliland Government. Mr. Adan has also held roles as International Business Development Executive at Business Technology Group (BTG) and Strategic Account Manager at CCS Media. Mr. Adan holds a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Westminster.