Our Team

Benoît François

Founder & Managing Partner

Benoit is Founder and Managing Partner at Altamira Capital Partners. Prior to that, Benoit worked 9 years at General Electric, leading turnaround and integration assignments at GE Energy and GE Consumer & Industrials, with General Management and Operations roles in Spain, Switzerland, Italy and France.

In ‘06, while in charge of GE Energy Rentals Southern Europe activities, he was a Board member at GE Power Systems España. Earlier, as a member of the due diligence and integration team, he participated in several GE Oil & Gas acquisitions. Before joining GE, Benoit was a Sourcing Manager at Johnson & Johnson’s Strategic Sourcing Europe. He started his career in ‘95 as a Management Trainee with Caterpillar.

In 2010, he left his position of Vice President, Global Supply Chain & Corporate Services at MasterCard to found Altamira Capital Partners. Benoit holds a Business Administration degree from Louvain School of Management and a Master in International Management from the CEMS Management School, international finance specialization.

Paolo Orlando

Advisor

Paolo is Partner and Managing Director at Altamira Capital Partners, leading the Milan office. He joined Altamira in 2012. Paolo has a cumulated 10 year experience in the Italian manufacturing sector working for KME Group, the world’s largest manufacturer of copper and copper alloy semi-finished products, where he held senior Finance positions, finalizing a capital increase of more than €270M and debt restructuring of €850M.

In 2011 he became Head of the group’s Strategy, with oversight on Merger & Acquisitions, cost reduction programs, facilities restructuring. Paolo also held various board positions within the Group and in the listed mother company, where he was in charge of investors relations. Prior to KME Paolo worked several years as a manager in Accenture, Banks and Utilities Divisions.

After his degree in Political Sciences, with specialization in Economics, Paolo joined his Family Office in the Real Estate sector in Milan. Besides his current role in Altamira, Paolo is also Chief Executive Officer in Rafogar Srl, an Industrial participations holding company, a member of the Board of Namira SGR SpA, a real estate fund, and member of the board of various industrial and entrepreneurial Italian Associations.

Lane Auten

Advisor

Lane Auten is the Founder and Managing Partner of Impact Capital Partners. He has 21 years of experience in traditional and impact investment banking and emerging markets.

Most recently, Lane was Managing Director at Waypoint Real Estate Group, a leading U.S. private equity real estate group focused on converting REO housing into rental properties. Lane continues to serve Waypoint on strategic affordable housing projects and on its Advisory Board.

In 2008, Lane worked with Unitus Investment Group and Huntsman Gay Capital Impact on creating and marketing funds in global microfinance and Indian affordable housing. Lane’s impact investing career started in 1992, first working with the International Privatization Group of Price Waterhouse in Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall, then with the World Bank on agricultural finance projects in Ecuador.

In 1995, Lane joined Banco Santander in Madrid as an investment banker in the corporate strategy group during their global acquisition phase, focusing on Latin America and Northern Europe. Then he moved to San Francisco to work with Union Bank of Switzerland, and subsequently with HRJ Capital as Managing Director, leading the structuring and placement of +US$2 billion of private equity in global venture capital, buy-out, distressed-turnaround, and real estate.

Lane completed a Masters in Foreign Service and International Business Diplomacy from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation, FINRA Securities Registrations 7 and 63, and is fluent in English, Spanish and German.