Executive Fellows

Laela Pakpour-Tabrizi and Noman Tahir join Adam Smith’s Panmure House as Executive Fellows

Mobilising the rich intellectual history and global reach of Adam Smith and the Scottish Enlightenment, Panmure House advances critical reflection and action on the world’s pressing issues. As a new enlightenment centre of social and economic debate, we are privileged to welcome Nobel laureates, world leaders, and key figures from the global financial and business community on a regular basis.

To advance our global reach and engage more deeply with key decision-makers in business and finance, we have instated the Panmure House Executive Fellowship. This fellowship allows us to bring established as well as rising leaders from the world of business and finance into our research and thought-leadership activities, with an emphasis on sustainable capitalism. Fellows bring their intellect, experience, and networks to bear on this agenda, from finding practical ways to make corporations and institutional investors more responsive to global challenges, to debating corporate purpose and the challenges of rebuilding trust in democracy.

We are delighted to welcome Jean-Baptiste Wautier and Adam Robbins as our first Panmure House Executive Fellows. Wautier and Robbins bring a wealth of experience and insight. J.B. Wautier was most recently Chief Investment Officer of BC Partners, helping grow the firm to be one of Europe’s leading private equity firms. Adam Robbins was most recently a director at Wafra, an investment platform focused on bringing together large long-term investors.

We are delighted to welcome Laela Pakpour Tabrizi and Noman Tahir as Panmure House Executive Fellows. They will join our existing fellows J.B. Wautier and Adam Robbins. Laela is Director of Consumer Commercial Finance at Virgin Media O2. She has been CFO at several startups and is on the board of the British Library, where she is Chair of the audit committee. Noman is Head of Business Development at Fajr Capital, a sovereign-backed private equity firm headquartered in the Dubai International Financial Centre. He also oversees the work of the Fajr Capital Foundation and is a member of the UNHCR’s Middle East Sustainability Board.

Laela is Director Consumer Converged Finance at Virgin Media O2, a major UK telco jointly owned by Telefonica and Liberty Global, and has extensive financial and executive management experience. Prior to joining VMO2, she was CFO of three innovative and fast-growing, founder-owned, and private equity-backed businesses including an Airline, a SaaS business and an EdTech company. Laela had a formative career at BNP Paribas in their Structured Finance Division in Paris and New York City. Education: London School of Economics (Bsc. International Relations), Sciences Po Paris (MSc. Finance and Strategy). Laela has 3 children and is based in London. Laela is a Trustee of the British Library where she is Chair of the audit committee and sits on the remuneration committee. She also sits on the Board of the FTSE 250 listed Big Yellow Storage Company, where she also holds the position of Chair of the audit committee.  She was selected as a Franco British Young Leader in 2017.

Noman Tahir is Head of Business Development at Fajr Capital, sovereign-backed private equity firm headquartered in the Dubai International Financial Centre. He is involved in various aspects of Fajr Capital’s investment activities and leads the development and management of the firm’s key industry and institutional relationships. With over a decade of experience in emerging markets, Noman is also an active angel investor, supporting mission-driven entrepreneurs and businesses in the Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Glasgow and an MBA from Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. He also oversees the work of the Fajr Capital Foundation and is a member of the UNHCR’s Middle East Sustainability Board.

Jean-Baptiste Wautier has more than 30 years’ experience in the Finance industry, mainly as a leading Private Equity (PE) investor in Europe. He has been with BC Partners since 2005 and was Chief Investment Officer (CIO) for a decade, as well as member of the Management Committee, before he transitioned to a senior advisor role early 2023. Under his leadership, BC Partners grew its assets under management from €8 to €45 billion, established a strong presence in the US, launched two new strategies – Credit and Real Estate – and raised permanent capital from Blackstone. Separately, Jean-Baptiste led or co-led 13 investments across Europe, mainly in the Healthcare and Consumer sectors, and was elected as one of the most influential personalities in Private Equity in 2018/2019. He began his career at Arthur Andersen in 1993 right after graduating from Science Po Paris (MSc), and then joined Morgan Stanley's Investment Bank in London in 1996. He entered the PE industry in 2000, first at IK Partners where he co-founded the French team, and then at BC Partners in early 2005. 
Jean-Baptiste has also been actively contributing to many key economic debates in the recent years, including through regular participations to the World Economic Forum in Davos since 2018 or publications for Fondapol, a prominent liberal French think tank. Finally, in addition to his current role at BC Partners, he is now a business angel and supports many entrepreneurs across Europe, while also devoting part of his time to his Alma Mater – Sciences Po Paris – as a visiting lecturer as well as a philanthropist.

Adam Robbins works with sovereign and pension funds on issues of sustainability, economic policy, and building investment partnerships. He has most recently worked as Director at Wafra, with a focus in establishing collaborative partnerships in specialized areas of private alternatives. 
Previously, Mr. Robbins was Head of Future Investing Initiatives at the World Economic Forum, where he was responsible for leading the Forum’s projects and research initiatives across the institutional investment landscape, with focuses on corporate governance, long-termism and sustainability. Prior to that, he worked with sovereign and pension funds in various of policy, research, and partnership-building roles at the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds, World Bank and Amundi Asset Management. 
Mr. Robbins earned a BA from Colby College and a Master of International Business from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

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