One team.
Fully committed to our client's success.

Peter Burns is the CEO of CF Private Equity and is responsible for managing all aspects of Commonfund’s private equity investment business, which focuses on providing investment solutions in buyouts, growth equity, venture capital, and real assets and sustainability through primaries, secondaries and co-investments. He is a member of the Investment Committee and Senior Executive Group of CF Private Equity and a member of the Operating Committee of Commonfund Group. As CEO, he leads a team of 60 professionals that advise, build and monitor private equity investment programs for sophisticated investors. Since CF Private Equity’s founding in 1988, it has managed approximately $21 billion of private capital commitments from investors. As part of the firm’s management succession process, in the fall of 2022 Peter announced that he will retire from Commonfund on June 30, 2023 and that Mark Hoeing will become CEO at that time. Through June 30, 2023, Peter will remain a member of the Investment Committees of CF Private Equity and Commonfund OCIO and a member of the Operating Committee of Commonfund Group. Peter has over 30 years of investment, corporate finance, and lending experience. Prior to joining Commonfund in 1998, Peter worked as a Vice President of Taglich Brothers, a New York-based investment bank and brokerage firm. Prior to this, he was an Associate in the Leveraged Funding Group of Heller Financial. He is presently a member of the advisory boards of several private equity limited partnerships. Peter received a B.A. in Economics from St. Lawrence University and an M.B.A. in Finance and Marketing from Columbia Business School.

Bella Cristovao is an Associate Director, working with CF Private Equity on the management of the distressed capital program. Her responsibilities include analysis and oversight of the managers within the firm’s distressed fund of funds program. She has two decades of investment experience, spanning due diligence and monitoring of hedge fund and private equity managers, as well as various aspects of direct investing in corporate credit. Prior to joining CF Private Equity, Mrs. Cristovao worked on this program at Commonfund OCIO as a distressed credit specialist within the Fixed Income team. Prior to Commonfund, she worked at Hartford Investment Management Company, where her experience included credit analysis, trading, and quantitative analysis, primarily for the international fixed income sector. Mrs. Cristovao received her B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Connecticut, with dual concentrations in Finance and Management Information Systems. She also has the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Matthew English is a member of the ex-U.S. Private Equity team in CF Private Equity’s London office. Prior to joining CF Private Equity, he worked as an Analyst within Evercore’s Private Funds Group and had a placement year at Ardian within their Investor Relations team. Matthew earned a B.Sc. in Economics from the University of Bristol.

Elijah Han is a member of the Private Equity team at CF Private Equity and is responsible for sourcing, due diligence and investment underwriting for the firm’s private equity strategy. He previously worked as an Investment Banking Analyst at Mesirow Financial where he specialized in financial advisory and mergers and acquisitions in the aerospace and defense, industrials and plastics and packaging industries. Elijah began his career as an Associate at Mesirow Financial Consulting, LLC, advising on corporate turnarounds, financial restructurings, valuation and litigation related engagements. He earned a B.S. in Accountancy and Finance from the College of Business at the University of Illinois.

Mark Hoeing is President of CF Private Equity, Head of the firm’s Buyout and Growth Equity investment practice, a member of the Investment Committee and Senior Executive Group of CF Private Equity and a member of the Operating Committee of Commonfund Group. It is anticipated that Mark will assume the title of CEO of the firm on June 30, 2023. As President, Mark’s responsibilities include the strategic direction of the firm and oversight of investment solutions in buyouts, growth equity, venture capital, and real assets and sustainability. As Head of Buyouts and Growth Equity investments, his responsibilities include managing due diligence, investment selection, portfolio construction, monitoring, and fundraising for the firm’s buyout and growth equity strategies that include primaries, secondaries and co-investments. Prior to joining CF Private Equity, his experience includes positions at Deutsche Bank, evaluating third-party managers in the private capital funds division, as well as direct private capital investing with DB Capital Partners, Deutsche Bank’s merchant banking subsidiary. Part of Mark’s work at Deutsche included the bank’s coverage of the Asia-Pacific basin. Mark began his career as a credit analyst and commercial lending officer with Citizens Financial Group. He is presently a member of the advisory boards of several private equity limited partnerships. Mark has a B.S. in Health Policy and Management and an M.B.A. from Providence College.

Jack Kulesh is a member of the Private Equity team of CF Private Equity. He previously interned on the Secondaries team at Commonfund. Jack earned a B.A. in Economics from the University of Chicago.

Tor Martinsen is a member of the Private Equity team at CF Private Equity. He previously worked as an Investment Associate at The Kresge Foundation, a $3.6 billion foundation based in metro-Detroit, where he was a generalist on the Investment team. Tor earned a B.S. in Economics from the University of Michigan.

Madeline McGrath is a member of the Private Equity team of CF Private Equity. Madeline earned a B.S. in Finance from Brigham Young University.

Enrique Millán joined CF Private Equity and is a member of the ex-U.S. Private Equity team. He previously worked at the Private Equity team of Arcano Partners, a Madrid-based financial services firm, with a focus on primaries, secondaries and co-investments predominantly in Western Europe. Prior to Arcano, Enrique worked at Indra Sistemas, a global publicly listed IT & defense company as a corporate strategy & investor relations analyst. Enrique received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas (ICADE) and a master’s degree in media management from the Universidad de Navarra.

Miriam Schmitter is Head of Buyout and Growth Equity investments outside the United States, a member of the Investment Committee and Senior Executive Group of CF Private Equity. She is based in CF Private Equity’s London investment office. Miriam's primary responsibilities include due diligence, investment selection, portfolio construction, monitoring and fundraising for the firm’s buyout and growth equity programs that are constructed with primaries, secondaries and co- investments. She also contributes to the firm’s venture capital and real assets and sustainability strategies. Before joining CF Private Equity, she was with Cambridge Associates (“Cambridge”) where she served as Managing Director and Head of International Private Equity Research in London. Miriam was also a member of the internal Investment Committee at Cambridge. She started with Cambridge in Boston in 2005 and was responsible for due diligence on investment opportunities and research published by the firm on private equity funds which resulted in significant client commitments to private capital managers, overseeing consultants and associates in the Boston, London, and Singapore offices. Prior to 2005, she was an investment manager of private equity fund investments at APEP (Allianz Private Equity Partners), where she researched and selected private equity investment opportunities. Prior to that, Miriam was an investment professional at DB Capital Partners/ DB Investor, the direct private equity investment division of Deutsche Bank, where she evaluated buyout investment opportunities. She also worked as a consultant for Deloitte & Touche performing financial analysis and valuations and conducting financial due diligence for clients. She is presently a member of the advisory boards of several private equity limited partnerships. Miriam has a PhD from the University of Darmstadt and a Diplom-Kauffrau (an M.B.A.) from the University of Mannheim.

Xiaonan Tian is a member of Emerging Markets team at CF Private Equity and heading the Beijing office. She is mainly responsible for the oversight of due diligence, manager selection, investment monitoring and portfolio construction for the firm’s private equity and venture capital investment management programs in the Asia-Pacific basin. Prior to CF Private Equity, she was a Senior Vice President at HSBC China responsible for sponsors coverage strategy, before that at Deutsche Bank Singapore and Sal. Oppenheim Private Equity Partners, engaged in venture capital and private equity investments in different geographies, especially in China, India and Southeast Asia. Xiaonan received a B.A. from University of International Business and Economics and a Master’s Degree from Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg.

Savan Vekaria is a member of the Private Equity team of CF Private Equity. He previously worked as an Analyst at Lighter Capital, where he specialized in evaluating early-stage debt investments in Software as a Service (SaaS) and tech enabled services companies. Savan earned a B.A. in Accounting and Finance from the University of Washington in 2018 and is a CAIA charterholder.