Meet the Team
Sean Dowden
President
Sean, the President of STAG, set up a flagship office for the Dixcart Group in Malta, over a decade ago. He was the Managing Director, and his remit was broad, with primary responsibility being to grow the business in line with the budget established by the Group, and to implement financial reporting and cost control measures.
Sean expanded the business successfully, surpassing budgetary objectives on an annual basis and implementing internal controls that monitored financial performance, as well as other reports to enhance individual productivity and income ratios.
Whilst working for Dixcart in Malta, Sean established and was responsible for Dixcart Malta’s Trust company; Elise Trustees Limited, as well as Dixcart Fund Administrators Malta Limited. Within these roles he gained significant experience dealing with fund managers, custodian banks and regulators, whilst at the same time putting in place financial and operational control measures for these two regulated entities, their stakeholders and clients.
He has also served as a director in various international companies operating from Malta, and advised these companies regarding financial and reporting obligations within the Maltese and European legal framework.
Sean began his career as an external auditor at KPMG South Africa and subsequently as an internal auditor at Barclays PLC London. His education followed a financial focus and he holds a degree in accounting from the University of Witwatersrand. He is licenced as a chartered accountant in both South Africa, with SAICA, and in the United Kingdom with ICAEW.
António Pereira
Vice-President
António is a qualified Lawyer specialising in Private Wealth Management, in which he actively monitors, advises and provides consultancy services regarding the implementation of various real estate and financial investments.
With a vast in-depth knowledge of best practice relating to due diligence and risk assessment of investments, and ‘AML’ and ‘KYC’ procedures, Antonio is very much involved in dealing with the Portuguese Stock Market’s Regulator. This coordination and liaison includes; the establishment of Venture Capital Funds, risk investment mitigation, identification, prevention and implementation of measures related to Code of Conduct and Conflict of Interest issues, team and client management, and ongoing client supervision regarding onboarding procedures.
António also has experience in the daily monitoring requirements that need to be undertaken for individual and institutional clients, relating to Investment Funds and Venture Capital Funds.
Gisela Martins
Board Member
Gisela is a qualified lawyer focused on corporate and tax law, mergers and acquisitions, and commercial contracts.
With over 20 years’ experience, she regularly acts on a broad range of domestic and cross-border transactions. More specifically, she advises Portuguese and international corporate clients on matters relating to; corporate and tax law, commercial contracts, and corporate governance.
She had been involved in a wide variety of domestic and international transactions, with a particular focus on; mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and corporate reorganisations, asset purchases, creation of investment vehicles, private equity and venture capital financing.
She also has extensive experience in providing advice and counselling on the taxation of high net worth individuals. Gisela has extensive knowledge of; ‘AML’ and ‘KYC’ procedures, due diligence, and risk assessment of both clients and investments. This expertise was gained when she worked at a Private Wealth Management Company
Diogo Saraiva de Ponte
Head of Investments
Diogo Saraiva de Ponte previously established and managed two Asset Management Licenses. He managed more than €1billion of assets under management, covering different asset classes across a number of continents. He is an experienced Investment Committee member as well as coordinating and being responsible for the investment, exit and management strategies of fund portfolios.
Diogo has also served as a director of various international companies, in jurisdictions such as Switzerland, Luxembourg and Portugal. He has extensive experience dealing with transactions in different countries, across a wide range of sectors, including investments (and restructuring of assets), divestments, private and public offerings, and monitoring.
Previously he worked for a major Private Equity institution in Portugal and for a Millennium Investment Bank, as a Senior Manager.
He has been a guest speaker at several conferences in; Luxembourg, Belgium, Angola and Portugal, and is also an opinion guest writer for an economic newspaper.
Vera Pessoa
Senior Certified Accountant
Vera is a qualified chartered accountant with deep expertise in Private Equity, in which she has been working for the last 10 years, being responsible for all key financial and reporting matters.
With a vast knowledge of all accounting procedures and reporting to the Portuguese Stock Market’s Regulator, she has been responsible for the accounting, tax fillings and regulator interactions across three different Private Equity institutions in Portugal and over 20 different funds.
In total, she has had the responsibility for the accounting of more than €2billion of assets under management, covering different asset classes across different jurisdictions.
Vera also has experience in reporting to a different number of institutional investors and family offices, relating to the Private Equity and Venture Capital Funds in which she has been responsible on accounting and finances over the last years.
Joana Isidoro
Accountant
Joana studied Finance and Accounting at the ISCTE Business School, the degree was concluded in 2018. Since then, she have worked in an accounting firm in Lisbon, which has allowed her to contact different sectors of activity and accompany companies from their incorporation to closure, including deliveries of various declarative and fiscal obligations. More recently she became a certified accountant, which allows her to embrace this new project at Stag Fund Management. Anyone who knows Joana would say that she get involved in every project she’s on and put all her energy into what she believe in. At Stag Joana will be dedicated, always available to help and always ready to learn.
Marc Farror
Advisor
Marc started working in 1991 in the media industry and in 2007 became actively involved in the fund industry. Marc brings a wealth of commercial experience to bear for STAG. Marc has sat on the boards of fund managers in Luxembourg and the UK, focusing on UK and European real estate, with the funds ranging in size from £20m to £500m+. In addition, Marc has overseen fund administration businesses in the UK, IOM, Guernsey, Switzerland, Malta and Luxembourg.
Marc has been involved in funds looking at a variety of asset classes which include:
- Private Equity.
- Hedge Funds.
- Real Estate.
- Wine.
- Art.
- Litigation.
- Vintage cars.
- IP/media/film.
Marc acts as an advisor to STAG with a focus on: asset management, investor relationships & stake holder reporting, and compliance reporting.
Marc is a member of the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investments (MCSI) and the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (TEP). In addition, Marc holds a BA Hons in History from the University of Winchester and a PgDip in Marketing from Kingston University and a Dip in International Trust & Estate Management from Central Law Training.
Corporate Entities
Board of Directors
President: Sean Dowden
Vice-President: Antonio Pereira
Board Member: Gisela Martins
Supervisory Board
President of the Supervisory Board: Jonatas Margarida
Member of the Supervisory Board: Pedro dos Santos
Member of the Supervisory Board: Alexandre de Araujo
Alternate Member of the Supervisory Board: Fred da Silva
External Auditor
UHY & ASSOCIADOS, SROC, LDA
Alternate External Auditor: António Oliveira
