Jensen Partners Appoints Head of Asia

October 19, 2021 – New York City-based Jensen Partners, a woman-owned executive search and corporate advisory firm for the alternative investment management industry, has named Sophie Norris as managing director, head of Asia. “Ms. Norris will bolster Jensen Partners’ capabilities and global footprint to meet the growing demand for alternatives talent in Asia,” the search firm said. “Sophie brings the experience and specialized knowledge needed to build out teams and platforms across alternative asset strategies,” said Sasha Jensen, the firm’s founder and CEO. “Her role will support the firm’s global client base with regional insights and candidate access in the rapidly growing Asian market.”
Ms. Norris has more than 25 years of experience in the alternative asset and financial services industry in the Asia-Pacific region. She joins Jensen from Velotrade, a trade finance platform based in Hong Kong. Prior to that, Ms. Norris worked at executive search firms Wellesleys, Eban, and The Consulting Group, specializing in the origination and placement of buy-side and sell-side derivatives professionals. Over the course of her career, she has also led business development mandates for U.K. financial services companies establishing an initial presence in Asia.
The launch of an on-the-ground presence in Asia will significantly enhance Jensen Partners’ candidate referencing capabilities and expand the knowledge base of candidates across the region. In addition to building robust, global candidate pipelines, these rich human capital insights power DiversityMetrics, Jensen Partners’ enterprise software platform that combines customizable data visualization tools with verified demographic data on more than 25,000 investment and distribution professionals, including 8,000 who identify as having a diverse background.
“Jensen’s data-driven approach and deep industry connections put them ahead of the competition,” Ms. Norris said. “Sasha Jensen has been a true innovator in recruiting and I am excited to leverage my skills alongside her and the Jensen Partners team. As demand for alternatives talent in Asia continues to increase, Jensen Partner’s institutional knowledge and industry relationships will be a valuable resource for asset managers seeking to build teams and retain talent.”
Ms. Norris’ institutional knowledge will be leveraged to enhance Jensen Partner’s proprietary competitor intelligence market mapping across distribution and investment platforms.
Sourcing Investment and Capital Raising Professionals
Jensen Partners is a global advisory, corporate development, and executive search firm that leverages its relationships in the investor and alternative asset management community to source and recruit capital-raising candidates. The firm takes a data-driven approach, combining quantitative and qualitative insights to source and place the ideal human capital. In addition to executive search, Jensen Partners offers LP/GP referencing, proprietary 360-degree investor referencing methodology, and compensation benchmarking and analysis.
Jensen Partners Launches New Platform to Address Diversity Hiring
Jensen Partners has launched DiversityMetrics, a software platform to combine self-reported diversity data and human capital management technology specifically designed for asset managers seeking to quantify, measure, report and improve workforce diversity and inclusion – both within their own organization and across their portfolios.
The DiversityMetrics platform features a high-tech, high-touch approach that combines customizable data visualization tools with verified demographic data on more than 25,000 investment and distribution professionals, including 8,000 who identify as having a diverse background, working at more than 600 global, alternative investment firms.
Jensen Partners leverages its investor relationships as well as its proprietary big data recruitment and competitor intelligence market mapping model to source and place capital raising professionals. This model is based on the firm’s global database of more than 22,000 global alternative capital raisers, which includes professionals from private equity firms, private credit firms, real estate investment firms, real asset investors, infrastructure investors and hedge funds.
Jensen Partners recently named Nicholas Koehler as head of private credit and private equity. In his role, Mr. Koehler leads the firm’s efforts to recruit diverse candidates for credit and private equity strategies. Based in New York City, he leverages Jensen Partners’ proprietary diversity talent tracker to solve for investment roles and build out competitor intelligence across the U.S. and Europe.
Related: Talent Challenges Facing Mid-Market Private Equity Backed Companies
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media