VC boss takes EVCA chair

Anne Glover, the chief executive of UK venture firm Amadeus Capital Partners, has been appointed as the new chairman of the European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association.

She takes over from departing chairman George Anson, managing director at HarbourVest, who has chaired the body for the last 12 months. Like Anson, Glover will serve a one-year term in the role.

Glover co-founded Amadeus in 1997, after earlier spells with Bain & Company and Apax Partners. The UK-based VC has since backed over 80 early-stage companies.

She also has some strong credentials for the EVCA role: she chaired the British Venture Capital Association from 2004 to 2005, and more recently has been the chair of EVCA’s VC Platform Council, which focuses on the needs of EVCA’s venture members.

“While the EVCA has certainly grown over the years to encompass investors and other market segments of the industry, we are always conscious and proud of our origins,” EVCA’s chief executive Dörte Höppner said in the statement. “Supporting European venture capital remains one of the EVCA’s top priorities and we all look forward to benefitting from Anne’s experience.”

The appointment comes ahead of what could be an important year for EVCA. Elections for the European parliament elections have just been held across the continent, and a new European Commission is set to be appointed in November this year. As a result, a new group of officials is likely to end up in charge of private equity’s regulatory oversight – which means that EVCA’s lobbying, policy work and education efforts could have a particularly significant impact.

Glover chose to take a glass-half-full view in her statement today, saying that the changes offer EVCA “a unique opportunity to position the industry as an important contributor to the European growth agenda.”

She also suggested that she would look to further EVCA’s research efforts. The body is currently working on a pan-European database of private equity activity.