John A. Hess is a co-founder of Altius and has served as Chief Executive Officer since 1998 when the firm was formed. He is responsible for Altius’ relationships with a number of clients, and sits on Altius’ Investment Policy Committee. John is recognized as a thought-leader in private equity and contributes regularly to industry panels and periodicals. He has been involved in the financial services sector for 35 years, focusing on private equity for 27 years. John has established strong relationships with the leading private equity managers and institutions across Europe, Asia and the USA.
Prior to forming Altius, John was a Founder and Director of Helix Associates Limited, developing the firm into one of Europe’s top private equity placement agent. He was previously Director at Berkeley Govett International Ltd., and Managing Director and head of European private equity placement at Continental Bank N.A. At J. Henry Schroder Wagg Ltd, John established close relationships with institutional investors in Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and the Nordic region. He also held positions at Cresap, McCormick and Paget (London), Citibank N.A. (United Arab Emirates) and the US Air Force. He has a BA in German from St. Lawrence University, and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a Teaching Fellow in the Multinational Enterprise Unit. John speaks English and German.