Venture partner joins industry board

Helen Norton, a partner of Sydney venture capital firm AirTree Ventures, has been elected to the board of the Australian Investment Council (AIC), the Australian private capital industry’s peak organisation.

Norton is AirTree’s finance and operations partner.

Prior to joining AirTree in 2015, Norton worked for eight years in the London office of US venture capital firm Accel Partners.

Norton’s election the AIC board was announced at the council’s recent annual general meeting. Three directors were re-appointed: Alicia Gregory, deputy chief investment officer, private markets, Future Fund; Chester Moynihan, founding partner, Allegro Funds; and Anna Shave, principal, Tanarra Capital.

Gregory remains chair of the board.

Other members of the board are: Anna Ellis, investment director, Roc Partners; Todd Forest, managing director, NAB Ventures; Louise  Haslehurst, investment director, Quadrant Private Equity; David Lang, Partner, KKR Australia; Dr Chris Nave, managing director, Brandon Capital; Matthew Robinson, managing director, Pacific Equity Partners; John Russell, chief executive, Myer Family Investments; Michelle Segaert, partner, financial services law, EY; Jeremy Stevenson, managing director, CPE Capital.

Len Chersky, managing partner, private equity, Brookfield and Andrew Major, chief risk and compliance officer, HESTA, concluded their terms on the board at the meeting. Major had served on the board for eight years including serving as chair from 2018 to 2021.

Board members are elected for two-year terms to oversee the strategic direction and governance of the council. The council’s 200-plus member firms comprise private equity, venture capital and credit fund managers as well as family offices and institutional investors including superannuation and sovereign wealth funds and advisers to the private capital sector.

Image: AirTree partner Helen Norton.