Afsaneh Beschloss

Founder and CEO of RockCreek Group, USA

Afsaneh Beschloss is the Founder and CEO of RockCreek Group. With nearly 40 years of experience in banking and financial services, she offers tremendous depth and breadth as an investor, board member, and Investment Committee Chair. In addition to her general investment acumen spanning debt, equity and asset management, she brings invaluable expertise in impact investing and ESG, global development and the global South. Born in Iran, Beschloss received her MPhil (Honours) in Economics from the University of Oxford, where she also taught international trade and economic development.

After studying in the UK, she began her career in the US at JP Morgan Chase in Corporate Finance. Motivated to contribute more meaningfully, she soon joined the World Bank. Here, Beschloss rose quickly through the ranks and developed direct and deep knowledge of the Global South. She began to focus on energy and infrastructure in the early 1980s. She spent time based in Senegal and then went on to establish the World Bank’s Natural Gas Group, investing in gas and power projects that aim to replace coal in emerging markets. She briefly left the bank to join the Shell Group, further deepening her sector expertise.

Beschloss joined the World Bank once again in 1987 and spent the next 14 years leading investments at the Bank. As an increasingly senior and successful investment leader, she became Director and Chief Investment Officer in 1997. She was responsible for the investment of the World Bank’s assets as well as external assets from the IMF, central banks and sovereign funds. From 1999-2001, she served as Vice President and Treasurer on behalf of the Group.

Leveraging her experience in investment and asset management, Beschloss left the World Bank and joined The Carlyle Group in 2001. Here, she served as Managing Director & CEO of Carlyle Asset Management. In 2003, Beschloss left Carlyle and founded RockCreek Group, the global investment manager and advisory firm serving foundations, endowments, pension funds and other institutional investors. She created the firm through a management buyout, buying 60% of the business in 2003. Under Beschloss’ guidance, RockCreek manages approximately $14 billion and leverages an experienced and innovative team with experience across relevant sectors to bring a deep understanding of global markets to investment decisions. She very recently bought back Rock Creek Group from Wells Fargo Asset Management.