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Our Team

Vedrana B. Riley
CEO

Vedrana is Ciel’s founder. She covers a wide range of areas including Asset Management, Finance Structuring and Modelling, Fundraising and Legals.Since inception, Vedrana has been involved in numerous hotel acquisitions with value-add opportunities, acquisition and oversight of existing portfolios of hotels, office and industrial estates, planning gains and development of hotels representing an aggregate value of in excess of £750m.

Vedrana also co-founded Stow-Away, a new brand of design-led boutique and eco-friendly apart’hotels. The first asset opened in London Waterloo in 2018 and the team are working on a strong pipeline of London and regional assets.

Prior to Ciel, Vedrana was a Corporate Finance Manager at Pacific Investments and Managing Director of IPIN Global Capital and BridgePoint Ventures UK Ltd. Vedrana graduated with a first class degree at the Sorbonne, Paris, followed by a Masters degree in London, where she got a distinction. A French national who was born in the former Yugoslavia, Vedrana is fluent in five languages. Vedrana is a member of The Monopoly Network, The Hospitality Real Estate Group and the Hotel Property Network.

Marie Wadsworth Jakobsen
CCO

Marie is the COO at Ciel Capital and brings over 15 years’ of experience working across various European jurisdictions. Prior to Ciel Capital Marie worked for the Private Equity Group REVCAP LLP as an Associate Partner spearheading venture capital investments within various real estate sectors across Europe as well as working on acquisitions and asset management within its pan-European Opportunistic and Value-Add Funds. Prior to that, she ran the Asset Management across Germany for a Family Office focused on investments and developments across  Europe.

Marie has gained exposure to a variety of European markets (United Kingdom, Scandinavia, Germany and Austria) across traditional real estate sectors and more alternative markets such as care homes, student housing, road side multi service centres and hotels. Marie has a Business Diploma from Denmark, a Business and Marketing degree and a first-class MA in European Real Estate Investments and Finance from Kingston University. 

Zahra Hassan
CFO

Zahra is CFO of Ciel and brings a wealth of expertise in Venture Capital and Mergers and Acquisitions. Prior to Ciel, she was VP of the Raine Group, Principal at Code Advisors and M&A banker at UBS in London and New York. Zahra has a Bachelors degree from the University of Chicago (honours) and a Masters degree from London Business School.

John Danias
Finance Director

John joined Ciel Capital in 2017. He is primarily involved in financial modelling, debt negotiations and project monitoring.

His background is investment banking with over 15 years experience in deal structuring and real estate finance. In his previous role as Director at BNP Paribas he managed a portfolio of £1bn equivalent, of UK and European loans, focusing on origination, syndication and work-outs.

He has also spent four years in the tourism and hospitality industry and studied Mechanical Engineering at University of Wales, Swansea.

In his spare time John is exploring the development techniques of mindfulness and other mind-training techniques within society.

Susie McColgan
HR

Susie has a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and Management from Orebro University in Sweden. Since moving to London in 2006 she has held roles in recruitment and HR in a wide range of roles and sectors. She has worked on a global remit and has managed and implemented policies, processes, systems and change.

Susie is responsible for HR at Ciel Capital.

Sanya Cerkez
Accounts and Team Assistant

Sanya joined Ciel Capital in 2018, and currently focuses on the companies bookkeeping and finance tasks, playing a key role with our operational assets at Manchester and Waterloo.

Previously Sanya worked in fashion where she travelled internationally for more than ten years gaining a breadth of experience and a strong contact base.

Sanya is also responsible for Ciel’s office administration and diary management.

Matthew Riley
Non-Executive Director

Matthew is not generally involved in the day to day operations of Ciel but helps where needed and consults with the management on policy and strategy.

Matthew is employed at Eurex AG where he is responsible for UK asset manager relationships. He has worked for the last 20 years in financial markets, prior to Eurex at a Dutch market maker and previously at Virtue Capital Partners, Jefferies, RBS, Morgan Stanley and Dresdner Bank.

Matthew studied Chemical Engineering at Exeter University and speaks fluent French and Japanese.

Vedrana B Riley

Vedrana B. Riley

CEO

Marie Wadsworth Jakobsen

Marie Wadsworth Jakobsen

CCO

Zahra Hassan

Zahra Hassan

CFO

John Danias

John Danias

Finance Director

Susie McColgan

Susie McColgan

HR

Sanya Cerkez

Sanya Cerkez

Accounts and Team Assistant

Matthew Riley

Matthew Riley

Non-Executive Director

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