IJInvestor, a service of IJGlobal, is delighted to announce the judges that have signed up to for the IJInvestor Awards Americas 2024.

While the IJInvestor Awards are in its sixth year, this is the second time IJInvestor has hived off the Americas into their own celebration.

The awards reflect the best infrastructure funds, investors and transactions from 1 September 2023 to 31 July 2024 – a transition year to align the judging better with the awards ceremony.

IJInvestor Awards 2024 – not to be confused with IJGlobal Awards (greenfield) and ESG Awards – will be celebrated on 28 November in London and 5 December New York.

The submissions portal will be open until 6 September and can be accessed here...

The Americas panel will convene on 25 September to judge the submissions from across the region.

IJGlobal prides itself on the peer-review nature of our awards, ensuring a transparent process that (we believe) makes them the most highly valued – submitted by the industry and reviewed by peers at the highest level.

As always, judges are recused from voting on awards where they have an interest. The London panel assesses all submissions – company and transaction awards – from across the world, excluding the Americas.

The judges (in alphabetical order) for the Americas are:

• Syed Usman Ahmed – Apterra
• Emilio Andrade – Ardian
• Emily Hashimoto – Goldman Sachs
• Dolly Mirchandani – White & Case
• Charles Parreault – CDPQ
• Steven Sonnenstein – DigitalBridge
• Tim Treharne – Arup

Syed Usman Ahmed

Apterra

Syed Ahmed joins the judging as the incumbent winner of the Rising Star Award in the Americas.

He is a managing director and head of digital Infrastructure at Apterra Infrastructure Capital, an affiliate of Apollo Global Management. He is responsible for sourcing, originating, and executing digital infrastructure transactions including data centers, fiber/broadband, and towers.

Prior to joining Apterra, he was with MetLife Investment Management for 12 years, responsible for originating infrastructure debt globally and head of sponsor outreach. He holds a BSc in finance from Rutgers Business School. He is also a CFA charterholder.

Emilio Andrade

Ardian

Emilio Andrade is an old friend of the IJInvestor judging panel. He is managing director and responsible for infrastructure investments in Latin America.

Emilio joined Ardian in 2019. Previously, Emilio worked as an Investment Banking Director at Citi in Santiago.

Previously, he worked at Morgan Stanley’s LatAm M&A team in New York. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, he was Head of Structured Finance among other roles at the global power generation company, AES, in Chile. Emilio started his career at IM Trust, a Chilean investment bank.

Emily Hashimoto  

Goldman Sachs

Emily Hashimoto is a managing director within the infrastructure investment banking team at Goldman Sachs in New York. She was promoted to the position in January after spending 5 years as vice president within the same team.

She has been involved in numerous transactions in the transportation, digital, and environmental infrastructure space over the years.

Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, she held roles with Bank of Montreal where she rose to the level of VP in the project finance and infrastructure investment banking team, and before that she was an investment banking associate at RBC Capital Markets with a primary focus on transport finance.

Her early career involved stints at Shattuck Hammond Partners in healthcare advisory, as well as spells at Morgan Stanley and UBS.

Dolly Mirchandani

White & Case

An old friend of IJGlobal and a regular member of judging panels for the greenfield and refinance awards, Dolly is a long-established figure in Americas advisory for infrastructure and energy.

Dolly focuses on infrastructure and PPP projects at White & Case and has more than 20 years’ experience working on some of the most significant deals in the sector.

She represents sponsors, infrastructure funds, commercial banks, institutional lenders, contractors, secondary market investors and governments in the tender, development and acquisition of greenfield and brownfield infrastructure projects.

Charles Perreault

CDPQ

Charles Perreault is managing director for strategy and portfolio construction at CDPQ where he is responsible for the development and implementation of the strategic plan and portfolio construction for the infrastructure team.

He also oversees the design and deployment of new investment and financing activities for the portfolio.

This is a diverse role and also sees Charles manages the team responsible for business development and investment support.

Charles has more than 20 years of experience in private equity and infrastructure investing.

Since joining CDPQ in 2000, he has held various positions related to transactions, post-investment management and private equity and infrastructure strategy.

In addition to being a member of the infrastructure portfolio’s management and investment committees, he sits on CDPQ’s currency and infrastructure financing committees.

Steven Sonnenstein

Digital Bridge

Steven was voted Outstanding Individual in the IJInvestor Awards 2020 and was a popular choice given his drive and innovation at Digital Bridge (then Digital Colony).

Judges described Steven as “a force of nature” and “an infrastructure professional with the vision to identify new sectors, but – more importantly – the courage to pursue them relentlessly”. Another went as far as to say: “Steven has forged a path that others will follow, carving out new markets and myriad opportunities. People will continue to follow his lead for years to come.”

Steven is a senior managing director at DigitalBridge Investment Management and is an accomplished telecommunications infrastructure executive with more than 25 years of global M&A, asset management and operations experience.

At DigitalBridge, he is responsible for the origination, evaluation, completion, and ongoing asset management of new investments on a global basis.

Prior to joining DigitalBridge, Steven was a senior director at Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments), one of Canada’s largest pension investment managers, where he initiated and led telecoms infrastructure investing within the broader infrastructure group in addition to his other investment management responsibilities.

Before joining PSP Investments, Steven worked for Brookfield Asset Management in its private equity and infrastructure groups with a particular focus on and experience in South America.

Prior to that, he spent several years working in M&A and distressed advisory.

Tim Treharne

Arup

Another decidedly international judge perspective – and an old friend of IJGlobal – we have known him for the last couple of decades as he transitioned from KPMG through to Meridiam (before that at Bank of America and NatWest) and eventually found his forever home at Arup.

Based in Miami and Washington DC, Tim has an enviable experience that encompasses the international infrastructure and energy scene with few markets that do not bear his fingerprints.

Tim has been based in the US since 2018 – though was in and out of the country for the previous couple of decades on a frequent basis – and now leads the Arup Americas advisory services team.

He joined Arup in 2018 following a 37-year career in banking, finance, and investment, principally in project finance, across a wide range of geographies. His area of expertise is in the structuring, procuring, and financing of major capital projects.

Having helped a number of governments develop their public-private partnership policy and programmes, including development of the initial PPP guidance in the UK, Tim strives for solutions that transfer risks to the parties best able to manage them while providing value for money solutions to public clients and the communities that they serve.