Board of CHGFS

Non-Executive Directors

James R. Osborne, who is a non-executive director of Custom House Fund Services (Ireland) Ltd., James was educated at Campbell College, Belfast and Trinity College, Dublin, where he obtained an Honours Degree in Legal Science.  He qualified as a solicitor in 1973 and joined A&L Goodbody, Solicitors.  He opened the firm's New York office in 1979 and spent two years there.  He became Managing Partner of A&L Goodbody in 1982 and spent twelve years in that role, during which time the firm became the largest in Ireland.  He retired as a Partner from A&L Goodbody in 1994, but remains as a Consultant.

Since his retirement from the practice of law, James has been involved in numerous businesses and has served on a number of boards of publicly quoted Irish companies, including Bank of Ireland plc, Golden Vale plc, Adare plc and Carrolls Holdings plc, as well as numerous Irish private companies, including Heineken Ireland and Centric Health.

He contributed to the flotation of Ryanair in London, New York and Dublin and remains on the board of Ryanair Holdings plc.  He is also on the board of James Hardie Industries N.V.

James is a board member of the Irish Heritage Trust and the International Advisory Board of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

He is an enthusiastic sportsman with a keen interest in sailing, golf , tennis, racing and other similar pursuits.

Hugo Van Vredenburch was the Chief Executive Officer of the Equity Trust Group from 2005 until September 2009.  During his time as CEO he doubled the size of the business, extending its global reach to 33 countries and employing in excess of 1,200 people.  At the time of his departure, the business was enjoying record turnover and profitability.

Prior to that, Hugo had a successful career at Goldman Sachs & Co. leaving as a Partner and Managing Director of the firm in January 2005.  During his 13 years at the investment bank, he was Global COO of the Equities Division and headed up a number of different businesses including the Equities Division in Japan, the E Commerce division in London, which he founded, and their highly successful Pan European Equity franchise in London.

From 1989 to 1992, Hugo worked for Tokyo Pacific Holdings in Japan, the investment management daughter of a number of European banks, including NM Rothschild and Sal Oppenheim, where he was an analyst and then CIO/General Manager.

Hugo is a Dutch National and is married with 5 daughters.  He lives with his family in Buckinghamshire, England.

Executive Directors

Dermot Butler, Chairman of CHGFS and the Custom House Group, has more than 40 years experience in the financial services industry. Dermot has worked variously as both a stockbroker and stock jobber (market maker or specialist) on the London Stock Exchange, and subsequently, as a commodity broker and as a principal dealer in commodity options on the London Metal and London Commodity Exchanges.

He was a founder member of McDonnell & Co Ltd. ("McD"), a Bermuda based fund management company which was set up in 1983 and was one of the first fund management companies to outsource all of its investment management functions. By the end of 1988 McD had over USD$100 million in assets. Early in 1989, Dermot moved to Dublin and established the Custom House Group of Companies, the headquarters of which, today, is CHGFS in Malta.

Dermot has written numerous articles on various aspects of the Alternative Investment and Hedge Fund Industry and is a regular speaker at conferences on subjects relating to the management, administration and regulatory of offshore funds. He is a Director of several fund companies many of which are listed on the Irish Stock Exchange and was for six years until September 2008, the Deputy Chairman of AIMA (The Alternative Investment Management Association).

David Blair, CEO of CHGFS and the Custom House Group, joined Custom House in May 1996. Prior to joining Custom House, David was a Director of International Fund Managers (Ireland) Limited, the Barings fund administration company and was a Director of Barings (Ireland) Limited, the Barings entity providing custody services to investment funds. David joined Barings in 1990, to establish their fund administration and custody operations in the International Financial Services Centre in Dublin.

Before joining Barings, David had established Windsor Management Services Limited ("Windsor"), a Bermuda registered company, to provide management and administration services to Bermuda exempt companies and investment funds. David sold his interest in Windsor in 1989. David is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.