Meet The Team

Giuseppe Cicatelli

Principal & Chairman

Mr. Cicatelli is a member of YPO (Young President Organization) and a New Champion at the World Economic Forum. He is a serial entrepreneur with over 2 decades of experience. He started his career in Investment Banking in London at Citigroup (ex-Salomon Smith Barney) and Goldman Sachs. Mr. Cicatelli has since successfully built banking, greentech and infrastructure businesses in the US, Europe/EMEA, and Latin America. Mr. Cicatelli graduated from Bocconi University Cum Laude and completed a Finance Master’s Program at the NYU Stern School of Business and Executive Programs at the Harvard Business School and at the London Business School.

Ibrahim Velutini

Director of Investments

Mr. Velutini is a seasoned investment banking professional, having participated in deals valued over $2 billion. He leads our investment and due diligence efforts for new acquisitions.

Having started his career at Deutsche Bank in New York, Mr. Velutini has then participated in transactions throughout Latin America and the Southeastern United States.

Mr. Velutini graduated Cum Laude from Boston College with a degree in Finance.

Philippe Preite

Director of Investments

Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Certified Financial Technician (CFTe), 20 years experience in international financial markets in different international banks across the world, 8 years experience in Europe (Switzerland), 5 years in Asia (Singapore) and since 2014 in Latin America (Panama),Broker, Trader and Investment Consultant in Geneva (2001-2009), Head Portfolio Consulting for UHNWI (2009-2014) in Credit Suisse Singapore, Head Investment Advisory Americas (2015-2018) in Julius Baer Panama, International financial markets specialist with knowledge on the different asset classes.

Heather Greenstone

Business Manager

Heather is based in New York City. She began her career in sales organizations and quickly discovered her ability to thrive in a fast paced, multifaceted environment. Before cooperating with the Bacalia Group, she has been supporting executives and businesses such as Fairstead, Taurus Asset Management and NY Islanders.

Olga Cicatelli

Legal Council

Olga resides in the UAE and cooperates with Bacalia as an in-house legal council. She is a trained lawyer at Clifford Chance (both in Milan and Paris) and works as a senior legal council at the Mubadala Sovereign Wealth Fund. Prior to the Mubadala position she has been a Director – legal council at Careem and the National Bank of Abu Dhabi. She has completed a law degree at the Luiss University with an exchange program at the Copenhagen Business School as well as a master of laws at the Pantheon-Sorbonne in Paris.

Katherine Montaner

HR Manager

Katherine has more than 6 years of experience in the areas of Coordination, Logistics, Operations and Customer Service, which led her to discover her passion for customer service, she understood the power of human talent and teamwork, developing in Panamanian and International companies.

She worked in the organization of the World Youth Day held in Panama and later developed her skills for the creation of the policies and procedures of the Panama Clinic.

Paola Aparicio

Operations Manager

Paola has over 18 years experience in the customer service field. She has worked with a diverse number of multinational companies supporting leadership in different activities such as logistics, supply chain management and customer service.

Andres Palacio

IT Systems and Programming

Mr. Palacio is a Full Stack Software Developer, an expert in UI/UX design with more than 20 years of experience, specifically in web technologies with different programming languages, with a high knowledge of design patterns and software architecture. He has worked hand in hand with large multinationals implementing software that supports business operations by improving and generating new projects.