After more than a decade with Carlyle Group, one of the world’s largest private equity houses, few can boast the credentials of managing director Robert Easton. Now set to become chairman of the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, Easton plans to champion greater transparency across the industry.

Colleagues describe Easton as "extremely focused and driven but very much a team player", while the chief executive of one company in the Carlyle portfolio said that "he has a passion for business but is also extremely technically astute, which isn't true of every private equity executive you meet".