Jeremy Coller
Coller Foundation Insights —
Jeremy Coller is a world-leading British financial executive and one of UK’s biggest philanthropists.
Jeremy Coller is a world-leading British financial executive and one of UK’s biggest philanthropists.
A pioneer of the private equity secondaries market, Jeremy is Chief Investment Officer and Executive Chairman of Coller Capital, the firm he founded in 1990.
Born in London in 1958, Jeremy attended Carmel College, Oxfordshire, and became vegetarian at the age of twelve. This was a pivotal moment for his interest in animal welfare, at a time which also marked the onset of factory farming’s growth to become the global phenomenon it is today.
Jeremy went on to obtain a master’s degree in Philosophy from the University of Sussex, and a BSc (Hons) in Management Sciences from Manchester University School of Management. He also took the Diplome Cours de Civilisation at the Sorbonne, Paris.
Beginning his career at Fidelity International as Head of Equity Research, Jeremy then joined ICI Pension Plan where he pioneered the acquisition of private equity secondaries. He went on to found his eponymous private equity firm in 1990 at the age of 32. The firm now has total capital commitments in excess of $21 billion, with seven funds raised and invested.
Establishing the Foundation in 2002 to enable him to pursue his philanthropic goals, Jeremy is a huge advocate for impact-driven philanthrophy, with the Foundation achieving this through both grant-making and in-house strategic initiatives.
Jeremy has been awared numerous accolades for both his professional and philanthropic achievements. He was voted one of the most influential people in private equity by Financial News, with the publication also naming him ‘Personality of the Decade’ in Europe in 2013, in recognition of his role industrialising the secondary market. In 2011, Jeremy was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the London Business School. In 2013, he received an Honorary Doctorate from Tel Aviv University.