#128 Zena Couppey - CEO of Altum Group

In this episode, I sat down with the absolute powerhouse that is Zena Couppey, CEO of Altum Group, to unpack her extraordinary journey from leaving school at 16 to leading Altum, a rapidly scaling global fund administration business more than 200 people across six international offices.

If you’re interested in business building, private markets, fund administration, or scaling a high-performance team, this one’s worth a listen.

 

Key Topics Covered In This Episode:

* Leaving school at 16 to join Ernst & Young full time

* How she led a management buyout, and rebrand of Altum, raising PE money, and growing the business from 35 to 200+ people across six offices

* Using tech to optimise, and drive efficiencies across the business

* Her approach to client acquisition, retention, and why service trumps scale

* Why culture beats strategy – and how she leads by example

* Key trends in capital flows – including the rise of Middle Eastern family offices and JV structures

* The growing focus on operational real estate, life sciences, and healthcare assets

* How she balances motherhood, leadership, and a global travel schedule

Advice for women returning to work and what true equity in the workplace looks like

* What makes a great fund administration partner – and why most providers still get it wrong

* Zena also shares what she would tell her younger self, and why being underestimated was her biggest motivator.

 

And finally...

With £500m to invest – which People, what Property, and which Place would she choose?

 

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