Our People
Aemilia Varfis
FOUNDER & CEO
Aemilia is part of the initial team that pioneered shareholder response advisory services in Europe. She has been instrumental in introducing cross border shareholder response, corporate governance advisory and investor engagement services across the EMEA region, specifically in Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Russia, Spain, Turkey and the UK.
She has over 20 years multi-disciplinary industry experience, which spans across M&A transactions, capital increases, AGMs/EGMs, shareholder activism and corporate governance advisory. She has worked on over 450 cross-border assignments across the EMEA region and has led numerous high profile M&A and shareholder response campaigns and proxy fights, successfully securing support for all her clients.
Before founding Velos Advisory, Aemilia held positions at D.F. King, ISS Corporate Solutions, Morrow-Sodali and Georgeson (UK & France). Her knowledge and track record in the industry is unparalleled.
She is also a member of the Advisory Board of Get Involved, a civil non-profit organisation, founded by students of Finance, Economics and Law, which focuses on the experiential education of students - inspired by the dual approach of learning academically and practically - by connecting students with market executives and experts.
Aemilia is a public speaker on matters involving investor engagement, governance advisory and shareholder activism.
Andrew Nicolls
SENIOR ADVISOR COMMUNICATIONS
Andrew has served as a strategic communications advisor to an enormous number of financial services and other organisations working out of London, New York, Hong Kong, Paris, and Limassol. His clients have included, KKR, State Street, JP Morgan, Accor, Thomson Reuters and Sir Robert McAlpine.
Andrew founded Copperfield Advisory in New York in 2017 and represented some of the US’s leading Wall Street titans including Anthony Scaramucci, Bob Diamond and Brad Katsuyama. Prior to this, Andrew was Vice Chairman of Hudson Sandler, one of the UK’s most established PR agencies, where he directed the firm’s work on behalf of financial services clients. Andrew also oversaw all international activity the firm conducted with clients and agencies and established the Hong Kong office, serving as its Chairman.
In 1998, Andrew co-founded what became the UK’s leading specialist PR agency, Penrose, focused on advising financial services companies. Penrose was sold to the Engine Group in 2010 and merged with two other agencies to become MHP, one of the UK’s largest independent PR companies.
Before going into communications, Andrew worked in The City of London, initially as a Jobber for Wedd Durlacher Mordaunt, which subsequently became BZW.
Andrew has been active with a wide range of charities serving on the boards of Terence Higgins Trust, De Paul Trust and is currently the US trustee for Human Dignity Trust.
