Research Desk
Operators behind every mandate screen.
Meridian is principal-led. Mandates are architected, screened, and memoed by people who have allocated capital, built companies, and run private-market coverage — not generalist analysts forwarding teasers.
Christopher Newman
Founder & Managing Principal Greenwich · London- 22 years in private markets — Goldman Sachs industrials & healthcare, then CIO at an $840M single-family office
- Led 31 direct buyouts and structured minority investments across healthcare services and business services
- Final reviewer on every mandate cycle before names reach client principals
Christopher founded Meridian after a decade running direct-deal coverage inside a multi-generational family office. He built the desk to give peers the external research discipline he wished he had earlier — mandate architecture, source-trail rigor, and principal-ready decisions before diligence opens.
He sits on the final review lane for every healthcare and cross-corridor mandate. Nothing is memoed without a named owner, provenance trail, and explicit decision tag.
Elena Marchetti
Head of Healthcare Mandates · UK & Europe London- 14 years healthcare services M&A — Lazard and a London mid-market advisory boutique
- Led 23 buy-side mandates in clinics, diagnostics, and specialty care
Elena runs Meridian's founding wedge — regional clinic platforms, diagnostics roll-ups, and founder-succession screens across the UK and continental Europe. She maintains standing relationships with regional advisors and management teams that rarely surface in broad market scans.
James Whitmore
Head of Research New York- Six years directing private company intelligence at a $2.1B single-family office
- Earlier: equity research associate, J.P. Morgan healthcare services
James owns universe construction and source-trail screening. Every shortlisted name carries provenance, confidence grading, and explicit remove/watch logic before it reaches principal review. He built Meridian's lower-middle-market screening methodology from family-office coverage playbooks.
Priya Shah
Corridor Lead · India & Gulf Dubai · Singapore- Principal at a Singapore growth fund; India–GCC corridor coverage at EY Transaction Advisory
- MBA, INSEAD
Priya covers mandates with India operating exposure and Gulf capital deployment. She maps founder-led businesses, holding-company carve-outs, and cross-border succession windows that standard databases miss — particularly where family governance and offshore structuring shape process timing.
Marcus Chen
Director, Meridian OS & Intelligence Systems Singapore- Product lead, Palantir Foundry financial services
- Engineering manager, Stripe treasury analytics
Marcus built Meridian OS — the mandate workspace where screens, memos, source trails, and decision tags live in one private engagement room. He ensures every deliverable is traceable, searchable, and principal-readable under time pressure.