Burford Capital appoints Miriam Connole as first CFO

BURFORD CAPITAL, the world’s largest provider of litigation investment capital, has brought its financial management in-house with the appointment of its first chief financial officer.

Miriam Connole, an experienced insurance industry finance director, will be responsible for the global financial affairs of the company, Burford said.

The company had previously relied on outsourced financial management and brought in Connole, the former group commercial finance director of Friends Life, because of its rapid expansion over the past year.

Prior to Friends Life, Connole was the chief financial officer of RSA’s central & eastern European region. She has worked in the insurance industry for the past 11 years, where she gained international finance and insurance experience at both AIG and ACE.

Connole qualified as a chartered accountant with Arthur Andersen in Ireland and spent several years there in the audit practice.

“With Burford’s business expanding significantly over the past year, it is time to enlist someone of Miriam’s expertise and experience as CFO,” said Christopher Bogart, Burford Capital’s CEO.

“We are delighted to have found someone with her international perspective, tax background, and deep involvement in the financial services industry.”

In addition to Connole’s appointment, Burford recently added two new members to its team in New York: Andrew Cohen, formerly of Debevoise & Plimpton, and Christina Yue, formerly of Ernst & Young.

Yue, who is joining as vice pesident, finance, was most recently a manager at Ernst & Young auditing large hedge funds, fund of funds, and mutual funds that collectively have more than $20bn in assets under management.