WE
ARE
RECESS
Estimated 2024-2028 CAGR of the women’s sports rightsholder market
Third Party Advisor
Estimated global women’s sports fans in 2028, more than double the amount in 2018
Global Web Index, Parity / Survey Monkey
% of 18-24 year-olds who prefer to watch women’s events over men’s
YouGov
% of women in the C-suite roles who played sports
EY & ESPNW
Opportunities within the growing and resilient global sports industry, including a particular focus on highly attractive women’s sports
Thematic focus across youth sports & enrichment, consumer, media, agencies & professional services, entertainment, and technology-enabled assets
Malala Yousafzai is a Co-Founder of Recess Capital. Malala is a skilled leader, with a history of developing bold strategies and rallying a broad network of supporters. Her ability to deliver against challenging missions, in activism and in business, has now expanded to include Recess and its portfolio companies. She is a member of the Investment Committee.
Malala is a globally recognized women’s rights advocate and youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate. As co-founder of Malala Fund, she has raised $170M+ and invested ~$50M into education initiatives that have reached more than 20M students. She has long advocated for women in sports, including calling on FIFA to allow the exiled Afghan women’s football team to compete on the world stage.
Malala is a highly accomplished businesswoman. As founder and creative lead of the production company Extracurricular, she secured a four-year Apple TV+ partnership and produced several award-winning films. Her bestselling memoir, I Am Malala, sold 2M+ copies worldwide.
Malala earned her BA in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics from the University of Oxford.
Asser Malik is a Co-Founder of Recess Capital. Asser’s deep experience and relationships in the professional sports industry offer Recess and its investments unique insight into what it takes to compete and succeed in sports. He is a member of the Investment Committee.
Asser is a seasoned sports management professional with a strong track record in driving growth and innovation within the industry. Asser has served as General Manager of High Performance for the Pakistan Cricket Board since 2020 and became Director of Franchise Development for the Multan Sultans in 2023. He also brought the world’s largest amateur cricket league, Last Man Stands, to six cities across Pakistan. Asser maintains a broad network across the sports investing ecosystem.
Asser earned his BSc in Economics and Political Science from the Lahore University of Management Sciences.
Kevin is the Managing Partner of Recess Capital and has been part of the firm since 2025. Kevin oversees day-to-day management of the firm and is responsible for originating, structuring, and managing investments. He is a member of the Investment Committee.
Prior to joining Recess, Kevin was a Senior Managing Director of HighPost Capital responsible for leading the buyout and late-stage growth investment team, as well as a member of the Investment Committee. While at HighPost, Kevin pursued growth-focused investment opportunities across the consumer, sports, media, and technology sectors.
Prior to joining HighPost in 2021, Kevin was a Partner of Oak Hill Capital, where he led the Consumer, Retail & Distribution group and served on the Investment Committee. Over 18 years at Oak Hill, Kevin participated in executing and managing over $2.0 billion of private equity investments. Certain of these investments received notable industry recognition, including Mergers & Acquisitions magazine's "Deal of the Year" and Private Equity International's Operational Excellence Award. Additionally, Kevin played meaningful roles in developing Oak Hill's Operating Talent and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) programs.
Before joining Oak Hill in 2002, Kevin was a member of the mergers and acquisitions group at Morgan Stanley.
Kevin earned an A.B. degree, magna cum laude, from Harvard University.
Alex is a Principal at Recess Capital and has been part of the firm since 2025. Alex is responsible for sourcing, evaluating and managing investments. In addition to her investment responsibilities, Alex contributes to the growth and operations of Recess.
Prior to joining Recess Capital, Alex spent over a decade within venture capital, media, strategy and operations. She has made 20+ early stage investments into sports, consumer, media and technology companies. She was the Partner and Head of Investments at sequel—a digital family office including over 200 elite professional athletes, and before this, a Principal at Alumni Ventures, one of the leading US VC firms with $1B+ raised. Earlier in her career, Alex drove operational and commercial growth within publishing, television and music at Penguin Random House, the BBC, and BMG Music.
Alex has been a passionate and dedicated champion for gender equity in sports since childhood. Today, Alex is a competitive Tennis player and a devoted sports enthusiast.
Alex holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Theology from the University of Oxford, where she was an Academic Scholar and Captain of the Varsity tennis team.
Anita is a Senior Advisor to Recess Capital and is a member of the Investment Committee.
Anita is a consumer investor and strategic advisor to founders and CEOs. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Movendo Capital (family office making consumer growth equity investments), Touchland, Van Leeuwen Ice Cream and DeMellier. She is an angel investor in several consumer companies, with a focus on women founded / female centric businesses.
Previously, Anita was a Managing Director with The Carlyle Group’s flagship U.S. Buyout fund, focusing on the consumer and retail sectors. At Carlyle, Anita was actively involved with several of Carlyle’s successful consumer investments, including Dunkin’ Brands, The Nature’s Bounty Co., and PurposeBuilt Brands.
Prior to joining Carlyle in 2006, Anita was with Behrman Capital and prior to that, she was with the M&A group at Goldman Sachs.
Anita received her MBA from Harvard Business School. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Wellesley College with a BA in mathematics and chemistry.
Sam is a Senior Advisor to Recess Capital with a focus on strategy, including leadership counsel, pipeline construction and connectivity building across firm and portfolio levels.
Sam is a founder of Oak Creek, a mutli-strategy investment and advisory firm co-founded with Michael Warren, a Recess Advisory Board member. Oak Creek invests in technology, healthcare, energy and consumer businesses via early/mid stage venture capital and private equity platforms, in partnership with global leaders in these fields. Sam acts as board advisor to multiple portfolio companies and co-founded an annual Founder summit with Dr Roger Ferguson to further catalyse innovation and scale in these investments.
Prior to founding Oak Creek, Sam co-founded a private family office investing in early/mid stage technology businesses, building on more than ten years of venture capital and private equity experience in portfolios in excess of $2.0 billion across frontier and emerging markets (principally in South East Asia, Pakistan, East Africa and Egypt) spanning real estate, healthcare, education, technology and consumer staples (among others).
Sam is a qualified lawyer (qualified and practiced in the corporate M&A division at Slaughter and May) and is also a Trustee of the Kora Project in Kenya, a partnership with the Kenyan Government to co-manage the third largest National Park in Kenya.
Sam holds a BA in History from St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford, graduating with a double first.
Alex serves as a Senior Advisor to Recess Capital with a focus on value creation and growth strategy across the portfolio.
Previously, Alex was a Partner at McKinsey & Company, where she was a leader in their Private Capital Practice. She co-led their Impact Investing service line and ESG/Sustainability work for private equity and alternative investment clients. Her expertise includes guiding GP strategy, in particular assisting with new firm and fund launches, portfolio strategy, and the establishment of responsible investing policies, as well as leading commercial due diligence engagements on potential investment targets. Alex has helped design a number of value creation plans for PE-backed portfolio companies, from 100-day planning through to exit strategy. While at McKinsey, Alex spearheaded the creation of the industry's preeminent report on diversity in global private markets, highlighting both gaps and progress in gender equity within the private capital industry worldwide.
Prior to McKinsey, Alex gained valuable experience in the Technology and Non-Profit sectors.
In addition to Recess, Alex also currently serves as a Senior Advisor to a GP stakes firm and is a "Thinker in Residence" for a local nonprofit in Alexandria, VA, dedicated to promoting economic development in the region.
Alex holds an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and an AB, magna cum laude, from Princeton University.
Liz is a member of the Recess Advisory Board and draws upon decades of experience within talent strategy.
Liz is the Chief People Officer of Elevate, an award-winning, global sports and entertainment agency founded by San Francisco 49ers and Harris/Blitzer Sports and Entertainment, with key investors including Arctos Partners. At Elevate, she drives the global people strategy and growth initiatives for the 500-person company. She concurrently serves as the Chairman of Elevate Talent, Elevate’s 70-person executive search and leadership advisory firm, with offices in New York, London, Sydney, and Milan.
With over 20 years in leadership positions within executive search and talent, Liz has partnered with the world’s most renowned sports, entertainment, and media organizations to place CEOs and build exceptional executive teams. She was recognized as a Sports Business Journal Game Changer for her dedication to women in sports; many of her searches have resulted in award-winning CEOs.
Before joining Elevate, Liz was the global head of executive and critical talent functions at Activision Blizzard, working alongside its CEO to transform recruiting and talent strategies for 13,000 employees, with an emphasis on diversity and organizational change, before its sale to Microsoft. She also established and co-led Spencer Stuart’s global sports practice, achieving threefold growth, and leading the firm’s most elite projects in global sports.
Liz holds a MA in leadership from Harvard University and is a graduate of Georgetown University, where she played Women’s Field Hockey.
Michael is a member of the Recess Advisory Board. Michael draws on decades of investment expertise across government and private sector to support Recess leadership on all aspects of the platform.
Michael is a founder of Oak Creek, a mutli-strategy investment and advisory firm co-founded with Sam Neckar, a Senior Advisor of Recess. Oak Creek invests in technology, healthcare, energy and consumer businesses – where Michael has led (among other things) the foundation of Med Concepts – a specialised clinical care delivery business managed by global industry experts, and the Oak Creek technology platform drawing on his deep sector expertise in semi-conductors, chips and geopolitics.
Michael is a seasoned executive with a background in finance, policy and international business. His leadership experience includes roles in economic strategy, global investment and advising institutions on international growth strategies and economic and geopolitical issues affecting global markets. Michael co-founded the Albright Stonebridge Group with Secretary Albright, serves on Board of Directors of Brookfield Business Corporation, Ripple, CommonFund and Maximus – and was formerly a Trustee of Yale University, a member of the Yale Corporation Investment Committee and a Trustee of the District of Columbia Retirement Board (DCRB).
President Obama appointed Michael to serve as a member of the Board of Directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the US development finance institution (now DFC) where he chaired the Audit Committee from 2010 to 2019.
Michael graduated from Yale University and Balliol College, University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.
