London Calling
Like many liberal arts majors before and after him, Foglio proved the options are limitless for a math major armed with a Fairfield education, creativity, and the desire to make a difference.
— Alfred Foglio ’92
Alfred Foglio ’92 remembers well all of the career advice he received when he was finishing up his bachelor’s degree in mathematics at Fairfield: “They said, you can become an actuary, you can go into teaching, you can go back to grad school…”
Like many liberal arts majors before and after him, Foglio proved the options are limitless for a math major armed with a Fairfield education, creativity, and the desire to make a difference.
Close to 30 years after he donned his cap and gown, Foglio, who was a founding partner of the private equity firm GI Partners in Europe and has recently created his own family office, Micota Capital, has built a career of blending vision and business acumen. Most recently, he put together a group of likeminded investors to build and open Yarrow Heights School, a new facility serving up to 60 children with special educational needs, not far from his adoptive home of London, England.
Opened in September, the Southampton school offers an enhanced and extended day curriculum incorporating technology and individualized therapies for innovative learning and engagement.
Foglio’s interest in children’s services originates from his childhood in Milford, Mass. One of his aunts was adopted, and fostered many children herself over the years.
“I always grew up around her foster children. They were like cousins,” Foglio said. “And my mother was a nurse for 50 years and my sister is also a nurse. That care element was in our blood.”
At Fairfield, Foglio, who had initially fallen in love with the picturesque campus and town, found that his interest in his studies quickly grew.
“The teaching staff was fantastic,” said Foglio, who minored in philosophy. “I fell in love with Jesuit education — the structure, the challenge and well-rounded approach.”
After graduation, he worked in New York City at Arthur Andersen before joining CSFB, investing in UK and European asset backed private equity. Next up he joined GI Partners, where he was a managing partner from 2001 through 2019. There, he led the European team and the Health & Social Care sector focus.
For three years, he also served on the investment board for the Children’s Services Innovation Programme (CSIP) that was set up by the UK’s Department for Education to act as a catalyst for developing more effective ways of supporting vulnerable children. Now at Micota, he has been involved in all aspects of the creation, growth, restructuring, scaling and exiting of business as an investor, chairman and public company non-executive director.
Foglio made the move to Europe in the late 1990s, when a job opportunity offered him the chance for a challenge and a change.
“I was young and ready for another personal and professional challenge,” he said.
“The opportunity was presented at the right time for me and I decided to make a move, thinking it would be for a few years.”
A few years has turned into a few more than that. Foglio now lives permanently in Notting Hill, London, with his wife Anita and their three children: Nicolo, 12; Mila, 9; and Carlo, 3. Anita is originally from Croatia meaning their children hold tri-citizenship. “They truly are international children, hopefully blending the best from three cultures!” he joked.
Over the years, Foglio has channeled his passion into many worthwhile projects, including building one of the UK’s largest behavioral health businesses, The Cambian Group. He’s particularly proud of Cambian because it proved private capital investment can drive innovation and improved quality in children’s services.
“I was incredibly fortunate to work with an unbelievable management team with unparalleled dedication and a passion for improving lives of the children and adults in their care,” he said. “It was a transformational professional experience that captured what I love about being a private equity investor and what I believe as an individual.”
While Foglio has made a home in London, he said he enjoys visiting family in Boston, Philadelphia, and Indiana. He hopes his children will consider colleges in the U.S. as well as Europe when the time comes.
Asked what he misses on this side of the Atlantic, he mentioned the mindset of the American people.
“There’s a friendliness, an openness, and positivity in the American soul,” he said. “Despite what you hear in the media, it’s still there.”
