The inner circle | Northcraft Shield

CEO – Capital Markets & M&A

Dr. Joseph Barthl

Dr. Joseph Barthl represents Northcraft Shield on the international stage with the authority and precision that only two decades of transatlantic capital markets work can produce. As the firm's face before institutional partners, clients and decision-makers across the international financial community, he guides companies with surgical precision on their path to the public markets — from strategic positioning through to a successful listing. He also oversees the firm's Mergers & Acquisitions practice, having orchestrated landmark cross-border transactions across the industrial, technology and financial services sectors. A graduate of Columbia Law School and holder of a doctorate in Corporate Finance from the University of Vienna, prior to joining Northcraft Shield he served as Senior Managing Director at a prominent Wall Street advisory firm, where he personally structured and closed transactions exceeding $14 billion in aggregate value. Known for his methodical due-diligence discipline and a keen instinct for value creation, Barthl ensures that every transaction undertaken on behalf of clients meets the most exacting standards of strategic and fiduciary integrity.

◆ New York

Executive Director-Strategic Operations

David Rosenberg

David Rosenberg serves alongside Dr. Barthl as the central operative force of Northcraft Shield. He heads the trading desk in London and acts as a critical interface between portfolio strategy and market execution. With a career spanning over a decade at institutional trading desks in London and Frankfurt, Rosenberg possesses a profound understanding of global equity, bond, and derivative markets. He holds a degree in Economics from the University of Warwick and is a Chartered Financial Analyst. His mandate at Northcraft Shield encompasses best-execution monitoring, counterparty management, and real-time liquidity analysis—ensuring that every trade is executed with optimal timing, minimal market impact, and full regulatory compliance. Rosenberg’s calm precision under pressure and his extensive network of prime brokerage relationships guarantee seamless operational continuity for the firm’s clients.

◆ London

David Rosenberg - Executive Director-Strategic Operations

Head of Sales

Dr. Walter Kaufmann

Dr. Walter Kaufmann directs the firm's institutional and private client origination from Northcraft Shield's Nordic operations hub in Stockholm. Armed with a doctorate in Behavioural Economics from the Stockholm School of Economics and over eighteen years of experience in senior distribution roles across leading European asset managers, Kaufmann possesses an extraordinary ability to translate complex investment narratives into compelling, transparent propositions. Before his tenure at Northcraft Shield, he held the position of Head of EMEA Distribution at a major Scandinavian investment house, building and leading a team that raised in excess of €6 billion in net new assets within five years. His consultative approach and deep institutional network across the Nordics, DACH region and the United Kingdom make him an indispensable link between the firm's investment capabilities and its most discerning clients.

◆ Stockholm

Asset Manager

Emanuel Blatt

Emanuel Blatt serves as a portfolio architect within Northcraft Shield's London-based asset management team, bringing a rare blend of quantitative rigour and macro-thematic conviction to every mandate. Educated at Imperial College London with a first-class degree in Mathematics and Finance, Blatt spent the formative years of his career at two of the City's most respected discretionary managers, where he co-managed multi-asset portfolios for family offices and sovereign entities. His specialisation lies in constructing resilient, globally diversified portfolios that balance yield generation with downside protection — a philosophy that has consistently delivered risk-adjusted outperformance through multiple market cycles. Meticulous, data-driven and deeply committed to fiduciary duty, Blatt embodies the analytical backbone of the firm's investment process.

◆ London

Head of Analytics

Robert Huber

Robert Huber commands Northcraft Shield's analytics division from the firm's London headquarters, where he oversees the proprietary research infrastructure that underpins every investment decision. A former quantitative strategist at a leading global investment bank, Huber holds a Master's degree in Financial Engineering from ETH Zurich and brings over fifteen years of experience in building institutional-grade analytics platforms, risk models and scenario-analysis frameworks. His team produces the macroeconomic forecasts, sector heat-maps and tail-risk assessments that inform the firm's strategic asset allocation. Equally comfortable interrogating a sovereign credit model or stress-testing a private equity co-investment, Huber ensures that Northcraft Shield's clients benefit from a level of analytical depth typically reserved for the world's largest institutional investors.

◆ London

Executive Assistant

Christina Stern

Christina Stern is the organisational linchpin of Northcraft Shield's senior leadership team. With more than twelve years of experience in executive-level support across private banking and institutional asset management, Stern ensures that the firm's day-to-day operations run with clockwork efficiency. Prior to joining Northcraft Shield, she served as personal assistant to the managing board of a prominent Swiss private bank, coordinating complex international travel schedules, client events and regulatory filings across multiple jurisdictions. Fluent in German, English and French, and holding a diploma in Business Administration from the University of St. Gallen, Stern combines impeccable organisational skills with the discretion and cultural fluency that the firm's global mandate demands.