2017 Voting Panel

Brian is a Partner in PwC’s London audit practice who specialises in working with private businesses, leading PwC’s London audit offering in this space.

He has extensive experience of the Technology and Media sectors and has supported a number of his clients through acquisitions and capital market transactions as they have grown and expanded, including AIM, Main Market and US IPOs.

Brian also leads PwC’s Fast Growth Companies programme for entrepreneurial businesses, a number of which are Venture Capital backed (www.pwc.co.uk/fastgrowth) and writes a regular SME Surgery column for The Times Online.

Regional Director for the Midlands, London and the South East at Business Growth Fund, Gavin also manages BGF’s national investment activity in public companies and sits on the Board of BGF’s first AIM-listed investee business, Victoria plc. Prior to BGF, Gavin was a Managing Director with RBS for over 12 years.

With 25 years’ advisory experience, Andrew has developed expertise in a broad range of sectors, including Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, Travel, Retail Banking and Food, with specialist experience in retail and consumer.

In addition to his role as Managing Director and Head of the UK Domestic Team, Andrew is a senior member of the Global Consumer Team.

Rajesh is the Deputy Mayor of London for Business. Born in India, Rajesh moved to London in 2001. As an entrepreneur he founded RationalFX in 2005 and Xendpay in 2014, both companies utilising technology to reduce the cost of international money transfer for businesses and individuals.

Rajesh is passionate about promoting entrepreneurship and creating opportunities for young people. He was appointed Chair of Oxfam’s Enterprise Development Programme in 2015 and has been a Patron of The Prince’s Trust for many years.

Family Business United (FBU) was created by Paul, who is passionate about the family business sector and champions the sector on a global level. Family business is at the core of all that he does and FBU is the culmination of working in the family business sector for over 20 years.

FBU has become an award-winning magazine and resource centre for the family business community and, in addition, organises innovative family business events such as The Great British Family Business Conference, The Family Business of the Year Awards, The Family Business Road Trip, International Family Business Day and Scottish Family Business Week to name a few!

Find out more at www.familybusinessunited.com.

Matthew works for UBS, based in Zurich, as a Relationship Manager, running a team focused on international private clients. He started his career in London at HSBC Bank as a Financial Planner. He then moved on to Merrill Lynch and spent several years as an Investment Consultant running advisory portfolios. He studied Civil Engineering at the University of Liverpool, RDR Level 6 Qualified, and has the Investment Management Certificate through the CFA Society.

Laura is a Marketeer with experience working in the public and third sector. After working in Northumbria Police communications department for five years, Laura moved on to take up the role of Marketing and Communications Officer with Shared Interest, an ethical finance organisation providing fair finance to smallholder farmers and artisans in the developing world. Laura is an Associate of CIM and a member of CIPR. She is passionate about fair trade and helping people in the developing world improve their livelihoods through trade.

Richie heads up Fox Williams’ corporate department and is a Partner in the Capital Markets and M&A; groups. He advises entrepreneurs, companies and financial institutions on a broad range of corporate matters including mergers and acquisitions, listings, financings and public takeovers, and is also a specialist in corporate governance, shareholder engagement and activist investor situations. He advises clients in a variety of industry sectors including technology, fintech, natural resources and financial services, and has particular expertise in understanding the issues facing international companies entering the UK market to seek funding or make acquisitions.

Prior to joining Fox Williams, Richie was a Partner at McCarthy Tétrault, which he joined in 2001 after spending several years at Ashurst. He received a first-class BA with distinction from Mount Allison University in 1991 and an MA from Carleton University in 1992.

Having been at Zeus Capital since September 2010, Tremayne has vast experience in the Private Company and Private Equity advisory arenas and was previously a Partner at Ernst & Young. Tremayne has advised on a wide range of transactions including disposals, mergers and acquisitions, capital raisings, debt restructurings, IPOs and take-privates.

Jim graduated from Oxford University before qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG. He worked for KPMG’s Corporate Finance division when it was first set up and then, in 1993, founded Corbett Keeling, the firm he now chairs, advising on buying, selling and arranging funding for businesses. He is a past Non-executive Chairman of the Corporate Finance Faculty, the largest trade body worldwide for corporate financiers, with over 6,000 members, and he served as Alternate on the Takeover Panel, which governs takeovers of UK listed companies.

Garry began his career as a corporate solicitor. He has over 20 years’ corporate finance experience and has advised on a wide range of deals for both public and private companies. He joined Investec in January 2012 as part of the takeover of Evolution Group, where he was Head of Corporate Finance, and is now Head of Consumer. Prior to this, he was a Managing Director at KBC Peel Hunt and previously ran the UK business of Altium.

Tamara founded The Social Element in 2002, before Facebook and Twitter were even created, knowing that the future would be digital. She has grown the global social media agency into a 350-strong team operating in 45 countries and working with some of the world’s largest brands including Oreo, Toyota, Primark, the Oprah Winfrey Network and LEGO Group.

In 2013, Tamara co-founded Polpeo, a crisis simulation platform for brands and their agencies, teaching them how a crisis would affect them online and how to communicate effectively.

Throughout his career, Ian has been involved with growth companies, both public and private.

His early career was as a stockbroker, analyst, broadcaster and financial journalist in this area and, since founding Design Portfolio in 1991, he has been active in helping many companies in this sector with their investor communication and corporate reporting requirements. Ian is also Chairman of Flathill Communications Group plc, President of The Design Portfolio Marketing Services Inc. and a member of the Investor Relations Society.

Steve is Chief Operating Officer of the Rigby Group.

Steve heads up the group’s Real Estate and Financial Services divisions. He is also responsible for finance, M&A; and the family office investment portfolio.

Steve sits on the Boards of technology and airport businesses and chairs the Boards of Rigby & Rigby, Rigby Technology Investments, Rigby Private Equity and Rigby Capital, the group’s financial services business.

Jeremy graduated from Oxford University before becoming a Strategy Consultant at the LEK Partnership. He then spent four years in corporate finance at SG Warburg & Co before moving into Private Equity with Mercury Asset Management. He was one of the founding Partners of HgCapital, one of the UK’s leading Private Equity houses. For the last twelve years he has been an angel investor assisting private companies to develop and achieve their strategic goals.

Allyson is a recognised international business adviser, whose expertise in brand internationalisation is sought by leading businesses globally through her consultancy, publications, appearances, mentoring and corporate education.

A Californian based in Europe for over 25 years, she applies her consulting experience, MBA education with Dr Peter Drucker, and languages to the company she founded, International Marketing Partners. Allyson has advised over 200 businesses in 26 countries including BAE Systems, Burberry, Cadbury, HSBC, Lufthansa and SAB Miller.

Allyson is the author of the best-selling book Working with Americans and is an experienced and frequent media commentator for Sky News (The Muse of Marketing), BBC’s The Apprentice and CNBC’s Business Class, as well as BBC News, CNN, The Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal.