Winter Workshop Speakers
Angela Knight
Chief Executive, British Bankers' Association
After leaving Bristol University with an honours degree in chemistry, Angela worked for the American industrial gas company Air Products Ltd. She was the product development manager for the application and sales of nitrogen as an inert carrier during the treatment of ferrous metal components. She went on to set up and was Chief Executive of a specialist contract heat treatment company treating precision engineering components - Cook & Knight Metallurgical Processors Ltd - and associated process plant manufacturing company. From 1987 to 1992 she was Councillor and Chief Whip on Sheffield City Council.
She entered Parliament in 1992 as MP for Erewash and was Economic Secretary to the Treasury between 1995 and 1997, when she lost her seat at the General Election. She was the Chief Executive of the Association of Private Client Investment Managers and Stockbrokers from September 1997 to December 2006. She is currently the Chief Executive of the British Bankers' Association. She is also a non-executive director on the boards of IFSL and Brewin Dolphin plc, the Financial Services Skills Council, and a trust member of the Port of London Authority.
Stephen Welton
Business Growth Fund, Chief Executive
Stephen Welton has over 20 years of experience in the private equity industry. He joined the BGF after 10 years with CCMP Capital (formerly JP Morgan Partners) a global private equity firm. Stephen was a Founder Partner and member of the investment committee. He has extensive experience as an investor working with private companies, most recently as Chairman of Edwards, the global engineering group headquartered in the UK. Before this, he was Chairman and CEO of TV Travel Shop prior to its successful sale to a global media group. He also has 10 years of UK private equity and growth capital experience as Managing Director of Barclays Private Equity and at Henderson Ventures, which he co-founded. He started his career in banking, has a law degree from Durham University and is a qualified Barrister-at-Law. Stephen became Chief Executive of the Business Growth Fund in 2011.
Jon Moulton
Chairman, Better Capital LLP
Jon Moulton is Chairman of Better Capital LLP.
Jon is a very active angel investor. He has unparalleled experience in finance, including mid-market mergers and acquisitions, management buy-outs and venture capital investment.
Jon has long experience of turnarounds, having invested in them for 30 years and with considerable success.
Jon is a Chartered Accountant, a CF and a Fellow of the Institute for Turnaround Professionals. Former Managing Partner of Alchemy, Jon also previously worked with Citicorp Venture Capital in New York and London, Permira and Apax.
Jon is a trustee of the UK Stem Cell Foundation. He is non-executive Chairman of FinnCap, the stockbroker and in 2011 was appointed as a member of the Advisory Board for the £2.4bn UK Regional Growth Fund.
Tim Mills
Senior Investment Manager, Capital for Enterprise Ltd
Tim joined Capital for Enterprise in 2008 to assist the team with strategy before moving over to work as an Investment Manager on the equity programmes.
Tim started his career with Merrill Lynch in 1999, joining their graduate leadership programme to spend several years working in Europe, North America and Asia. Tim became an Associate Vice President in the technology group at Merrill before moving to Barclays Capital in 2005 to work on the integration of the firm's expanding global operations. More recently Tim has worked with a leading credit analytics consultancy and one the UKs largest hedge funds. He holds an SEC Series 7 qualification and is currently studying for the CFA. Tim has a B.Sc. in Business and Technology and holds a full-time MBA from Manchester Business School, where he specialised in Banking and Venture Capital.
Mark Florman
BVCA, Chief Executive
Mark Florman is Chief Executive of the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA).
He joined The Northern Trust Bank, Chicago, in 1981 where he co-founded the interest rate swap business in America and worked in corporate banking, US T-Bills and money & capital markets. From the mid-1980s as a Director of County Bank and then as a Partner of Enskilda Securities, he advised on corporate restructurings, M&A and equity capital markets.
In 1992 Mark founded Maizels, Westerberg & Co which became the leading independent firm in M&A and corporate restructurings. Maizels established advisory businesses in shipping and structured finance and in principal investing.
Between 2001 and 2008 he was Senior Principal at the European private equity firm, Doughty Hanson. He served as Vice Chairman and later Chairman of LM Glasfiber, today the world's leading manufacturer of blades and components for wind turbines.
Away from his business activities, Mark has been active in politics, advising the UK Conservative Party on strategy and financing, and was Senior Deputy Treasurer of the Conservative Party.
Last year he became Chairman of the Centre for Social Justice, a think-tank which pioneers new approaches to combat poverty at home and abroad and an organisation which he co-founded in 2004. In addition, he remains non-executive vice chairman of 8 Miles, a new $500m private equity fund for Africa which he co-founded with Sir Bob Geldof.
Mark graduated from the London School of Economics. He is married and has three daughters.
Hugh Campbell
Founding Partner, GP Bullhound
Hugh Campbell is one of the Founding Partners of GP Bullhound. Hugh has an extensive experience in M&A and capital transactions in the Technology, Cleantech and Digital Media sectors, involving recent mandates such as 4energy, Interactive Investor, Avito.ru and Figleaves. Hugh is a frequent speaker at events and conferences including CEBIT, the Mobile Web 2.0 Summit and the Mobile Games Forum. He started his career with Citibank in M&A before moving on to Goldman Sachs where he worked in Equity Research.
Hugh is from an entrepreneurial publishing family who sold John Murray Publishers, founded in 1769, to Hachette in 2002 and founded an e-learning business, Pastest Limited, in 1970 where Hugh still sits on the Board. In 2000, Hugh left Goldman Sachs and spent most of the year working and living in Beijing, China before going back to his investment banking roots by co-founding GP Bullhound. Hugh graduated from Pembroke College, Oxford and holds a BSc in Psychology, Physiology and Philosophy.
Anthony Clarke
Chair, British Business Angels Association; Director and Co-Founder, Angel Capital Group
Anthony qualified as a Chartered Secretary in 1977 and a Chartered Accountant in 1980 whilst with Deloitte Haskins & Sells (now PWC). Thereafter, he worked on a full time basis as a Finance Director and Chief Executive of a number of SME companies and since 1995 he has been a Business Angel Investor/Non Executive Director of many start up/early stage businesses.
Anthony was a Main Board Director of GLE Group and Managing Director of its early stage fund management arm GLE Growth Capital from 2002-2009. During this time he set up with Government the UK’s first angel co investment fund in 2002 being London Seed Capital. Anthony founded Angel Capital Group in 2009 which includes fund management activities as well as London Business Angels, the UK’s oldest Network having been operating in various guises since 1982.
Anthony is a co founder and Advisory Board Member of the UK’s first Enterprise Capital Fund being the £30m Seraphim Capital Fund. Anthony is Chair of the British Business Angels Association. He is a member of the BVCA’s Venture Capital Committee, is President Emeritus of the European Business Angels Network (EBAN), and co founder and co Chair of the World Business Angels Association (WBAA). Anthony is also Chair of the EC’s expert Group on Access to Cross- Border Investment.
Ian Merricks
Founding Partner, White Horse Capital
Ian is deeply involved in the UK start-up community and early stage investment space, as an investor, advisor, operator. He is a founding partner at White Horse Capital LLP – a tech, media and telecoms investment and advisory business, and recently has been instrumental in launching The Accelerator Academy, a training, mentoring and investment programme for high growth potential early stage tech / mobile businesses and ambitious entrepreneurs.
With 16 years experience within the Tech, Media & Mobile market, his own entrepreneurial journey included running a music management & marketing business, a network of commercial radio stations, publishing the UK’s best selling city guide book range, a youth promotions agency, and a management buy-in of an academic contract publishing business, which he successfully exited to Egmont in 2007, and a B2B digital and mobile media planning and buying agency.
Along the way he has also worked with the boards of FTSE100 companies like EMAP, as well as IPC & The Wireless Group, as a commercial and corporate troubleshooter.
He has been involved in raising over £45m of equity and debt in corporate deals, and has advised on £52m of M&A transactions this year alone, including £12m in the mobile space.
Toby Reid
Director, BioCity Nottingham
Toby Reid is responsible for the day-to-day running of the site and services at BioCity.
His career started in engineering and project management. After becoming chartered, he left engineering to start his first company in 2001 and since then has started and raised money for companies in financial services, digital media and business support.
Latterly he ran the Growth Investment Network. Based in the East Midlands, the network, of various funders and advisers, was established to make business owners aware of the opportunities to raise finance and to collaborate to help get deals done.
Toby’s knowledge of the early stage investment and first-hand experience of starting and running early stage companies make him well placed to help the companies at BioCity.
Guy Rigby
Head of Entrepreneurs, Smith & Williamson
Guy is an experienced chartered accountant and an entrepreneur. A natural and driven enthusiast, he built and sold his own accountancy firm, as well as pursuing other commercial interests. He has been a director and part owner of a number of different companies, including businesses in the IT, property, defence, manufacturing and retail sectors. In an unusually varied career, he has been the senior partner of two accountancy firms, a finance director, a sales and marketing director and an adviser and mentor to many entrepreneurial businesses and their owners.
Guy joined Smith & Williamson in 2008 and leads their entrepreneurial services group. His day to day activities include advising entrepreneurs and their businesses and coordinating Smith & Williamson’s activities in this increasingly important market.
Guy has recently released his new book "From Vision to Exit - The Entrepreneur's Guide to Buying and Selling a Business". Click here to find out more.
Jon Bradford
Managing Director, Springboard
Jonathan founded The Difference Engine, Springboard and subsequently ignite100. Difference Engine was based in the North East of England and was the first major acceleration bootcamp programme in Europe, being fully funded by public sector. Springboard is based in Cambridge (and soon to be London) and funded by angel investors. Finally, ignite100 is a re-invention of the Difference Engine and is based in the North East. This model combines a 13 week bootcamp approach with follow on funding of up to £100k per team. He also acts as an advisor to a number of accelerators across Europe, including Amsterdam, Prague and Moscow.
Originally, Jonathan Bradford trained as an accountant with Arthur Andersen, and subsequently has worked in various start-ups and turnarounds. He has worked in London, throughout Europe, Australia and also the United States.
John Spindler
CEO, Capital Enterprise
John Spindler CEO of Capital Enterprise (www.capitalenterprise.org) - the umbrella body for public and not-for-profit organisations who support entrepreneurs and small businesses in London. John has had over 15 years’ experience as an entrepreneur and business advisor/consultant and as well as being responsible for the day to day management of Capital Enterprise is also a director and co-owner of audio designer and manufacturer Ferguson Hill (www.fergusonhill.co.uk).
John has an MBA from Leeds University Business School and a BA Hons in Politics & Philosophy from University of London. John started his career in a major advertising agency before moving into management consultancy (primarily in the public sector) and then subsequently entrepreneurship, where he has started (not always successfully) a number of new businesses.
Henry Becket
CEO, Olly Ltd
Long-time TV commercials Writer/Director, specialising in children, and now creator of a brand-new TV series for children ‘Olly the Little White Van’, which started airing in 2011 and is now heading off round the world.
A Cambridge Choral Scholar, he started out as a speechwriter/researcher for the Conservative Party, before entering advertising as a copywriter in the late 70s. Switched to account handling and ended up as MD. After years working on blue-chip household names got first taste of children’s marketing by winning the Europe-wide Hasbro account, and launching brands like The Transformers and My Little Pony. Has been responsible for over 2,000 TV commercials, created and shown in dozens of markets.
Broke away to start own agency, which rose to the top 50 in the UK rankings in 4 years, before being sold.
Went part-time in 2008 to develop his own creative properties, the first of which is ‘Olly’, for which he has raised over £3m. Initial finance was own capital…then family and friends…then private equity: independent stakes range from £15K to £400K.
Neal Gandhi
CEO, Quickstart Global Ltd
Neal has co-founded several technology businesses in his career. His first company, established when he was 21 years old, went on to become one of the largest computer mail order companies in the UK. In 1995, he co-founded a leading UK based consultancy business, which grew to 200 fee-earning consultants, and was subsequently sold to a listed US based company. In 2000, he co-founded Attenda, a leading European Managed Services Companies business growing it to nearly $40m revenues before exiting at the end of 2005. In 2006, he established Quickstart Global having recognized the requirement for SMEs to take advantage of global labour pools without the usual hassles during his time at Attenda.
Darren Westlake
Co-Founder, Crowdcube
Darren Westlake, co-founder of Crowdcube has a proven record of starting and growing successful businesses. Darren is familiar with the challenges facing start-ups looking to raise finance. In 1995, aged just 26, he saw the potential of the emerging VoIP technology and set up his first company that successfully pioneered VoIP in the UK. Darren’s second venture quickly established a global VoIP network and sold services across the world. In 2010 Darren co-founded Crowdcube. Darren is married with three children and enjoys football, running half marathons, music and baking bread.
James Dunning
CEO, Syrinix Ltd
With more than 15 years experience in the utility sector, James joined Syrinix as CEO in 2010 and successfully led the refinancing of the business (for which Syrinix, in conjunction with London Business Angels, was awarded the BBA Cleantech Investment of the Year 2011). A City trained lawyer and graduate of the London Business School, James has previously been dubbed the “Accidental Entrepreneur” by the Financial Times – a title he readily concedes. James has significant experience in senior positions in the corporate utility sphere, with leading roles in £1bn+ of major corporate transactions, as well as in successfully leading smaller, entrepreneurial scale utility-related businesses through significant growth. Prior to joining Syrinix, James founded and successfully exited his own renewables business. Now at Syrinix, James is driving the business’s focus on delivery, with revenues projected to exceed £1m in his second year at the helm, and the company’s focus now on leveraging that success domestically to support expansion overseas.
Matt Mead
Managing Director of Investments, NESTA
Matt joined NESTA in January 2010. He oversees all aspects of NESTA's investment activity.
Matt is an experienced early stage venture investor with over 16 years’ experience investing in UK and international ventures and was a Partner in 3i's Venture Capital business. He has worked with companies as a Board member through high growth, turnaround, exit and acquisitions. In 2009 he led the secondary market disposal of 3i's Venture portfolio of assets in both the US and Europe and now runs a £50m early stage fund at NESTA. Matt has worked across all technology sectors but has specialised in the IT sector, with noteable successes including Vistorm, a leading provider of e-security services (sold to EDS); Achilles, a provider of supplier information services (sold to HG Capital); Datanomic (sold to Oracle), and Nimbus Partners (sold to Tibco). Matt currently sits on the boards of two UK growth companies, Featurespace and Basekit.
Kathryn Robertson
HMRC, Venture Capital Scheme
Kathryn Robertson has worked for HMRC since 1986 in a variety of tax technical, management and policy roles. She has been senior policy/technical adviser on the venture capital schemes (Enterprise Investment Scheme, Venture Capital Trust scheme and the new Seed Enterprise Investment scheme) since 2009.
Anil Stocker
Co-Founder & Director, MarketInvoice
Anil co-founded and successfully raised angel seed capital for a next-generation financial start-up called Marketinvoice.com. Marketinvoice is a confidential online trading system that allows UK small and medium businesses to raise cash by auctioning invoices due from large end customers, receiving bids from global professional investors who advance up to 90% up front. Marketinvoice users benefit from a flexible source of working capital, complete confidentiality, no arrangement fees, no monthly fees and no need for personal guarantees.
Since trading began in February 2011, MarketInvoice has channelled over £4 million through invoice auctions for over 60 registered businesses, with over £1 million being funded in the last month alone. The company has recently been featured in The Telegraph, The Mail on Sunday, The Evening Standard, CityAM, the Financial Times and Reuters. It was recognized as a top 20 Start-up of 2011 by leading SME commentator Startups.co.uk, as well as being shortlisted for “Best Alternative Funding Provider” at the March 2012 Business Moneyfacts Awards. MarketInvoice was also selected as a Real Business Red Bull Future 50 Most Exciting New Business in September 2011.
Anil has a background in the private equity industry, working first with the Lehman Brothers Private Equity Group, and subsequently the investment bank Cogent Partners. His focus was on mid-market and small scale growth businesses in the UK and he built up experience across a number of industries including technology and financial services. Anil has a double first Economics degree from Trinity College, Cambridge University.
Michael Anderson
Angel CoFund Investment Committee
For 25 years, Michael Anderson has had hands-on experience at raising finance, investing and managing in several small companies. For 12 years he ran his own printing business and for four years he ran an e-learning business. He is now a Director of Business Plan Services (www.bizplans.co.uk) and a non-executive director of a pasta manufacturing company. He gives regular talks on business plan writing and angel investment globally and is the co-author of Successful Business Plans. He is a member of the Angel Co-Fund Investment Committee and spends much of his time with Business Bridge (www.thebusinessbridge.org), a charity set up to bring business education to disadvantaged people globally. He is a Sloan Fellow of London Business School.
Nick Forrest
Economist, PwC
Nick is a Director in the Economics Team at PwC.
Nick specialises in economic and financial analysis in competition, regulatory, valuation, strategy and public policy assignments. His expertise lies in financial economics and understanding the cost of capital, risk and profitability, analysing the cost, benefits and overall impact of banking reform, credit pricing and supply of lending to businesses.
Nick has recently worked with large retail and consumer banks to conduct an impact analysis of banking regulatory reform, to dispute a quantification of cost of equity and to provide international cost of capital rates.
