HOW DID YOU GET INTO M&A?

My first integrations were in the steel industry in 1999 for British Steel, supporting the $100 million acquisition of a French steel mill, and then a subsequent merger with Hoogovens to create Corus Group plc. Working in France was a great experience, seeing how two businesses doing the same thing in the same area of the world could work in completely different ways.

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY ABOUT M&A?

I love working across cultures and timezones, and particularly look for distressed situations where I can have the most impact.

M&A is a great way to fundamentally transform a business in a very short period of time: in a recent project I took over as Managing Director of a distressed pharmaceutical data business. After building a small leadership team we took the company from loss-making to over 25% EBITDA, doubling revenue, completing an acquisition and achieving an exit for the shareholders in Spring 2021 at well above their target valuation.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW?

Most of my time is helping a global advertising firm move from a network of 100’s of agencies, bought over the last couple of decades, into a single integrated business.

I’m also coaching and supporting a start-up bringing AI technology into fundamental engineering sectors (cement, steel, glass) to remove gigatonnes of carbon-equivalent emissions. After being supported by the Royal Academy of Engineering as an undergraduate, I’m trying to give something back by guiding and supporting the award programme for current undergraduates.

In my spare time I’m a coach for Shelford Rugby Club, currently helping an Under 12’s boy’s team, and an Under 15’s girl’s team.

WHERE ARE YOU BASED?

Home is a small village outside Cambridge in the UK. Work for the last few years has been a mixture of London & New York, roughly a 50/50 split.