Building relationships
Having spent the first part of my career in M&A advisory, I really enjoy working with management teams to shape their growth strategies and exit objectives. I’m always inspired by talented technical teams and seek out founders with a drive to deliver an industry step-change.
Background
I grew up in the greater Chicago area but always wanted to see as much of the world as possible. Swimming was a big part of my early life and gave me the chance to compete all over the country including at the US Olympic Trials. After completing a history degree at Princeton University I returned to the Chicago area with Wilton Industries before taking a researcher position at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a bipartisan thinktank in Washington DC, to support Dr Harold Brown, Defense Secretary for Jimmy Carter and Raymond DuBois, Director of Administration and Management to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. I then moved into M&A advisory with The McLean Group, primarily supporting government contractors serving the intelligence, security and government services sector, exiting businesses to the likes of Booz Allen, Novetta Solutions (now part of Accenture) and Digital Barriers.
In 2015, my wife was awarded a scholarship to do a PhD at the University of Leeds, so we made the transatlantic move, and I joined KPMG’s corporate finance team in Leeds. In 2017, I took at secondment to build a Northern angel investor network with NorthInvest and completed my transition into venture investment in 2018 when I joined Mercia.
Since joining the fund, I have been involved with 15 companies. I am primarily focused on growth investment in Yorkshire with a special interest in cybersecurity, defence, and B2B SaaS and services.
I’m always inspired by talented technical teams and seek out founders with a drive to deliver an industry step-change.
- Swimming
- Travel
- Skiing
