Member of the Board and Audit Committee and Chairman of the M&A Sub committee

Responsible for idea generation in the U.K. Key involvement was leading a detailed due diligence exercise before recommending purchase of an 11% stake in Local World newspapers from DMGT in late 2012. Sat on the Board of that company as a NED from August 2014 and took an active role in its very successful sale in November 2015 to Trinity Mirror.

Founded 2 hedge Funds launching in 2006, one Cayman Islands Fund and one Australian Unit Trust with a time arbitrage concentrated global value equity focus based on a proprietary Holt screening process. Merged assets into a private equity fund end of 2012. Transferred control of AP LLP to a group of Asian Investors end of 2020. Continue to advise and invest in an independent capacity trading as Artefact Partners (Holding) limited. Artefact's FUM peaked atjust under $100m and generated mid teens net returns through 2006-2007 but the strategy suffered through the GFC and in 2012 remaining investors invested alongside the manager and a significant family office into a PE fund. Artefact's significant final investment was in unlisted regional and local newspaper Local World, which generated an 82% IRR over its less than 3 year holding period.

Local World Holding Ltd was a special purpose company put together with half a dozen publicly quoted and private shareholders in 2012 to combine the circa 100 local and regional newspapers of Northcliffe media (DMGT) with those of the Yattendon Group. A highly contrarian idea at the time as Rupert Murdoch was facing a Select Committee and closing the News of the World whilst the industry's print advertising revenues were in freefall. Having been responsible for the due diligence and purchase of the 10.6% stake in late 2012, I joined the Local World Board as a NED on behalf of Torchlight Fund LP in August 2014. I became a leading advocate of a refinancing exercise which resulted in the return of investors' initial risk capital in February 2015 by way of special dividend. Subsequently, with a focus on maximising shareholder value (as the largest financial investor and independent of the three trade shareholders and management group), I also took a lead role in the contested trade sale (two of the trade shareholders simultaneously launched competing and identically priced bids). The sale process closed in November 2015 generating a £20m net profit on top of a £7.5m investment over 34 months for an 82% IRR.

PhilanthropyI took a career break between MLIM and launching Artefact whilst living in New York and was a major Investor in and raised NZ$1.2m in total from 20 investors over a 4 month period for a Theatrical production, Maui One man Against the Gods, the brain child of and directed by Tanemahuta Gray which played over 3 seasons and won popular critical acclaim. Entirely in Te Reo, and combining beautiful Waiata (songs) a score composed by an NZSO composer and all seven forms of kapa haka (Maori martial arts) the show employed 50 in the build up to each season including a cast of 28 including 6 climbers who would ascend from 10 metre high towers to human counterweight the 8 leading cast members out over the audience. One of the best things I have ever been involved in and was exceedingly popular across New Zealand but (perhaps given the size of the show and the lack of East Ender type familiar faces) we were unable to convince a West End or Broadway Producer to actually take the show offshore. Despite performing over 3 seasons one of which involved an Auckland, Hamilton and Wellington tour we managed our funds with sufficient care that we were able to return investors 30% of their capital 7 years after investing. I chaired the Production company Te Ao Marama Tapui Ltd.

Head hunted to run then Europe's largest U.S. equity Fund complex with over 80 pension, endowment and retail portfolios and a team of 10 analysts and 2 product specialists.MLIM (formerly Mercury Asset Management) had struggled with this product over the prior 15 months (had tried 4 separate managers) and the funds (victim of the nasdaq bubble obsession with dotcom technology) were wallowing in the bottom decile of performance. This was a challenging role as I had to defend the previous managers' poor performance to 3-4 clients every week whilst engineering a $2bn programme trade to reposition the fund as a core (value and growth) investment philosophy and turned around performance over the course of 2002 returning the product into the top quartile. In July 2003 I moved with 6 of the senior analysts to live in New York and work out of MLIM's Princeton, U.S. offices. At that point in time MLIM's operating procedures turned out to be, shall we say sub standard, and in the cold light of day the move also turned out to be a dishonest land grab. In Q2 2004 the team dispersed and returned to different positions in the U.K. after I had negotiated a very satisfactory exit package.

I joined the global equity team alongside Frances Campion and Paul Boyne in 1995, when they had $1bn of FUM. When I left in May 2001 having been head hunted into an MD position at MLIM to run an $8bn U.S. equity fund; the same MSAM Global product I left behind was now $6bn of FUM and had been written up in both 1996 (Global Investor Magazine; article available on request) and 2000 (annual Mercer Survey of over 50 GE fund managers) been declared the best GE fund in the World. In 2000 when the MSCI world index fell 14% our Long only fund rose 14% through a focus on deep value contrarian ideas in Insurance at 0.4% of Book, Electric generators, defence, banks, branded goods companies and tobacco stocks etc. i thoroughly enjoyed my time at MSAM; the culture and general performance was absolutely excellent and I made some life long friends, learning my craft of fundamental investment research. i also put myself through the CFA and was admitted as a charter holder in 2001

Appointed as an Advisor to the Board of the The Post Office based on my previous deregulation and Privatisation experience in New Zealand to work on the proposed privatisation of the Royal Mail (by Lord Heseltine) which included advising NZ Post while working in corporate Finance at Ord O'Connor Grieve (which became Ord Minnett (research analyst summers of 1986 and 1987, then full time corporate finance 1988-1992 (working on the IPO of both Air NZ and NZ Telecom, and various other trade sales). Whilst at The Post Office I co authored a chapter of the 1994 Centre for the Study of Regulated Industries yearbook on postal deregulation (and how privatisation must follow such (as night follows day).