David Johnston Email & Phone Number

Ox17

NED Legal ensures owner-managers, shareholders, Directors and investors in compliance and legal markets can quantify the challenges they face. From enterprise valuations to investment in technology, new service design and competitive mapping, we show GRC advisory, technology and content businesses how the land really lies. We put experience first: research is group think - intelligence is challenging. We start with the CxOs worry list.The Virtual Non-Executive Director service is the culmination of our line Director experience in building business, principal roles in M&A, corporate finance, and competitor analyses in legal and regulatory services. Based on decades of board-level experience NED empowers board members and senior managers with the independent perspective on corporate finance issues and competitive economics. Experienced, insightful, independent, and evidence-based. NED provides a service that's not after your equity, not playing both sides, not chasing a commission - but gets you better informed than the banks, PE teams, trade buyers, and big VCs who have teams of MBAs doing this stuff. Fixed fee - NED deals in confidence, not confidences. For well over a decade now we've been helping small and medium firms build, innovate and punch above their weight.We simply believe you should be better infomred than the 'money-men'; we make sure you are.

One of the original fans of Rob and Chris' efforts to transform legal publishing, I tried to buy them back in the noughties. As a non-exec director for them I saw the group through all their major growth steps, up to sale to TRI. From a small team with a magazine to a multi-jurisdictional market leader, I was impressed as Chris and Rob both rode the waves of growth and change that many frankly do not. Many other top team players also impressed through management development styles that large groups often eschew. Advising on acquisitions and valuations for share options etc was a key role, but also the focus on strategy and how players like Lexis, WK and TRI really compete was core. At the heart of experimentations over information and technology this group made all the right mistakes. Perhaps our finest moment was the 'Loki' strategy or how to keep your foot on competitors throats when they try copycat moves.

ARK was a successful project based research organisation which managed a range of projects for VCs in particular in search and find M&A projects. A high calorie game at best, it had run its course by 06/7 and after the Nat Brit project we wound it up to concentrate on research publishing ventures elsewhere.

Kingston Upon Thames, United Kingdom

For 15 years, Croner were the invincibles in legal and business publishing. It's not often you get a chance to see a business grow from small, through medium and to large with the same team(s). Croner's meteoric rise organically at first left the bigger brands in Lexis/Tolley and Thomson/Gee astounded. Managing skunk-works teams, full P&Ls and major divisions as well as acquisitions was a series of steep learning curves - and great fun (mostly). Some stayed the course, some fell away and we tried to treat all with respect and gratitude; we all made mistakes - we just made a lot more 'wins' too.Originally with Croner, taking a £4m division to over £30m and 55% profitability (sustained), latterly General Manager at CCH Editions, tax publishing and software, and then head of group M&A to acquire FDS, Kestrian, New Law, Proacc, IRPC, ESS, LPMS, Reward, Norton Waugh and others. Over 7 years all deals achieved projected returns (not involved with ICAEW deal which didn't). Non-exec until 2003 when they chose the wrong path (again). Great business, sadly badly led since the early noughties. On the mend now as the foundations put in back in the days of the 'invincibles' have provided the platform for new growth now.

London, United Kingdom

In the proposed £34bn merger between Reed Elsevier and Wolters Kluwer in 1997/8 the EU Competition Commission expected significant divestments to facilitate it. The UK negotiation team was my brief. The then OFT was not problematic. The EU CC tough nuts. The Reed senior team were good to deal with, but culturally the two teams were miles apart; hence why the deal foundered ultimately.

London, United Kingdom

Chief sub, in effect, during its transition from red and blue house rag to accessible trade weekly. Finishing pages with a scalpel in those days in St John's St was fun.

London, United Kingdom

Learned my (publishing) trade from the best in the business, Carol Tullo. working on many leading brands.