Alistair joined BGF in July 2011 to lead on new investments in the South East. He later ran the London investment team before moving into his current role, which is focused on delivering best practice across BGF. Alistair remains involved in new deal origination and sits on the boards of Gymbox, EvoDental and Juriba. Alistair has 21 years’ experience in small company investing, gained initially at Close Brothers and then at Octopus Ventures. Alistair qualified as an ACA with PwC in 1998.

Chris leads the Quality & Risk team for EY’s UK Strategy and Transactions practice, and sits on the firm’s Risk Executive Committee. Prior to taking that role, Chris had c. 25 years’ experience in EY’s Transaction Diligence practice, having carried out many buy-side and sell-side investigations, in particular for large private equity clients. Chris qualified as an ACA in 1989.

Mark joined EY in 2001 and is an M&A Partner based in the EY Manchester office, where he also leads the North Corporate Finance team. He brings 25 years’ experience, having worked with a wide variety of Private Equity houses, listed and private companies as well as many entrepreneurs.

Charindra is a member of the Deloitte UK Executive Group. He is the Managing Partner of UK Financial Advisory, a service line comprising Transaction Services; Forensic; Advisory Corporate Finance; Performance improvement; and Real Asset Advisory businesses.

Diane is a Corporate Finance partner with over 20 years dedicated capital markets experience at RSM in London and heads up the UK Equity Capital Markets team as well as sits on the Board of RSM Corporate Finance LLP. She has worked on transactions covering both AIM and the Main Market including many with international companies in the Far East, Europe, North America and Russia. Diane qualified as a Chartered Accountant with ICAS in 2001 at PFK.

Jo is a Corporate Finance partner at BDO in London with over 20 years transaction services experience. Jo has advised clients on a broad range of transactions specialising in buy-side and sell-side due diligence and reporting accountant assignments for AIM and Main Market transactions for both UK and international clients. She has worked across many industry sectors but with a specific focus on the consumer sector, covering retail, leisure, hospitality and travel. Jo qualified as an ACA in 2001 with BDO.

Giles is a partner in the London Corporate Finance group at international law firm, Addleshaw Goddard LLP. Having qualified as a solicitor in 1998, he has become an expert in advising on UK securities regulation and listed company transactions, including takeovers, other listed company M&A, IPOs, other equity capital markets transactions and shareholder activism. Giles was seconded for two years to the Takeover Panel. His clients have included a very wide range of corporates, both domestic and international, including Main Market listed, AIM quoted and private companies, investment banks and broking firms, investment funds and management teams.

John Flint is chief executive of the UK Infrastructure Bank and former group CEO of HSBC. In 1989, with a degree in economics from Portsmouth Polytechnic, he joined HSBC as a graduate trainee. Over a 30-year career, he rose to group chief executive. He spent almost 20 years on the trading floor, on fixed income and derivatives trading, and the next 10 in retail banking, wealth management, asset management and treasury. He became UKIB’s CEO in 2021.

John is focused on LDC’s new business efforts nationally. He is also a member of LDC’s Executive Committee and Investment Committee. Since joining the firm in 2006, he has supported a broad range of fast-growing businesses across multiple regions, investing over £500million in 30 mid-market businesses. John has been a leading figure in the private equity and M&A community for more than two decades, working across a wide variety of sectors, including technology, consumer goods, business services, healthcare and manufacturing. John qualified as an ACA at KPMG in 1998.

Chris joined Rentokil Initial in 2012 as Group M&A Director, having previously been M&A Director for AstraZeneca PLC (2005–12) and prior to that, Director KPMG UK LLP Transaction Services with responsibility for UK businesses investing in emerging markets. Chris is a member of Rentokil Initials Executive Leadership Team and responsible for Rentokil Initial’s M&A strategy, acquiring quality companies in growth and emerging markets. He has completed over 400 deals for Rentokil Initial. Chris qualified as an ACA with KPMG in 1993.

Nicola is the Global Deal Advisory Consumer & Retail Lead at KPMG International and the Transactions Advisory Services Lead for KPMG in the UK. She has 20+ years of experience with KPMG as a Deal Advisory specialist, advising corporate and private equity clients on sell-side, buy-side, IPO and refinancing projects. Nicola has a deep knowledge of the C&R sector and understanding of the global economic landscape, having worked on numerous cross-border transactions across the globe.

Tandeep is a partner at international law firm Taylor Wessing LLP with more than 25 years' experience in advising clients on all aspects of ECM and M&A activity. Tandeep advises a wide range of clients on all of their corporate and transactional requirements. Her clients come from a wide range of industry sectors including technology, financial services, hospitality and manufacturing. She advises on IPOs on both AIM and the Main Market, and on secondary fundraising, compliance and listing rules and other post IPO obligations. Tandeep qualified as a solicitor in 1996.

James joined PwC in July 2018 from HSBC Investment Bank plc to lead its Energy Transition and Infrastructure Advisory team. He is the PwC Deals ESG leader and also heads the energy, utilities, resources and infrastructure team. With over 25 years of M&A experience, James has advised clients on a variety of domestic and global corporate finance transactions with extensive experience in lead execution experience including acquisitions and disposals, mergers, joint ventures, equity fundraising and IPOs, acquisition financing and other structured finance transactions. James qualified as a solicitor with Clifford Chance in 1997.

John heads up Evelyn's Advisory business - comprising the firm’s transactions, restructuring and forensics practices – having formerly headed the firm’s valuation and transaction businesses. He joined Evelyn from PwC, where he led the regional valuation practice. Prior to that he worked in the firm’s privatisation services and corporate finance units. A former committee member of the ICAEW Valuations Special Interest Group, he is the co-author of a book on cost of capital and valuation and has published numerous articles on the subject.

Meera is Director, Head of M&A at Buzzacott and joined the firm in 2018. She primarily advises owner-managed businesses across various sectors through Series A + funding rounds, and partial or full exits, with typical deal values of £10-100m. Meera has particular interest and expertise in advising entrepreneurs in the business services sector, supporting female-led businesses, and selling UK companies to US buyers. Prior to joining Buzzacott, Meera was in the Valuations team at Evelyn Partners (formerly Smith & Williamson), focusing on investment and tax- driven valuations, following her time in Audit where she qualified as an ACA in 2015.

Louis is CEO of the British Business Bank. Prior to that, he was Chief Executive of UK Export Finance (UKEF) for seven years. Before joining UKEF, Louis held a range of senior roles at Standard Chartered Bank, including from 2013 to 2015 as Chief Operating Officer of Group Treasury, based in London. Before that, he spent three years as the bank’s CEO for Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. His earlier career included eight years working for JP Morgan in debt capital markets and M&A, and five years in industry, working on corporate development and strategy.

Chris Watt is a member of the ECI Investment Committee and has overall responsibility for ECI's portfolio and exit strategy as well as investor relations. He joined ECI in 1999 from Arthur Andersen where he specialised in private equity transactions. His current and past investments include Auction Technology Group, MPM Petfoods, KB Associates, Travel Chapter, CPOMS, Great Rail Journeys, Reed & Mackay,and CarTrawle. He qualified as an ACA with Arthur Anderson in 1997.

Keely Woodley is head of UK corporate finance advisory at Grant Thornton. She joined the firm after five years working with 3i where she trained as an ACA, qualifying in 2002, and latterly working extensively on 3i’s portfolio, before joining Grant Thornton’s M&A team in 2005. She founded and grew the Firm’s business services sector in FM and Recruitment, the Firm’s Corporate Training sector and the Firm’s education sector, and having delivered more than 100 deals for the Firm over her near 20 year career, was promoted to her current role in 2018.

Based in Dubai, Richard Dingle is a transaction diligence partner at EY. He heads Strategy and Transactions for the Big Four firm in the UAE. He has been based in the Middle East region for 18 years, since joining EY in Dubai in 2005. He has been a member of the Corporate Finance Faculty’s Middle East Network Board for over four years before taking over the Chair. He trained as an ACA with the audit team at Critchleys in Oxford and qualified in 2004.