Investing in Financial opportunities

The Trapezia EIS II Advisory Panel

The Trapezia EIS II Fund has drawn from professionals with a strong track record from a range of sectors so that investee companies can benefit from superior support and their networks: 

 

Gwyn Hughes Robert Gwyn Hughes (Chair): Currently chairman of business advisors Pinpoint Communications, Gwyn has consistently demonstrated achieving high financial performance and growth objectives in his several roles as an executive and entrepreneur. Gwyn’s previous roles include CEO of easyCruise Ltd (Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou’s start-up cruise line that was recently sold). He has also served as Executive Vice President of P&O Princess Cruises Plc (until the sale of the business in 2003), where he had overall responsibility of several subsidiary business operations. He is best known for transforming P&O Cruises from a struggling marginal business to a highly profitable growth story. Gwyn has been identified to chair the panel given his extensive experience and broad base of connections across sectors.

 

Erem Kassim-Lakha Erem Kassim-Lakha: Currently investment director of the portfolio team at Montagu Private Equity, Erem identifies operational improvements in potential investments to create value as well as supporting firms to succeed beyond their performance targets. Her board level participation and experience spans over several industries including hair care, plastics packaging, retail, waste management, specialty manufacturing and health care. Her international multiple-sector expertise includes private equity, business turnaround, M&A, and growth and corporate strategy. Erem has an MBA from Harvard University.

 

Alison Kibble Alison Kibble: Founder and CEO of Femeda Ltd that is developing discrete solutions to female incontinence, Alison has successfully secured two rounds of fund raising for Femeda and has ensured that the R&D objectives of the company are on track to launch sale of products in 2010. She also runs a successful consulting business acting as a Board advisor to a number of start-ups and established businesses. She is an accomplished and capable innovator in healthcare and has held several top-level positions at companies in the sector. Alison has a BA from Oxford University.

 

David Potter David Potter: Chairman of Camco International, Quercus Publishing and Spark Ventures, and a non executive director of Noble Group, Ortus VCT (formerly Guinness Flight VCT) and Vantis PLC, David has held several positions in top management including at Investec Bank UK, Guinness Mahon Group, Samuel Montagu and Midland Global Corporate Banking. He is a council member of the Centre for the study of Financial Innovation, Chairman of the National Film and TV Foundation and a trustee of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund UK.

 

Francesca Cornelli Francesca Cornelli: An accomplished academic, Francesca is Professor of Finance at London Business School and the Academic Director of the Coller Institute of Private Equity. A member of Council of the Royal Economic Society, she co-edits the Journal of Finance and is a Research Fellow of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. She has also served as an advisor to private companies and development agencies. Her upward-bound academic career has seen teaching stints at Wharton School and Duke University among others. Francesca holds an MA and PhD in Economics from Harvard University.

 

Rajia Bibi Dr. Rajia Bibi: Raj qualified from St George’s Hospital Medical School in 1997 and is currently working as a freelance GP in London. She is also the co-founder of dr-locums and dr-consulting which specialises in the provision of medical care and GP recruitment services in Primary and Secondary Care. Raj has undertaken many projects in practice development in London and SE England and has a special interest in developing underperforming surgeries. Outside medicine she is a serial entrepreneur, with a portfolio of businesses spanning real estate, recruitment, healthcare consulting including APMS tender evaluation for GP practices, financial services, e-commerce and investment. Her passion is developing disruptive models that deliver value to consumers by leveraging innovation and where appropriate technology.

 

Iris Shafir Dr. Iris Shafir: Combining over 20 years of experience in academia and the start-up biotech industry, Iris helped bring new effective processes into the delivery of healthcare, setting up operations for an Israeli medical device company into India. Specializing in the Indian market, she has also established I-Connections, to form business partnerships between innovative technologies and the Indian market. She is also a director of Touchlight Genetics, a UK biotechnology company.

 

Emma Loisel Emma L.D. Loisel: With her career as a business manager at KPMG Consulting in the past, Emma has served as COO of Metrius, a creative consulting agency start-up under the KPMG umbrella. She followed up this role as COO of Atlas Europe and General Manager of Mediabrokers, two businesses where she was instrumental in scaling annual revenues up to £28m, and successfully exited at the top multiple. Now an angel investor, Emma actively assesses and invests in opportunities across sectors and has access to considerable deal flow.