Judges

Simon Walker

Simon Walker is Chief Executive of the BVCA – The British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association

Between 2003 and 2007 he worked at Reuters, first as director of corporate communications, and subsequently became director of corporate communications and marketing. Before joining Reuters, he was communications secretary to HM The Queen at Buckingham Palace. He was previously director of corporate affairs at British Airways and a non-executive director of Comair Ltd (South Africa). He was a special adviser in the prime minister’s Policy Unit at 10 Downing Street (1996-97).

He was previously a partner at Brunswick, the public relations group, and director of European public affairs for Hill & Knowlton in Brussels. He was born in South Africa, and has worked as a journalist and consultant in New Zealand, Belgium and the UK. He is a member of the Better Regulation Commission, a member of the UK-Jamestown Committee and a trustee of the New Zealand-UK Link Foundation.

John Holloway

EIF

British, born in 1953, John Holloway started his career in 1976 at the National Westminster Bank, where he spent four years in the Credit Department of the International Division in London. In 1980, he joined the European Investment Bank (EIB) and in over 20 years had different responsibilities in a number of EIB Lending and Credit Departments both in Luxembourg and Rome. In June 2000, following the reform of the European Investment Fund (EIF), he was appointed Director, Investments at the EIF, with the responsibility to develop Venture Capital and Portfolio Guarantee operations in support of European small and medium–sized enterprises.

John Gripton

Capital Dynamics

John Gripton is a Managing Director and heads Investment Management Europe at Capital Dynamics. He has 17 years’ experience evaluating, selecting and monitoring private equity fund investments in Europe, the US and emerging markets. Before that, John was a senior investment manager with the West Midlands Metropolitan Authorities Pension Fund where he headed the private equity and emerging markets team. He also worked on debt structuring, financing and investment at Sandwell Borough Council. John has been a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy since 1973.

Janet Brooks

Monument

Ms. Brooks joined Monument Group (UK) in 2007. Prior to joining Monument Group (UK), Ms. Brooks was a Director and board member of ECI Partners, with responsibility for the firm’s investor relations and fundraisings.. During her fifteen year tenure at ECI, Ms. Brooks oversaw the successful fundraising of four institutional funds and also developed ECI’s firm-wide marketing strategies for deal flow, investor relations, and general strategic direction. She is currently a member of the British Venture Capital Association’s Investor Relations Committee, and has previously served in a similar capacity for the European Venture Capital Association. Ms. Brooks received her MA (Hons) from Cambridge University and her MBA from INSEAD.

Caroline Grounds

UK Head of Private Equity, Ernst & Young

Caroline heads up our multi-disciplinary Private Equity team in the UK and sits on the PE global operating board. By function, she is a Transaction Support partner and her clients include Cinven and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice for whom she completed the acquisitions of VNU World Directories and Rexel, respectively last year. Both deals were amongst the top 10 largest deals in Europe in 2005.

Jeremy Furniss

Livingstone Partners

Following graduation from Cambridge University and law school, Jeremy joined Clifford Chance, the international corporate law firm. Since qualifying as a lawyer in 1991 Jeremy has specialised in M&A in the public and private company arenas.

Jeremy joined Livingstone in 1993, he has led deals in a variety of sectors including defence and automotive engineering, printing and packaging, building products and consultancy.

Jeremy is primarily responsible for leading the firm's Business Services sector team but is also active in Media & Marketing Services industry. Jeremy has played an active role in developing Livingstone’s international M &A capability.

Andrew Carpenter

Addleshaw Goddard

Andrew is the head of Addleshaw Goddard's Private Equity practice, based in the London office. He has acted on a wide range of international and domestic private equity led transactions, follow on investments and acquisitions as well as successful exits of private equity investments through IPOs and refinancings including securitisation. Andrew is ranked as a private equity specialist in both the UK and international editions of Chambers Guide to the Legal Profession.

Before joining Addleshaw Goddard in December 2006, Andrew was a founding Partner of O'Melveny & Myers' London office within their Private Equity group. Andrew was also the Head of O'Melveny's London China Desk. Prior to this Andrew was the head of private equity with the London office of DLA Group.

Recent transactions include acting for the founders of Whitesun Equity Partners during the establishment of the Whitesun T2c fund; acting for Punch International NV on its hostile bid for Punch Graphix PLC; representing Lord Foster and the other founder shareholders on the investment in Foster and Partners by 3i; acting for the board of Sesame Group Limited on its takeover by Friends Provident, the MBI teams involved in the Camden Fleet Services and West Cornwall Pasty Company buyouts; and Dunedin Capital Partners on the buyout of Gissings Advisory Services Limited.

Rod Selkirk

Hermes Private Equity

Rod Selkirk joined Hermes Private Equity in April 2002. Prior to that he had been a Managing Director for Bridgepoint Capital (previously NatWest Equity Partners prior to the buy-out from Natwest). Rod had been at Bridgepoint for 11 years where he headed up the UK Regional offices and latterly had responsibility for fund-raising. Prior to Bridgepoint he was with 3i for 9 years (in the UK fro m 1981 to 1986) and (Boston, USA 1986 to 1990).

Rod obtained an MBA from London Business School in 1981 and a B. Pharm from Nottingham University in 1978.

Andrew Lynn

Hawkpoint

Since October 2007, Andrew has been part of the Debt Advisory team at Hawkpoint which both forms an integral part of Hawpoint's Corporate Finance activities and delivers a stand-alone service to borrowers.

Andrew's background is in Leveraged Finance with over 12 years experience in the market and this remains his focus. Prior to joining Hawkpoint he spent 4 years as the Head of Leveraged Finance at Kaupthing, having previously spent time on the buy-side of the market at Abbey National Treasury Services, and began his Leveraged Finance career as Credit Suisse.

John May

Caledonia Investments plc

John May has over 25 years experience in advising, managing and investing in listed and unlisted companies, including more than 20 years with the Hambros Group, where from 1988 to 1994 he was joint MD of Hambros Countrywide plc (now renamed Countrywide Assured plc) and subsequently with his own private equity investment business.

Kimberly Romaine

unquote"

Kimberly Romaine is editor-in-chief at unquote”, Europe’s longest running private equity publication. She has spent eight years in private equity research and publishing, gaining experience at Almeida Capital in London and Thomson Financial in New York. In the last few years she has spoken at events in Europe, the US, UK, Asia and South Africa. She is a regular panel moderator at industry conferences, with particular expertise in the Central and Eastern European private equity markets. Kimberly holds an MSc in European Political Economy from the London School of Economics and a BSc in International Business from The College of New Jersey.