The Board
Louis Taylor
Chair of the British Business Investments Board
Louis Taylor is CEO of the British Business Bank. Prior to that, he was Chief Executive of UK Export Finance (UKEF), the UK’s export credit agency, for seven years. He also held roles as a Director General in the Department for International Trade, and a member of its Executive Committee and Management Board.
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, based in Ho Chi Minh City. During this time he was also Vice Chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (Eurocham). He joined Standard Chartered in London in 2004, working in Group Corporate Development, which undertakes the bank’s acquisitions, divestments and other inorganic growth initiatives.
His earlier career included eight years working for JP Morgan in debt capital markets and mergers and acquisitions, and five years in corporate development and strategy with two industrial companies, Cookson Group plc and BTR plc.
Louis is a trustee of the charity Sightsavers, which prevents sight loss and avoidable blindness, and promotes equal rights for the disabled. He is also a former chair of trustees of the charity Music in Prisons, which runs music education projects to help rehabilitate offenders, and a former chair of governors of the Royal Grammar School in Newcastle upon Tyne. He has an MA in Law from the University of Cambridge.
Sue Douthwaite
Non-executive Director
Sue became a Non-executive Director in February 2022. Sue is a Chartered Banker and has enjoyed an extensive career in financial services working in Retail, Corporate and SME banking. Her previous roles include Managing Director of Santander Business in Santander UK, and Head of SME Strategy for Virgin Money.
She has been involved in transformational fintech projects and alliance partnerships in the UK and Europe and the successful delivery of new operating models, systems, and culture. She has been actively involved in the diversity agenda for many years.
Sue is a Non-executive Director of The Melton Building Society, Chair of Nexa Finance Ltd and Board Advisor at Physio Medics Ltd. She is also Chair of the International Advisory Board of Queen’s Management School at Queens University, Belfast, and a member of University of Sheffield Business School Advisory Board.
Caroline Bault
Non-executive Director
Caroline became a Non-executive Director in February 2022. Caroline has 30 years’ experience in financial services and capital markets ranging from equity research to investment banking and asset allocation.
Caroline is Managing Partner at CounselRock Partners, a specialist hedge fund research and alternative investment consultancy. Her prior roles include MD Global Business Development at CAIA, Director European Research at Commerzbank in London and Frankfurt and Executive Director at Goldman Sachs International.
She is currently a Non-Executive director of healthcare management consultancy ETL, Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and social impact investment platform Ethex as well as and a trustee of the Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospitals Charity and African Conservation Foundation (ACF). She is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) and a member of the CFA Institute.
Investment team
Adam Kelly
Managing Director
Adam was previously Director of British Business Investments’ Structured Capital Solutions portfolio. As part of that role, Adam has led investments in challenger banks and has been key in its support for that sector.
Adam built his career in corporate finance with investment banks, Dresdner Kleinwort and JP Morgan Cazenove before becoming involved in the delivery of publicly funded finance products.
Richard Coldwell
Director
Richard Coldwell joined the team in June 2012. He focuses on the direct lending debt funds, having previously been involved in building the peer-to-peer portfolio.
Richard is a Chartered Accountant with a background in corporate finance having worked for KPMG, ING and GE Commercial Finance.
Geoff Whiteland
Director
Geoff joined BBB in December 2015 and moved to BBI in February 2021 as the team’s FinTech lead after previously holding the position of Director North and Midlands of the UK Network team and prior to that Director, Help to Grow.
Geoff has over 20 years’ experience in banking with a wealth of experience in SME lending and structured lending across debt, mezzanine and equity investments. He built his career in Corporate Banking with NatWest, Bank of Scotland, Lloyds and Santander.
Vianney de Leudeville
Director
Vianney joined British Business Investments in May 2018 to focus on the Managed Funds Programme implementation. He came from the British Business Bank Strategy team, where he spent nearly two years working on British Business Investments-related projects.
In a prior life, Vianney spent seven years at RBS in the Strategic Equity team, originating and structuring large equity backed loans and derivatives. He also co-founded a startup selling French wine in the UK.
Jonathan Marriott
Director
Jonathan joined in June 2013 and specialises in asset finance. He has a wealth of SME lending experience having been employed in banking
and finance since 1985.
Jonathan previously worked for Yorkshire Bank, Santander plc and more recently RBS Invoice Finance Ltd where he held a Senior Relationship Manager position. Jonathan is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers.
Mark Barry
Director
Mark joined the investment team in November 2015. He focuses on all aspects of the deal process as well as monitoring existing portfolio companies. Prior to joining, Mark spent three years at PwC, Dublin, where he was a Senior Associate in the Asset Management department.
Nancy Liu
Senior Investment Manager
Nancy joined the team in February 2019 and focuses on the Managed Funds Programme.
Nancy is involved on all aspects of the deal process for new investments and portfolio monitoring.
Prior to joining, Nancy worked as a Private Equity Analyst at Cardano Risk Management covering mid-market buyout fund investments, and as a Risk Analyst for the National Employment Savings Trust.
Luke Whitehead
Senior Investment Manager
Luke joined the team as an Analyst in October 2018. He is involved in all aspects of the investment process for new investments and the monitoring of our existing portfolio.
Prior to joining BBI, Luke completed a BSc in Physics at the University of Sheffield. He previously held multiple part time roles whilst at university, including being a HR assistant at Voice Marketing Ltd. Luke has also held voluntary positions, including being a volunteer assistant treasurer at his local scout group and acting as the Finance Director for his team whilst participating in the Young Enterprise Programme.
Chris Amory
Senior Investment Manager
Chris joined the team in October 2018. He is involved in all aspects of the investment process for new investments and the monitoring of our existing portfolio.
Prior to joining BBI, Chris worked for Audit Partnership as a Senior Auditor, specialising in profit recovery for one of the company’s largest clients.
John Bannister
Investment Analyst
John joined the team in July 2022 as an Investment Analyst working on both the deal process and portfolio management. Prior to joining BBI, John recently graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Financial Management from The University of Sheffield. During his degree, John worked within the Finance team at the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust.
Mealad Alighanbari
Investment Manager
Mealad joined BBI in August 2019. He participates on all aspects of the deal process for new investments and actively supports the monitoring of our existing portfolio.
Mealad holds a degree in BSc Economics and previously spent a year working as a Credit Risk Analyst for the Startup Loans subsidiary of the British Business Bank. He is currently working to obtain the Investment Management Certificate.
Jacqueline Kaminsky
Investment Manager
Jacqueline first joined the team as a Summer Intern in 2018, before joining permanently as an Analyst in October 2019.
She supports the team across the various stages of our investment process for new applications, and also actively participates in the monitoring of our existing portfolio.
Jacqueline has a BSc Economics degree and a Masters in Data Analytics. Whilst at university, Jacqueline spent four years managing the University of Sheffield Investment Society’s endowment fund, whilst also being a member of the UK’s first student Venture Capital team.
Joanne Ward
Executive Assistant
Joanne joined the team in December 2016 and is responsible for providing executive administrative support to the CEO and the investment team. Joanne has over 15 years’ experience supporting senior management teams and coordinating projects across diverse working cultures.
Rishi Puri
Senior Investment Manager
Rishi joined the team in April 2021 as a Senior Investment Manager and focuses on the FinTech Programme and Venture Debt Funds.
Rishi has over 10 years’ experience in financial services ranging across investment banking, start-ups and scale-ups. He previously worked as a Senior Associate at MarketFinance, one of BBI’s FinTech delivery partners, where he was accountable for end to end management of capital market transactions.
Jasleen Haer
Investment Analyst
Jasleen joined the team as an Investment Analyst in June 2021. Prior to joining, Jasleen held a similar role at SR, one of BBI’s Delivery Partners, for two and a half years where she gained experience performing due diligence on equity investments and managing a portfolio of start-up companies.
Mads Ladefoged
Investment Analyst
Mads has an Academy Professions Degree in Financial Controlling and a bachelor’s degree in Innovation & Entrepreneurship, both from Business Academy Aarhus in Denmark. Prior to joining the BBI team, Mads graduated from Sheffield Hallam University with a Master of Science in International Business Management. During his time at University Mads undertook multiple internships, including a role in the Finance team at a London based SME.
Jay Coulson
Investment Analyst
Jay joined the team in June 2022 as an Investment Analyst working on both the deal process and portfolio management. Prior to joining BBI, Jay graduated from Sheffield Hallam University with a bachelor’s degree in Business and Financial Management before going onto receive a post graduate certificate in Finance and Investment. In between university and joining BBI, Jay was part of the management programme at one of the UK’s largest retailers.
