Our Team

meet the team

Ben Partridge

Ben has spent over 30 years in the IT and telecoms industry. During the 1990s he developed a small UK based mainframe software distribution company with offices in Watford into an international business with offices in the UK, USA, Canada, Holland and Australia. Ben spent a number of years as Entrepreneur in Residence for the University of Surrey and the Satellite Applications Catapult as well as providing support to some of the UK’s leading business accelerators and is closely involved with angel investor networks and is an advisor to the Greater Manchester Authority’s Business Finance Service.

Guy Van Zwanenberg

Guy is a Chartered Director and Chartered Accountant with extensive commercial and professional experience with complex international technology, manufacturing and consultancy organisations. The breadth of experience that he has built up ensures that he is able to quickly understand the key drivers of a business and accordingly has become extremely adaptable. He has floated, and is on the boards of a number of PLCs.

 

Neil Muttock

Neil Muttock has over 30 years’ experience in managing and commercialising of new technologies with a particular focus on start-ups and fast growing companies. Neil is experienced in renewable energy, sustainable technologies, oil and gas, electronics and telecoms as well as consumer products and software. As a European patent attorney and registered UK patent agent, he is also experienced in developing IP strategies for a range of companies. In 2004 Neil acquired PPL Therapeutics plc (the transgenics company responsible for Dolly the Sheep technology) and QED (the IP arm of Scipher and Thorn EMI). Neil continues to work as a patent attorney and is a start-up technology company angel and invests in renewable energy and sustainable cleantech related companies.

Mark Glenister

Mark is a solicitor who specialises in corporate finance and company commercial work. He advises UK and international businesses and private clients. Mark works closely with lawyers in the UK who specialize in other disciplines and also with a network of lawyers in other jurisdictions. Mark speaks French fluently. He qualified in 2000 at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and in 2003 joined Matthew Arnold & Baldwin. He was a solicitor and then partner at Thomas Cooper from 2005 to 2012. Mark has direct experience of starting a business having started his own law firm, JPP Law, now a highly successful commercial practice.

 

Colin Coghlan

Colin is a successful angel investor who demystifies what an angel investor looks for in a business. He is a private investor, advisor, mentor and speaker specialising in early stage and rapid growth business. Colin’s early career was in the energy industry before he moved into the wireless infrastructure sector. He was General Manager of one of the founding companies of the Freeview television service before becoming CEO of one of the others and ultimately leading it through a trade sale. Colin’s portfolio is focused on the technology, media and telecommunications sector including television, mobile and cloud computing.

HOWARD SARNA

Howard is an Angel investor with hands-on engagement with investee businesses. A highly experienced and innovative senior executive leader with a wide range of both hands-on and board-level involvement including taking a business from a UK start-up to NYSE global corporate employing more than 64,000 staff worldwide Having worked across a variety of industry sectors he has a track record of successful exits.

IAIN YOUNG

Iain is the head of the Corporate Growth sector at Morton Fraser LLP, a leading Scottish head-quartered law firm. He is also a member of the Sports Law team and the non-contentious Restructuring and Insolvency team.

Iain is dual qualified in Scots and English law, having worked previously for 15 years in London, including 5 as partner.

Iain deals with a broad range of corporate and commercial work. He has acted on private and public company M&A transactions, including global cross-border transactions, private equity investments and joint ventures.  He has significant experience of commercial contracts, particularly in sports law and aviation law.

Iain is also a director and Head of Legal with Bookajet.com Limited, an executive jet operator, and has previously served as a director of Squareknot Limited, a crowd-funding platform, Easyberth Limited, a marine supplies company, and Scrum.com, a rugby website.

He adopts a pragmatic approach to advising businesses, exploring how to get things done rather than simply explaining why they cannot be done.