Speakers

Dr Paul Jourdan - Co-founder and CEO, Amati Global Investors

Paul is an award-winning fund manager with a strong track record in small-cap investment. He co-founded Amati Global Investors following the management buy-out of Noble Fund Managers from Noble Group in January 2010. Paul joined Noble Fund Managers in 2007 as head of equities. He moved to Edinburgh in 1998, joining Stewart Ivory to work on UK, emerging market and global equities. In 2000, Stewart Ivory was taken over by Colonial First State (subsequently First State Investments). From September 2000, Paul became manager of what is now CF Amati UK Smaller Companies Fund, winning a number of awards for this fund in 2004/05. In November 2004, he was appointed head of UK equities at First State. In early 2005, he launched what is now Amati VCT.

Andrew Neville - Manager, Allianz RCM UK Mid Cap Fund

Andrew joined RCM in July 2004 as a portfolio manager specialising in UK small and mid-cap company portfolios. He joined RCM from Baring Asset Management, where he managed the Baring UK Smaller Companies Trust and a number of UK smaller companies institutional mandates. Prior to joining Baring, Andrew trained as a portfolio manager at AIB Govett Asset Management. He qualified as a chartered accountant while working at Deloitte & Touche and graduated from Imperial College with a BEng.

Adam McConkey - Director, Henderson Volantis Capital

Adam joined Henderson in 2011 as director of UK smaller companies after more than a decade at Gartmore. He was appointed head of the Gartmore UK Smaller Companies team in 2010 with responsibility for all UK small-cap retail, investment trusts and institutional mandates. Since 2006 Adam has co-managed the AlphaGen Volantis and UK Best Ideas hedge funds with Rob Giles. He also co-managed the Gartmore SICAV Pan European Smaller Companies fund from 2003. Adam has a PhD in international relations and now has more than 12 years’ industry experience.

Gervais Williams - Managing Director, MAM Funds

Gervais has been an equity portfolio manager since 1985. His career includes five years with Throgmorton Investment Management (later part of the Framlington Group), three years with Thornton Investment Management (part of Dresdner Bank) and 17 years with Gartmore Group, where he was head of UK small companies, investing in UK smaller companies and Irish equities. He won Investor of the Year at the Grant Thornton Quoted Company Awards in both 2009 and 2010. He has sat on two DTI committees on the quoted small-cap sector, is a member of the AIM Advisory Council and recently joined the board of the Quoted Companies Alliance.

Cyril Thèret - Chief Executive Officer, PLUS Markets Group

Cyril was appointed chief executive officer in February 2010 having joined PLUS Markets Group in January 2004 and being made business development director in January 2007. He previously spent five years with the London Stock Exchange, where he held positions in market supervision and issuer services including business development manager for North America. Prior to his time at the London Stock Exchange, Cyril worked for State Street Bank and Trust in Paris, Munich and London. He holds a maîtrise d'ingénierie financière and a BA in international economics.

Tim Hair - Chief Executive Officer, Chamberlin

Tim joined Chamberlin as chief executive in 2006. Under him, Chamberlin has been restructured, modernised and reinvigorated with senior hires and a clear growth strategy. Tim’s pre-recession turnaround work meant that Chamberlin was in a position to withstand the very severe downturn. During the recession, Tim instituted a programme to remove costs and drive operational efficiencies. The company has rebounded strongly from recession. For the last financial year, to 31 March 2011, the group moved back into profitability, with sales up 40 per cent to £40 million. Dividend payments were also recommenced. Pre-tax profits are forecast by analysts to double in the current financial year.

Deryck Noble-Nesbitt - Fund manager, Close Asset Management




Deryck Noble-Nesbitt joined Close in March 2005. He graduated from Cambridge University in 1994 and is a chartered accountant, having spent more than six years working at Deloitte & Touche in London and New York. He has been a UK equity analyst since he joined Govett Investments in February 2001 and is a CFA charterholder.

Sara Williams - Executive Chairman, Vitesse Media

Sara founded Vitesse Media in 1997. Her role includes developing the growth strategy, both organic and by acquisition. Sara is a well-known business author. Over two million copies of her book, The FT Guide to Business Start Up (formerly the Lloyds TSB Small Business Guide) have been published. She holds an investment advice certificate and an MSc in accounting and finance from the London School of Economics.

Leslie Koht Copeland - Chief Executive Officer, Vitesse Media

Leslie has worked in the media sector for more than 12 years in an array of roles, including journalist, analyst, editor and executive director. He joined Vitesse Media in 1997 as a journalist on Growth Company Investor, ascending to the role of editorial director of Vitesse Media by 2000, with responsibility for the delivery of Vitesse’s products across all platforms – online, events and print. Since mid-2006 Vitesse Media has doubled in size, and Leslie has played a significant part in the integration of What Investment (purchased by the company in December 2006) and Information Age (purchased in December 2007). He was appointed to the role of chief operating officer in March 2008 and to the role of chief executive officer in July 2009.

Miles Nolan - Editor, Growth Company Investor

Miles has been editor of Growth Company Investor since November 2010. He has previously held the post of smaller companies editor at the Investors Chronicle and has worked as an analyst and fund manager. Miles is a past winner in the Best Research category at the AIM Awards. Well known in the investment community, he has actively followed the market from a very young age.

Robert Tyerman, News Editor, Growth Company Investor

Robert specialises in mining and insurance stocks. He is the former assistant City editor of The Sunday Telegraph and has been researching small-cap companies for 30 years.

Ben Jaglom - Journalist, Growth Company Investor

An ex-derivatives trader, Ben specialises in technology, media and retail. Having written on some of the UK’s fastest-growing technology companies, he has developed a reputation for his ‘tell it as it is’ attitude towards quoted companies. A keen student of behavioural finance, Ben is also known for his focus on the fundamentals of a business, particularly macroeconomic factors.

Ken Scott - Chief Executive Officer, ILX Group

Ken joined ILX Group as CEO in July 2002 with the mandate to introduce a new growth strategy. Since then, he has been the driving force behind this business transformation. His rich background in leadership and commerce has made him a strong advocate of customer retention and of seeking ways to gain long-term competitive advantage. His current view of ILX Group is, ‘Our lead position in our chosen market positions us well to capitalise on the growing use of PRINCE2 globally.’ In 2009, he won the Ernest & Young Entrepreneur of the Year London & South Region Award.

For further information visit www.ilxgroup.com
Tel: 01270 611600
Email: training@ilxgroup.com