PUMA INVESTMENTS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Business Development Manager
Alastair is a Business Development Manager for London.
Prior to Puma, he worked at Brightedge as a Strategic Account Manager. He has also worked at Accenture, as part of the sales team in their technology division.
Alastair graduated from Leeds Beckett University, where he studied Marketing.
Job Titles:
- Business Development Manager
Alex joined Puma in 2022.
Previously he worked at Salboy, a leading property developer in the Northwest. Whilst there he was a senior member of the Sales and Business Development team.
Prior to that, Alex worked freelance for various property development companies, helping raise finance and sell individual projects.
Job Titles:
- Senior Business Development Manager
Andrew joined Puma Investments in 2016 and is Senior Business Development Manager for Scotland, North England and Northern Ireland.
Previously he was Business Development Manager for the West of Scotland at Octopus Investments. Prior to that Andrew worked for Ingenious Investments and Future Capital Partners, distributing products into the UK Intermediary Market. Andrew is a qualified chartered accountant.
Job Titles:
- Head of Business Development
- Business Development Team
Andy joined Puma Investments in 2018 as Head of Business Development and is based in London.
Most recently, Andy was a Regional Sales Director at Octopus Investments, where he led a team of business development managers and was responsible for business development across London and Southern England.
With almost 20 years of financial services experience, Andy began his career at Allianz Global Investors before moving to WestLB Investment Bank. He qualified with a BSc (Hons) in Statistical Science from City University Business School and holds the Investment Management Certificate and Investment Administration Qualification.
BEN LESLIE - Chief Investment Officer
Job Titles:
- Investment Director
- Member of the Puma Private Equity Team
Ben previously worked in the Transactions Services team at Deloitte with a Consumer & Industrial Products sector focus. Ben is a qualified accountant and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.
Ben studied at the University of Edinburgh with a degree in Economics.
Job Titles:
- Senior Business Development Manager
- Business Development Manager from Octopus Investments
Charlie joined Puma Investments as a Business Development Manager for London.
He joined Puma Investments from Octopus Investments where he spent just over 4 years working in both their Investment and Property team. Charlie has previously worked at G2 Healthcare Resourcing as a Consultant.
He obtained a BSc Honours Degree in Business Economics & Finance from Loughborough University.
Charlotte joined Puma in October 2022. Charlotte joined from PwC, where she was part of the lead advisory team with experience in both M&A and Restructuring and is an ICAEW Chartered Accountant.
Charlotte graduated from Sheffield University in 2017 where she studied Business Management which included a year business placement in HR at PwC.
Job Titles:
- Business Development Manager
Claire joined Puma from Selina Finance, where she worked as a Business Development Executive in their Secured Business Lending department. Prior to this, she worked at Nimbus Ninety in their Membership team while studying at university.
She studied Communication Media and Culture and International Relations at Oxford Brookes University, where she also actives the rank of JUO with the Officer Training Corps completing her Foundation Parachute License.
Job Titles:
- Business Development Manager
Connor joined Puma in 2022.
Previously he worked at Liverpool Victoria where he was an Account Manager for the Midlands within Wealth Management.
He is currently studying for his RO1 exam.
Job Titles:
- Business Development Manager
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Member of the Puma Property Finance Team
- Member of the Senior Operational Team
- CEO of the Asset Management Division of Shore Capital
David graduated from Oxford with a degree in law and was called to the Bar in 2000. He practised as a barrister at a leading London set of chambers for five years, specialising in advising on a range of complex commercial legal issues with a particular focus on financial investments and real estate. He joined Shore Capital in January 2006 as Deputy General Counsel and in 2011 became Commercial Director and General Counsel for Shore Capital Group Limited.
In 2012 David was appointed CEO of the asset management division of Shore Capital and Puma Investments.
Job Titles:
- Investment Director
- Member of the Senior Operational Team
Stuart joined Puma Investments in 2021. He is responsible for the Puma AIM IHT Portfolio Service, which seeks to mitigate inheritance tax through investing in a portfolio of AIM listed equities. Before Puma, Stuart led the AIM IHT service at Kestrel Partners LLP for a decade. Prior to this, he managed a UK smaller company investment trust at Bluehone and £230m of UK smaller company pension assets at ISIS Asset Management. He was formerly an Extel-rated Research Analyst in Medical Technology and Biotech at Beeson Gregory, Panmure Gordon and Nomura. Stuart began his career as a medical doctor practising in the NHS, before moving into research at Oxford University.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Managing Director
- Member of the Puma Property Finance Team
Eliot is a director of Puma Investments and Shore Capital Limited. He joined Shore Capital in 2006 following seven years at leading city law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP where he advised on a substantial number of M&A and private equity deals, and was short-listed as a nominee for the Associate of the Year Award at the Legal Week Awards. Eliot has been involved in the management of all of the Puma VCTs, and has also been involved in the management of The Puma (II) Fund and St Peter Port Capital Limited. He is ultimately responsible for the analysis, execution and monitoring of the funds' portfolios of investments and represents the funds with investee companies. He is a member of the VCT Committee of the Association of Investment Companies, has represented the industry to HM Treasury and HMRC and is a regular writer and speaker on tax efficient investing.
Job Titles:
- Business Development Manager
Farida is a Business Development Manager for South East.
She joined Puma from LGBR Capital, where she was a Business Development Manager in tax-efficient investing. Prior to this she worked at The Ingenious Group on an Internship.
Farida graduated from the School of Oriental African Studies, University of London (SOAS), where she studied BSc Economics.
Job Titles:
- Investment Director
- Member of the Puma Private Equity Team
Harriet joined Puma Investments in 2017 having spent four years working in investment banking, most recently as an Associate at GP Bullhound and as an Analyst at Results International prior to this. Harriet graduated from the University of Southampton, where she studied Chemistry.
Job Titles:
- Investment Manager
- Member of the Puma Private Equity Team
Henri joined Puma Investments in 2017, and began his career as an Investment Executive at Orchid Partners, a company specialising in venture and seed capital. After a few years managing companies in their portfolio, he moved to Fidelity Information Services before his most recent role at IW Capital Ltd. During this role, he specialised in managing deal origination and the project pipeline.
Henri holds a Masters in Mathematics and Economics from Edinburgh, as well as a triple LL.m degree in Law and Economics from the Universities of Rotterdam.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Puma Property Finance Team
- Group Legal Counsel
Isabela advises Puma Property Finance on all aspect of its loans, from term sheet and structuring stage to repayment. Since she joined in 2019, she has been closely involved in Puma Property Finance's loan execution process and also advises the Group on general legal matters. Prior to joining the Group, Isabela worked at Linklaters' banking team. She has also worked as a lawyer at HSBC's Global Banking & Markets division and BP's Upstream Procurement team (on secondment from Linklaters), as well as Linklaters' Singapore office. Isabela graduated from University College London with an LLB in Law with Italian Law.
Job Titles:
- Head of Internal Business Development
Jack joined us from Octopus Investments where he was the Area Sales Manager for London and the South East. He had previously spent three years as a Business Development manager at Octopus Investments, prior to which he worked in partnerships at Moneycorp Foreign Exchange.
Jack graduated from Bournemouth University, where he studied Business Studies with Financial Services.
Job Titles:
- Portfolio Value Creation Lead
James joined the Puma Private Equity team in 2022. Before joining Puma, James was a Change Director at ScaleUp Capital, responsible for growth across the portfolio.
He has extensive experience driving value creation and performance improvements, both as a consultant at Baringa and Accenture and as an investor.
James has a Masters in Management from Imperial College and a Degree in Electrical & Electronic Engineering from Nottingham.
Job Titles:
- Financial Planner
- Senior Strategic Partnerships Manager
Jenny joined Puma Investments as Senior Strategic Partnerships Manager in 2022. She spent five years as a Strategic Partnerships Manager at Foresight Group having moved to Foresight from Octopus Investments where she started as a Business Development Manager, giving her just over ten years' experience in the tax efficient space.
Jenny is a qualified Financial Planner and is working towards her level 6 Advanced Diploma in Financial Advice.
Joseph joined Puma Investments in 2021 on the Listed Equities team. Prior to working at Puma, Joseph led the AIM Inheritance Tax service at Gore Browne Investment Management for five years, following a career as a professional sportsman. Joseph studied for a degree in Management at the University of Warwick's Business School. Joseph is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment and is a CFA Charterholder.
Job Titles:
- Business Development Manager
Josh started his career at a European Wealth Management firm. While living in Spain he focused on the area as well as other countries such as Sweden and Switzerland during his time there. Later in his career he moved back to London to focus on a corporate solution role where he covered some of the biggest companies in Europe.
He has completed his R01 and R05 exams. Also having a diploma in Digital Marketing.
Job Titles:
- Senior Business Development Manager
Justin joined Puma Investments in 2016 and is a Senior Business Development Manager for South Central.
Justin was responsible for all sales and marketing activity in the South West for Ingenious Investments' EIS and Business Relief products. He also spent a number of years at Octopus Investments and prior to that the ECU Group Plc, where he was responsible for establishing and developing relationships with financial advisers and their clients.
Job Titles:
- Head of Operations
- Member of the Investor Services Team
Karen joined Puma Investments in October 2021 as Head of Operations. Prior to joining Puma, she was Head of Fund Administration at Calculus Capital, overseeing all aspects of Fund Finance and Operations for EIS and VCT products.
Karen is a part-qualified Management Accountant and graduated from Imperial College London with a degree in Biomedical Engineering.
Job Titles:
- Head of Strategic Partnerships
Karen joined Puma Investments as Head of Strategic Partnerships in 2019. She spent three years as Head of Strategic Partnerships at Time Investments having moved to TIME from Octopus Investments where she managed Strategic Partnership relationships as part of a wider team.
Prior to this, she spent 13 years with Canada Life across various teams before moving into the Distribution Division looking after National Accounts. Karen started working life on the management training programme with the John Lewis Partnership based in Oxford Street before she moved away from retail into the financial services sector.
Having achieved full FPC qualification when at Canada Life, Karen went on to achieve Level 4 qualification in 2014.
Job Titles:
- Investor
- Member of the Investor Services Team
- Services Executive
Kat joined Puma in March 2021, from Richard Davies Investor Relations where she worked as a Client Manager. Prior to locating to London, Kat spent six years with Deutsche Bank's Private Wealth Management division out of their Chicago office. She graduated from Loyola University Chicago with a degree in Advertising/Public Relations and Sociology. She also received a Post Graduate Certificate in International Business Management from St Mary's College, Twickenham.
KELVIN READER - Chief Investment Officer
Job Titles:
- Investment Director
- Member of the Puma Private Equity Team
Kelvin joined Puma Investments from Station 12, where he was Principal, and has over nine years' experience in private equity focusing on earlier stage companies. He has also worked for a specialist media investor and the venture capital arm of Richemont.
Kelvin qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PwC.
Job Titles:
- Manager
- Member of the Puma Property Finance Team
Kent previously worked at Investec Bank PLC as a Senior Analyst within the Real Estate team working on Investment and Development Senior Debt deals whilst managing a £180m loan book for the last 4.5 years. Prior to that he worked for Investec Bank Ltd out of the Johannesburg Head Office in South Africa primarily servicing the Project Finance and Resource finance lending desks. Kent qualified with a BCom Hons in Finance and Business Strategy from the University of Stellenbosch and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).
Job Titles:
- Managing Director
- Member of the Puma Property Finance Team
Kevin brings more than 30 years' lending experience and joins us after spending four years at Aeriance Investments, where he was an Executive Director and lead originator for their real estate debt platform. Prior to Aeriance, Kevin worked in a number of real estate finance roles at Situs, Deutsche Pfandbriefbank, JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank and Nationwide.
Job Titles:
- Business Development Manager
- an Internal Business Development Manager
Lewis joined Puma Investments in 2019 and is a Business Development Manager for North West and Yorkshire.
Previously, Lewis worked at Thomson Keene, where he was a Recruitment Consultant within the financial sector for three years.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Puma Property Finance Team
- Finance Business Partner
Marcus oversees the operational finance processes on real estate loans and projects managed by Puma Property Finance, from origination through to redemption. He joined Puma Investments in 2016 after qualifying as a Chartered Accountant having trained at a top 50 audit and accountancy firm in London, specialising in real estate and financial services sectors. He graduated from the University of Exeter in 2013 with a degree in Economics & Finance.
MARK LYONS - Chief Investment Officer
Job Titles:
- Investment Director
- Member of the Puma Private Equity Team
Mark joined Puma Private Equity, in 2023, as an Investment Director.
After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant at PwC, Mark moved into corporate finance advisory before joining a single-family office where he spent over 10 years spearheading the investment activity and operations. In 2018, Mark joined the newly established VC-house Praetura Ventures where as Director of Investments he was part of the senior leadership team that grew the business to over £125m AUM and invested in over 30 fast-growth early-stage businesses resulting in Praetura being widely recognised as one of the leading VCs in the North.
Mark read Political Science at the University of Birmingham. Outside of work he manages a local youth football team, follows Manchester City around Europe and has recently completed both the London and Manchester marathons.
Job Titles:
- Senior Business Development Manager
- Financial Planner
Nadia joined Puma Investments in 2016 as a Senior Business Development Manager for South East.
Nadia spent the previous 4 years at Octopus Investments. Nadia focused on the South East region in her previous role with a particular specialism in Inheritance Tax products.
Nadia is a qualified Financial Planner and graduated from the University of Reading with a degree in Economics.
Job Titles:
- Chief Financial Officer
- Member of the Puma Property Finance Team
- Member of the Senior Operational Team
Paul qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2003, having graduated from Oxford University in 2000. He joined Shore Capital in September 2014 as Finance Director with responsibility for the financial oversight of the business, monitoring of business processes and controls, and financial review of investment opportunities.
Prior to joining Shore, Paul focused on the UK commercial property market through roles at BDO, SEGRO plc and Capita Real Estate.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Puma Property Finance Team
- Senior Manager
Paul joined Puma Property Finance from Lendinvest where he worked as a Senior Financial Analyst for two years. Prior to this, he was a consultant in PwC's actuarial department where he spent four and a half years. Paul graduated from the University of Manchester in 2011, where he studied Mathematics.
Job Titles:
- Business Development Manager
Phil joined Puma Investments from Vitality Invest in 2022 a Business Development Manager for the Midlands.
Prior to this he spent 4 years at LV as a Senior Retirement Consultant, and 9 years with MetLife as a Senior Business Development Manager focusing on income and capital guarantees for Pension, ISA & Bond clients.
Phil holds the CII Level 4 Diploma in Financial Planning, and graduated with an Honours Degree in Financial Computing from Brunel University.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Puma Property Finance Team
- Senior Manager
Rahul joined Puma Property Finance from Hermes Investment Management, where he worked for three years - most recently as an Investment Manager. Prior to this, he worked in Nationwide's Commercial Real Estate Finance division for two years. Rahul graduated from Cass Business School with a degree in Banking & International Finance.
Job Titles:
- Head
- Managing Director
- Member of the Puma Private Equity Team
Rupert is Head of the Puma Private Equity team and has 14 years of investment-related experience. Rupert joined Shore Capital's Principal Finance function in 2008, before which he held roles as a Manager at Barclays Capital and an Associate at Standard Bank. As head of the private equity team, Rupert is responsible for sourcing and leading investments across the UK for Puma's VCT and EIS offers. He read Philosophy and Economics at the University of Bristol whilst sponsored by Arthur Andersen, before completing an MSc in International Policy Analysis.
Job Titles:
- Member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants
- Private Equity
Ryan joined Puma in November 2021. He is responsible for leading on finance function interaction and driving excellence across Puma's portfolio.
Ryan brings portfolio management/finance experience from his 17 years spent at Charterhouse Private Equity, where he focused on portfolio performance and strategy. Prior to that he worked at Charterhouse Bank and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Ryan is a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Puma Property Finance Team
- Senior Manager
Prior to joining Puma Investments, Sarah was an Assistant Director at The Property Box Loan Company PLC.
Sarah graduated from the Leeds Metropolitan University in 2013, where she studied Human Geography. She has also represented Great Britain playing badminton.
Job Titles:
- Business Development Manager
Sean joined Puma in 2022.
Previously he worked at Private Equity International where he was in the Business Development team, prior to that he was a part of an Executive Search Firm focusing on the Hedge Fund space.
Sean graduated from Trinity Conservatoire in 2019.
Job Titles:
- a Senior Strategic Partnerships Manager
- Senior Strategic Partnerships Manager
Sunil joined Puma Investments as a Senior Strategic Partnerships Manager in 2022. He has previously worked for a number of platforms, including Fidelity and 7IM, and was most recently a Relationship Manager at Benchmark Capital.
Job Titles:
- Chief People Officer
- Member of the Senior Operational Team
Tarinee joined the Shore Capital Group in 2011 to head up the HR function. Prior to joining, she spent 6 years at Financial Dynamics (now FTI Consulting) working across the group with a broad remit both within the UK and across 26 offices internationally. She also spent some time in the Executive Search sector and worked briefly for the NHS. Tarinee graduated from Warwick with a degree in Psychology and also has an MA in Personnel & Development. She is fully CIPD qualified and a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
Job Titles:
- Business Development Manager
Toby is a Business Development Manager for South Central and Midlands.
Toby joined us from ArchOver Business Lending, where he was a Commercial Associate. He has also previously worked as a Business Developer at Ebury Partners.
Toby graduated from the University of York in 2016, where he studied Business Management.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Puma Property Finance Team
- Head of Risk
Tom has been involved in Commercial Real Estate finance for over 25 years, both from an origination and a credit risk background. His most recent role was with Hudson Advisors UK as Head of Loan Asset Management where he had lead responsibility for the management and recovery of a large debt portfolio acquired by Lone Star from Anglo Irish Bank UK. Prior to this role, Tom was Head of Credit Risk at Anglo Irish Bank UK for 7 years.
Job Titles:
- DIRECTOR
- Member of the Puma Property Finance Team
Prior to joining Puma Investments in 2012, Tony spent several years at PriceWaterhouseCoopers in both the Debt Advisory and Corporate Finance team where he advised on over $20 billion of transactions, including the debt restructuring of Rusal, Samsonite and Fat Face. Tony then joined the M&A division at RBS where he worked across a variety of sectors including retail, telecoms and utilities. Tony graduated with a first in Chemical Engineering from the University of Birmingham.