After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant at Touche Ross, I was then a Corporate Financier for 25 years, before latterly becoming a headhunter. As a corporate financier, my specialist expertise was in the M&A and equity fund-raising. From the mid-90s, I further specialised in private equity/leveraged buy-outs. I have carried this know-how through to setting up a Private Equity Group at Whitehead Mann, which merged into Korn/Ferry International in 2009. Here, I help our private equity clients assess the management capabilities of the teams they are backing, and find top calibre fit-for-purpose executives to drive those businesses forward. I am now harnessing this experience into my own private investing activity, in a variety of early stage and growth companies in the healthcare, digital, financial and business services sectors. Specialties: Private equity, mergers and acquisitions, equity and leveraged financing; headhunting executives into private equity backed companies, and assessing their fit-for-purpose.

Senior Client Partner, Chairman of Private Equity EMEA @ Responsible for creating and building a practice serving the private equity industry and their investee companies, providing executive search and an array of other due diligence and human capital services From 2006 to Present (9 years) Non-Executive Director @ A young growth company, spun out from Cambridge University and also backed by BP, The Low Carbon Energy Fund and MMC Ventures, it designs and manufactures low energy ventilation systems for municipal, commercial and retail buildings. From September 2013 to Present (2 years 4 months) Syndicate Member @ MMC is a venture/growth investment company, that manages funds and also an Investment Syndicate of which I am a Member. From 2005 to Present (10 years) Managing Director, Global Head of Financial Sponsors Group @ This role involved building investment banking relationships with the major private equity firms operating in Europe and beyond, providing buy-side M&A advice and leveraged financing solutions, and executing sell-side or IPO exits for their investee companies. From August 1999 to June 2005 (5 years 11 months) Director, Corporate Finance @ My first role was as a Director in UK Corporate Finance, advising UK corporates on M&A and financings. I then took on responsibility for the Privatisation business globally, with a particular emphasis on Asia, and latterly I headed Latin American Investment Banking for my final 2 years. From April 1994 to August 1999 (5 years 5 months) Managing Director, Corporate Finance @ Responsible for developing relationships with large UK corporates, and providing M&A advisory, equity and debt financings to those clients, including Vodafone's IPO in 1991, Unichem's IPO in 1990 and Wiggins Teape Appleton's merger with Arjomari Prioux in 1992. From April 1990 to April 1994 (4 years 1 month) Director, Corporate Finance @ Joined KB initially in the UK, where I worked in teams that advised major UK corporates in M&A and equity financings (eg Trafalgar House, RTZ, Associated Bristish Ports). In 1986 I was asked to move to New York, to head up KB's Corporate Finance business in the US, concentrating particularly on transatlantic M&A transactions. From September 1981 to April 1990 (8 years 8 months) Supervisor @ Joined TR from university, achieved all first time passes to become a Chartered Accountant in 1979, and then transferred into the newly formed Corporate Finance group, which advised corporates and banks through detailed financial due diligence, M&A and other equity financings. From September 1976 to September 1981 (5 years 1 month)

BSc (Hons), Civil Engineering @ Imperial College London From 1973 to 1976 Chris Kirkness is skilled in: Investment Banking, Venture Capital, Due Diligence, Private Equity, Mergers, Corporate Finance, IPO, Investments, Wealth Management, Strategy, Corporate Development, Emerging Markets, Business Development, Structured Finance, Capital Markets