Jonathan is a qualified Chartered Accountant and has spent his career in senior finance roles in SMEs and in consultancy roles advising both challenged and growing businesses, including start-ups looking to exit. His career highlights include, amongst others:

Growth

• Supported Fin-tech start up with seed funding round by providing financial modelling and advice, leading to successful £1.6m raise.  

• Mentor to a health start up, supporting through pre-seed round and coaching the founder as they moved into a seed round.  

• Finance Director for a group of management consultancy, HR and recruitment businesses helping to grow from c.£3m to £5m in a three-year period and achieving 30% operating margins. 

Exit planning 

• Finance Director/Turnaround Director for a start-up marketing and events businesses requiring an exit plan having suffered a 25% fall in revenue. Jonathan implemented a recovery plan to underpin sales performance and restructure the cost base to maintain profits and maximise the company value, more than doubling the business valuation upon sale as a result.

Crisis Management and Re-financing 

• Jonathan acted as Finance Director/Advisor to a large education provider in south London which was facing a cash crisis and imminent closure. Jonathan worked with the Board to generate short term cash which allowed a longer-term plan to be formulated and a later re-financing of the business by an international education group.

Due Diligence for SME investment 

• Jonathan acted as Senior finance advisor to a private equity/alternative lender group in the South West which targeted either challenged or growth SMEs requiring short-term financing and longer-term investment. During this role, Jonathan worked with a number of SMEs across various sectors including book binding, groundworks, food and leisure, and hotels producing cash flow and integrated financial forecasts for the businesses and advising the lender regarding its proposed investments.

Banking, Risk and Turnaround 

• Relationship Director in Barclay’s corporate team managing a portfolio of SME turnaround businesses and reducing the bank’s lending risk.

Business Advisory and Insolvency 

• Jonathan spent five years in PwC’s restructuring team in London and the Thames Valley, advising mainly businesses in straitened circumstances and gaining experience in debt advisory, pension deficits, and insolvency.

• Company Start-ups
• Budgets
• Fundraising
• Cost controls
• Cash flow forecasting
• Cash management
• Distressed situations
• Crisis Management
• Cost Reduction
• Recovery Planning
• Due diligence
• Banking
• Business Analysis and Strategies
• Financial Modelling and Restructuring
• Stakeholders Management 

1. Healthcare
2. Education
3. Professional services
4. Financial services
5. Marketing
6. PR and Advertising
7. Recruitment
8. Manufacturing
9. Automotive
10. Media 

Jonathan is a keen sportsman. He played semi-professional football in Northamptonshire as a student, later taking a career break to work as a professional divemaster in Thailand. 

He has set himself a personal goal, with friends, of scaling the highest peaks in Europe (they’re currently about halfway there!) and he also enjoys weightlifting and running. 

With two young daughters, a busy career, and a lot of sport on the go, there isn’t much time for anything else, but he likes to read and cook on the rare occasions he gets the chance.