Martin has extensive experience in operations and mergers & acquisitions, in senior executive and advisory positions for companies such as The Gap, Businessland, and Corporate Express, helping to build the latter two by acquiring and integrating more than 100 companies throughout the United States and Europe. He was previously CEO of Encompass Group Affiliates during which time he negotiated the acquisition of more than $100 million worth of businesses in the electronics reverse logistics industry. He was founder and chairman and of Altos Bancorp, a financial advisory company specializing in mergers & acquisitions and is a shareholder in Altos-Blumberg Partners, LLC, a strategic consulting firm in the electronics industry. He also serves on the boards of Coroware and Maxus Technology Corporation, both US public companies. Mr. Nielson received a BS in Management, with minors in engineering and mathematics, from San Jose State University and subsequently studied Operations Research at San Francisco State University's Graduate School of Business.

Peter has worked in senior financial and management roles for more than 25 years providing corporate finance and management advice to private and quoted companies across a range of industries from media to leisure and retail. His career began at KPMG and PWC from where he progressed to be Financial Controller at The Rank Group Plc, before joining Business Post Group plc as CFO, leading all acquisition activities for the Group. Recently he has provided turnaround and growth strategy through his own advisory practice, VPF London Ltd.

Peter practiced law for over 40 years before retiring from his namesake firm, Munday’s Solicitors in 2007. A Corporate Law specialist for most of his legal career, he advises blue chip clients from the UK and US in mergers & acquisitions and corporate financing, having personally completed more than 1,000 acquisitions. He is founder and chairman of the Cicero League of International lawyers, with member firms in over 30 countries around the world. He is also a director of a private real estate development firm, and a founding trustee of the Princess Alice Hospice, one of the largest charitable hospices in the United Kingdom.

Nicholas first worked in the City of London for Montagu Loebl and Stanley, becoming a partner in 1974. He was a founder member of the London Oil Analysts Group and became Chairman in 1983. He joined L Messel & Co in 1981 as a partner and moved to Panmure Gordon in 1991 as a director, finally joining Investec Securities as a Director and Head of Corporate Broking in 2002. His career in the City spans nearly 40 years during which he moved from research to sales and on to corporate broking, where he specialised in the small mid cap area. He is chairman of Valirx plc.

Oliver has a wealth of experience working with entrepreneurial, emerging and established companies, with the common goal of creating value for the companies and their shareholders. Having started his career in the private equity arena, Oliver has transitioned from advisory and corporate finance to operational and development roles. His industry exposure has been primarily focused around technology and digital media (for which he has a passion), but has also diversified into others such as automotive, working with companies in the UK, US, and EMEA. Most recently, Oliver was Business Development Director for a $3.5B Automotive, Technology & Alternative Energy Business Park forming part of the Bahrain International Circuit” (Formula 1 motor racing), in Sakhir, Bahrain. Prior to this, Oliver worked with a US/UK-based merchant bank investing, advising and taking interim positions in its portfolio companies and clients. Oliver studied Physics at Imperial College, London, and holds a BSc (hons) and ARCS.

Bob Clarke is a business start-up and marketing strategist with 30 years experience engaging discrete, desirable audiences on three continents. Originally a writer, producer, director, he has created TV channels (for News Corp) and founded and ran a multi disciplinary communications agency for more than 20 years, where he twice pioneered digital media sectors and developed new media channels for BMW, Carrefour (in China), Liberty Media (in the US), Philip Morris International and Tesco, among others. For more than 20 years he has been instrumental in the development and optimisation of B2B and B2C sales channels for automotive, professional services and financial services sector clients. For the last 5 years he has focused on making nascent ideas real for investors, and through brand building, for customers too. This work has embraced clean technology, public entertainment, extreme sports, cruise lines, social media, and digital out of home media businesses, and continues through his consulting vehicle Any Other Business (www.aobltd.com). In the 1990’s he created a charity vehicle generating £50M over a 10 period for HRH The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme for young people, and is currently fund raising to save Wilton's, London’s oldest Music Hall. He is a shareholder and Board member of online publisher (www.screenholdings.com).

Ian Taylor was a Member of the UK Parliament for 23 years until deciding to stand down ahead of the 2010 General Election. Ian was Minister for Science and Technology at the Department of Trade and Industry during 1994 - 1997 in a Conservative Government. He subsequently chaired the all-Party Parliamentary and Scientific Committee which includes the Parliamentary Engineering Group. He was also an officer of several all-party Parliamentary committees, including the Office of Science & Technology, the European Information Society Group, PITCOM (Information Technology Committee), Corporate Social Responsibility Group and was co-Chairman of the Space Committee. He sat on the ippr Commission on National Security in 2007/09. He has written extensively about and been frequently interviewed on these subject areas. At present he remains Chairman of the Conservative Europe Group. Prior to entering Parliament in 1987, Ian had 18 years experience of providing corporate finance and management advice to companies in the UK, France and USA. He now is a non-executive director of or adviser to several companies, mainly in the technology, communications and security sectors.