Few people make the move from grocery to private equity. I did it early in my career, and I think it speaks to my desire to forge my own path and not follow the herd.
I studied biochemistry before studying finance. What stayed with me from science was not the content but the habit of mind: reason carefully from what you actually know, be honest about what you don’t, and be sceptical of neat stories that explain everything.
I began my career in transaction services at PwC, covering the energy & mining sectors. A corporate development role at Sainsbury’s followed, which was an entirely different experience. I got to work across the business with buyers, logistics teams, store operators and technologists. Grocery is a tough sector where margins are thin and operational efficiencies are earned the hard way, year after year. It was a grounding in what running a company actually feels like and has given me greater empathy for the myriad challenges our management teams face.
The ten years that followed in UK lower mid-market private equity honed my investing skills: diverse sectors, buy & builds, strategic resets, successful exits. What I have come to know is that durable returns come from resilient foundations, clear thinking, and genuine alignment with the founders and management teams we partner with — people who know their business deeply and are honest about what they don’t yet know. Short-term exuberance tends to reveal itself, eventually, for what it is.
Outside of work, most of my time is spent with my family, which with two young boys is never quiet. One of them has recently taken up golf, a useful reminder that staying good at something requires showing up regularly, with humility, over many years.
What I have come to know is that durable returns come from resilient foundations, clear thinking, and genuine alignment with the founders and management teams we partner with.
