Our Advisory Board

Tim Farazmand- Chairman of The Advisory Board

Tim was recently Managing Director of Lloyds Development Corporation (LDC) where he is now an Adviser. He was also Chairman of The BVCA 2014/15. Additionally he is :

British Venture Capital Association – Director (Chairman 2014/15) of this trade body. 

Beechbrook Capital – Specialist debt fund business.  Advisory Board. 

Westminster Growth Capital – The family office of the Jacobson family.  Chairman of the company’s Advisory Board and work with a number of their investee companies. 

ClearlySo – The Company primarily helps social entrepreneurs raise capital and improve their business skills.  Non-Executive Director.

Ethical Property Company - The Company manages commercial property that supports the work of charities and not-for-profit organisations. Non-Executive Director

Hans Christian Iversen

Hans Christian has more than 25 years of International business experience in Media, Manufacturing, Publishing, Professional Services, Private Equity and mentoring. His Executive career included senior roles at Logica, PWC, Egmont-Disney Publishing, Deloitte and Lawshare. Hans Christian speaks 6 languages and has an MSc in International Relations and Economics from the LSE. He is also a mentor for the Prince's Trust.

His portfolio career includes:

33 St James's- Advisory Board

Merryck & Co- FTSE Leadership Mentor for multinational European companies

Birtwell Ryders- Chairman

Danish-Uk Chamber of Commerce- Non Executive Director

Ferrabyrne Ltd ( Transportation Manufacturing) Chairman/NXD

Updata Telecommunications , Denmark, Non Executive Chairman

Telecom Denmark- Non Executive Director

Yellowtel Polska- Non Executive Director

Paul Brennan

Paul has 30 years of global business development experience in the IT sector. He has held numerous Chairman and CEO roles at private and publicly owned companies with a particular focus on growing early-stage VC or PE backed businesses into global and US markets.

He is currently the Chairman of OnApp and AppInstitute as well as Senior NED at JHC Systems and Relayware. Previously Paul was the Chairman and CEO at Zeus Technology and has held similar roles at Apptix, VisionOSS, Xtractor and Trustix, among others.

Paul started his career at IBM Corporation in Europe and Australia, after graduating with a degree in Geology and Geophysics from the University of Sydney.

Liz Baran                                                                     

Chair of the IT’s HR Director Forum and Independent Consultant                                                                 

Profile

Experienced, resilient Senior HR Leader with a significant track record in the global IT industry in HR generalist and leadership roles across EMEA, most recently as VP HR EMEA McAfee.

Also held senior HR Director roles at Juniper Networks, EMC Computer Systems, Informix Software and previously worked at General Electric.  Holds Mathematics degree.

Currently Chair of the IT’s HR Director Forum.

 Profile: Karen Thomas-Bland

Karen Thomas-Bland in an accomplished Global Board Level Adviser, Partner level Management Consultant and Non-Executive Director with over 22 years’ experience in creating break-through strategies, transforming and growing organisations.  Areas of expertise include corporate strategy and international expansion, new venture creation, mergers & acquisitions, brand building and re-positioning and leading complex change.  Karen has built and run Global businesses as Managing Director up to £500 m with a mix of organic and inorganic growth. 

After a successful Executive career, Karen established a portfolio career and combines Non-Executive Director roles, Interim Executive and Consulting assignments.  Example corporate clients include Accenture, IBM, EY, KPMG, a top 3 Strategy House, WPP and RELX Group.

Karen is passionate about entrepreneurship and social impact investing, she is a Chair, Non-Executive Director, Adviser and Angel Investor in advanced data analytics, AI, digital, cyber security, block chain and Augmented/Virtual Reality companies who want to rapidly scale.

She operates globally in mature and emerging markets and has lived and worked in USA, Africa, Middle East, Eastern and Western Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America.

Karen holds a Degree in Psychology, Master’s Degree in Organisational Psychology and is a Chartered Organisational Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society.