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Investment Committee

The responsibility for the selection of investments for the EIS Growth Fund rests with our experienced Investment Committee, which consists of 12 members:

  • Three ‘internal’ members (from Oxford Innovation Finance)
  • Nine ‘external’ members (from the OION angel network) who bring their own specialist expertise.
Kevin Adams

After reading Economics at university, Kevin qualified as a Chartered Accountant before moving into Financial Markets. 

There he undertook various roles from investment analysis and strategy through to management of global fixed interest funds. Now retired from full time employment, Kevin has been an angel investor for 7 years.

Walé Adepoju

Walé is a seasoned entrepreneur and active investor with a diverse portfolio spanning Aerospace, Data Analytics, IoT, and… 

…the broader TMT sectors.  He brings extensive expertise in scaling businesses from start-up phase to becoming leading global enterprises. Walé is an early investor and board member of high-growth companies, including Espace Networks (Neuron) and Maxa.ai. Previously, he served as COO/CCO of NASDAQ-listed Global Eagle, a leading provider of content, software, and satellite communications solutions to over 80 airlines and major maritime companies worldwide.

Philip Bassett

Phillip is the founder of Brightwell Partners. Since launch, Brightwell has been involved in a range of projects including Syncona, a leading cell and…

…gene therapy investment company, the Dementia Discovery Fund in co-operation with SV Health Investors, as well as several other funds with Climate related initiatives. Prior to founding Brightwell, Philip spent over 20 years at Permira, where he was the partner in charge of the investor side of the business and involved in over €25 billion of equity fundraisings. Philip holds an MA in Classics from Oxford University and is a Chartered Accountant.

John Boyle

John is the co-founder of Oxford Computer Consultants (OCC), an IT business specializing in integrated contracts and finance solutions for… 

…healthcare and local government, as well as designing and developing bespoke software across a wide range of engineering and healthcare industries. Under John’s leadership, OCC grew into a 130-person IT consultancy before being acquired by System C in 2023. John has extensive expertise in multiple branches of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning, as well as a strong background in engineering. He has served on the boards of several IT companies and is a member of the advisory board for the Oxford Institute for Ethics in AI. In addition to his professional achievements, John is Chairman of Science Oxford and has a track record of building and selling technology companies in healthcare informatics and social media.

David Ford

David is an Oxford-based life sciences investor with 25 years of global investment experience, latterly as Head of Research for ICG plc in London. 

He is an active angel investor and sits on the Boards of ViaNautis Bio, VisusNano, Monument Therapeutics and Cognitant, all early-stage life sciences ventures. He is also an NED of Foresight VCT plc. David read Biochemistry at Brasenose College, Oxford.

Christian Hoyer Millar

Christian started his career at the BCG where he worked both in Europe and the USA. He then moved to Hoogovens, as a director of a number…

… of the subsidiaries in the UK, before becoming a Vice President of Fox Pitt Kelton. He was then headhunted to run a venture capital firm in conjunction with Ensign Trust plc. Since then, Christian has worked in venture capital. He is a co-founder and previous CEO of Oxford Biodynamics PLC, an Oxford University spin-out diagnostic company, along with a number of other spin out companies. Christian read PPE at Oxford University.

Philip Lafeber

Philip has over 40 years’ upstream energy industry experience working as a senior executive predominantly in Europe, North Africa and…

… Asia Pacific. At Neptune Energy, a PE company funded by the Carlyle Group and CVC Capital Partners, he was involved in its $4billion acquisition of ENGIE’s worldwide upstream oil and gas business that was sold to ENI in 2024. As a partner at Outsights, a strategic futures consultancy, he worked on strategy for the UK Government and at board level across a wide range of sectors and geographies. Philip led the Government’s Sigma Future Horizon Scanning Project. He is an angel investor and Advisor to Oxford Flow, a new tech University of Oxford spin out company. Philip read Engineering at University College, Oxford.

Caroline McGuirk

Caroline has been an investor for 18 years, beginning her career in Private Equity at RBS, focusing on consumer, healthcare and…

…financial services. Caroline now runs a family office in Europe where she predominantly makes direct private investments. She has been an active angel investor for more than 10 years and is a director of a UK production engineering company and a digital therapeutic business, BFB Labs. Caroline studied Economics and Management at Pembroke College, Oxford.

Fiorangelo Salvatorelli

Dr Salvatorelli is a CIO/Portfolio Manager of the ALANTRA Global Technology Fund. Previously he was a Partner and Portfolio Manager at… 

…Hermes Growth Partner/FUSION Growth Capital – a Growth Capital Private Equity Fund. In Public Equities, Fiorangelo was a Partner and Head of Research/Senior Investment Analyst at Lansdowne Partners LP. Prior to this he has held Investment Research and Portfolio Management roles at Newton Investment Management, Fidelity International and CCLA Investment Management.

Jens Tholstrup

Jens is Executive Chairman of Oxford Innovation Finance, Development Director of SQW Group and Senior Advisor at Oxford Economics. 

Previously, he has held posts as Managing Director UK for Oxford Economics, Executive Director at Oxford Analytica and, prior to that, was an Executive Director at UBS. Jens holds an MA in PPE and an MSc in Economic History, both from the University of Oxford. Jens is a trustee of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), Chair of Governors at St Clare’s College Oxford, director of Advanced Oxford and Venturefest Oxford. Jens is also a member of the investment committee for IISS and the Oxford Preservation Trust.

Richard Cooper

Richard is the Managing Director of Oxford Innovation Finance. He has been working with and investing in early-stage companies for the past… 

…twenty years, both in the UK and Australia. Having developed two early-stage software companies himself, he has advised on hundreds of early-stage companies to develop their growth strategies and raise them funding as a result. This allows Richard to be able to identify companies with strong growth potential and advise them if needed. Richard has an MSc in Marketing from the University of Leicester and post graduate qualifications in applied finance and project management. Richard also has a CFA Certificate in Investment Management and the foundation course in Private Equity from the Australian Venture Capital Association.

David Crichton-Miller

David is Chief Executive of SQW Group and a specialist in subjects relating to innovators and entrepreneurs. 

SQW Group is uniquely qualified to find and support innovators and small businesses as it is both a UK market leading operator of innovation centres and incubators and also a UK market leading provider of business advice and support to small business; it is also an advisor to government on programmes that encourage innovation, commercialization and scaling up. David’s background is in corporate finance at Morgan Stanley, as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company and as an entrepreneur who raised venture capital to start (and successfully exit) his own business. He has also been and still is an advisor to a wide range of businesses as well as an investor in early-stage businesses.

Please note: In exceptional circumstances, external Investment Committee members may change during the Fund’s investment period.