Investment Committee

Paul Donovan

Paul is Chair of the Investment Committee. He is an Operating partner at Macquarie Asset Management with appointments as Chairman of Eku Energy, a global battery storage provider, and Director at Arqiva, a provider of critical national broadcasting and telecommunications infrastructure. He is also Chairman of Action AI, an early-stage artificial intelligence business. Paul is a seasoned PE executive and was formerly a member of Vodafone’s Group Executive Committee, where he led its growth in emerging markets. An experienced investor, Paul holds investments in over thirty-five early-stage businesses. He is a member of the Governing Council at the University of Bradford, where he is an honorary Doctor.

Kevin Adams

After reading Economics at university, Kevin then 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 5 years.

Walé Adepoju

Walé is a successful entrepreneur and an active investor in several businesses covering Aerospace, Data analytics, IOT, and the broader TMT industries. He is experienced in growing businesses from start-up mode to leading global companies. Formerly, COO/CCO of Anuvu and President of DTI Software.

Philip Bassett

Philip 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 co-founder of Oxford Computer Consultants, an IT business specialising in integrated contracts and finance solutions within healthcare and local government, as well as designing and developing customised software across a broad range of industries. He grew OCC to a 120 person IT consultancy before being acquired by System C in 2023. He was seconded by GEC to Cambridge University to work with Professor Alistair MacFarlane on Artificial Intelligence techniques for Control Engineering Design. He was awarded a PhD and the IEEE Control Prize for this research. John started his company in the Oxford Trust’s first incubation centre in 1989 and was appointed Chairman in 2015. John has built and sold technology companies in health care 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, and Cognitant, all early-stage life sciences ventures. 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.

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 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 early stage companies for the past twenty years, both in the UK and Australia in both a funding and business advisory capacity. 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.