Our Team.
With over 20 years in Executive Search Simon Carter really has done it all. From replacing entire boards of FTSE organisations, succession planning leadership, building from the grass up entire service line functions and 11 FTSE 150 CEO successful searches, he really has won his stripes in his area of expertise.
He was worked in the UK, Europe, Canada the US and most recently China. His network is most definitely global.
Combining the creative mind and his previous career as a concert cellist is without a doubt what separates him from his peer group and makes working with him more often than not a very fruitful and thought provoking experience.
Sir Simon Hornby the former Chairman of Lloyds and WHSmith once said about Simon “I followed Simon’s career as a cellist for over 10 years taking the Trust to the Middle East and beyond. I never thought for one minute he would be in front of me years later providing a CFO shortlist – more of him please”
Simon began his early career as a cellist having won scholarships to both the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Rutgers University. He also attended the Juilliard School of Music in Manhattan and took on a Teaching Assistantship to the late Zara Nelsova in Rutgers teaching the undergrad Course at Mason Gross School of Arts.
He then went on to win a number of prestigious prizes and has played in orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, LSO and co-principal of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
He was also signed to Sony Classics for a brief time recording with his string Quartet in the USA.
Ian Smith
Advisor
Ian Smith held management and leadership roles in the Information and Communication Technology industries for over 30 years. A long career in Digital Equipment was followed by a spell at British Telecom as MD of the Consumer Division and MD of UK Customer Service. At the beginning of the new millennium he became MD of Oracle UK until his retirement at the end of 2008.
His belief in communities and, in particular, young people saw him appointed to the board of Business in the Community for over 10 years and until recently he chaired Young Enterprise. His other great passion, customer service, was recognised by his appointment as the first President of the Institute of Customer Service.
Ian now shares his time between London and his home in France and enjoys non-executive activities as Chairman of Vaultex UK as well as advisory board and CEO mentoring roles. He is often called on to give keynote speeches to organisations and conferences across Europe.
Fiona Page
Advisor
Having co-founded and managed two successful independent businesses – Quadrant Capital, a leveraged asset management fund and RiskFirst, founded to revolutionise the management of risk in the pensions industry and now one of the fastest growing B2B FinTech companies in Europe. Fiona combines broad business experience in technology, risk management and investor interaction with over 25 years of hands on operational experience.
David Smith
Legal Advisor
David is the acting General Counsel for Silentium Partners and is currently undertaking the role on voluntary basis. He is a skilled lawyer with many years of wide-ranging experience working for various City law firms and major financial institutions. His main work focus is international finance and he is an expert in international capital markets, securitisation, structured finance, financial markets infrastructure and regulation.
His experience includes implementing regulatory change in three major financial institutions as a senior line of business lawyer. He has shown himself to be proficient at working with business teams to optimise product ideas, make such product ideas more efficient and ensure legal and regulatory robustness.
Stephen Briggs
Financial Advisor
Stephen Briggs is a CFO who is a Chartered Accountant with long and varied experience advising growing businesses in all sectors. His career history encompasses six years as a Senior Partner in a Group A firm. Recent projects have involved steering a listed Oil business successfully back into private ownership as well as establishing a solid financial platform for an innovative online publishing venture. His career has been marked by routinely helping loyal clients exit successfully for the last 25 years or simply build better businesses.
Phil Vaughan
Advisor
Phil is a graduate FCMA, with a rich experience background from a number of sectors. He is a dynamic, people-focused leader with considerable experience at board level. Strategic change management has been a central theme throughout his career, ranging from operational efficiency and business turnarounds, both as a PWC consultant and through line roles, to strategic profit maximisation and commercial management of IT.
Originally from manufacturing, Phil has over twenty year’s experience in financial services and IT gained with Barclays, American Express and Coventry Building Society. Currently, Phil is CEO of Vaultex UK Ltd, the largest cash processor in the UK and a JV owned by Barclays and HSBC. Over the past three and a half years, Phil has transformed Vaultex into a world class cash processing organisation, offering innovative new solutions based around customer requirements, and changing the market as a result.
Phil loves nothing more than being presented with a problem, as he will quickly identify a strategic solution and drive through a successful change implementation. Being able to demonstrate world class KPIs along the way is usually par for the course.