Life at Epiris
What’s your background?
My career started in financial restructuring with Arthur Andersen in 2001. I made the move into private equity in 2004 and joined Epiris as an Investment Manager in 2012.
What’s your role?
As Head of the Investment Team, I am responsible for managing our team of investment professionals: recruitment, engagement, development, and so on. I am also an active investor, so I assess and analyse new investment opportunities, I get involved with the process of actually making investments – building relationships with management teams, due diligence, negotiation, structuring, planning – and then I work directly with the management of our portfolio companies to deliver our transformation agenda.
How has that changed since you joined?
As I’ve gained more experience, so I’ve been able to get involved with and to take ownership of more and more of the component parts of a deal. Now I lead all aspects of a deal from origination to exit and also contribute to leadership of the firm. I was promoted to Investment Director in 2014, to Investment Partner in 2017, to Partner in 2018 and to Head of the Investment Team in 2024.
We’ve deliberately built the team so that we have a range of backgrounds and characters rather than all being cut from the same mould.
Life at Epiris
What do you like most about the job?
We are a small, close-knit team which gets a lot done. We all have a real appetite for transforming businesses which have been undermanaged or underinvested by their previous owners, and we have a culture which is straightforward and collaborative so that bureaucracy doesn’t get in the way.
What’s it like to work at Epiris?
It’s pretty exciting! We’ve deliberately built the team so that we have a range of backgrounds and characters rather than all being cut from the same mould, and having so many perspectives around the table really keeps you on your toes. But we all share a very clear approach to investing. We focus on the things that make a difference, and on bringing an energising, entrepreneurial vision to the companies we invest in.
What has the highlight of your Epiris career been?
2016 and 2017 were amazing years. I worked on the sales of Elian and Audiotonix and the IPO of Hollywood Bowl. These were all deals I’d worked on from beginning to end and which are great illustrations of the vision and ambition we bring to companies. Audiotonix in fact gave me my best Epiris moment – seeing one of the company’s mixing desks in a DJ’s booth in a bar, and then seeing my colleague Charles not getting to grips with it. There is a video!