Alan C. Bates
Alan has run or been Chairman of various companies for 35 years. In the mid 70’s he was deputy group Managing Director of Hoskyns Group Limited (which is now part of CAP Gemini the computer services company) and Managing Director of Hoskyns Systems Ltd. He became Chairman of AGB Information Systems Limited at the end of the 70’s and was Managing Director of Audits of Great Britain, Europe’s largest market research company, for a time.
He worked with the venture capital industry in the 80’s and became a “company doctor” involved with a variety of businesses. In 1988 he was asked to turn round a failing cable television franchise and stayed in the cable television and telephone industry until 1996. He became Chief Executive Officer of Bell Cablemedia (the combined cable interests of Bell Canada and Jones Intercable), which later became part of Cable and Wireless Communications. In 1994 he became Chairman of the Cable Communications Association. He took responsibility for the $1billion NASDAQ flotation of Bell Cablemedia.
Alan is now Chairman or non-executive Director of a number of early stage companies. He has floated 5 companies on the LSE, AIM, OFEX and NASDAQ. He has also sold a number of companies that he chaired. He was a finalist in the Scottish Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 1999. He has been involved in most aspects of company development including mentoring, start-up, development, financing, acquisition, flotation and sale.
John M. Coe
John took over the running of the family business, Coe Vintners (http://www.coevintners.com/), in the mid-1980s and grew the company to become the largest independent wholesaler of wine & spirits in the UK with an annual turnover in excess of £61m at the time of its sale to Enotria in August 2015.
John retains an interest in various businesses which include Barwell & Jones (http://www.barwellandjones.com/) (a wine agency business), IDS (https://uk.i-d-s.com/) (the leading UK supplier of personalised duty free services to Diplomats), Intagulf (an independent Wine and Spirit Merchant based in the Jebel Ali Free Zone, Dubai, United Arab Emirates) and Mangrove Global (http://www.mangroveuk.com/) (an innovative marketer of new/premium spirits and liqueurs).
Michael D. Gilbert
Heath Park Motor Company Ltd was incorporated in the 1940s and Michael took over the running of the business from his father in the mid-1980s and grew the company to become one of the premier Peugeot dealerships in Essex with an annual turnover in excess of £12m at the time of its sale in April 2005.
Michael J. Bullman
Based in East London, the carpet contracting business of J Bullman & Sons (Carpet Contracts) Ltd was expanded rapidly by Michael and his brother David in the 1980s/90s to become a major installer of office carpeting/flooring in the City of London with a client list including major banks and investment companies. With the compulsory purchasing of the company’s warehouse/offices in 2002 to make way for the Olympic Park, the decision was taken to liquidate the business shortly thereafter.