DIRECTORS
Oliver Vaughan, Executive Chairman (age 62)
In 1966 Oliver co-founded Juliana’s Holdings PLC, which became the world’s largest discotheque
entertainment group and which floated on the Official List of the London Stock Exchange in 1983.
Following its sale for over £30 million to Wembley PLC in 1988, Oliver became an executive director
ofWembley PLC. In 1994 Oliver was appointed chief executive of the newly-formed Gander Holdings
PLC, a London based property company specialising in the acquisition and development of prime Kensington and Chelsea residential real estate. Gander Holdings PLC was one of the first 15 companies to join AIM. Oliver was a founder director of what is currently The Evolution Group PLC and served as a director of that company from 1997 to 2006 and is chairman of Hansard Communications Limited. Until 5 December 2008 Oliver was the Chairman of Blue Oar. Oliver has been a director of a number of AIM quoted investment companies. Oliver is registered with the FSA as an Investment Adviser and is a partner in Whim Gully Capital LLP.
Edward Vandyk, Executive Director (age 60)
Edward is the controlling partner in Whim Gully Capital LLP, an FSA regulated, PLUS corporate
adviser, which specialises in advising smaller companies. It is also a member of PLUS Markets plc.
Until March 2007, he was the Chief Executive of Corporate Synergy Group PLC (now Blue Oar) the
AIM quoted investment bank, the operating company of which he founded in 1992. He has extensive
experience in the leisure industry as well as working with small quoted companies and is medically
qualified and practised as a doctor for a number of years whilst pursuing a parallel career in business,
to which he has devoted himself for the last 18 years.
Chris Robert, Group Finance Director
Chris, who is a Chartered Certified Accountant, has responsibility for the finance function across the group. He was previously Chief Executive of the eVestment Company plc, (now called Evolution Group plc) until it acquired Christows Group ltd in November 2000, remaining as Group Managing Director of its Private Equity division until March 2001.
Chris has been a director of a number of publically quoted businesses over the last ten years, including companies in fashion, telecoms, software and retail.
Michael Jackson, Non-executive Director (age 58)
Michael founded Elderstreet Investments Limited in 1990 and is its Executive Chairman. For the past
25 years, he has specialised in raising finance and investing in quoted and unquoted smaller companies.
Michael has been Chairman of two FTSE 100 companies, PartyGaming PLC and from 1997 until
August 2006, The Sage Group PLC. He is also a director of and investor in many other quoted and
unquoted companies, including Elderstreet portfolio companies Snacktime plc and Kellan Group PLC.
Michael studied law at Cambridge University, and qualified as a chartered accountant with Coopers and
Lybrand before spending five years in marketing for various US multinational technology companies.
James Noble, Non-executive Director (age 49)
James has extensive experience in the biotech industry and is currently Chief Executive Officer of
Immunocore Limited and Adaptimmune Limited, two companies involved in T cell receptor
technology. He is also a Non-executive Director of Curagen Corporation, a NASDAQ listed
biopharmaceutical company, GW Pharmaceuticals PLC (AIM listed) and Axellis Limited, a UK
biotech company. He has formerly been on the boards of a number of listed companies as a nonexecutive
director, including Powderject Pharmaceuticals PLC (listed in London), Oxford
GlycoSciences PLC (London and NASDAQ listed), Finsbury Worldwide Pharmaceutical Trust PLC
(London listed), Advanced Medical Solutions PLC (AIM listed) and MediGene Ag (Frankfurt listed).
He has also served as a non-executive of a large number of private biotechnology companies, including
companies in the UK, Germany and the USA. As an Executive, Mr Noble was formerly the CFO of
British Biotech PLC, and involved in raising over £300 million and taking the company public on
NASDAQ and London. Prior to that, he was a Director at Kleinwort Benson Limited after qualifying
as an accountant at Price Waterhouse in 1983. He graduated from Oxford in 1980.
David Snow, Non-executive Director (age 47)
David was involved in the money and derivatives markets for 20 years, starting at Cayzer Limited before
joining Harlow Butler. Until 1999 he was Chief Executive of Harlow Butler UK Limited and Garban
Europe Limited, where he was responsible for approximately 500 brokers (money markets, capital
markets and foreign exchange) and 100 back office staff. He prepared Garban Europe Limited for a successful stock market float (a year later the company merged with ICAP). Since then he has developed his private interests which include property, printing, security and farming. David was a non- executive directorof Blue Oar from June 2007 to 5 December 2008.
KEY STAFF
Oliver Cooke ACA FCCA, Company Secretary
Oliver, is a Chartered Accountant, and has served as Financial Director or as Executive Chairman on the boards of a number of AIM companies. He has also served as a board member of a number of Full List and private companies.
His principal focus is on the development of Evolve’s corporate potential and on the sourcing, structuring and execution of investments and other corporate transactions on the Company’s behalf.
Charles Vaughan, Analyst
Prior to joining Evolve, Charles, who has a Masters degree in English from Cambridge University, worked in the Small Cap market sector as a financial analyst. He is involved with the sourcing, analysis and structuring of investments on the Company’s behalf. He reports directly to the executive board. He is a member of the SII and approved by the FSA with qualifications in Investment Management and in Corporate Finance.