Simon qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant in 1981 and holds a Practising Certificate issued by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. He set up Marchwood Associates in 2003 to offer the wide experience he'd gained in the intervening years at Board level to small and medium sized companies.
He held a number of senior positions at Woolwich plc and Barclays Bank before becoming CEO of a private equity backed sub prime lender in the UK. Simon has been an FSA Approved Person, has sat on the Management/Executive Committees of the Finance and Leasing Association and the Council of Mortgage Lenders, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and holds the Certificate in Mortgage Advice and Practice.
Simon enjoys nothing more than bringing his experience to bear to find original ways to solve the various and varied assignments that come his way.
Career Summary:
Simon has a BA (Hons) in Accounting and qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant in 1981, becoming a fellow in 1991. His early career spanned the consumer electronics, utilities, heavy engineering and ports sectors.
He joined the then Woolwich Building Society in 1986 and held a number of senior finance positions before assuming responsibility in 1996, as Managing Director, for Specialised Lending (including consumer finance and commercial lending), growing the business and starting a number of new ventures. He took on dual roles in late 1999, heading up Retail Products and Asset and Liability Management, subsequently leading Group Finance in the crucial period prior to the acquisition of Woolwich plc by Barclays Bank in October 2000.
On joining Barclays he became Director, Lending and General Insurance and a member of the Woolwich Executive Committee. His responsibilities included surveying, general insurance, the FirstPlus secured lending business, and the relationship with a joint venture mortgage outsource provider. He also led the complex but successful integration of the Woolwich and Barclays mortgage businesses. In 2002 and early 2003 he was Business in Transition Director finalising mortgage and general insurance integration and disposing of a number of non-strategic parts of the Woolwich business portfolio.
Simon has been an FSA Approved Person, member of the Management/Executive Committees of the Finance and Leasing Association and the Council of Mortgage Lenders, a management committee member of Woolwich plc's French and Italian banks.
In 2003 he set up Marchwood Associates to offer his wide experience at Board level to small and medium sized companies mainly in the retail financial services sector. After several successful assignments, he went plural by becoming CEO of Kestrel Holdings, a company set up to acquire Swift Advances (a sub prime secured lender) by private equity house Alchemy Partners. After a successful period of transformation with significantly higher profits, larger and cheaper bank lines, relocation to modern offices and achieving FSA authorisation, he exited the business retaining a shareholding. Marchwood Associates continues to provide advice services to a growing number of firms whilst also seeking new investment opportunities.
Simon qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant in 1981 and holds a Practising Certificate issued by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. He set up Marchwood Associates in 2003 to offer the wide experience he'd gained in the intervening years at Board level to small and medium sized companies.