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Private Equity Power Talks (PepTalks) Limited
PepTalks, Tabard Works, 6-12 Tabard St, London SE1 4JU
Private Equity Power Talks (PepTalks) Limited
PepTalks, Tabard Works, 6-12 Tabard St, London SE1 4JU
PepTalks, the C-suite training provider and member community for private equity backed businesses.
A library on all things associated with leading a private equity backed business.
Our Members are supported by a group of seasoned, successful but humble portfolio company leaders who share their experiences, good and bad, with our members.
I am CEO of IRIS Software Group, one of the UK’s largest private software companies, which I originally joined in 2016 as CFO. I was promoted to COO in 2018, before becoming CEO in 2019. We completed a successful exit to Leonard Green & Partners in 2023, who took a co-controlling stake alongside existing owners Hg Capital and Intermediate Capital Group.
I previously was a Non-Exec Director and Chair of the Audit Committee at Purplebricks, the UK’s leading hybrid estate agency. Before joining IRIS, I held several senior leadership roles in Big 4 and PE-backed businesses, including Mavenir, Acision, Arthur Andersen and Deloitte.
With extensive experience of corporate finance in private equity environments, I will be drawing on my expertise to guide and advise PepTalks members, especially the next generation of female CEOs.
I was appointed as CEO of Fund and Corporate Services provider Aztec Group in April 2023, having previously served as Chair of the board and as a Non-executive Director. I also serve as a Non-executive Director of Nucleus Financial, which is backed by HPS Investment Partners and Epiris.
I was previously Chair of financial services provider Redington, which is backed by Phoenix Equity Partners, and wealth management firm Saunderson House, which was backed by Epiris before a trade sale to Rathbones Group in 2021. I’ve also served as a Non-executive Director of FTSE 100-listed Intermediate Capital Group plc. Between 2018 and 2020, I was CEO of IFG Group plc, before selling the business to Epiris.
I started my career in global banking and private equity, including four years with Phoenix Equity Partners, before joining Partnership Life Assurance, where I was a key member of the leadership team through a highly successfully ownership period with Cinven and the listing of the business in 2013 at a £1.5bn valuation.
I hope to support PepTalks members in the community by sharing my perspectives as an investor, Chair and CEO, drawing on experiences of working with both mid-market and large-cap PE houses.
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I have more than 20 years of experience as a private equity investor. Until recently, for 15 years I was Partner at Vespa Capital, a lower mid-market private equity firm, focused on investing in UK-headquartered businesses with enterprise values between £10-50 million, where my prime responsibilities included fund raising, deal origination, transaction processing, being a collaborative NED and driving shareholder value growth. Prior to this, I spent 8 years at Montagu Private Equity, where I worked on 18 deals, mostly cross-border transactions, and ran Montagu’s Nordic team.
I’m looking forward to helping PepTalks members to prepare their businesses for exit and work successfully with their investors.
I am Stuart Coventry, the CEO of Jamieson Corporate Finance, the global management advisory firm, who specialise in advising private equity backed management teams through buyouts, fundraisings, disposals, and restructurings.
I am one of the firm’s Founding Partners and have personally advised more than 200 private equity management teams in the UK, Europe, and the US. As well as supporting management teams on all aspects of capital structuring and deal terms, I am passionate about developing the firm’s capability for combining local market knowledge with a global perspective.
I enjoy supporting PepTalks Members on: preparing for and executing successful exits, both for their private equity shareholders and themselves.
Until recently, I served as CEO of AMS, the global talent acquisition outsourcing and advisory business, backed by OMERS, which was my third private equity backed CEO role.
My first was with SHL, the leading provider of talent assessment, which was backed by Hg Capital, before we took it through a trade sale to CEB in 2015. The second was with Study Group, the leading international education business. During my tenure, it was backed by Providence Equity Partners and in 2019 we took it through a tertiary buyout with the French private equity firm, Ardian.
I am currently a NED at Third Bridge Group, backed by Astorg since 2021. I previously served as NED at at Ambassador Theatre Group, backed by Providence since 2015.
I hope that I can add value to PepTalks members around:
I am Dawn Marriott, Partner at Hg Capital, a Private Equity investor. I serve as a board member of team.blue, itm8, Citation and Azets, and previously served on the boards of two PE-backed companies, IRIS and Kinapse.
During my time as Executive Chair at Kinapse, I led the business through a period of rapid growth and transformation before finally overseeing the sale of the business to Syneos Health in 2018.
From 2019 to 2021, I was CEO of Azets, a large accountancy services firm and an Hg investment, operating throughout Europe. Azets was created from more than 50 M&A transactions. I created and led a complex integration and wholesale transformation programme and remain an active board member and coach to the Executive team.
I add value to PepTalks members through:
Private equity transforms businesses—and the roles of CEOs, CFOs and management teams along with them. It places leaders on a high-performance playing field where the pressure to create value, manage risk, and prepare for exit is both immediate and intense.
For first-time PE-backed executives, the learning curve is steep, but those who master it gain a powerful edge in driving growth and success.