2011 Judging Panel

Richard Curling - Jupiter Asset Management

Profile to follow.

William Horlick - Elderstreet Investments

William joined Elderstreet Investments, which has over £30 million funds under management, in 1998. Prior to joining Elderstreet, he spent seven years in investment banking and stockbroking, and was managing director of a London-based mail order company that he turned around from a lossmaking to a profitable company. He is the investment manager for Elderstreet VCT, Bedford Row VCT and the Smith and Williamson EIS portfolio. At Elderstreet he has worked on more than 40 company investments. William has held several board seats on Elderstreet portfolio companies.

He was on the board of Dow Carter (sold to the Engine Group in 2007) and Business Auctions (sold to IT Auctions in 2007). He was an original investment committee member of Staffing Ventures, an AIM-quoted company, and on the advisory panel of the UK Technology Forum for three years. William graduated from RMA Sandhurst in 1980.

Deryck Noble-Nesbitt - Close Asset Management Limited

Deryck was appointed manager of Close Special Situations Fund and Close Beacon Investment Fund in August 2008. He has an additional nine years of experience in the analysis of equities and is a CFA charterholder. He graduated from Cambridge University in 1994, is a chartered accountant and spent more than a decade working at Deloitte & Touche in London and New York.

Tom Price - Westhouse Securities

Tom graduated from Cambridge with a degree in economics and history of art.

He has worked in the City of London since 1990, as an equity capital markets corporate financier specialising in small/mid-cap companies with Evolution Securities (formerly Beeson Gregory); and Westhouse since late 2009, becoming COO in June 2010. In recent years he has focused both on UK companies, and he also led Evolution's pioneering specialisation in IPO's for Chinese and Indian companies on the UK stockmarket. He is chairman of the Quoted Companies Alliance's Financial Advisory Committee; and is a London arts adviser to the Columbia Foundation.

Sam Smith - Chief Executive, finnCap

Sam Smith founded finnCap in 2007 leading the buyout of JM Finn's small-cap corporate advisory and broking division. She started her career in 1998 when she joined the private client broker JM Finn, after qualifying as a chartered accountant with KPMG.

In April 2010 Sam completed the purchase of remaining shareholding from JM Finn. Under her leadership, as the youngest and only female chief executive of a City broker, finnCap is now one of the leading and fastest-growing independent brokers in the City.

Sam continues to drive finnCap forward and is closely involved in the day to day running of the company; to date she has worked on over 200 transactions, IPOs and secondary fund raisings.

Outside her duties as the CEO, Sam is actively involved in various mentoring projects and organizations such as Pinky Lilani's "Women of the Future" awards, of which Sam is a former winner. Sam is also a patron for the Modern Muse project, aimed at millions of young girls throughout the UK to encourage and inspire them to look at business careers and entrepreneurship as a way to achieve their dreams.

Awards
2010 - Business XL, 2009 Business XL, Power Top 50 - no 3 in the City
2009 - National Business Woman of the Future Award
2008 - Top 100 Financial Rising Stars Award

Joe McGrath - What Investment

Joe McGrath is editorial director of Vitesse Media and the editor of Business XL magazine. A regular contributor to the national press, Joe has written for the Financial Times, The Independent, The Scotsman and The Times.

He has also written for a variety of professional publications including Investors Chronicle, Money Management, Financial Adviser and New Media Age. He has completed professional examinations from the Chartered Insurance Institute and the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) and is a graduate of Southampton Solent University.

Geoff Foster - Daily Mail

Profile to follow.

Jonathan Wright - Seymour Pierce

Profile to follow.

Catherine Stanley - F&C Fund Management

Profile to follow.

Miles Nolan - Growth Company Investor

Miles Nolan has recently joined Growth Company Investor as Editor. He has previously held the post of Smaller Companies Editor at the Investors Chronicle and has worked as an analyst and fund manager. Miles was a past winner of the Best Research category at the AIM Awards and has served as a judge at previous award ceremonies.

Leslie Copeland - Vitesse Media

Leslie is the chief executive officer of Vitesse Media and has worked in the media sector for over 12 years in an array of roles, including journalist, analyst, editor and executive director. He joined Vitesse in 1997 as a journalist on Growth Company Investor, ascending to the role of editorial director by 2000, with responsibility for the delivery of Vitesse's products across all platforms – online, events and print. Since mid-2006 Vitesse Media has doubled in size, and Leslie has played a significant part in the integration of What Investment (purchased by the company in December 2006) and Information Age (purchased in December 2007).

Paul Jourdan of Amati

Paul Jourdan is an award-winning fund manager with a strong track record in small cap investment. He co-founded Amati Global Investors following the management buyout of Noble Fund Managers from Noble Group in January 2010.

Paul joined Noble Fund Managers in 2007 as Head of Equities. He moved to Edinburgh in 1998, joining Stewart Ivory to work on UK, emerging market, and global equities. In 2000 Stewart Ivory was taken over by Colonial First State (subsequently First State Investments).

From September 2000 Paul became manager of what is now CF Amati UK Smaller Companies Fund, winning a number of awards for this fund in 2004/05. In November 2004 he was appointed Head of UK Equities at First State. In early 2005 he launched what is now Amati VCT plc. Prior to 1998 Paul worked as a professional violinist, including a four year period with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

He currently serves as a Director of Hebrides Ensemble and of Sistema Scotland, and also as a Governor of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.