2010 Judges

Leslie Koht 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).

James Crux – Growth Company Investor James is the editor of Growth Company Investor magazine and GrowthCompany.co.uk. He covers a wide range of small-cap companies on both AIM and the Full List and has been with the Vitesse Media team for more than nine years.

Richard Curling – Jupiter Asset Management Richard manages the UK Smaller Companies Fund (Unit Trust), the Primadona Growth Investment Trust and an institutional mandate. Prior to joining Jupiter, he worked for Morgan Grenfell as manager of the UK pensions and income funds before moving to Deutsche Bank, where he was appointed managing director and head of small cap. In this position, which he held for more than ten years, Richard was responsible for managing the UK and European Small Cap team and running small-cap equity mandates. Between 1996 and 2003 he was also head of global small cap and responsible for the Global/EAFE Small Cap product. Richard has a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) from Edinburgh University and is an associate of the Society of Investment Analysts.

Geoff Foster - Daily Mail One of the most influential financial commentators in the City, Geoff Foster is currently in his 21st year as stock market reporter of the Daily Mail, having previously spent two years at The Times and enjoyed a 19-year stint at the Financial Times. Geoff is highly supportive of smaller ventures and regularly writes about small-caps quoted on the Full List and AIM.

Graham Herring - Managing Director, Threadneedle Communications After working for a smaller company stockbroker, Graham has been operating as a financial PR consultant for the past 12 years with Ludgate Communications and latterly Weber Shandwick Square Mile. His focus has been on advising public listed companies and he has extensive M&A, crisis management and IPO experience. Graham set up Threadneedle Communications in 2004, having identified the need for a more proactive and focused approach to advising small- and mid-cap listed companies.

William Horlick, Investment Manager, 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 loss-making 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 Deryck was appointed manager of Close Special Situations Fund and Close Beacon Investment Fund in August 2008. He boasts 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 six years working at Deloitte & Touche in London and New York.

Jonathan Wright – Seymour Pierce Jonathan Wright spent five years in private practice as a corporate lawyer specialising in advising small and medium-sized public and private companies. He joined Seymour Pierce in November 1999 and has led numerous transactions including IPOs and secondary fundraisings for both AIM-traded and Fully Listed companies, as well as mergers and acquisitions work.

Tom Price – Westhouse Securities Tom Price, a director in the corporate finance department at Westhouse, is a highly experienced small and medium-sized quoted company adviser. He has worked in growth company equity capital markets since 1990, for Beeson Gregory and subsequently for Evolution Securities, having graduated in 1989 from Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge.

Tom Shaw – Partner, Speechly Bircham Tom specialises in corporate and commercial law and deals with advisory and transactional work for public and private businesses including mergers, acquisitions and securities issues. He is head of the quoted companies group within Speechly Bircham’s corporate practice and leads the Indian practice group. Particular work includes advising on IPOs and secondary share issues on AIM, often to provide finance for acquisitions, and advising on private company/business acquisitions and disposals. He is a member of the Legal Committee of the Quoted Companies Alliance.

Sam Smith – finnCap Sam established finnCap in August 2007, leading the buy-out of JM Finn & Co’s small-cap corporate finance advisory and institutional broking businesses. After qualifying as a chartered accountant with KPMG in 1998, she joined JM Finn & Co to set up its corporate finance division. Sam has worked on more than 60 transactions, mostly IPOs and secondary fundraisings.

Catherine Stanley – F&C Catherine Stanley is head of the UK small companies desk, having joined F&C in 2000. Prior to this she spent nine years at Framlington, where she managed both retail and institutional UK smaller company funds, including Capital Trust. Catherine has an MA (Hons) from Oxford University in geography and is an associate of the UK Society of Investment Professionals.

Joe McGrath – What Investment Joe is the editor of What Investment. He joined Vitesse Media in November 2009 from the Financial Times Group. His writing credits include 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. Following in the footsteps of Piers Morgan and Richard Madeley, he is a graduate of the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) programme and completed his undergraduate degree at Southampton Solent University.

Nick Hasell – The Times Nick is the editor of Tempus, The Times’s daily investment column – a position he has held since May 2007. He has worked at The Times since 1999, previously as banking correspondent and stock market editor. Nick has been a journalist for 20 years, having begun his career at Management Today as a graduate in 1990. He previously worked for Financial News, which he joined at launch in 1996.

Chris Bamberry – SWIP Chris joined Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) in 2002 and is investment director, UK equities. He manages a number of UK small-cap retail funds and the SWIP UK Real Estate Fund. His research responsibilities include the real estate and media sectors. Before joining SWIP, Chris worked for three years at Deutsche Bank as vice-president, equity research, responsible for pan-European business services companies. Prior to this, he spent three years at Standard Life Investments as an investment director in the UK smaller companies team. Chris has also gained experience at General Accident Investment Management, Baillie Gifford and KPMG. He holds an LLB (Hons) in law with accountancy from the University of Edinburgh, and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and an associate of the UK Society of Investment Professionals..