Adrian’s deep and wide insight into what it takes to build a successful business has its roots in his almost 30 years as a top-rated analyst and director of equity research in the investment banking world.  This included spells with Barings, Merrill Lynch and Citigroup in Hong Kong, New York and London where he gained substantial experience in capital markets transactions. In each case Adrian built #1 rated teams.  He was also an active private investor in both listed and unlisted companies. 

 

Since then, Adrian set up BCA with Edward Boddington and has empathetically advised a range of founders, entrepreneurs and management teams on how to plan for growth and how to engage with investors and acquirers.  The imprint of his disarmingly honest advice can be found on most of BCA’s successful mandates. 

 

Adrian is a Trustee of Sage House, a charity for Dementia sufferers, and also coaches Chinese students looking for work in the US, still utilising his University degree in Mandarin.  He also enjoys sailing, hence the name of the company; it’s where he keeps his boat. 

Edward - known to everyone as ‘Bod’ - brings the perfect balance to Adrian’s banking insight, having been in the founder’s seat of a number of successful businesses which have exited to the likes of Matra-Hachette, and iTouch plc.  His largest exit was a US participation media business, backed by Flemings, which exited to an MBO financed by HIG. 

 

Throughout his entrepreneurial career he observed a lack of credible, skilled advisors for small to mid-market management teams, so he joined forces with Adrian in BCA to create a bespoke service that fulfilled this need. 

 

Bod chairs Harvest Media Group, a UK TV voting business, and he is an investor in digital learning business ITZA.  Previous experience also includes an industry board seat on the micropayment regulator Phone Pay Plus, and a NED of mobile data firm Stream plc.  He is also chair of the Governing Board at the Oxfordshire independent school, Moulsford. 

 

Naturally gregarious, Bod has an extraordinary network of people who can help to build businesses and others who can help finance them through growth and exit 

Mark spent his wide and varied corporate career building and leading businesses, working in Direct Marketing, Telecoms, and TV Entertainment (the latter for nearly 20 years with Fremantle).  His roles have always been charged with corporate development to deliver growth, innovation and profits across diverse sectors and markets.  He considers himself lucky to have had the opportunity to work internationally from early on in his career and learned the value of strategic business planning, as well as the intricacies of setting up and running joint ventures in countries as diverse as Denmark, Turkey, Malaysia, Germany, and the UK. 

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After leaving Fremantle, Mark embarked on a portfolio career, though Bod was quick to persuade him to join BCA as an Operating Partner, where his skills acquired through years of coalface operating experience in business and investment planning are brought to bear on our clients’ needs. 

George is a vital part of the BCA alchemy process with a natural aptitude for understanding the dynamics of any business, starting with the key financial metrics and working out from there. He has one of those minds that can absorb hard and soft data, spotting the things that no-one else spots. In a process where our clients need to have the answers to questions before an investor asks them, this is invaluable insight. 

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Prior to working at BCA he had been analysing businesses as an Investment Manager for The FSE Group and Moscar Capital, having started out in the not-for-profit sector where his highest profile work was running Centrepoint’s Charity of the Year campaign for Arsenal FC. 

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He has experience across many sectors including SAAS, FinTech, PropTech, Pharma, F&B and Hospitality. 

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Outside work George is a DJ and enjoys festivals and gigs. 

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Edward is an Operating Partner, bringing his mixture of creative thinking and commercial experience to ambitious SMEs, family businesses, and businesses with interesting heritage. 

  

Edward’s first exit was as CEO of the ad agency Claydon Heeley Jones Mason to Omnicom, one of the marketing sector growth stories of the 90s.  Since then, he has developed his career as an NED/advisor to many companies including Fortnum & Mason (no relation) where he led the strategy to reinvigorate the business, and co-founding streaming business True Royalty TV, where he led the $18M fundraise to grow the business, primarily in the US.  BCA was appointed as corporate finance advisor on this fundraise, meaning that Edward also brings direct client-side experience of working with BCA. 

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He is non-exec chair of Paternoster Communications, NED at Modern Baker (makers of health-positive bread challenger brand Superloaf) and a founder of True Royalty TV.  He is also an Associate to the Faculty at The Moller Institute for Leadership Development at Cambridge University. 

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He is a trustee of the Success after Stroke charity, and spends any spare time he can in his workshop sculpting, and fettling old cars. 

John B Gearing is a sector specialist Operating Partner focused on the sports, fitness, lifestyle and luxury sectors. John has 25 years of operating experience in consumer brands across sports, fitness, fashion and retail, built almost entirely in international markets — principally Asia Pacific and the Middle East.

 

His career spans senior leadership at Adidas, VF Corporation and Kontoor Brands. At Adidas he led the regional integration of Reebok following its acquisition. At VF he served as Managing Director APAC, leading Lee to the number one position in China and launching Wrangler China and Lee Korea from scratch.  He was a member of the global leadership team that executed the spin-off of Kontoor Brands from VF — Lee and Wrangler's parent vehicle — which listed on the NYSE at a market capitalisation of US$1.7bn.

 

From there he moved to the Gulf as CEO & Managing Partner of One Fit Holdings, the Al Sayer family vehicle for investing in combat sports and adjacent businesses, where he raised US$7m in growth capital from MENA-based UHNWI and family offices and built out the operating portfolio across the UAE.

Andrew is the Operating Partner at BCA supporting our SaaS mandates, bringing more than two decades at the sharp end of building and scaling software and technology businesses. He is currently CRO and board member at HappySignals in Helsinki, with responsibilities for ARR, NRR, marketing and Partners.

 

Prior to this he was VP Global Revenue at AI platform V7, where he grew the ARR and oversaw the launch of a new product for AI and human document-processing workflows.As a founder, CEO and non-executive chair, Andrew has guided start-ups, scale-ups and boards through transformation, fundraising and exit. He provides C-suite support, debt and equity planning, go-to-market strategy and commercial structuring. With an ability to navigate complex challenges and capitalise on new opportunities, Andrew brings a commitment to innovation, a results-oriented focus and a passion for building high-performing teams.A Loughborough University sports alumnus, Andrew spends his spare time boating, skiing, playing various racquet sports, golf and cricket. He is also an avid Bath RFC season ticket holder.