After training as a Chartered Accountant, Andrew left professional practice and moved into the food industry, where he spent the next 25 years in various senior executive roles before developing a portfolio of non-executive positions. He has tremendous experience within the fast-paced FMCG sector, covering all aspects from manufacturing through to sales and marketing, within both the branded and private label arenas.
He has worked primarily with owner / manager businesses but has also represented numerous Private Equity / Venture Capital funds on the Boards of some of their portfolio companies. He is experienced with business start-ups, high growth and mature stages of a business’s life cycle and has also completed the acquisition and disposal of several businesses.
After divesting of the majority of his portfolio positions, together with his wife, he started two businesses; a pick your own Christmas Tree farm and off-grid, high quality eco holiday lets, which they successfully ran until both were sold as a going concern in 2017.
He has an MBA (with distinction) from Cardiff Business School and was a previous winner of Businessman of the year in South Wales. He cares passionately about helping Welsh businesses deliver their true potential.
He is married to Charlotte, a solicitor, and has two children, Abigail and James. He loves cooking and enjoying great food and wine as well as sport of all kinds, especially rugby. He has been a youth cricket coach, fixture secretary for the mini and junior section of his thriving local rugby club and a volunteer with the Welsh Rugby Union to help coordinate the junior game at district level, and more recently became a volunteer business mentor with the Prince's Trust.
"He is experienced with business start-ups, high growth and mature stages of a business’s life cycle and has also completed the acquisition and disposal of several businesses."