British Business Investments

Alice Carpenter is Managing Director and Deputy General Counsel at the British Business Bank, an institution focused on improving access to finance for smaller UK businesses, where she leads the legal team. She also serves as an Advisory Board Member for Legal and Regulatory at BLOXX. Her experience spans in-house and private practice legal roles, including work in legal risk management and corporate strategy.

Deputy Head of Investments since Anima Alternative's 2020 founding; over 20 years in credit and corporate finance, previously founding partner of Emisys Capital, CIO of Mezzanove Capital and head of credit analysis at Mediobanca.

Investment Associate at Anima Alternative since October 2021; previously a finance and advisory associate at Unicredit. Bocconi MSc in International Management.

Guy Morrell is Managing Director of IT Operations at the British Business Bank and holds the CISSP certification. His prior work at the Francis Crick Institute included cyber security and data governance initiatives, spanning improvements to visibility, control, and compliance. He has also delivered greenfield and brownfield infrastructure projects and has experience building and restructuring teams.

Kristen McLeod is Chief Strategy Officer at the British Business Bank, having joined from HM Treasury, where she advised the Chancellor of the Exchequer on Growth, Investment and Business from October 2022. Earlier roles include Director of the Office for Life Sciences across the Department for Business and Trade and the Department of Health and Social Care, Senior Responsible Officer for the UK Testing Programme, Director of Strategy, Performance and Planning at the Department of Health and Social Care, and Principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Health. Her career in the civil service spans 19 years.

Michael Strevens is Managing Director, Structured FI Solutions at the British Business Bank. His work covers structured credit, securitisation, public ABS, risk transfer, private credit, funding and guarantees, spanning investing, structuring, execution and leadership across public and private transactions. He has worked with banks, non-bank lenders and public sector stakeholders on asset-backed finance, guarantee structures, funding solutions and risk transfer.

Richard Bowen is Managing Director of Direct Financial Institution Solutions at the British Business Bank, an institution that supports UK SMEs' access to finance. The organisation invests in and protects funds intended to deliver economic growth.

Susan Almack is Managing Director of Direct Financial Institution Solutions at the British Business Bank, an organisation that supports UK SMEs' access to finance through investment. The bank's activities are directed toward delivering economic growth.

Thomas Horton is Managing Director, Structured FI Solutions at the British Business Bank, where his work spans structured credit, securitisation, public ABS, risk transfer, private credit, funding and guarantees. His experience covers investing, structuring, execution and leadership across public and private transactions, involving banks, non-bank lenders and public sector stakeholders in areas including asset-backed finance, guarantee structures, funding solutions and risk transfer.

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Bali Muralidhar has more than 20 years of healthcare experience spanning venture investing, R&D, clinical practice, and teaching. At Abingworth he leads the transatlantic venture and clinical co-development investment teams and chairs the firm's investment committees. He previously was a senior partner at MVM Partners in London and a member of Bain Capital's healthcare deal team. He holds a degree in clinical medicine from the University of Oxford, practiced general surgery, and earned a PhD in translational cancer research from the University of Cambridge.

Costantino Mariella is a Senior Investment Manager at British Business Bank, where he oversees deep technology investments in UK startups across defence, space, and semiconductor sectors. Previously, he served as Senior Investment Manager at Sony Innovation Fund, leading investments in semiconductors, robotics, AI, mobility, and music technology. He holds an MSc in Electronic Engineering from Università di Bologna, an MBA from Fundação Getulio Vargas, and a finance certification from the London School of Economics.

Graeme Fisher is Managing Director of Strategy, Sustainability and Public Affairs at the British Business Bank, where he leads the strategy, public affairs and sustainability teams. He previously headed the Federation of Small Businesses' Parliamentary office in Westminster and held policy roles at HM Treasury, including work on one of the "five tests" for euro entry, EU enlargement assessment, and economic reform.

Joined Arbor Ventures in 2013 with a career in investment and business management. Former fund manager at Thornton Investment Management, ran Finsbury Asset Management and Legal & General's structured products business, and co-founded Dawnay Day Quantum.

Robin Murray leads Adams Street Partners' Growth Equity Team, concentrating on growth-stage financial technology investments. He previously was a General Partner at 3i in its venture and growth equity funds, served as CFO for two venture-backed technology startups in Silicon Valley, and held roles at McKinsey, J. Sainsbury PLC, and Ernst & Young in London. He chairs the firm's Growth Equity Investment Committee and sits on its Executive Committee.

Stephen Welton is Chair of the British Business Bank and has held executive and non-executive director roles at listed and unlisted companies in the UK and internationally. He founded the Business Growth Fund (BGF) in 2011 and established the BGF Foundation, and his work has included fostering public-private partnerships and increasing long-term UK investment from the pension fund and insurance sector. He was awarded a CBE in the King's Birthday Honours in June 2023 for services to small businesses and entrepreneurship.

Barry Murphy is Managing Director of Risk and Compliance at the British Business Bank, working across both first and second line of defence roles in UK banking and asset management. His experience includes Board and Board Risk Committee reporting, enterprise risk, transaction due diligence across debt and venture capital programmes, and portfolio monitoring, and he holds the GARP Financial Risk Manager (FRM) certification. He previously worked on real estate credit risk during the restructuring of IBRC (formerly Anglo Irish Bank), completed an interim role at National Australia Bank in 2014, and spent eight years in relationship management within private banking at Deutsche Bank.

Esi Eshun is a Fund Manager at FW Capital. She works with the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, which provides loans between £100,000 and £2 million to businesses in the North of England for purposes including expansion, equipment purchases, and hiring.

Jenny Knott is a former investment bank CEO with over 35 years of experience, having also held CFO and COO roles. She currently chairs Camco, an FCA-regulated clean energy investment firm, serves as a Non-Executive Director at British Business Bank where she chairs the Board Audit Committee, and is a Non-Executive Director at SimplyHealth. She is co-founder of FinTech Strategic Advisors, chairs the advisory board at Equiida, and serves as a trustee for a domestic violence charity, having previously been a trustee for Ovarian Cancer Action.

Karen Barnett is Chief People Officer at the British Business Bank, where she serves on the Executive Committee and is responsible for setting and implementing HR strategy aligned to business objectives. She has 25 years of experience across fund management, capital markets, and wealth management, covering areas including recruitment, compensation and benefits, learning and talent development, succession planning, and organisational design.

Kerry Baldwin is a deep‑tech specialist focused on hard IP, complex algorithms and frontier science who uniquely shares unusually detailed playbooks on exit timing, preparation and buyer mapping for founders.

Kristen McLeod is Chief Strategy Officer at the British Business Bank, having joined from HM Treasury, where she advised the Chancellor of the Exchequer on Growth, Investment and Business from October 2022. She previously served as Director of the Office for Life Sciences for the Department for Business and Trade and the Department for Health and Social Care. Over a 19-year civil service career, she has held roles including Senior Responsible Officer for the UK Testing Programme, Director of Strategy, Performance and Planning at the Department of Health and Social Care, and Principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Health.

Mark Sims is a Risk Delivery Manager at NatWest Group. He has more than 30 years of experience in banking and first-line operational risk roles, including leadership positions and work with stakeholders across organizational levels.

Mark Trick is Chief Operating Officer at British Business Bank. His background spans operations and service environments, with experience in strategy development, change management programs, and team management. He has held roles including Director of Customer Service, Operations Director, Programme Director, and Head of Transformation.

Michael Strevens is Managing Director, Structured FI Solutions at the British Business Bank. His work covers structured credit, securitisation, public ABS, risk transfer, private credit, funding and guarantees, spanning investing, structuring, execution and leadership across public and private transactions. He has worked with banks, non-bank lenders and public sector stakeholders on asset-backed finance, guarantee structures, funding solutions and risk transfer.

Tara Reeves is a Constituent Services Representative at the US Senate. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) from Winthrop University.

Zoe Blaauw is an Investment Associate at Anima Alternative Sgr, part of the Anima Group, where she joined in October 2021 to help launch a private debt fund dedicated to alternative investments. Her work covers small and mid-market acquisition financing transactions, portfolio management, and investor reporting. From 2018 to 2021 she worked at Unicredit Group, entering through the Unicredit Impact Graduate Program with rotations across Client Coverage, Credit Risk, and the CIB division before supporting corporate financing projects in the Corporate Lending division. She is a Bocconi alumna.

Andrew Elder is a former neurosurgeon who now invests in medical technologies and technology-enabled services for the healthcare and life-science sectors, including digital health, diagnostics and imaging, machine learning applications, and therapeutics such as cell and gene therapies. Before AlbionVC he worked on healthcare strategy at the Boston Consulting Group. He holds degrees in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Cambridge and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons.

Charlotte Lawrence is Managing Director and Head of Direct Equity at the British Business Bank, the UK's economic development bank with £26bn of investment capacity. She was previously Managing Director at PSG Equity, where she was part of the team that scaled the firm's European operations to 20 platform investments, 50 add-on investments and $4bn in assets under management, and earlier spent over a decade investing for Carlyle Europe Technology Partners. Her career began in investment banking, advising on M&A and financing transactions at Merrill Lynch and UBS.

Appointed Chair of the Ventures Investment Committee in October 2022, with 20 years at SR One as partner and venture partner. Serves as an independent investment committee member at British Patient Capital and has held numerous non-executive board roles across biotech.

Founder and Managing Partner with 30 years as a founder, executive and investor. Led three Nasdaq IPOs and holds board roles including British Patient Capital's Future Fund Breakthrough and Irish Life Health.

Karen Barnett is Chief People Officer at the British Business Bank, where she serves on the Executive Committee and is responsible for setting and implementing HR strategy. She has 25 years of experience across fund management, capital markets, and wealth management, covering areas including recruitment, compensation and benefits, learning and talent development, succession planning, and organisational design.

Financial director who began as an accountant and later worked at STARLIMS as Deputy Controller and, after its Abbott acquisition, as FP&A Manager. She holds an MA in Economics from Varna University, Bulgaria.

Board member; founding chairman of Scale Investors.

Winnie Bak Christiansen is Chief Strategy Officer at the British Business Bank, having joined from HM Treasury, where she advised the Chancellor of the Exchequer on Growth, Investment and Business from October 2022. She previously served as Director of the Office for Life Sciences, reporting to Secretaries of State across the Department for Business and Trade and the Department for Health and Social Care. Over a 19-year civil service career, she also held roles including Senior Responsible Officer for the UK Testing Programme, Director of Strategy, Performance and Planning at the Department of Health and Social Care, and Principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Health.

Wyndham North is Managing Director of Risk and Compliance at the British Business Bank, where his focus areas include the bank's risk management framework, Board and Board Risk Committee reporting, enterprise risk, and transaction due diligence across debt and venture capital programmes. He previously worked on real estate credit risk during the restructuring of IBRC (formerly Anglo Irish Bank) from 2009 to 2014, completed an interim role at National Australia Bank in 2014, and spent eight years in relationship management within private banking at Deutsche Bank. He holds the GARP Financial Risk Manager (FRM) certification.