Valco Personnel
Our People
Paul McGowan - Principal and Senior Directors
Paul McGowan is a founding partner of Hilco UK. Having qualified as a Chartered Accountant in Northern Ireland, Paul took up the post of Finance and Operations Director at Jacqmar plc in London before moving on to Leslie Fay (UK). Paul managed all aspects of finance, administration, supply chain and retail operations in these fashion businesses before becoming Chief Executive at Leslie Fay. He set up Hilco UK in 2000 in a joint venture with Hilco Trading Co. Inc. of Chicago.
Andrew Pepper - Principal and Senior Director
Andrew is a Chartered Accountant and a former restructuring partner of Kroll and BDO. Over the last 20 years he has advised lenders and directors on all aspects of corporate restructuring, from leading turnaround engagements to being appointed to manage a variety of businesses. Recently investing in the MBOs of Allied Carpets, Borders and Habitat, Andrew has dealt with all aspects of large corporate acquisitions.
A specialist in the ABL, retail and manufacturing sectors, Andrew led a number of advisory and investment engagements in the UK and Europe. Andrew has personally dealt with many smaller businesses, where hands-on control has been essential.
Howard Gunn - European Chief Financial Officer
Howard, having trained as an accountant at Peat, Marwick Mitchell & Co. in the late 1970s, established a small business involved in the trade and retail distribution of high security products. He then entered the computer industry and became Finance Director and Company Secretary of CHS Electronics Plc, one of the principal computer distribution companies in the UK, for over 10 years with responsibility for all finance functions, credit management and human resources.
Chris Emmott - Investment Director
Chris joined Hilco in 2007 from a leading global restructuring practice where he worked on some of the largest cross-border restructuring projects of recent years, together with numerous crisis management and business stabilisation roles.
Whilst at Hilco, Chris has worked on numerous high profile restructuring projects, including MFI, The Pier and Burleigh Pottery. Currently sitting on the boards of Hilco investments including Denby Holdings, Oceans outdoor furniture, HMV Canada and Park Precision engineering, Chris has extensive expertise across the retail,
engineering, automotive and manufacturing sectors.
Henry Foster - Investment Director
Henry is a Chartered Accountant with over 10 years experience in corporate recovery and turnaround and trained at a leading restructuring practice, advising lenders and directors in all aspects of corporate restructurings. Henry has been the lead investment director in a number of recent high profile Valco deals, managing financial and operational turnaround plans. His sector experience includes retail, manufacturing, engineering and recruitment.
Revan McKinnon - Investment Manager
Revan's background is management consultancy, working for Deloitte Consulting (Strategy & Operations) based in Chicago, and Archstone Consulting and SD Retail Consulting based in London. Her sector experience includes consumer products, telecom, insurance, healthcare and retail. Revan's project work has included organisational design, customer experience and in-store enhancement, IT implementation support and risk mitigation, outsourcing, business process mapping and re-design, strategic cost reduction and new business development.
Steven Pell - Senior Investment Manager
Steve trained with a leading independent international advisory and restructuring practice and has more than seven years experience in corporate recovery and restructuring. Steve has worked on some of the most high profile UK, European and cross border turnaround and restructuring projects undertaken in recent years in sectors including manufacturing, automotive, property, retail and aviation. A German speaker, Steve is also a qualified Chartered Accountant.
Ryan Sher - Investment Manager
Ryan is a Chartered Accountant and a financial modelling and analysis specialist with 7 years post qualification experience in corporate finance and consulting at Deloitte. Ryan has been involved with a number of extremely high profile projects including a major cost reduction programme at one of the largest global banks, the MBO of a major retailer and various M&A, restructuring and refinancing deals with values ranging from £10 million to £5 billion.
Will Stamp - Investment Manager
Will is a Chartered Accountant and qualified in the Restructuring Advisory team at KPMG. During this time, he worked on various engagements advising lenders and directors of companies in financial distress, including accelerated business sales, cross-border restructurings, cash management and independent business reviews. Will has sector experience in retail, construction, financial services and manufacturing.
James Turner - Investment Manager
James has over five years' experience working with different stakeholders in restructuring situations. James qualified as a Chartered Accountant at a leading restructuring practice and, since joining Hilco, has worked on a number of investments, developing and managing financial and operational turnaround plans. James has worked in a variety of sectors with particular experience in manufacturing, engineering and retail. Stakeholders have benefitted from James practical approach and sector expertise. James is currently based in Sydney establishing Hilco's Australian office.
Mark O'Neill - Investment Analyst
Mark is a Chartered Accountant and prior to joining Hilco worked for the Restructuring and Turnaround team at Deloitte in both the UK and Ireland. During this time, he worked across a range of assignments gaining particular experience in corporate restructurings, cash management and independent business reviews, while also working across a broad range of turnaround assignments. Mark has sector experience in retail, construction, leisure, manufacturing and care homes.
Matthew Holt - Investment Manager
Matt is a chartered accountant with nearly ten years' experience in corporate restructuring, having trained at an international restructuring practice. Matt has a particular expertise in asset based lending, having managed ABL style lending as a turnaround investor and or through refinancing positions, including the $40 million refinancing of The Kraus Group of Companies. During his time with Hilco Matt has worked on a number of investments in retail and manufacturing sectors and has extensive experience of managing restructuring processes in the UK, Canada, Australia and the USA.
Igor de la Sota - Managing Director, Hilco Iberia
Igor has held various positions at different Investment Banks across Europe and has extensive experience in corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions, having worked on numerous high profile transactions in the retail, property and energy sectors. Igor is a former Spanish rugby International and holds an MBA from IESE Business School, Barcelona. He joined Hilco in December 2011 to head our Spanish operation.
Hugh Whitcomb - Investment Director, Manufacturing
Hugh is a Chartered Engineer with over 30 years' experience of industrial operations and commercial management across a range of sectors including power generation, petrochemicals and general manufacturing/engineering, specialising in operational turnaround and performance improvement. Hugh joined Hilco in 2012 and is responsible for Hilco's specialist manufacturing sector investments, recently leading the site operational turnaround work at Kraus Group in Canada.