Our experienced and cohesive team works to grow companies from first meeting to successful exit.

Meet Our Team

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Coaston Ahumuza | Partner

Coaston has over 12 years of experience in the Accountancy and Finance industry.  He started his professional career as an ACCA trainee under the guidance of Phillips Kobbs & Co Ltd. After training, he joined Benison Solvers an Accounting practice firm in London before starting his own practice in 2012. 

Working as an Accountant serving various clients, Coaston developed an in-depth knowledge of value creation in a number of industries and sectors. This knowledge gives him the ability to identity real value in a business beyond the balance sheet and the management team experience. With determination and ambition to consolidate companies and create value beyond his clients’ expectations, Coaston entered the M&A market for small and medium companies. 

Coaston has closed deals in 5 countries in oil and gas, hotel and tourism management, Childcare, health and beauty and Accounting and business support. Whatever the business or sector, locally or around the world, Coaston will not only identify real value but will also find the best way to finance, close and integrate the target.

Away from work, Coaston enjoys running and playing five aside football.


Michael Songer | Partner

Michael Songer is an investment professional with over 30 years of experience.  Prior to turning his attention to private equity, he founded and managed Chicago based Spectrum Asset Management LLC, a research driven alternative investment advisor specializing in managed futures and currencies.  He developed computerized trading systems used to trade nearly every liquid global futures and forward market 24 hours a day.  Spectrum managed $300 million and Spectrum’s clients included top tier banks, fund of funds, family offices and wealthy individuals from around the world.  Spectrum’s management and research team included investment professionals with many years of experience and diverse backgrounds ranging from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to quantitative finance and aerospace engineering.

Michael’s career started in 1988 after graduating from Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts with a B.A. in Economics.  He immediately went to work for Kidder Peabody & Co. in Boston as a stockbroker.  After a few years, his interest in commodities and trading system development brought him to Chicago where he went to work on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and eventually ran Pacific Rim trading for two of Chicago’s most famous and successful commodities trading advisors.  After years of research, Michael put the finishing touches on his multi-model, multi-market trading program and with the backing of a well-known Chicago investor, founded his own investment firm in 2001.

Between his time on the trading floor and managing a trading desk, he also spent a few years working in his family’s business.  Michael’s family owned foundries in Milwaukee and Racine Wisconsin that manufactured brass, bronze, aluminum and stainless-steel castings.  The foundries served the pump, aerospace, medical, defense and many other industries.  His experience at Kramer International and Alloy Casting Company exposed him to a wide variety of industries and manufacturing processes.

Michael currently resides in Chicago’s Northwest suburbs with his wife and two kids. 

In his spare time, he enjoys fishing, diving and spending time with his family riding their horses.

 


Verniss Dillon | Partner

Born in East Africa Tanzania to an American father and a Tanzanian mother, Verniss grew up between Africa, Europe, and America, attributing to his independent world view and adaptive qualities.

Highlights of his education and work experiences that helped Verniss hone and strengthen his leadership and innovative skills, intuitive sensibilities and purposefulness include the following:

  • – Graduated with honors in Electrical Engineering from Prairie View A&M University. Member of the second oldest collegiate honor society in the U.S., the Tau Beta Pi.

     

  • – Worked with the leadership teams of the space shuttle and international space station divisions at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX.

     

  • – Attended and completed the Marine Corps Platoon Leaders Class in Quantico, VA. 
  • – He entered the marketplace as a project controls specialist for many large organizations, having impacts on projects in multiple sectors from Commercial to Infrastructure and Energy.
  • – He successfully led capital and turnaround projects around the world ranging in size from $40 million to $21billion.

 

His time in the role of Subject Matter Expert in strategic planning, scheduling, and productivity improvement enhanced his passion for driving successful projects. Inspiring him to develop multiple in-house solutions that saved organizations millions of dollars on projects and resulted in safe, on-time, and under budget completions.

Receiving his certificate on Disruptive Strategy from the Harvard Business School confirmed and improved his ability to safely and efficiently execute projects with higher productivity.

Drawing on all of his skills, experience and insights, Verniss has dedicated himself to providing services and solutions to organizations of all sizes. Helping them achieve their project development and business goals.

In his free time Verniss enjoys traveling the world with his three beautiful daughters, riding motorcycles, jet skis, snowmobiles, and pretty much anything with a motor…  

 


Terry Keeley | Partner

Terry previously worked as Group COO & CFO for WRM Group in London, where he was responsible for all group operations and finance (Luxembourg SICAV, wealth manager in Zurich and a reinsurance company in Zug) 

He joined WRM in September 2016 from StormHarbour Partners LLP, where he was a Partner and Chief Operating Officer in London helping to develop a globally recognized investment bank, focusing on the origination, structuring and distribution of asset based financing and securitizations.

Terry was also involved in several M&A transactions onto StormHarbour’s asset management platform. 



Tom Clarke | Partner

Tom is always looking at the long term which is what you get when you’ve spent a lot of time working in corporate strategy. Tom studied Law at Bournemouth University before heading into financial services where he started working as a project manager. After a few years of working in change Tom moved into corporate strategy focusing on market analysis, strategic vision and trend analysis before moving on to work on a number of M&A deals.

Tom has worked on a number of M&A deals ranging in size from a few million pounds all the way upto £1 billion. During M&A deals Tom’s expertise and focus is on the commercial due diligence and the creation of the long-term strategic direction of the business. Tom has particular expertise in exploring macro trends and understanding how that influences the long-term strategy and vision.

In his spare time Tom setup the record label Saint November which he ran until 2018. In that time he worked with a range of artists and released the Grammy award winning album ‘Ellipse’ by Imogen Heap, bringing the album to vinyl for the very first time. He also negotiated multiple licensing deals with major record labels such as Warner and Sony Music.  Most recently Tom has been completing his MBA at Cranfield University and exploring what the upcoming revolution in the electrification of transport means for the future of how we travel.

 


Michael Gurka | Partner

Michael is widely followed by clients and media for his daily & weekly commentaries and his frequent appearances on major financial news outlets, including CNBC (USA/Europe/Asia), Bloomberg TV and Fox Business Network where he is a regular contributor. His views appear in print and video commentary globally since 1999. 

His specialties include institutional capital introduction, Hedge Fund/Alternative Asset Marketing & Client Development, Business Development and Strategy.


Alix Greenhill | Partner

Alix has a wealth of life experience that you might expect in someone twice her age. She started her working career in marketing for the council; working behind the scenes on projects like the Water Recycling Plant Referendum, PR with local media and behind the scenes on local events.

Alix studied at the University of Southern Queensland a Bachelor of Commerce with majors in Accounting and Marketing. Whilst studying she worked in a myriad of jobs often simultaneously exposing her to aspects from varied industries. Including positions at an art gallery, law firm, cafe, bank, hair salon, department store and the local university.

After graduating she went straight into a public practice accounting and eventually transitioned to working for the government in a management accounting style role while working towards her Chartered Accountant certification.

A career change was made and focused shifted to marketing. One of the major projects she devoted her time to was working on the coordination of Indigenous Connections, which is a three-day event created to encourage and inspire over 500 students from around the region to consider further education. She also managed a team of university student ambassadors for numerous events to engage high school students throughout South Western Queensland to consider university and inspire them to dream bigger.

Alix then went ringing on Cattle Stations in the far north of Western Australia. Followed by a stint in a remote iron ore mine driving heavy machinery, working in the workshop and providing support to the site manager. Only to return to South East Queensland to gain her helicopter license.

She spent a number of years in the aviation industry including flying helicopters and boat driving for an adventure tour operator in the Northern Territory.

Now back in Brisbane and fully immersed in small business she is ready to assist you in taking the next step with yours.


Juho Partanen | Operating Partner

Juho has lived and worked in 6 countries and his experience includes acting as CEO of Enterex International, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of thermal management solutions based in Taiwan, and CEO of Dolphin Manufacturing, a thermal management technology company based in the United Arab Emirates.  He has deep domain expertise in the technology, materials, automotive, and oil and gas industries.  

Juho started his career at Finnradiator, a Finnish heat exchanger manufacturer, almost 15 years ago and has since spearheaded several large business transformations leading both cross-cultural and cross-functional teams.  His experience includes navigating successful turnarounds for mid-sized manufacturing companies as well as implementing growth strategies for multi-billion dollar listed companies such as Aurubis AG, the world largest copper producer based in Hamburg, Germany.

He is an experienced and energetic international P&L leader always driving to establish and deliver best practices in operations, manufacturing, services, cost competitiveness and customer focus.

Juho has worked in various management roles in sales, R&D, operations, marketing and business development, and has a knack for identifying best in class talent.

Juho is a doctoral researcher at the Paris School of Business and an alumnus of Oxford and INSEAD.



Agherenwi Neba | Partner

Agherenwi Neba is an experienced Supply Chain Executive with over 20 year of professional experience. He started his Career in 2000 working as a shipping clerk for Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC). He latter trained as a Commercial Contracts Manager in the Supply Chain Sector and worked for several blue-chip companies globally including Barclays Bank Plc, Mastercard, and British Telecommunications. Being entrepreneurial, Agherenwi started his own Support Services Company in 2000 serving the Oil and Gas Industry specialising in upstream operations support. He later sold the company in 2004 to advance his studies.

Following completion of studies, Agherenwi worked for a number of blue-ship companies including Barclays Bank PLC where he served both in their corporate and investment banking divisions. He next joined British Telecommunications, Vocalink (a Mastercard Company) and DeLaRue where is finally decided to leave the corporate world in order to concentrate on running his businesses.

Besides his corporate career, Agherenwi started the first Cameroon ONLY registered freight forwarding Company in the United Kingdom serving 2000 Cameroonians with over 18 million goods shipped since incorporation. In 2015, he started Glotech Marine Ltd, a successful Support Services company for the Oil and Gas industry with presences in the United Kingdom, Cameroon, and the Republic of Equatorial Guinea having entered into a Joint Venture with Equatorial Guinean state own Oil and Gas Company, GEPETROL.

Agherenwi holds a Master of Science (MSc) degree in Investment and Risk Management from Royal Docks Business School, University of East London in the United Kingdom and a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in Business Information Technology from London Metropolitan University.