Presently, a Ph.D., from Queen’s University of Belfast & Co-Founder, Director and Vice Chairman of Shore Capital Markets, a leading entrepreneurial investment bank in the UK.

National Farmers’ Union: Following a period picking & washing leeks on Emmet’s Farm, Marlow, Buckinghamshire, joined the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) in Knightsbridge, becoming Head of Food Policy advising & coordinating the organisation’s first food policy, part of the BSE crisis team and served on the Steering Group of the Strathclyde Food Project, which sought to narrow the UK food trade deficit, a programme advising Prime Minister Rt. Hon. John Major.

Northern Foods: Joined Northern Foods plc in Kingston-Upon-Hull, working for Group Executive Neil Davidson, including participation in the establishment of the Northern Milk Partnership, strategic planning for Eden Vale Food Ingredients & Coldstream/NFT distribution along with advisory work for Group Chairman Lord Haskins of Skidsby on food and agriculture policy.

Charterhouse Tilney/ING: Working with Bill Currie originally focusing upon equity research into UK food retailers followed by consumer goods and general retailers; Charterhouse floated several UK retailers including Iceland, JJB, Kwik Save and Ted Baker, and was banker to Wm. Morrison Supermarkets plus broker to T&S Stores (which was sold to Tesco). Charterhouse was acquired by ING Financial Markets in 2000, become Head of Pan-European Retail Research of Amsterdam.

Shore Capital Markets: Established Shore Capital Markets in 2003 as a founding Director and Head of Research, opening the Liverpool office. Shore Capital Markets has been highly active in the consumer arena in the UK & Ireland serving as an IPO issuer, corporate adviser and broker to a wide range of companies (see below).

Consumer companies to which Shore Capital Markets has and is an advisor:

AG Barr (broker), Accrol (broker), Anpario (broker), Applegreen (IPO), Cranswick (broker), Dobbies Garden Centres (broker & sale to Tesco), Eagle Eye (broker), Floors2Go (broker & sale to Alchemy), Greencore (broker), Hilton Food Group (broker), J. Sainsbury (broker), Marks & Spencer (broker), Mothercare (broker), Motorpoint (IPO & broker), musicMagpie (IPO & broker), N Brown Group (broker), NewRiver REIT (broker), Portmeirion (broker), Poundland (IPO and sale to Steinhoff), Premier Foods (broker), ScS (broker), Sosander (broker), SSP (IPO and broker), Tesco (broker to share buyback), UP (IPO & broker), Wm Morrison Supermarkets (broker & sale to CD&R), and Wynnstay (broker).

Bia Analytical: In February 2013 co-chaired the high-level Northern Ireland food industry seminar with Professor Chris Elliott (author of the Elliott Report into the Horsemeat Scandal at QUB) going on from 2015-22 to Chair QUB’s Institute for Global Food Security’s Industry Advisory Board plus its spin out food authenticity business, Bia Analytical, a 2020 start-up.

Pro bono work: Between 2011 to 2013 he was one of three advisors to the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) External Advisory Group on the Review of the Regulation of Food Hygiene in the UK under the leadership of Tim Smith, Treasurer of the Caroline Walker Trust, which sought to improve the lives of Britons through nutrition, and is also a pro-bono Non-Executive Director of The Community Shop a charitable venture based in Barnsley, South Yorkshire that seeks to help impoverished communities through entrepreneurship and food, which was acquired by Biffa in 2021. In 2017 he was one of the keynote speakers at the Oxford Farming Conference alongside Rt. Hon Michael Gove MP. In 2022 he was appointed a Special Advisor by Sir Peter Kendall to his February Review of the Northern Ireland food system for the regional government, a report that was accepted by the devolved government.