Our Team

Sue Summers Chief Executive
Over a decade’s experience of CEO posts in regulated businesses including, The Exchange, Regional Stock Exchange and Finance Birmingham. Sue is passionate about the SME community and the role they play in the economy’s recovery and growth. A strong commercial focus and corporate experience has secured the support of both public and private sector initiatives.
John Handley Non Executive Director
An experienced Private Equity practitioner for over 20 years and winner of Midlands Dealmaker Awards four times with Bridgepoint (once) and LDC (three times).
A seasoned Non Executive Director having held numerous board seats in a private equity and independent capacity during that period.
Previously John was a Senior Director of LDC and currently chairs the Investment Committees of Finance Birmingham and CCF (Capital Creative Fund) in London.
Since leaving LDC in 2005, John has worked on a wide range of SME initiatives both as a Non-Executive Director as well as supporting the growth of the FDC portfolio.
07833 587 540

Pauline Watson Operations Director
Pauline has worked in financial services for more than 20 years and has a wealth of experience in running operations across multiple teams and multiple locations.

Pauline manages the day-to-day operations in terms of financial controls, stakeholder, statutory and regulatory reporting, buildings and infrastructure, technology, HR and office policies.
07572 420 700

Sam Miller Commercial Director – New Propositions
Sam has worked in the finance industry for 13 years, including two banks. At RBS, Sam was an investment director for mid-market transactions in Birmingham. Sam is currently principally engaged in strategic projects for the business but remains an active originator of deals for the team. Sam holds FSA/FCA qualifications, CIOBS, and BSc Management & Business Studies.
07768 148 187

Graham Mold Head of Growth Capital
Graham is a qualified chartered accountant (KPMG trained) bringing over 30 years of experience of investing in, and working with, SMEs. Graham has spent 14 years in the VC industry. He has held several Fund Principal positions as well as Portfolio Director and Finance Director roles. He has also sat on numerous boards of investee companies.

Graham heads up the debt and equity investment team at FDC, and is responsible for sourcing and evaluating new opportunities, and delivering investor returns.
07393 015 453

Ondrej Okeke Regional Investment Director - Growth Capital
Ondrej has over 15 years' experience in funding a wide range of small & mid-market corporate finance transactions, including acquisitions, buyouts, and recapitalisations. He has held various roles in Leverage & Structured Finance with Royal Bank of Scotland, as well as on the investment management side with Yorkshire Fund Managers (now YFM Private Equity).

Ondrej is responsible for sourcing, evaluating and transacting new SME mezzanine finance opportunities in the North.
07794093590

Simon Kelsall Investment Director - Growth Capital
Since qualifying as a chartered accountant with KPMG, Simon has spent nearly 20 years investing debt and equity into a broad range of UK SMEs for several major financial institutions, including 10 years with Barclays Ventures in Birmingham.
After 3 years in industry as Finance Director of a £10m turnover training company, he joined Frontier Development Capital in January 2019 to source, evaluate and transact new funding opportunities across England.
07384 510 034

Carl Perry Investment Manager - Growth Capital
Carl Perry joined in 2018 to support the mezzanine finance team, having previously worked for HSBC primarily supporting new and existing commercial customers with their financial and operational growth strategies.
07786 673 571

Clive Broadhurst Portfolio Director
Clive is an experienced finance professional who is responsible for managing our portfolio of Growth Capital investments. He helps drive our portfolio and risk management process, ensuring we can help maximise and protect the capital value of our investments.

He joined the team at Finance Birmingham in 2012 and as Investment Director led a number of debt and equity investments. Prior to that he spent 10 years with KPMG Corporate Finance working alongside a variety of mid market privately owned and private equity backed businesses.

He is a qualified Chartered Accountant who has also spent two years with Royal Bank of Scotland managing a portfolio of venture capital backed businesses.
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Kathryn Hoverd Portfolio Executive
Kathryn was brought over from the operations department to help manage the portfolio of Growth Capital. Her main focus is to provide support for FDC's ever growing portfolio of clients.
- Holds a Masters degree from Aston University
- Training to become a Chartered Accountant
07833 614 589
Steve Hetherington Head of Sector Specific Funds
Steve oversees the National Tooling Loan Fund, which supports component manufacturers and toolmakers across England.
- Over 35 years’ experience in the Birmingham banking arena
- Head of private banking for Bank of Scotland
- Director roles for both large corporate trading and real estate teams at Bank of Scotland
07749 417 982

Marie Kelly Investment Manager - Tooling
Marie joined to work on the £24m National Tooling Loan Fund.

Over 25 years’ experience of banking and financial services industry, starting her career with HSBC then moving to Bank of Scotland Corporate working with the lead director on a portfolio of large corporate clients with turnover in excess of £25m. She then moved to Bank of Scotland Private Banking, leading the Birmingham office credit team.

Holds the CIOBS diploma in Advanced Specialist Lending.
Jeremy Taylor Compliance Officer
- Business Banking Manager for 20 years at Lloyds TSB
- Senior roles at Birmingham Business Link from 1996 – Head of European Funded Programmes and Head of Business Transformation
- Extensive experience of both public and private fun
07766 477 894

Nick Oakley Head of Property Investments
Nick is a qualified banker, bringing over 30 years of experience in the corporate banking industry. From 2001, onwards Nick was Regional Head of Property Finance and Restructuring Teams for The Royal Bank of Scotland in the Midlands. He has significant experience of funding both commercial and residential property developers on a senior debt, mezzanine and equity basis.

Nick heads up the Property Finance Team and is primarily responsible for sourcing and evaluating new opportunities and developing the property funding portfolio.
07392 870 828
Gerald Gannaway Investment Director - Property
Gerald joined the property team in 2017, his business knowledge and understanding help to bolster the property team’s expertise and support with the delivery of Property Funds and extend the range of clients.
- Qualified banker with over 25 years’ Corporate Banking experience across SME, Mid Market & Large Corporate, and latterly Real Estate.
- A strong Credit & Restructuring background, including managing a team of specialist Relationship Managers delivering bespoke financial solutions.
07387 417 376

Ed Bradburn Investment Director- Property
Ed joined the property team in July 2017 from HSBC where he worked primarily in Corporate Banking and Real Estate Finance. He brings extensive knowledge of the structuring and execution of real estate transactions to Finance Birmingham where he will assist with the growth and delivery of the property funds
0345 3194528
Paul Halford Investment Director - Property
Paul is responsible for maintaining & strengthening portfolio & strategic operations with an emphasis on risk & regulatory controls.
- 43 years’ experience within NatWest in the Corporate & SME market with various roles in credit control, portfolio management, business development and 10 years as a West Midlands regional director.
- Held a non-executive role with the successful Advantage Transition Bridge Fund and was an active member of the both the West Midlands Regional Finance Forum and the Birmingham & Solihull LEP’s Access 2 Finance committee.
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Chrissy Hince Marketing Manager
Chrissy leads the development of the Marketing and PR activity, this includes devising and implementing a Marketing plan, maintaining collateral, tools and resources, and building the FDC brand.
- Has over 15 years’ experience of working in a variety of business support roles for professional services companies
- Holds a First class BA Hons in Business and Management from Oxford Brookes University
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Amy Westwood Marketing Executive
Amy joined the team as Marketing Executive. Her role is to deliver the marketing strategy for the business, including the coordination of its range of social and digital channels and the design of its range of materials.
- Holds a Masters degree in Visual Communication, specialising in copywriting and graphic design.
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Melissa Churchill Operations Support
Melissa is a skilled administrator with previous experience in customer service, having recently graduated from Birmingham City University, with a 2:1 in English. Responsible for overseeing the day-to-day administration and resources of the office including facilitating clients, meetings and events.