A landscape architect by profession, my career evolved via commercial horticulture into computer sales before setting up my own businesses in brewing / beer wholesaling and catering, which were sold in the 1990s with the onset of arthritis. Twenty years of business and management experience offered the basis for a new career in teaching business start-up and management training, before moving to the University of Kent in 2003 to establish new entrepreneurship and start-up courses. In 2007 I took over management of the Canterbury Enterprise Hub and the University’s Business Incubator, supporting high-growth start-ups, and together with a colleague in Virginia I led on the development of the i3 Network, to promote the internationalisation of early stage companies. I am now a member of the Kent & Medway Innovation & Growth Team.

I have published three textbooks about business start-up and development, and have worked as a consultant and external examiner for the Chartered Management Institute, SFEDI and other professional bodies, but I still make time for some fly-fishing to keep life in perspective.