Board Structure & Profiles

Neil joined the Group in 2000 and was appointed Chief Executive in April 2004. He was formerly Chief Executive of Allied Leisure plc and has also held board positions at Compass Group and Ladbrokes. Neil is currently Chairman of Business In Sport and Leisure which represents the interests of private sector companies in the sport, leisure and hospitality industry; Chairman of the South Central NHS Ambulance Trust; and is a member of the Low Pay Commission, which advises the Government on the national minimum wage. Neil is a Companion of the Chartered Institute of Management.

John became Chairman of Gala Coral in April 2004, having led a management buy-in from Bass plc as Chief Executive. He is also Chairman of Trainline. John serves on the board of “Business in the Community” (a Prince of Wales initiative) and is Chair of the East Midlands Advisory Board. In 2002 he helped launch the Nottinghamshire “CARES” BITC programme and was appointed the Prince of Wales’s Ambassador for BITC in the East Midlands in June 2005.

Matthew joined the Group in July 2004 as Chief Financial Officer and in 2005 was responsible for three refinancings and a number of acquisitions. He was also responsible for the integration of the Coral Eurobet business into Gala following the acquisition of Coral Eurobet for £2.1 billion in October 2005. Matthew is a former finance director of Top Shop and Debenhams, and whilst at Debenhams he led the de-merger from the Burton Group in 1997 and was responsible for the flotation process. Matthew qualified as a chartered accountant with Coopers & Lybrand in London.

Dominic became Chief Operating Officer on 1 February 2007. He joined the Group in June 2004 as Trading Director and became a member of the Board in September 2005. Dominic was later appointed Managing Director of the E-Commerce division in November 2005 with responsibility for all the Group’s online betting and gaming. His former roles include International Marketing Director for Bass Brewers and Commercial Director at Ladbrokes. Dominic qualified as a chartered accountant with KPMG.

Martin joined the Board on 22 September 2005, and is a partner at Permira, heading up its Consumer Sector. He has worked on a number of transactions including Gala Coral Group, New Look, Principal Hotels and Telepizza. Martin has over 20 years’ experience in private equity and prior to joining Permira was a director of PPMV, the private equity arm of Prudential plc. His early career was spent at Cinven.

Charles joined the Board on 8 February 2007. He has been a partner of Permira since 1985 and has worked on numerous transactions, particularly in the consumer sector, including the AA, Birthdays, Dinasol, Homebase, Provimi and the Tetley Group. Prior to joining Permira, Charles worked as a strategy consultant with the Boston Consulting Group in London.

Peter was appointed to the Board on 17 March 2003. He is a partner at Cinven and a member of its Business and Financial Services and Retail, Leisure and Consumer Sector teams. He has been involved with transactions including Gondola, Camaieu, Amadeus and Frans Bonhomme, in addition to the acquisition of Coral Eurobet by Gala. Peter previously spent seven years at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he worked in the Transaction Services Group, providing due diligence and transaction advice to private equity companies.

Guy was appointed to the Board on 8 February 2007. He joined Cinven in 1988 and is a member of its Retail, Leisure and Consumer Sector team. Guy has been involved in many transactions including Ahlsell, Maxeda, Unique Pub Company, Foseco, William Hill and the acquisition of Coral Eurobet by Gala. Before joining Cinven, Guy worked at the private equity company Larpent Newton for four years, after spending five years at KPMG. Guy is a chartered accountant.

Marek joined the Board on 17 March 2003, and is a senior managing director at Candover and a member of Candover's executive committee. He has been involved in many transactions, including the buyouts of Ontex, Vetco International and Gala Group, the delisting of DX and its merger with SMS Services, and the buyouts of Swissport, Ferretti and Parques Reunidos. Marek qualified as a chartered accountant with Price Waterhouse.

Alexis joined the board on 1 February 2008. He is a managing director at Candover and a member of Candover’s executive committee. He has been involved with a number of Candover’s portfolio companies including Parques Reunidos, EurotaxGlass, DX Group, Alma, and Get. Prior to joining Candover he was at Orange where he was Chief Marketing Officer. He has also held a number of senior positions at Virgin Group including Chief Operating Officer of Virgin.com and founding director of Virgin Mobile.