Turquoise Team

Ali is a co-founder and MD of Turquoise. His work includes: investments in and fundraising for Connected Energy (2nd life energy storage systems); set up and management of the Low Carbon Innovation Funds; 10 years as co-founder and chairman of Controlled Power Technologies (hybridisation of passenger vehicles) from Visteon spin-out to trade sale to Valeo and Federal Mogul; and 10 years as advisor to Anglo Platinum including its fuel cell JV with Johnson Matthey and establishment of a corporate venturing fund. Previously, Ali worked in energy project finance and privatisation at Close Brothers, Flemings and PwC, on projects such as Thailand’s first IPP solicitation programme and the Northern Ireland electricity privatisation. He holds Master’s and 1st class Bachelor’s degrees from the London School of Economics.

Ian leads on a range of advisory (capital raising and M&A) assignments as well as investments on behalf of Low Carbon Innovation Fund 1 & 2 and Turquoise Capital. He is a member of the LCIF2 investment committee and current or former board representative at Adaptavate, Switchd, Spark EV Technology, NRL, ID Workshop, Bactest, Vayon, CH4NGE and Controlled Power Technologies. Previously, Ian worked as an investment banker specialising in the energy sector at Close Brothers, Flemings and Deutsche Bank/Morgan Grenfell. He is a graduate of Oxford University.

Elisha is a founder member of the Turquoise team, with responsibility for Operations. Prior to joining Turquoise, she worked for 12 years as a Merchandiser and Distribution Manager in the retail industry for Reiss, La Senza, and Burton Group. Elisha is a graduate of Aberdeen University.

John serves as independent chairperson of the Turquoise investment committee. He has over 40 years’ experience in R&D, innovation and product development in the energy sector and, from 2014-2020, acted as Chief Scientific Adviser to BEIS/DECC. John is a past Executive Director of the UK Energy Research Centre, Corporate Vice-President for the Alstom Group (where he led R&D and technology assessments supporting M&A activity), President of the Institution of Engineering & Technology (2008). He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Chinese and Australian Academies of Engineering and Industrial Professor of Clean Energy at Birmingham University.

Kevin is responsible for coordinating activities relating to the Low Carbon Innovation Fund, in addition to being one of its investment managers and investment committee member. He is a current or former board representative for LCIF portfolio companies including 8power, Bio-Bean, Ablatus Terapeutics, iSotera, TeraView, Syrinix and AMIHO. Prior to joining Turquoise, he was a director at CiFG and Investec Bank. Kevin is a qualified Chartered Accountant and graduate of Edinburgh University. He also studied Business at Griffith University, Australia on a Rotary Foundation Scholarship.

Desmond has over 40 years’ experience in fund management, finance & banking. At Turquoise, he is a senior fund manager and member of the investment committee who represents Low Carbon Innovation Fund on the board of portfolio companies geo, Kubos Semiconductors, Outfield Technologies and KisanHub. Previously, Desmond was managing director of LA Investments where he oversaw venture capital investments in technology companies in energy, biotech and other sectors. Previously, Desmond worked for BZW, Flemings and, latterly, a family office in the Middle East.

Nick has 40 years’ experience in engineering, sales and leadership in the global vehicle OEM and supply chain sector. As a co-founder and CEO of Turquoise-backed Controlled Power Technologies (CPT), Nick led the company through fund-raisings, organisation and resource development, product development, market penetration, and exit through sale of separate divisions to Valeo and Federal Mogul, and transition into being part of a global tier 1 supplier. He started his career as a graduate engineer at Ford Motor Company and went on to work in automotive consulting and tier 1 and tier 2 supply, based in UK and Germany, to both global and niche vehicle companies. Nick is a non-executive director of Third Man Technologies (the CPT earn-out vehicle).

Shane is an experienced financier and investment professional with a particular focus on clean energy projects. Prior to joing Turquoise, Shane was CFO at Rezolv Energy, the clean energy platform backed by the $6 billion Actis Energy V fund. Before that, Shane was a partner at the EnerCap Power Funds which invested in wind and PV projects across the CEE region. Shane’s entry into the energy sector in 1998 was as a lender’s engineer with Mott MacDonald before moving into financial advisory with PwC, then lending non-recourse debt to wind, biomass and landfill gas projects with Fortis Bank. Shane is a civil engineer with an MBA and a LLM in international financial law.

Tara is a Civil and Environmental Engineer and an Enterprise Fellow at the Royal Academy of Engineering. Her career began in the energy sector, focusing on offshore natural gas projects before joining the founding team of a marine renewable energy startup. She combines her non-executive position at Turquoise with her role as senior executive at Revolut, Europe’s largest fintech, where she leads a team of 75 and has achieved a 3x growth in one of the company’s key revenue streams.

Charlie joined Turquoise in 2020 and works on corporate finance advisory and investment management transactions. He represents Low Carbon Innovation Fund on the board of RideTamdem. Prior to joining Turquoise, Charlie gained four years investment experience in the infrastructure sector with The Ingenious Group, focusing on both project finance and venture capital transactions across sectors including clean energy, low carbon transport and resource efficiency. Charlie holds a BSc in Biological Sciences from the University of Exeter and has completed the CFA IMC qualification.

Luke works on corporate finance advisory and investment management transactions. Prior to joining Turquoise in 2021, he worked on project finance transactions at an advisory boutique covering both private and public sector clients across infrastructure and renewable projects such as heat networks and PPP/PFI assets. Luke holds a BSc in Mathematics from the University of Birmingham.

Tom joined Turquoise in 2022 and works across corporate finance advisory and investment management transactions. Prior to joining Turquoise, Tom worked in Private Equity in special situations credit and long-dated structured finance for the Insurance & Pension Fund industry. Additionally, he has worked on the finance team at RWE for the Sofia Offshore Wind Farm. Tom holds a BSc Economics & Finance from the University of Bristol.

Olivier has nearly 30 years’ experience in portfolio management, institutional distribution and business leadership including at MFS Investment Management (US and UK) and Old Mutual. He is Head of ESG at Edelman, where he advises listed company boards on ESG policies and investor relations strategies. Olivier was previously Senior Director, EMEA at the CFA Institute, where he worked on the global launch of the Certificate in ESG Investing and part of the working group for the Climate Change Investing certificate curriculum. He is a graduate of Haverford College and Columbia University in the US.

Geoff has 45 years’ experience in new product development in the automotive sector and advises Turquoise on innovation in automotive SMEs around environmental issues. As Chief Scientist of the Motor Industry Research Association (MIRA), Geoff was responsible for technology strategy & research, including anticipating the needs of manufacturing companies worldwide and evaluating emerging technologies. He has been involved in numerous UK and EU-funded industrial R&D programmes. Geoff is a non-executive director of Third Man Technologies (formerly Controlled Power Technologies).

Francis is a co-founder of Turquoise where he has played a leading role in developing the firm’s corporate finance and investment management businesses, including sitting on the investment committee of Low Carbon Innovation Fund. He has over 20 years’ experience in venture capital and investment banking roles at Turquoise, Close Brothers, Merrill Lynch and RBS. Francis is a current or former board representative for LCIF portfolio companies Skoot, Electric Miles, Breathing Buildings, GT Energy, Push Energy and Weeding Technologies.

David is a specilalist in cross-border transactions between Chinese and Western businesses. He is a fluent Mandarin speaker who, prior to joining Turquoise, spent 15 years working in Asia including living in the Philippines, Hong Kong and Beijing. David has previously served as President of a US-owned group of companies active in the Chinese media sector as well as starting one of the first foreign-controlled publishing companies in China.

Having spent his early career as a design engineer in systems development for high-tech projects in UK and Germany, Janis was from 1989 to 2019 an official of the European Commission in Brussels where he held responsibilities in research, telecommunications and IT policy, energy, maritime, aviation policy, Industry 4.0, developing Invest EU and EU enlargement. During periods of leave from the Commission, Janis acted as Adviser to the President of Latvia (2003-07), Adviser to Ministers of Economy and Environment (2010-11), Head of Energy at the Council of Baltic Sea States (2003-06).

Russell has acted as external accountant and auditor to Turquoise International since formation, relinquishing the position of auditor to the company in 2013 to assume more day to day responsibility for systems, operations and regulatory issues. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1982 and has worked both within firms of chartered accountants and as Financial Director in various companies. Russell established his own practice, Holden Granat LLP, in 2009.

Howard has previously held a number of director-level roles in investment banking, raising several billion dollars of capital for major international projects in the energy and other sectors. His recent career has focused on funding for early-stage technology companies, including as Chairman of Recycling Technologies, and philanthropic endeavours, including as founder and CEO of the charity Plastics Oceans. Howard is a qualified barrister and graduate of Cambridge University.