Hilco's team of highly-experienced retail, corporate finance and business recovery specialists is supplemented by a retail support team covering all Human Resources, EPoS and Administration activities so that Hilco UK, alone, can provide a COMPLETE service to our clients with high partner level involvement in each case.
Paul McGowan
Chief Executive
Paul McGowan is a founding partner of Hilco UK and has spent the last 12 years in the European retail and fashion markets, having qualified as a Chartered Accountant in Northern Ireland and spent two years within KPMG, London.
Moving into the fashion industry from KPMG, Paul has acted as Finance and Operations Director at Jacqmar plc and Leslie Fay (UK) Limited managing all aspects of finance, administration, supply chain and retail operations before becoming Chief Executive at Leslie Fay.
Paul joined Hilco UK as a Partner at the inception of our European business and is responsible for all operational aspects of the UK business.
Andrew Pepper
Chief Operating Officer
Andrew Pepper has been providing solutions to under performing businesses for over sixteen years. He has advised Lenders and Directors on all aspects of corporate restructuring, from leading turnaround engagements to being appointed an administrator of a business. Andrew is a Chartered Accountant and a former Partner of Kroll and BDO – he has held senior positions in KPMG and PwC during his career.
A specialist in the ABL, Retail and Leisure sectors, Andrew has led a number of advisory engagements on large and small businesses including Morgan Ltd, Unwins plc, “Slug & Lettuce”, and Collins & Aikman. Andrew has also worked in an advisory capacity across Europe in cross jurisdictional ABL transactions in Germany, Poland and Romania. Over the last few years, a large number of these engagements have involved businesses turning over in excess of £60 million per year. Equally Andrew has personally dealt with many smaller businesses, where hands-on control has been essential.
Together with his experience in dealing with retail businesses turning over in excess of £1.2 billion, Andrew has found time to advise Trustees of a top five UK charity on the restructuring of its commercial activities. In 2006 Andrew was ranked 48 in Retail Week’s Top 100 Power List.
Howard Gunn
European Chief Financial Officer
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Howard, having trained as an accountant at Peat, Marwick Mitchell & Co. in the late 1970s, established a small business involved in the trade and retail distribution of high security products. He then entered the computer industry and became Finance Director and Company Secretary of CHS Electronics Plc, one of the principal computer distribution companies in the UK, for over 10 years with responsibility for all finance functions, credit management and human resources.
Howard left the computer industry to join Hilco UK in September 2003 as the financial controller before becoming Chief Financial Officer in June 2005.
John Freise
Vice President of Operations
John has worked with Hilco since 1999 in the US as a Senior Lead Consultant on deals such as Mervyns Dept. Stores, PharMor, Wilson’s Leather, Musicland Stores, Just for Feet and Country Road. Prior to that John was Vice President of Sales at Lesco, Inc, Cleveland where he was responsible for the management of the overall sales and profit generated by three sales channels; Service Centers, Golf Courses, and Key Accounts.
John has also worked in senior positions at Roses Discount Stores, Target Stores and Macy’s Department Stores.
Chris Emmott
Investment Director
Chris is a Chartered Accountant, who trained with one of the UK‘s largest restructuring practices and has nine years experience in assisting companies in financial distress. During this time Chris has worked on some of the largest corporate restructuring projects undertaken in recent years.Henry Foster
Henry is a chartered accountant with over seven years experience in corporate recovery and restructuring. During these seven years, Henry has advised various stakeholders in a number of corporate restructurings in sectors including manufacturing, engineering, telecommunications and retail. These engagements have involved companies with turnovers ranging from £1 million to in excess of £1 billion. Henry's roles have included cash flow management and crisis stabilisation as well as restructuring options analysis and implementation in order to preserve asset values and enhance and maximise the future value of businesses.Ben Shapiro
Ben Shapiro recently joined Hilco with ten years of corporate finance and restructuring experience across the retail, property, manufacturing, telecoms & media. Trained at the Kalchas Group as a Strategy Consultant, Ben subsequently worked for NTL during which he was part of the CRO team on the NTL Europe restructuring before and after NTL’s exit from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Steve is a Chartered Accountant, who trained with Kroll and has more than five years experience in corporate recovery and restructuring. Steve has worked on some of the most high profile UK, European and cross border restructuring projects undertaken in recent years in sectors including manufacturing, automotive, property, retail and aviation.Will Stamp
Investment Manager
Will is a Chartered Accountant and joined Hilco in April 2009, having previously worked for over 3 years in the Restructuring Advisory team at KPMG. He has worked on a variety of engagements advising lenders and directors of companies in financial distress, including accelerated business sales, formulating restructuring solutions and undertaking cash management reviews. Will has also been involved in a number of complex restructuring assignments, where he has gained experience in recovering assets in various international jurisdictions and an understanding of numerous business sectors, including retail, construction, transport, financial services and manufacturing.
Revan McKinnon
Investment Manager
Prior to joining Hilco, Revan worked as a consultant in the Strategy & Operations practice of Deloitte Consulting, and as a manager at Archstone Consulting and SD Retail Consulting, based in London. She has experience in the consumer products, telecom, insurance, healthcare and retail sectors. Skills include oraganisational design, customer experience and in-store enhancement, IT implementation support and risk mitigation, outsourcing, business process mapping and re-design, strategic cost reduction, and new business development.
Ryan Sher
Investment Manager
Ryan is a Chartered Accountant who joined Hilco in September 2009. He is a financial modelling and analysis specialist with 7 years post qualification experience in corporate finance and consulting.