Our People
Maximising the realisation value of retail assets
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.
Paul McGowan – Chief Executive
Paul McGowan is a founding partner of Hilco UK. Having qualified as a Chartered Accountant in Northern Ireland, Paul took up the post of Finance and Operations Director at Jacqmar plc in London before moving on to Leslie Fay (UK). Paul managed all aspects of finance, administration, supply chain and retail operations in these fashion businesses before becoming Chief Executive at Leslie Fay. He set up Hilco UK in 2000 in a joint venture with Hilco Trading Co. Inc. of Chicago.
Andrew Pepper – Chief Operating Officer
Andrew is a Chartered Accountant and a former restructuring partner of Kroll and BDO. Over the last 20 years he has advised lenders and directors on all aspects of corporate restructuring, from leading turnaround engagements to being appointed to manage a variety of businesses. Recently investing in the MBOs of Allied Carpets, Borders and Habitat, Andrew has dealt with all aspects of large corporate acquisitions. A specialist in the ABL, retail and manufacturing sectors, Andrew led a number of advisory and investment engagements in the UK and Europe. Andrew has personally dealt with many smaller businesses, where hands-on control has been essential.
Howard Gunn – European Chief Financial Officer
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.
Chris Emmott – Investment Director
Chris joined Hilco in 2007 from a leading global restructuring practice where he worked on some of the largest cross-border restructuring projects of recent years, together with numerous crisis management and business stabilisation roles. Whilst at Hilco, Chris has worked on numerous high profile restructuring projects, including MFI, The Pier and Burleigh Pottery. Currently sitting on the boards of Hilco investments including Denby Holdings, Oceans outdoor furniture, HMV Canada and Park Precision engineering, Chris has extensive expertise across the retail, engineering, automotive and manufacturing sectors.
Henry Foster – Investment Director
Henry is a Chartered Accountant with over 10 years experience in corporate recovery and turnaround and trained at a leading restructuring practice, advising lenders and directors in all aspects of corporate restructurings. Henry has been the lead investment director in a number of recent high profile Hilco deals, managing financial and operational turnaround plans. His sector experience includes retail, manufacturing, engineering and recruitment.
Ben Shapiro – Investment Director
Ben’s background is in corporate finance and restructuring and leads our business development in Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham. Trained at the Kalchas Group as a Strategy Consultant, he was subsequently part of NTL’s post-bankruptcy CRO team. Ben’s corporate finance & recovery mandates included quoted & private equity transactions for businesses up to £500m turnover. Ben is a member of the Chartered Institute of Securities & Investment, CertCFF.
Gavin Caine – Head of Planning
Gavin has over 20 years of Retail experience and has held various management roles within House of Fraser and the Uptons Department Store Group where he managed all areas of operations, logistics and buying functions. Gavin joined Hilco in their first retail transaction in 2000, he specialises in operational strategies and ABL valuations and has advised on and managed the operations of some of the highest profile retail restructuring programmes in the UK and Europe including Littlewoods, Allders Department Stores and Woolworths.
Revan McKinnon – Investment Manager
Revan’s background is management consultancy, working for Deloitte Consulting (Strategy & Operations) based in Chicago, and Archstone Consulting and SD Retail Consulting based in London. Her sector experience includes consumer products, telecom, insurance, healthcare and retail. Revan’s project work has included organisational 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.
Steven Pell – Investment Manager
Steve trained with a leading independent international advisory and restructuring practice and has more than seven years experience in corporate recovery and restructuring. Steve has worked on some of the most high profile UK, European and cross border turnaround and restructuring projects undertaken in recent years in sectors including manufacturing, automotive, property, retail and aviation. A German speaker, Steve is also a qualified Chartered Accountant.
Ryan Sher – Investment Manager
Ryan is a Chartered Accountant and a financial modelling and analysis specialist with 7 years post qualification experience in corporate finance and consulting at Deloitte. Ryan has been involved with a number of extremely high profile projects including a major cost reduction programme at one of the largest global banks, the MBO of a major retailer and various M&A, restructuring and refinancing deals with values ranging from £10 million to £5 billion.
Will Stamp – Investment Manager
Will is a Chartered Accountant and qualified in the Restructuring Advisory team at KPMG. During this time, he worked on various engagements advising lenders and directors of companies in financial distress, including accelerated business sales, cross-border restructurings, cash management and independent business reviews. Will has sector experience in retail, construction, financial services and manufacturing. Since joining Hilco, Will has worked on the Habitat and Allied Carpets investments.
Larry Howard – Managing Director, Hilco Capital Ireland
Larry qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1996 and has over 10 years experience in corporate recovery and turnaround. He joined the Glasgow based retailer Internacionacle as Finance Manager in 1998. In 2000, Larry was initially Finance Director and subsequently Commercial Director at a London based retail restructuring specialist, advising lenders and directors in all aspects of corporate restructurings. Larry took up the post of Head of Finance for Dunnes Stores, Irelands largest retailer employing over 15,000 people in 2007. He joins Hilco to head our Irish operation.
Ben Hynes – Investment Analyst
Ben has more than six years experience in corporate recovery and restructuring gained at a leading independent restructuring and corporate advisory practice based in Sydney. During this time, Ben worked on some of the most prominent Australian and cross border turnaround and restructuring engagements as well as several high profile business and pre-lending reviews. Since joining Hilco, Ben has been involved in various stages of the deal process, notably conducting pre-investment reviews and managing business restructuring plans. Ben’s industry experience includes financial services, medical devices, shipping, telecommunications, engineering, retail and property.
James Turner – Investment Manager
James has over five years experience working with different stake holders in restructuring situations. James qualified as a Chartered Accountant whilst at a leading restructuring practice and having joined Hilco he has worked on a number of investments, developing and managing financial and operational turnaround plans. James has worked in a variety of sectors with particular experience in manufacturing, engineering and retail. Recently he led the turnaround of Park Precision Limited which is detailed in our case studies. Stakeholders have benefitted from James practical approach and sector expertise.
Matthew Holt – Investment Analyst
Matt is a qualified chartered accountant and trained with a leading independent international advisory and restructuring practice. During his five years experience in the corporate recovery and restructuring arena he worked on a number of high profile assignments in retail, leisure, manufacturing, automotive and property.