Meet the Team with 300 years of business experience

Allan Presland is the Chairman of Fairmountain Capital Ltd and a Partner in Fairmountain LLP. He gives guidance to the Group on strategic growth, governance and oversight.

Allan is Founder of Parenta Group the UK’s largest training provider for the childcare sector, the business was listed in 2018. He set up Parenta Trust, a charity that has built several schools in Africa for underprivileged and orphaned children.

Allan was Chairman of MBH Corp Plc a business listed on the Frankfurt and Dusseldorf exchanges that specialises in investment into SME businesses. He is Founder and Chairman of Amplify Investments and has a number of other Non-Executive roles.

Allan holds an MBA from Oxford University, a BSc in Building Services Engineering and Management from Reading and a Diploma in Marketing from the IOM. He wrote the best-selling book “Improving the Business of Childcare”.

A resident of Singapore, Allan is finding time between assignments to write his second business book.

Richard is the Chief Executive Officer of Fairmountain Capital Ltd and the Managing Partner of Fairmountain LLP. He is focused on the Group's growth and exit strategies.  

He has many years experience as an Executive Director for companies in the Financial Services Sector. Working with HSBC, AIG, Zurich and CPP Group Plc, both in the UK and Asia.

Richard spent 9 years living in Shanghai and Hong Kong and set up businesses in 6 countries across the Asia Pacific region. He has successfully built and sold a number of companies and helps SME owners benefit from this experience. Richard has held Non-Executive Directorships for companies in Property, Financial Services, Training, Recruitment, Construction, Commercial Cleaning and Technology and is passionate about supporting small businesses which are the lifeblood of the UK economy.

Richard speaks Mandarin Chinese and French, lives in the Cotswolds with his wife and has two grown up children. 

Paul is the Group Managing Director of Fairmountain Capital Ltd and has built a career in Financial Services and property, mostly working in the City of London. Paul has a wide range of experience with construction companies having trained as a quantity surveyor and worked for the prestigious Walter Lilly. He has been involved in property development and project management for multiple-million pound high end developments. 

Paul spent 30 years in Financial Services and ran a successful IFA practice in London advising companies and HNWIs; after selling the business he advised companies as a Non Executive Director and management consultant. Paul works with the General Managers of Fairmountain’s construction businesses and he commutes regularly to London from Surrey where he lives with his wife and has two grown up children.     

James is Fairmountain's Head of Acquisitions, he manages the business deal flow, valuations, financing, due diligence and completions. 

James was previously a Fairmountain Partner for 2 years and has had previous international experience with companies such as Coca-Cola, HSBC and Worldpay which give him a broad depth of understanding of business. He has mastered a range of skills through running his own business consultancy group and brings this knowledge to the table working with Fairmountain clients.

James studied English Literature and Philosophy at the University of Liverpool and lives with his wife and young family in London.

Martin is a Fairmountain LLP Partner. He has been an Investor, Entrepreneur and Company Director over many years having built and sold several companies. Martin is a two times Parliamentary Candidate and former Councillor for the Royal Borough Windsor and Maidenhead and a former member of Scope’s Finance Committee . He has a B.Eng (Electrical Engineering) from Liverpool University and a BPREA in Vinfication and Viticulture from Lycée Viticole, Beaune France. 

Martin is married to Isobel (also his business partner) and has three grown up children and divides his time between the UK and France.

 Nick is a Fairmountain Partner who is a commercially driven entrepreneur at heart. He has founded, bought and successfully grown several manufacturing businesses in a variety of markets, including building products, night vision equipment and injection moulding.

An innovative strategist, with a proven record of transforming operations, developing and growing both revenue and profits across all areas of business. Commercially astute, with strong problem-solving and decision-making ability, together with excellent communication skills. Genuinely passionate about developing people and teams.

Nick is fluent in Italian and has a BSc in Environmental Engineering (back when it wasn’t fashionable!) from Sheffield Hallam University He is married to Mandy and lives with his two youngest children (of four) in Nottinghamshire.

 Rich is a Fairmountain Partner. He is also an Investor, Entrepreneur and Non-Executive Director working with SMEs across a range of sectors including manufacturing, engineering, and most service industries. He works with start-ups, scale-ups and growth companies as well as with clients around the subjects of acquisitions, disposals and exit planning.

Rich has also been involved in investing in a number of businesses turnarounds. 

His area of expertise is around commercial funding and managing the financials and he brings this skillset to the Fairmountain team. He holds an MBA from Cass Business School, lives in Rutland, is married to Sasha, has three children and is an avid rugby supporter and coach.

 Jacqueline is a Fairmountain Associate Partner. She focusses on the introduction of new businesses to the Group and manages our Client relationships. She has over 20 years of Strategic HR and Management experience within International City Law Firms, working in Moscow, New York, London and Europe. With a further 11 years experience of senior executive Interim roles within Local Government and the NHS. She has  overseen large scale transformation programmes, restructures, business process re-engineering, IT systems and robotic process automation. Jacqueline has an MA in Human Resources is a Legal Executive, and certified Agile Project Management Practitioner. She spends time working between London and Spain.