Principals

• John Deacon Founder & Director (funding solutions, business structuring, expert consulting work).

• Peter Chard Director (funding distribution, blockchain & digital services, business infrastructure services).

• Penny Rolfe Director (regulatory compliance, company secretarial, administration services).

• Michaela Chard Director (marketing services, investor relations).

John Deacon

John is the Founder and a Director of Giltspur and runs funding solutions, business structuring, and expert consulting work. John has over 30 years of experience, is an acknowledged expert in securitization and principal finance, and has extensive experience in establishing, financing and running private businesses and bank business units. John has worked as an investor, trader, issuer, investment banker and lawyer in London, Paris and Hong Kong, including experience as a leading investor in the European structured finance market and as Chairman of the CMSA-Europe (Commercial Mortgage Securities Association) Investor Forum.

John is also qualified as a solicitor of the Senior Courts of England & Wales and of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong, and is the author of two books – Global Securitisation and CDOs, and Securitisation: Principles, Markets & Terms.

Prior roles include Head of Debt Principal Finance at UBS where he co-founded one of the leading principal finance businesses in the European market, Head of the ABS and CDO proprietary trading and investment business in London at Dillon Read Capital Management where he was responsible for a $6bn complex structured products portfolio and for the ABS mezzanine/sub-investment grade portfolio for a €4.75bn CDO programme, and Head of Principal and Corporate Finance at Greenwich NatWest where he had responsibility for principal finance, whole business securitisation and other European/Asian deal flow through the London, Milan and Tokyo offices.

Peter Chard

Peter is a Director of Giltspur and runs funding distribution, blockchain & digital services, and business infrastructure services. Peter has 40 years of experience in financial services and is highly experienced in wealth management and investment advisory, and in the development, structure and distribution of innovative and alternative investment products for both retail and institutional investors.

Peter is also a Director of Temtum, an advanced blockchain company partly-owned by Giltspur, with responsibility for financial operations and marketing.

Peter was previously Founder and Partner of a successful investment advisory business, Centurion Capital, as a bespoke service for sophisticated clients, focused on providing access to alternative investment solutions, sourcing and due diligence of alternative products within the marketplace, and providing private finance for venture capital fund-raises. At Lighthouse PLC, Peter was a Senior Investment Consultant with responsibility for providing a full wealth management service for clients and advising on the formulation and implementation of investment policy for private clients. Peter has performed senior roles in operations at Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) covering fixed income and corporate bond traders, interest rate and OTC derivatives, and at Phillips & Drew (now UBS) covering company managers.

Penny Rolfe

Penny is a Director of Giltspur and runs regulatory compliance, company secretarial, and administration services. She has 35 years of experience within the corporate and financial services sectors and is highly experienced in operational, compliance and business services issues, as well as marketing and sales.

Penny was previously Co-Founder and Partner of a successful investment advisory business, Centurion Capital, where she managed administration, financial management and compliance and was the main contact for the industry regulator, and served as Business Services Manager at Lighthouse Vintry II, an independent financial advisory and wealth management group, where her role included administration, banking and compliance.

Penny also served as Marketing & Business Services Manager at Compass Group PLC, one of the world’s leading foodservice providers, where she was involved in heading up the launch of new company brands and was responsible for facilities management, including the planning and implementation of two large design projects with overall responsibility for setting and managing capital expenditure budgets. Penny also headed up the company’s market research activity, working with industry and academic bodies to produce ground breaking research into the use of Smartcard Technology, and the company’s PR activity via the management of a number of public relations agencies and oversight of wide-ranging coverage for two high profile company initiatives including BBC news, national press and local radio coverage.

Michaela Chard

Michaela is a Director of Giltspur and runs marketing services, and investor relations. She has 33 years of experience within the financial services industry for investor relations and reporting, marketing and CRM (client relationship management) systems, with experience spanning institutional asset management and private banking and high net worth clients, as well as law firm marketing.

Previously Michaela was Head of Client Service at Centurion Capital, a boutique investment firm servicing institutional and retail investors, where she was responsible for CRM system structure and implementation and production of presentations and marketing materials, and served as Client Reporting & CRM Management at SEI, a provider of outsourced asset management and investment processing and investment operations solutions for investment managers and pooled, alternative and segregated portfolios.

Michaela has also served as Head of Reporting and Client Administration at State Street Global Advisors, the investment management arm of State Street Corporation and a global leader in assets under management, where she was responsible for reporting for UK and European clients and liaison with marketing and account directors, equity and bond fund managers and operations and performance teams.

Previously, Michaela was Marketing Manager at Clyde & Co, an international commercial law firm, and Marketing Executive at Quorum Capital Management, an international fund management company.