Mark Hawkesworth has had a 25 year career in venture capital and private equity where he was an investment partner and director at Lazard, Baring Private Equity Partners and latterly Nova Capital Management. His investment focus has been on SME investment where company growth rather than leverage was the main driver in delivering investment returns. His principal experience was investing in UK and Western European companies, but he also invested in the US and some emerging markets. He has enjoyed working with management teams as co-director in the pursuit of their business plans and in crystallizing value through sale or flotation. Mark’s early career was spent in engineering working for international companies including Taylor Woodrow, Trafalgar House and Balfour Beatty

He is Chairman of a UK Venture Capital Trust, a fund which invests in early stage technology based companies primarily in the UK, and is a non-executive director of a small portfolio of private companies

Mark is also a Member of The Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He has recently been appointed a Member of Council of the University of Bath and to the University’s Ventures Board. He completed an MSc in Business Administration from the University in 1976