Our People

James Dow

Chief Executive Officer

Date of appointment Established Dow Schofield Watts in 2002 Experience James is qualified as both a Chartered Accountant and Cost and Management Accountant. James joined KPMG in 1983 and after qualifying, focused for over 13 years on corporate finance, approximately eight years as a partner leading Corporate Finance in the North West. James was nominated … Continued

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Jon Schofield

Non-Executive Director

Date of appointment Co-founded Dow Schofield Watts LLP in 2002 Experience Jon is a chartered accountant and spent 12 years with KPMG before joining an MBO in 1994. After exiting from the buyout, Jon became a partner at Grant Thornton. In 1999 he joined Cammell Laird Holdings Plc as Finance Director and subsequently was appointed … Continued

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Mark Watts

Owner / Co-Founder

Following graduation from Birmingham University, Mark qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG. Mark has over 20 years of corporate finance experience gained at Hill Samuel Bank, NatWest Markets, Old Mutual Securities where he lead and completed transactions in both the public and private markets. Mark is a founding Partner of Dow Schofield Watts. Disposals … Continued

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Alex Aitchison

Alex started his career with PWC, joining as a school leaver in 2016. As part of the external audit team, he worked with a broad spectrum of businesses including manufacturing and logistics companies, building societies and asset management firms, and specialized in the audit of pension schemes, building an understanding of their structure and the … Continued

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Madeleine Andrews

Madeleine joined DSW Transaction Services in 2022 as an Apprentice Financial Analyst. Madeleine joins from The King’s School Chester and will be studying for an accounting qualification while learning financial due diligence skills.   Transaction Services – Daresbury Office

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Katie Armstrong

Katie is an Assistant Manager in Dow Schofield Watts Business Recovery LLP. Katie is a graduate of The University of Liverpool and holds a degree in Accounting and Finance. Katie, joined the Business Recovery team in July 2015 and has since gained a true insight into the world of insolvency and business recovery, working on … Continued

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Rose Arnold

Rose joined Dow Schofield Watts in May 2022 and is an ACA qualified accountant. She started her career with PWC as a school leaver in 2016, where she spent nearly 5 years working in the Digital Audit team mainly on large financial services clients, and most recently she spent a year with The Very Group … Continued

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Millie Baker

Millie is a Senior Case Administrator in Dow Schofield Watts Business Recovery LLP. Millie has previous experience working in an insolvency firm based in Manchester where she specialised in Members Voluntary Liquidations. During this time, Millie gained an NVQ in Business and Administration and AAT Level 2 qualification. In June 2022, Millie completed the Certificate … Continued

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Michael Barker

Michael joined DSW Corporate Finance in Yorkshire in January 2022. He is a Chartered Accountant with 7 years’ experience in the Audit & Assurance departments of both EY and Mazars. In his previous roles his client base included multinational groups and private mid-market businesses across a range of sectors including manufacturing, construction and hospitality.   … Continued

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Ben Barrett

Ben is one of the founding partners of Dow Schofield Watts Business Recovery LLP. Following graduation in geography and economics from Kings College in London, Ben joined Ernst and Young in London. In 1992 he moved to Coopers & Lybrand in Manchester and began to specialise in corporate recovery and insolvency. In 2002 Ben joined … Continued

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William Baxter

Will is a founding Partner in the London office’s Corporate Finance Team. He joined Dow Schofield Watts to jointly lead the firm’s activities in the Consumer, Leisure and Hospitality sectors. He has previously led sector teams at both BDO and Grant Thornton in London. Will originally qualified as a Solicitor and practiced in the Corporate … Continued

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Kate Beckett

Kate jointly heads DSW Bridge Houghton Forensic after joining Dow Schofield Watts Forensic LLP as a partner in September 2014. Kate previously trained at Deloitte, qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 2006 and transferring to the Forensic & Dispute Services team in the same year. In the past decade, Kate has developed a wide variety … Continued

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Keith Benson

Keith joined Dow Schofield Watts in February 2012 from KPMG’s Preston office. He is a graduate in Mathematics and Economics from the London School of Economics and a qualified Chartered Accountant. Prior to joining KPMG, Keith spent 10 years working in the technology development industry with five years managing delivery of currency derivatives trading software … Continued

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Philippa Billings

Philippa Billings is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales with over 15 years post qualification experience.  Philippa trained at Ernst & Young in the Real Estate and Construction group, moving to the Infrastructure Advisory Group in 2003.  She left Ernst & Young in 2009 due to a family relocation … Continued

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Ellie Boardman

Ellie joined DSW Angels in October 2019 from KPMG’s Manchester office. Ellie is ACA qualified and gained three years’ experience at KPMG working with a wide variety of clients including both SME and listed tech businesses. Prior to this she graduated from the University of Leeds with a first-class BSc in Psychology. Ellie has a … Continued

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Ed Brentnall

Ed jointly heads the financial due diligence business, Dow Schofield Watts Transaction Services LLP, which he helped to establish in December 2008. Ed qualified as a chartered accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Manchester and Minneapolis (USA) and then spent 5 years in their transaction services team. During this period Ed worked for a number of clients … Continued

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Hannah Brown

Hannah joined DSW Business Recovery as Senior Insolvency Administrator in February 2023. Hannah started her insolvency career in the South West and relocated to the North West from Devon in 2021. She has experience in both corporate and personal insolvencies and is currently studying for her Certificate of Proficiency in Insolvency. Away from the office, … Continued

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Nicole Burstow

Nicole joined Dow Schofield Watts 2019 and is playing a key role in driving the growth of the business. She previously spent 15 years with Deloitte in Manchester.  As a Director, she was responsible for leading the audits of some of the region’s largest and most complex international businesses, more recently focusing on listed businesses.  … Continued

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John Carpenter

John is a partner in Dow Schofield Watts Business Recovery LLP. He has 20 years’ experience of working with owner managed businesses, and has specialised in business recovery and insolvency for the last 10 years. After graduating from the University of Sheffield and qualifying as a Chartered Accountant, John worked in general practice as a … Continued

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Chris Carter

Chris joined DSW Debt Advisory in March 2022 as a Manager. Having started his career in finance with HSBC in 2005, Chris then held a variety of roles within the Commercial & Corporate banking division with NatWest Group predominantly as a Relationship Director in East Lancashire, Merseyside and finally in Leeds where he worked with … Continued

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Emma Cassidy

Emma joined DSW Ventures in January 2022 from KPMG’s Manchester office. Emma is ACA qualified and gained almost four years’ experience at KPMG working with a wide variety of clients including both SME and listed businesses across the North West. Prior to this, she started her career in programmatic media trading, working with both start-ups … Continued

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Melanie Clark

Melanie established Dow Schofield Watts Corporate Finance (Aberdeen) in 2017 (formerly named Hall Morrice Corporate Finance Limited) alongside Tom Faichnie. She is an ICAS qualified Chartered Accountant specialising in Corporate Finance. Prior to DSW, Melanie worked with KPMG, Simmons and Company and RSM where she gained a wide range of deal experience across a diverse … Continued

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Angela Collins

Angela joined Dow Schofield Watts Business Planning in 2019. She has a wide range of financial modelling experience gained both in practice and industry. She has expertise in building and reviewing complex operational and PFI/Infrastructure models She is a committee member of the European Spreadsheet Risk Interest Group (EuSpRIG) which is one of the leading … Continued

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Sophie Colloby

Sophie joined Dow Schofield Watts Transaction Services LLP in April 2017 as a Partner in the Yorkshire and North East practice. She has provided specialist financial due diligence and transaction related services since 2003. Sophie’s extensive experience includes advising corporates, entrepreneurs, finance providers and private equity funds, across a range of industries and transaction types … Continued

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Liam Comiskey

Liam has been an insolvency professional since 2008 and has experience working on large-scale cases across all sectors, in particular manufacturing, real estate and construction. Prior to joining Dow Schofield Watts, he was at RSM. Liam is AAT qualified and holds the ICAEW Certificate of Insolvency. During his career he has advised on all aspects … Continued

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Judith Cope

Judith has over 15 years’ experience in finance. A qualified accountant, she started her career in audit with PKF and most recently was Finance Manager with Greenacres Group, a woodland burial park business which is part of the Bibby Line Group. At Dow Schofield Watts works across all the businesses in the group and is … Continued

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James Curtis

James joined Dow Schofield Watts Corporate Finance in 2019, where he is involved in advising clients on a range of transactions including buyouts, acquisitions & disposals, debt & equity fundraising, as well as providing strategic advice focused on valuation and exit strategy. Prior to joining Dow Schofield Watts, James worked for the corporate finance arm … Continued

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Josh Davison

Josh joined the DSW London Transaction Services team in February 2022. After gaining a bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Finance and a master’s degree in Management (International Business), Josh qualified as an ICAEW Chartered Accountant with RSM in the Audit department where he gained audit experience across a wide range of industries with exposure to … Continued

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Andy Dodd

Andy joined Dow Schofield Watts as a Partner in May 2003. Previously, he had spent five years in KPMG’s Corporate Finance team in Manchester advising across a wide variety of transactions and sectors. Following graduation from Durham University and qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Andy joined KPMG Corporate Finance in 1998. In addition … Continued

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Feona Donnelly-Worthington

Feona joined DSW in 2022 as as a Graduate Forensic Accountant. Feona graduated from Queens University Belfast, has also worked in administration for a fire protection company during term breaks for the past four years.   Forensic Services – Daresbury Office

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Susie Dow

Susie joined Dow Schofield Watts in 2022 as Finance and Operations Project Manager. Prior to this, she spent four years with PwC in London working in audit, assurance, and risk management and where she qualified as a Chartered Accountant. Prior to joining Dow Schofield Watts, in 2021 she provided assistance to the team on a … Continued

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Thomas Dutton

Tom joined Dow Schofield Watts Corporate Finance in June 2017 after previously spending almost four years working in audit with KPMG, where he gained his ACA Chartered Accountant qualification, winning an award for his exam results. Tom studied at Lancaster University and has a degree in Accounting and Finance. Since joining DSW, Tom has worked … Continued

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Martin Ellison

Martin is a founding partner of Dow Schofield Watts Asset Based Lending Risk Management LLP, and has over 30 years’ experience working with SME’s, Mid-Market and Corporate clients across a wide range of industries. Following graduation from Durham University, he joined KPMG in London before moving to Horwath Clark Whitehill in Manchester where he undertook … Continued

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Bridget Erekaife

Bridget joined Dow Schofield Watts Corporate Finance Aberdeen in December 2019. Bridget graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Aberdeen and completed her masters at the University of Birmingham. Bridget worked in the oil & gas and energy sectors for 2 years before joining KPMG Nigeria as a risk consultant. … Continued

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Roger Esler

Roger joined Dow Schofield Watts in 2012 with specific responsibility for the Yorkshire & the North East office and team. Following graduation from Sheffield University and qualifying as a Chartered Accountant, Roger then gained over 20 years corporate finance experience at SG Hambros, KPMG and latterly Deloitte where he was a partner for over a … Continued

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Tom Faichnie

Tom established Dow Schofield Watts Corporate Finance (Aberdeen) in 2017 (formerly named Hall Morrice Corporate Finance Limited) alongside Melanie Clark. He is an ICAS qualified Chartered Accountant specialising in Corporate Finance with over 20 years transaction experience, primarily in the oilfield services sector. Tom began his career with KPMG. He later joined Deloitte as a … Continued

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Peter Fendall

Peter joined Dow Schofield Watts as Strategic Projects Director in 2021 Peter joins from Deloitte’s Manchester office, where he spent eight years working with a wide range of corporates and private equity firms, managing large and complex audits and working on regulatory and compliance projects. In his new role, he will be helping to roll … Continued

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James Francis

James joined the DSW London Transaction Services team in December 2019. Having gained an Economics degree from Exeter University, James qualified as an Accountant with RSM and was based in their Forensic accounting department assisting with fraud investigations, loss of profit claims, transaction disputes and business valuations. Since joining DSW, he has worked on a … Continued

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Dave Graham

Dave is a Director in the Corporate Finance Team. He joined Dow Schofield Watts eight years ago having previously worked for KPMG and telecoms group Caudwell. He is a Chartered Accountant with a Degree in Finance and Economics from The University of Liverpool. Dave’s experience covers a broad range of transaction and advisory roles including … Continued

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Amanda Hamlin

Amanda joined in 2022 as the manager of the DSW Business Recovery team. Prior to this she worked in insolvency for in excess of 19 years, starting her career at the Official Receivers office, before moving into private practice and working at two boutique insolvency firms in her hometown of Bolton. During her time with … Continued

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Gavin Harrison

Gavin leads the Dow Schofield Watts Debt Advisory business in London and the South East. Having built and led a Financial Services focussed banking team at Santander, Gavin left banking in early 2020 to establish himself as a Debt Advisor. Since then he has worked with SME and Mid-market management teams and investors,  supporting in … Continued

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Ali Hasan

Ali joined Dow Schofield Watts Tax Advisory in 2021 and has a degree in Finance, Accounting from Salford University. Prior to Dow Schofield Watts Ali was at KPMG, where he worked in the Corporate Tax department. Since joining Dow Schofield Watts, Ali has worked on a variety of transactions across numerous sectors. In his spare … Continued

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Paul Herriott

Paul is a Director in the Corporate Finance team based in Leeds. He joined Dow Schofield Watts in September 2013. He has advised companies across the mid-market on transactions including trade sales, strategic acquisitions, MBOs, private equity and debt fundraising. He has broad sector experience across manufacturing, business support services, technology & software, transport & … Continued

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Lesley Hill

Lesley joined DSW Business Planning in 2023 as Senior Manager. Lesley worked in the Business Modelling department at Ernst & Young and has extensive knowledge of Excel, including business planning and forecasting models, management information models and corporate finance models.  She is also experienced in data extraction and analysis Lesley left E&Y in 2004 to … Continued

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Phil Hodgson

Phil Hodgson qualified with PWC in the Newcastle office, before moving into an M&A role with Parkdean Resorts, the North East-based PE-backed business. Phil has relocated to London to join the growing CF practice as a key hire to help us expand our London coverage following a very successful start.   Corporate Finance – London … Continued

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Carla Holmes

Carla is a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Adviser and has co-founded the Thames Valley office based in Reading with fellow partner Steve Holmes to provide financial and tax due diligence together with tax and accountancy advisory services. Carla trained with Haines Watts, building over 12 years of experience in technical tax, tax planning, tax … Continued

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Steve Holmes

Steve joined in September 2021 to co-found the Thames Valley office based in Reading with fellow Partner, Carla Holmes. Steve will head the financial due diligence offering and Carla will provide tax advisory services to the local business community Steve is a qualified Chartered Accountant (2002) and obtained the ICAEW’s Corporate Finance designation is 2010. … Continued

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Richard Hooper

Richard joined DSW in June 2018 to establish the Transaction Services team in London and comes with 20 years of experience providing specialist financial due diligence and transaction related services. He has worked on a range of private equity and corporate transactions, on both buyside and sell side roles, with services covering due diligence, transaction … Continued

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David Houghton

David is a Chartered Accountant who, having trained with Ernst and Young, followed a path into industry before returning to the Accountancy Profession in London and then subsequently Manchester and Liverpool. Prior to his appointment as the senior partner of DSW Bridge Houghton Forensic, David was one of the founding partners of Bridge Houghton LLP. … Continued

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Cameron Hunter

Cameron joined Dow Schofield Watts Transaction Services in Yorkshire in January 2020. Prior to this he spent three years in the audit department of Mazars LLP, where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. During his time at Mazars, Cameron lead audits on a wide variety of clients, including property investment and development, manufacturing and renewable … Continued

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Ross Irvine

Ross joined Dow Schofield Watts Corporate Finance in October 2021. He has 6 years of experience in finance and previous roles include PwC where he worked as part of the audit team. Having started his career at Henderson Loggie, he was one of the first Scottish students to qualify as a Chartered Accountant through the … Continued

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Jonathon Jay

Jonathon, Partner, launched DSW Wealth Planning in 2022. He previously worked at Investec Wealth & Investment UK where he was an Associate Director for over six years at its Liverpool office. Jonathon began his career in banking with Santander and then moved to spend some time working in the Middle East. He is a Chartered … Continued

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Ros Jones

Ros joined Dow Schofield Watts Transaction Services in April 2015. She is an experienced Transaction Services practitioner, having previously been a manager in the M&A team at Midlands based financial advisory firm, Hazlewoods where she specialised in health and social care transactions. Most recently, Ros also has significant practical industry experience as a group financial … Continued

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Max Joseph

Max joined DSW Transaction Services at our London office in October 2022. He joined from Blick Rothenberg in London where he spent four years as an Assistant Manager in audit and assurance and where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2021, having previously achieved a First Class Honours degree in Economics from the University … Continued

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Rebecca Judson

Rebecca established Dow Schofield Watts Business Planning in 2010 (formerly named JL Advisory) and is a Chartered Accountant with a degree in Accounting and Finance from Lancaster University. Prior to Dow Schofield Watts Rebecca was an Associate Director in the Infrastructure Advisory team of Ernst and Young (EY) and prior to that was a Manager … Continued

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Payam Keyghobadi

Payam is a founding Partner in the London office’s Corporate Finance Team, specialising in the Consumer, Leisure and Hospitality sectors. Payam qualified as a Chartered Accountant at KPMG, before moving to a mid-market corporate finance boutique in London where he became a Partner in 2014. Payam’s experience includes business sales and fundraisings on behalf of … Continued

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James Killing

James joined DSW in June 2018 to establish the Transaction Services team in London. James joined from RSM, having spent the last thirteen years providing financial due diligence services (both on the buy side and sell side) to mid-market and lower mid-market private equity houses.  His experience covers a variety of sectors, including recruitment, manufacturing, … Continued

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Catriona Lang

Catriona jointly heads the financial due diligence business Dow Schofield Watts Transaction Services LLP, which she established in December 2008 with Ed Brentnall. Prior to this she spent 9 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP where she qualified as a Chartered Accountant in audit, before moving to their Transaction Services team in Manchester and London. Catriona has … Continued

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Liz Lawson

Liz joined the Recruitment Team at Daresbury Head Office in 2021 and is responsible for recruitment, assessment, and people development to support Dow Schofield Watts’ expansion across the UK. Liz began her career in finance recruitment. After completing a Masters Degree in Occupational Psychology, Liz then spent 13 years working for a leadership consultancy specialising … Continued

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Jo Lees

Jo joined Dow Schofield Watts Business Planning (formerly named JL Advisory) in November 2017 as their Business Manager.  Jo is responsible for the smooth running of the business, managing general client communications and ensuring all organisational resources are in place to allow the client delivery team to operate.  She is also responsible for our social … Continued

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Ellen Little

Ellen established Dow Schofield Watts Business Planning in 2010 (formerly named JL Advisory) alongside Rebecca Judson and is a Chartered Accountant and an Associate Member of Corporate Treasurers. Ellen started her career at Andersens in their audit department before joining the Infrastructure Advisory team in Ernst and Young (EY).  She was at EY for ten … Continued

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Declan Littler

Declan joined the Dow Schofield Watts Transaction Services team in 2023. Declan graduated in 2017 with a 1st in Accounting and Finance, after which he travelled to Australia to gain experience as a Financial Accountant in Industry. Upon his return to the UK, he spent a year at Bank of America as a Financial Analyst … Continued

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Hazel Lomas

Hazel joined Dow Schofield Watts in January 2022 as a Founding Partner of Dow Schofield Watts Asset Based Lending Risk Management LLP. She previously spent over 30 years working for, and with, some of the major names in the Asset Based Lending industry, specifically undertaking complex multi-asset class due diligence, risk management, underwriting, senior client management and … Continued

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Gerard Lucas

Gerard joined Dow Schofield Watts Corporate Finance in 2016 after spending 13 years as a Corporate Finance Director at RSM and 3 years as a Finance Director at Sheard Packaging delivering an investment and growth strategy. Gerard has strong cross-border experience and specialises in providing strategic commercial advice and deal structuring to entrepreneurs and growing … Continued

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Owen Malton

Owen joined DSW Debt Advisory as a Partner in 2022. Prior to this, he was Head of Acquisition Finance for Clydesdale Yorkshire Bank (CYBG), which now trades as Virgin Money. He is a qualified Banker (ACIB)  as well as having certificates in Corporate Finance (CISI). Owen has over 30 years of experience as a lender … Continued

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Ryan Maratta

Ryan joined Dow Schofield Watts Business Planning in 2022 where he will be an Executive. He started his career 7 years ago at Drac Logistics where he was an assistant accountant, before making a move into manufacturing where he worked as an assistant management accountant and then management accountant. In his spare time, Ryan plays … Continued

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Connor Monaghan

Connor joined Dow Schofield Watts Corporate Finance in August 2021, where he is involved in advising clients on a range of transactions including buyouts, acquisitions & disposals, debt & equity fundraising, as well as providing strategic advice focused on valuation and exit strategy. Connor joined from KBS Corporate Finance where he’d managed a variety of … Continued

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Lisa Moxon

Lisa is one of the founding partners of Dow Schofield Watts Business Recovery LLP. After graduating with a degree in Law from Liverpool John Moores University, she completed the Legal Practice Course at the College of Law in Chester. In 2004, Lisa joined Unity Business Services, specialising in business recovery and insolvency. Unity Business Services … Continued

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Alex Odlin

Alex joined Dow Schofield Watts Corporate Finance in June 2021 and is an ACA Chartered Accountant. He joined from KPMG where he spent almost 4 years in the audit department, during which time he worked with a wide variety of both listed and private clients across the North West. Alex has a degree in History … Continued

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Rob Parker

Rob is a Senior Manager in the Transaction Services team based in Daresbury. He joined Dow Schofield Watts in October 2015. After graduating with a degree in Economics from The University of Manchester, Rob qualified as a chartered accountant with CLB Coopers in Manchester and then spent two years with Grant Thornton. Since joining DSW … Continued

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Will Parry

Will joined the Transaction Services team in Yorkshire & the North East as an Executive in 2022. Will is a Chartered Accountant with six years’ experience. This includes two years in Audit with Deloitte in Leeds, where he led audits on a wide variety of clients including water services, manufacturing, property and private equity-backed businesses. … Continued

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Aaron Pegg

Aaron joined DSW Bridge Houghton Forensic in April 2018, having previously worked in BDO’s forensic accounting department in London and Manchester.  After graduating from the University of Cambridge with a master’s degree in Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, Aaron joined BDO’s graduate scheme in 2010 where he spent four years working in audit before transferring … Continued

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Gregg Pendlington

Gregg joined Dow Schofield Watts Corporate Finance in 2013 having spent the previous 8 years with a national firm of Chartered Accountants (in their Corporate Finance team). He is FCA qualified and holds the Corporate Finance Qualification from ICAEW. He previously obtained his degree in Accounting and Financial Management at the University of Sheffield, graduating … Continued

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Elliot Pledger

Elliot joins from PwC, where he started as a trainee in 2017 and gained his ACA qualifications. Most recently he was a Senior Associate working in Digital Audit, focusing on Sarbanes-Oxley controls audits regulated by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) in sectors including banking, leisure, and oil and gas. He also has experience with other assurance … Continued

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Philip Price

Philip joined Dow Schofield Watts as a Partner in June 2003. Previously, he had spent seven years in KPMG’s Corporate Finance team in Liverpool and Manchester advising across a wide variety of transactions and sectors. Philip joined KPMG in Liverpool in 1993 from Liverpool John Moores University; he qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1996 … Continued

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Cath Priestley

Cath joined Dow Schofield Watts in 2019 to support the key stakeholders with growth through recruitment She has previously spent 15 years in boutique recruitment businesses in the North West, mainly in the financial sector and has considerable experience working with clients on a range of roles from junior to board level and executive appointments. … Continued

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Craig Richardson

Craig joined Dow Schofield Watts as a Partner in 2006. Prior to this he spent 14 years at KPMG, undertaking corporate finance and due diligence assignments in the UK and overseas after qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1992. In the inaugural North West Insider awards, Craig was voted Corporate Finance Advisor of the Year … Continued

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Rachel Roberts

Rachel joined Dow Schofield Watts in 2022, graduating from the University of Manchester with an Honours degree in History. Before her role here, she worked as a Payroll Executive and an Office Generalist. As Digital Marketing Apprentice, Rachel is supporting the Marketing Manager in promoting the business and sharing recent news. In her downtime, she … Continued

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Tom Rowe

Tom joined the DSW London Transaction Services team in November 2021. Prior to joining DSW, he gained a degree in Economics from the University of Exeter before joining PwC, where he worked in financial statement audit and qualified as a Chartered Accountant. During his time at PwC, Tom provided audit services to a range of … Continued

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Callum Sellar

Callum joined Dow Schofield Watts Corporate Finance in 2015, where he advises clients on mergers, acquisitions, disposals, buyouts, equity and debt fundraising, as well as strategic advice in relation to valuations, succession and exit planning. Since joining Dow Schofield Watts, he has worked on a variety of transactions across numerous sectors. Recent deals advised on … Continued

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Marianne Sheeky

Marianne joined DSW Bridge Houghton Forensic in 2021 and assists with business valuations, matrimonial disputes, fraud investigations, and commercial litigations. In 2021 Marianne graduated from Liverpool John Moores University with 1st class BSc (Hons) degree in Accounting and Finance.   Forensic Services – Daresbury Office

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David Smith

David joined Dow Schofield Watts as a director in June 2016. His previous role was as investment director with the North West Fund for Digital & Creative, which he oversaw from launch to full investment. The Fund was one of the most active VC investors in the UK technology and media sector, making over 40 … Continued

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Jonathan Steed

Jonathan joined Dow Schofield Watts as a Partner in 2020. He qualified with PwC and has more than 20 years’ financial due diligence experience with Big 4 firms, latterly with KPMG.  He has advised corporate and private equity clients on strategic buy-side and sell-side transactions across a wide range of deal sizes and sectors.  He … Continued

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Matt Spence

Matt Spence joined the Yorkshire & North East Corporate Finance team in September 2019. He has advised companies across the UK mid-market on transactions including trade sales, MBOs, private equity and debt fundraising and has sector experience in retail, leisure, manufacturing and IT & business support services. His previous role was at Ernst and Young, … Continued

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Phil Tarimo

Phil is the founder of DSW Debt Advisory LLP. In Sept 2005 he was one of 4 co-founders of Deloitte Debt Advisory, helping grow the business from scratch to advising clients on transactions in excess of £3bn within 2 years. More recently he was COO of DF Capital, an AIM listed supply chain finance business, … Continued

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Stephen Thom

Stephen joined Dow Schofield Watts as a Partner in 2022, when he launched the Glasgow office. Stephen was previously head of corporate tax at French Duncan in Glasgow and has 17 years’ experience in tax, having also worked at BDO, Grant Thornton and Lloyds Banking Group, where he advised on the restructuring of a number … Continued

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Matthew Thomas

Matt joined DSW Debt Advisory as a Director in 2022. Prior to this he was in the acquisition finance team at Virgin Money (previously CYBG) in Manchester, working on private equity backed debt financings. Matt started his career in banking regulation at the Financial Ombudsman Service. He has over ten years’ experience in corporate banking, … Continued

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Ross Thomas

Ross joined Dow Schofield Watts Corporate Finance in May 2019. Ross joined from Kingspan Plc where he worked for nearly 3 years across a variety of projects and roles. Previously, Ross spent 3 years working in financial services audit with KPMG, advising a wide variety of listed and private clients and gaining his ACA Chartered … Continued

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Dave Waddington

Dave joined Dow Schofield Watts in 2021 from Haines Watts in Liverpool where he was tax partner. A qualified accountant and former head of finance at BASF, he has specialised in tax for almost 20 years, having also worked at Grant Thornton and run his own tax consultancy. Dave advises owner-managed businesses and high net … Continued

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Daniel Walker

Dan joined DSW’s Corporate Finance team in June 2017. Dan is an ACA chartered accountant with almost four years of experience working at KPMG, advising a wide variety of listed and private clients and winning a number of awards for his exam results. Prior to this, Dan graduated with a degree in Financial Mathematics from … Continued

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Katie Walton

Katie started working at Dow Schofield Watts in 2018. As Marketing and Brand Manager, she maintains brand consistency across the network and assists our partners in raising their profiles and promoting their businesses. Prior to joining DSW, she worked for a local leisure trust, where she was a graphic designer and marketing assistant in a … Continued

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Ruth Ward

Ruth joined Dow Schofield Watts Business Planning in 2020.  She is a Management Accountant who did her training whilst working for AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals in various roles.  Most recently she worked for Houghton PLC as a Finance Manager for the UK arm of the company. She has a strong background in the preparation of financial accounts … Continued

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Anthony Watson

Anthony joined Dow Schofield Watts as a Partner in 2022 to launch the Edinburgh office. A former British Army officer, Anthony also has almost 20 years’ experience in investment banking and global advisory roles. He has worked in New York and London for firms including Standard Bank and Singer & Friedlander, where he led the … Continued

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Adam Widerkiewicz

Adam joined Dow Schofield Watts Corporate Finance Edinburgh in 2022 as corporate finance manager. Adam has nine years of experience in finance, and joins from EDF Renewables where he was a mergers and acquisitions specialist helping the company to build its ‘green energy’ business in the UK. He started his career at the big four accountancy … Continued

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Jonathan Wilkinson

Jonathan joined the DSW Corporate Finance Yorkshire office in 2019 He holds a first-class degree in Business with Finance before qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with EY in Leeds, where he spent three years Previously, Jonathan worked in Corporate Treasury at mortgage lender Together in Manchester Jonathan has provided advice on a wide range of … Continued

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