As Group CEO, Ashton is responsible for common sense and business-building. An experienced lawyer, arbitrator, entrepreneur, and developer, he spent over 20 years as a commercial lawyer before setting up a renewable energy business with the other founders and later handling the significant value sale of that business. He is now tasked with bringing various global entities, skill sets, and services together and building the Raspberry Global brand. He has extensive experience in international commercial trade, commodities, trade finance, and construction and project matters. He has a talent for resolving disputes before they escalate and is an experienced arbitrator and adjudicator if that does not happen. He has a genuine empathy for people and an ability to simplify any issue into plain English and find simple solutions to often complex issues.
Trevor adds decades of international business-building experience to the team. A specialist in international business development, he spent 10 years in the Chinese manufacturing markets and a similar time in project development in The Emirates, Qatar & Kuwait. For the past 10 years he has worked on healthcare projects in the UK, focusing on market entry for multiple European healthcare product providers into the UK National Health Service. As an experienced project analyst, Trevor gets to the details of each trading opportunity to ensure it is best placed within the group. He has been heavily involved in the general commodity industry, buying and selling on behalf of clients on multiple continents covering fossil fuels, aggregates and bulk food products.
Kerry heads our Hong Kong and Far East office and brings decades of multi-faceted risk management experience to the team. He was the China Country Head of a multi-national risk management and security consultancy between 1998 and 2011, personally managing large-scale projects ranging from physical security, executive protection, risk management, fraud investigations, intellectual property right infringement investigations and due diligence enquiries on large M&A and Pre-IPO projects. Before joining the risk management firm, Kerry served 24 years in the Royal Hong Kong Police Force and had extensive experience in criminal investigation, protective security, court prosecution and counter-terrorist operations. He served at the elite VIP protection unit (G4) and provided security protection to numerous Heads of State and foreign dignitaries. Kerry speaks fluent English, Cantonese and Mandarin.
Myriam heads our Spanish office and brings decades of international business experience to the team. She has a robust background in international business at a senior level, having served as general manager of a large international holding company and assisted in its large development projects across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. With over a decade living in the Middle East, she successfully integrated international construction companies into major projects and introduced innovative technologies. Myriam is fluent in Dutch, French, English, German, and Spanish, enhancing her ability to navigate diverse markets.
Gareth leads our change management team and brings decades of experience to the transformation and productivity improvement business. He is a specialist in Change Management, Behaviour Change, Process Mapping and Transformation leading to Productivity Improvement. His implementation of teams in the delivery of results and financial improvements through healthcare productivity programmes has been widely regarded within the UK National Health Service as outstanding and has won multiple awards. Gareth has worked within the UK health sector and in Europe for many years, planning for and managing multiple Cost Improvement, Waste Reduction and Transformation Programmes, helping to achieve significant and sustainable advances in performance while achieving real-time savings.
Andrew leads our financial review and risk team with considerable relevant corporate experience. He is an experienced CFO who has held various senior C-suite positions, most recently as CFO and Board Director for an AIM-listed PLC. A CIMA-qualified chartered accountant, his 20+ year career has incorporated leadership positions in transformation, business strategy, M&A, finance, procurement, and private equity. Andrew has worked across multiple market sectors including Tech, Telco, Healthcare, BioTech and Construction, across North America, Asia and Europe. He is a specialist in Commercial Finance, FP&A, Transformation, Customer and Route-to-Market Development, Governance and Strategic Implementation.
Charles heads our healthcare practice and brings deep experience building distribution and sales networks across private healthcare, pharmacy, pharma and consumer health. He has developed commercial relationships and routes to market globally, helping companies enter new channels, grow revenue and find the right partners to scale.
Ian is a leading expert in renewable energy and battery storage and leads our connected battery business Raspbattery™. He has over 35 years in specialist telecommunications, renewable energy (solar and battery storage) and some 15 years in biometric security, specifically facial recognition, working with international suppliers worldwide. Ian brings together best-of-breed solutions to both UK and international markets. One of Ian's key strengths is a background in electronic engineering and a history of taking products from the military and governments and commercialising them. He excels in renewable energy, and large-scale solar panel capture and high-megawatt storage are at the top of his list of offerings to clients.
Edward is our head of property and European asset sales and brings decades of experience and an excellent network of global contacts to the team. He has over 30 years of industry experience. His unique talent for quickly analysing any property and deal ensures that he can find opportunities with good returns at most price levels. As a former senior manager in a global estate and realtor company, he has an extensive network of contacts to quietly arrange the disposal of high-value assets or to seek out opportunities for clients.
Raouf is our business director for Middle East and Africa operations and a leading expert in renewable energy systems and environmental engineering. A Chemical Engineer with a Masters and PhD in Environmental Engineering from Canada, he is a visiting professor at Cranfield University at the Centre for Renewable Energy Systems. He has more than twenty years of experience developing and leading renewable energy and environmental projects at a national and international level, covering all stages including Terms of Reference, bid evaluation, and contractual arrangements. Raouf has proven leadership in overseeing mega-industrial and environmental projects in North America and the Middle East, and is also a leading expert in phosphate-based fertilisers, minerals mining and processing industries.
Terry heads the construction project management team and brings decades of experience in strategic leadership, financial acumen, and project management across the Middle East and beyond. He has a career record in delivering multi-billion-dollar projects, overseeing large-scale teams, and reducing operational costs. Terry is a business development leader with proven expertise in identifying and capitalising on growth opportunities, cultivating client relationships, and driving revenue expansion. He is seasoned in overseeing the full spectrum of real estate development, financial performance, operations, and construction management, ensuring seamless coordination from concept to completion.
Patrick is a former investment banker and brings decades of experience in specialist funding and commercial trade instruments to the team. His expertise spans investment banking, trade finance and the structuring of complex commercial transactions across multiple jurisdictions.
Karen heads our property portfolio management team and brings decades of non-standard clever thought to the rental portfolio management field. Karen is a market leader in the UK when it comes to letting property portfolios — a former advisor on the rental market to previous UK governments and a respected specialist in the rental market with almost 25 years of focused experience managing large portfolios. Karen is also a leading expert on rent to rent, secured housing, protected rental incomes and is a leading light when it comes to navigating the recent raft of UK legislative changes and those that are pending.
Paul is our head of pharmaceutical matters and brings decades of sector experience to the team. He has over 30 years of experience in FMCG and Specialised Pathology and Pharmaceutical markets. An experienced senior director at board level within the UK National Health Service, Paul has been responsible for NHS Pathology, Pharmaceutical and Patient Transport Services with full CQC registration, soft FM and security services covering multiple locations throughout the UK. He has been responsible for creating and managing a team that services pathology products with the collections of some 45,000 samples from around 2,500 UK NHS medical establishments daily. Paul is a specialist in healthcare programme setups and also leads our healthcare training operations internationally.
Olya is our head of Digital Marketing and online branding. She brings international experience in PR and marketing, particularly with reference to the interaction of government with private enterprise, and is an expert in presentation and the different channels of digital marketing.
Mark is head of the business review team, an experienced CEO and an expert in business building and restructuring. Mark has decades of P&L leadership, innovation, investment, expansion and turnaround expertise. He is entrepreneurial, strategic and internationally experienced, with 25+ years of success in building and revitalising businesses in B2B, B2C, technology, software, industrial, manufacturing, automotive, SMEs and corporates. Able to take autonomous P&L ownership of projects and operations whilst securing and maintaining boardroom-level buy-in for expansion and growth strategies, he has a track record of achieving commercial goals combined with industry best practices.
Harry brings decades of experience as a merchant banker and business builder and a global network of finance contacts to the team. A specialist merchant banker with over 40 years in the industry, he has an impeccable track record in setting up specialist businesses, having built both Close Brothers Commercial Finance Ireland and Capital Flow Commercial Finance from new starts to a combined turnover of over £1.4 billion and a staff of over 230. The Capitalflow setup was a brand-new concept created by Harry, who successfully secured both equity and syndicated senior debt for over £300 million. He has held several MD positions and provided expert finance consultancy for several companies. Harry is well-networked worldwide and is particularly strong in the asset-backed, trade finance and SBLC sectors.
Mahendra is a specialist in cargo, logistics and commodities operations throughout the Caribbean and beyond. He is an experienced and licensed ship captain, port manager, project management professional, qualified mechanical engineer, and database development expert. He has experience in commodities, particularly aggregates, petroleum and food, and is actively involved in real estate, project and construction financing and management, marine support, and tug and barge operations. He has an exceptional network of contacts throughout the Caribbean and South America.
Mark is currently on Saudi Mega Projects and unavailable for new work.
Joanna has many years of successfully trading commodities from oil to sesame seeds, with considerable European and African experience and an extensive network of connections. Her location in Gdynia means the export of European food products can easily be accommodated at the local port.