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.