Board of Directors

Paul is Chairman of Literacy Capital, which he co-founded with Richard in 2017 having raised £54 million of capital from investors. He was a founder of Capita and CEO until his retirement in 2014. Since then, he has been a Chairman and investor in a number of businesses

Capita (1987 – 2014)

• Paul co-founded the business in 1987 with a £330,000 management buyout, when Capita had 33 employees and £1.3 million of annual revenue
• He took the business through an IPO in 1989. By his retirement as CEO in Feb 2014, Capita was a FTSE 100 company (the 52nd largest UK listed company by market cap) with more than 62,000 employees and an enterprise value of £8.5 billion

Purplebricks (Jul 14 – current)

• Paul joined the Board shortly after the business began trading and completed a funding round valuing it at £5 million
• The business floated on AIM in December 2015 at a valuation of £240 million and he has been non-Executive Chairman since

ITC Luxury Travel (Aug 14 – Aug 16)

• Paul became Non-Executive Chairman & 42.5% shareholder after backing the MBO. This allowed the founding family, who founded ITC in 1974, to sell a majority of the business
• During Paul's two-year involvement, the business completed the first acquisition in its history and trebled its profits, before it was sold to a private equity firm

Paul was also Chairman of two large healthcare businesses between 2012 and 2020. IDH (now mydentist), the UK's largest chain of dentists, for Carlyle Private Equity and ICS (now Acacium), a leading provider of healthcare services, for Towerbrook

Previously Paul has also been Chairman of corporate fundraising Boards for both the NSPCC (2004-2007) and Great Ormond Street Hospital (2008-2012)

Richard is CEO of Literacy Capital, which he co-founded with Paul in 2017. Literacy Capital initially raised £54 million whilst private. In June 2021, Literacy Capital plc was admitted to the London Stock Exchange having grown organically since the initial fundraise. Prior to setting up Literacy Capital, he had a background in investing, private equity and acting as a consultant to private equity businesses

Lonsdale Capital Partners (Oct 15 – Mar 17)

• Richard worked for Lonsdale Capital Partners, a low mid-market private equity firm with a focus on investing in businesses across the UK, Ireland and Europe generating EBITDA of £2 million to £7 million

KPMG (Oct 11 – Oct 15)

• Richard worked in Corporate Finance initially, working in a lead advisory M&A capacity
• His final two years involved time in the Private Equity Group within Transaction Services and performing financial due diligence for large private equity client, as well as qualifying as an ACA with the ICAEW

Kevin has significant experience managing private equity businesses, as well as businesses within PLCs & the public sector

IRIS Software Group (Dec 15 – current)

• Kevin became CEO of IRIS, a software business owned by HG Capital in December 2015
• During his first two years as CEO of IRIS, revenue and EBITDA increased by more than 40% and the Group completed six acquisitions
• In May 2018, he led IRIS through a successful £1.3 billion private equity buyout

Capita plc (1996 – 2015)

• Kevin spent 18 years at Capita plc
• During his last nine years at Capita, he oversaw Capita's Professional Services division - comprising all of Capita's software and local government businesses.
• In less than a decade, he grew this business from £50 million EBITDA to £150 million EBITDA

Prior to joining Capita in 1996, Kevin spent 14 years working in various roles in Local Government

Simon founded Civica in 2000 and remains Chairman of the business today. He has experience as a CEO of a PLC and private business, as well as a number of different types of transactions, and as a Chairman or Senior non-executive Director of different IT and outsourcing businesses

Civica (2000 – current)

• Civica was created following a management buy-out led by Simon and backed by private equity firm, Alchemy Partners
• Simon led the business through an IPO in 2004, before delisting it in 2008 following a buy-out by 3i valuing the business at £190 million
• Civica has since been through several private equity transactions and the Group has since grown to over 5,000 employees, with operations in 10 countries. It is valued at more than £1 billion and is one of the largest specialist software companies in Europe

Since 2012, Simon has also been Chairman of four other private IT services businesses.

In addition to his role at Civica and other Chairman roles, Simon is currently also Chairman of Audiotonix and a non-executive Director of Purplebricks plc. Previously, he was also a Senior Adviser to OMERS Private Equity, which had in excess of $12 billion of private equity assets under management. He is also a past winner of the EY UK Technology and IT Services Entrepreneur of the Year award

Chris has significant experience in driving sales growth, production improvement and organisational transformation across a range of businesses. He was formerly a Board member at a FTSE 100 company

Mountain Healthcare (Sep 2018 – current)

• Chris joined Mountain as Chairman and CEO of Mountain Healthcare, after Literacy Capital acquired a majority stake

Grayce (Jul 2018 – current)

• Chris joined the Board of Grayce after Literacy Capital's investment and is currently Chairman

Capita plc (2005 – 2018)

• Chris spent twelve years at Capita plc. In his last couple of years he was Head of Business Development and a member of the plc Board
• ​In his role as Executive Sales Director between 2010 and 2016, Chris secured a number of large contracts with public sector bodies ranging from £50 million to £1.7 billion in value
• Prior to this, Chris set up Capita's Health division in 2008, growing revenue to £160 million within two years

Prior to joining Capita, Chris spent 14 years as a consultant, BD Director and Managing Director for various companies, having originally trained as an engineer with Shell

Rachel has significant experience providing consultancy, coaching and corporate finance advice to private and public businesses. She also has private equity experience and worked at two FTSE 50 companies

RJM Consulting (2006 – current)

• Rachel founded the business, which works with a wide range of board level executives at public and private companies
• She has advised early stage, high-growth businesses through to large listed PLCs across a range of sectors, including IT, Media and oil and gas

Riverside Studios (2013 – 2017)

• She became non-executive Director of the charitable Arts Centre (containing a theatre, tv studio and cinema), as it was beginning a major capital project, involving a large redevelopment of its site

Alchemy Partners LLP (2000 – 2006)

• Rachel was responsible for deal sourcing, deal execution and portfolio management. Areas of expertise included both special situations (such as turnarounds and public-to-private transactions) and buy-and-build investments
• ​She had a lead role in several investments, including: Industrial Control, Centric Telecom, Just Learning and Right4Staff. She joined the Board of all four of these Alchemy portfolio companies

Prior to joining Alchemy, Rachel spent eight years at Shell, followed by Diageo. She worked in various finance and commercial roles in the UK, Africa and Australia. At Shell, she also qualified as a Chartered Accountant