Taking Everyone on the Journey: Paul Cooper – Inspiring Leadership interview with Jonathan Bowman-Perks MBE

Paul Cooper – Helping teams make and deliver equity value.

He is a leader and Advisor to growth companies. Paul’s parents set up a bio-technology company when he was at school. The experience of helping with the early funding, the challenges of growth, the first Queens Award for innovation, the successes and the ultimate sale was inspirational.

Paul is now a successful entrepreneur, board director and investor with over 25 years of experience working with growth companies in the media, information and technology sectors. He is the founder of Clarity, which during his 15 years of directorship grew to be the leading mid-market corporate finance advisory firm. His ability to quickly understand issues, appreciate different perspectives and create cohesive workable solutions for all stakeholders is highly valued.

Paul believes that great outcomes are achieved by teams and it’s important to recognise that teams are made up of individuals. Successful leadership is about bringing that team together and allow individuals to work to their strengths. Make sure your team owns the purpose and values. Take the responsibility for managing the emotional state of your team.

Paul is a successful entrepreneur, board director and investor with over 25 years of experience working with growth companies in the media, information and technology sectors. He is the founder of Clarity, which during his 15 years of directorship grew to be the leading mid market corporate finance advisory firm. In the year that Paul exited the business, JEGI Clarity closed 23 deals across the offices totalling almost $3bn of M&A.

Prior to JEGI Clarity, Paul worked at Cazenove & Co, now part of JP Morgan, where he led internet sector research on numerous IPOs. He is a chartered accountant and holds a first class Masters degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, specialising in digital systems.

His ability to quickly understand issues, appreciate different perspectives and create cohesive workable solutions for all stakeholders is highly valued.

Experience:
M&A advisory; Private equity; Corporate strategy; Succession and liquidity planning; Development capital, US, Asia and European funds; IPO advisory; MBO; Buy and build; Accountancy and audit

Skills:
Facilitating problem solving; Corporate storytelling and refining an equity story; Advisor appointment processes; Corporate strategy; Corporate development; Entrepreneurship; Team building; Leadership; Board coaching; Stakeholder alignment

Business sectors:
Media, Information and Technology sectors