Chair and Non-Executive Directors

The Role:

SWIG (South West Investment Group)

The Client:

The Client

SWIG (South West Investment Group) is a not for profit Community Development Finance Institution (CDFI), and as a charter member of Responsible Finance (trade body) aspires to support inclusive, sustainable economic growth. For almost 30 years SWIG has provided loan finance to micro, small and medium sized businesses throughout the south west of England.

Their Start Up Loans range from £500–£25,000 and small business loans from £10,000–£250,000. Their mission is to make finance accessible by providing small business loans to viable SMEs and start-ups in the South West region, which have the potential to grow and benefit the economy. Their funds are designed for those who are unable to secure all their requirements from traditional sources – whether due to a lack of track record, security requirements which cannot be met, historic financial issues or simply because applications do not meeting conventional credit scoring methods.

SWIG operates from offices in Truro, Exeter and Bristol with fund managers based throughout the region.

swig-finance

The Challenge

SWIG Finance were looking to appoint a new Non-Executive Chair to succeed the current chair who was stepping down from the role at the end of March 2021. They were also looking to appoint an additional Non-Executive Director to the board of SWIG Finance.

They would all be joining SWIG Finance at an exciting and challenging time, with ambition to grow scale and impact. These positions offered the successful individuals the chance to play a leading role in supporting the growth and transformation of SMEs throughout the South West.

Our Offering

Moon Executive search were tasked with searching for the following attributes in prospective candidates:

  • Transformation

  • Leading a board

  • Financial or lending background

In line with attributes associated with all high performing boards, candidates had to be team players, comfortable with business strategy, detailed scrutiny and holding the executive to account, and also offer a balance of support and stretch. The new chair would be expected to keep regular contact with the senior management team and key stakeholders.

This was a national search, and we were seeking experienced Chair and Non-Exec candidates from a variety of backgrounds, including investment, private equity, banking, corporate finance, lending, funding, accounting and risk/compliance. It was also important that all candidates understood and resonated with the strong ethical and socially responsible aspect of SWIG Finance. The Chair candidate would also have to be an approved person under the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). 

The Outcome

This was a rigorous and far reaching joint advertising and search campaign, with a structured campaign of first interviews with Moon and then a number of final stages with SWIG where candidates met all parties from their fellow Non Exec board members to critical meetings with both the MD, John Peters, and FD, Dave Bullen. 

We are delighted to announce that not only was Christine Allison appointed as Chair, but such was the impact of the Non-Exec candidates, SWIG has also appointed Rebecca Pritchard and Chris Butters as two Non-Exec Directors on the Board.

Richard Coombs, Chair of South West Investment Group Ltd, said, ‘We are indebted to Vanessa and her team for their support on this campaign, We were bowled over by the huge response and Moon very successfully managed the whole campaign from start to finish. They were a pleasure to work with and I am so pleased with the result. I will not hesitate to recommend them to others if they seek to hire new Non-Exec Directors to their Boards.’

Vanessa Moon, Founding Director of Moon said, ‘This was a great campaign and there was a huge amount of traction in the business and finance community, with sound support for SWIG Finance.  I was so impressed with the amount of interest shown in the roles and keenness of candidates and I am delighted with the end result.’

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