Val Gooding CBE
Val Gooding is Senior Independent Director at Vodafone Group and Queen’s Trustee on the Board of Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew. Val was formerly CEO of Bupa, Chairman of Premier Farnell plc, and Chairman of Aviva Insurance UK.
OUR MENTORS Our prestigious leaders have expertise in almost all business sectors and situations.
Andrew Fisher
Experienced Chairman: FTSE 100, Public Sector, Private Sector
Experienced CEO: Public Sector
- 20 years of international senior leadership experience
- Multi-industry knowledge of tech start-ups, digital innovation and transformation, media and entertainment
- Experience as a Compensation Committee Chair, Nomination Committee Chair, Audit Committee member, Risk Committee member
Current Positions
Andrew Fisher is Chairman of Rightmove plc and a Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the Remuneration Committee for Marks and Spencer plc. He was previously CEO and Chairman of Shazam and a Non-Executive Director of Merlin Entertainments plc and Moneysupermarket plc.
Industry Knowledge
Professional experience in developing innovative digital businesses and over the past 25 years Andrew has led the successful growth of a number of technology focused enterprises both as a hired CEO, Chairman and Founder.
He began his career in 1991 at Electrocomponents plc. In 1995 he joined Thomson Directories as General Manager of Business Ventures where he participated in an £80m management buyout led by Advent and 3i. The business was subsequently sold to SEAT in 2000 for £460m.
From 2001 Andrew was European Managing Director of NASDAQ listed InfoSpace Inc where he led the company's significant European growth focusing on media and commerce services for many leading online service providers and mobile operators.
He was appointed CEO of Shazam in March 2005 and became Executive Chairman in 2013. During his tenure, Andrew was instrumental in developing and executing a growth strategy to establish one of the world’s leading mobile consumer brands with over 1 billion users. He restructured the company and diversified the business’s focus gaining the support of some of the world’s leading venture capital investors before selling the business to Apple in September 2018.
Andrew was previously a Non-Executive Director of Merlin Entertainments plc. He was actively involved in the sale to a private equity consortium led by Blackstone and retired from the Board following the company’s delisting.
Mentor suggestions
Sir Richard Sykes
Sir Richard Sykes was previously the Chairman and Chief Executive of GlaxoSmithKline. He currently serves as Chairman of The Royal Institution of Great Britain, Chairman of King Edward VII’s Hospital and Chairman for Omnicyte Ltd. Sir Richard is also Chairman of The UK Stem Cell Foundation and on the International Advisory Board, of A*Star Biomedical Research Council, Singapore and Chancellor of Brunel University.
Risto Siilasmaa
Risto Siilasmaa is the founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of F-Secure Corporation, a cybersecurity company, having served as President and CEO of the company in 1988-2006. Previously he was the Chair of the Board of Directors of Nokia Corporation.
Jan du Plessis
Jan du Plessis is currently Chairman of BT Group plc. He was previously Chairman of Rio Tinto, SABMiller, British American Tobacco and RHM; non-executive director and chair of the Audit Committee of Lloyds Banking Group and Senior Independent Director of the retailer Marks & Spencer.