Executive Summary

  • • Experienced (20 years+) tax professional focused on M&A, capital markets and structured finance with significant praactical experience of compliance and reporting, transfer pricing, disputes/controversy, indirect taxes and people management and development. Based in London with previous experience in Sydney (2 years) and Mexico City (3 months). Countries of focus have included US, UK, Japan, China and India however responsibilities have previously included many other countries. Former KPMG Director and SoftBank Group Partner.
  • • Joined SoftBank Group International (SBGI) in October 2018 following a major corporate restructuring to work with the SBGI Head of Tax to build a comprehensive new tax function. This included recruitment, tendering outsourced compliance, implementation of OneSource Tax Provision, new proceesses/controls and all other aspects of building a tax function. In addition to overseeing day to day compliance and reporting matters, primary focus was transactions.
  • • Joined KPMG in August 2005 where I was focused on compliance and reporting for SMEs. After secondments in tax technology (supporting Alphatax), FS M&A tax and M&A tax in Mexico, moved to London in January 2011 to focus on M&A tax for large corporate clients. Seconded as Executive Assistant to the UK Head of Tax (Jane McCormick) where I gained significant leadership experience and insight into running the KPMG UK tax business. Spent a further two years seconded to KPMG Sydney, focused on corporate and private equity M&A.

Employment & Role History

Partner, Group Tax

SoftBank Group International (SBGI) • Oct 2018 – June 2026
  • • Strategic transactions for SBGI and SoftBank Group Corp
  • • Overseeing compliance and reporting for SBGI

Director, Deal Advisory Tax

KPMG • Aug 2005 – Oct 2018
  • • Large Corporates, M&A Tax
  • • Large Corporates and PE, M&A Tax (Sydney and Mexico)
  • • Executive Assistant to UK Head of Tax
  • • Tax Compliance and Reporting
  • • Various other secondments e.g. Tax Technology, FS M&A

Leadership

  • • Function Building: Built the SBGI tax capability via external hires and external service providers. Assisted investee companies in building and structuring their in-house tax functions.
  • • Corporate Governance: Served as Statutory Director for SoftBank Group Capital Ltd (the primary UK investment entity), responsible for the smooth running of the tax function e.g. vendor management, budgeting/forecasting, billing.
  • • Cross-Functional Partnership: Responsible for maintaining senior relationships across Tax (with investees), Legal, Finance, the CFO Office, Capital Markets Group, Group Management and others.
  • • Team Management: Set and implemented strategy for the M&A Tax team in Corporates (~15 personnel). Served as Performance Manager for the M&A, International & Complex Tax Team.
  • • Talent & Development: Acted as an interviewer for external hires and managed the UK training programme for M&A Tax, frequently presented for the Global M&A Tax Training Programme.

Transactions

Led strategic transactions including acquisitions, joint ventures, capital markets, SPACs, and disposals, ultimately providing final tax approval to proceed. Recent examples include:

Acquisitions & Integration

Carve out of ABB's robotics division from ABB. Acquisitions of Digital Bridge, Boston Dynamics, Balyo, Ampere, and Graphcore.

Minority Investments

Multiple investment rounes in OpenAI and Agile Robotics. Exol/Greenbox joint venture with Symbotic.

Capital Markets & IPO

Multiple financing transactions and the IPO of Arm Holdings.

Disposals

Complex financial instruments and ultimately the divestments of Alibaba and T-Mobile US over several years.

Compliance & Reporting

Compliance

Experience with overseeing and managing tax compliance throughout the UK, the US and multiple European, Asian and Latin American jurisdictions (including Pillar 2 obligations). This has included corporate income tax, indirect taxes, state and local taxes and stamp duty.

Reporting

IFRS, US GAAP and UK GAAP reporting including quarterly, statutory and management reporting. Led relationship with auditors across several countries and business units. Responsible for presenting quarterly tax updates to senior leadership (e.g. Global Head of Accounting, Group Management and Internal Audit).

Transfer Pricing

Oversaw a refresh of group transfer pricing policy including working with advisers to design, implement and operate the model. This included understanding the global direct and indirect tax obligations and presenting the proposal to senior leadership for approval. Working with accounting, treasury and AP/AR on an ongoing basis to operate the TP policy. Explained and defended policy to HMRC CCM. Ensured group was current with local file, CbCR and other obligations.

Controvercy and Audits

Owned and managed the UK HMRC relationship (CCM) including managing several complicated enquiries across multiple years and issues including transfer pricing, capital allowances, corporate income tax and indirect taxes. Managed the US IRS relationship including several audits and enquiries across multiple years and issues including transfer pricing. Managed strategy in respect of US, Indian and Chinese tax audits.

Systems & Software

Word Excel PowerPoint Netsuite DIVA OneSource Tax Provision ChatGPT Gemini LM Studio Alphatax

Education History

  • Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA) Chartered Institute of Taxation
    Admitted Aug 2008
  • Chartered Accountant (CA) Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland
    Admitted Aug 2008
  • BSc Physics (with honours), 2:1 University of Southampton
    Graduated Jul 2005

Hobbies & Interests

Technology & Gaming

Deep interest in consumer tech, computing hardware platforms, and the structural capacity of LLMs to transform global societal systems.

Endurance Training

Active distance runner and cyclist. Serving committee member for East London Runners running club.

Civic Engagement & Advising

Volunteer mathematics tutor for Action Tutoring. Previously served as business adviser for Enactus UK.