Executive Summary

A commercially driven senior tax leader with over 20 years of experience spanning Big 4 Deal Advisory and partner level leadership inside a multi billion dollar global investment business. Proven track record of building tax functions from scratch, structuring complex cross-border intellectual property and managing multijurisdictional risk frameworks. Adept at navigating complex controversies with global tax authorities, leading high value group restructurings and embedding robust tax governance.

Employment & Role History

Partner, Group Tax

SoftBank Group International (SBGI) • Oct 2018 – June 2026
  • • Function Transformation: Recruited following a major corporate restructuring to design and scale a comprehensive new global tax function. Established strategies, processes, reporting platforms and control environments from scratch.
  • • Corporate Governance & Stewardship: Appointed as a director for SoftBank Group Capital Ltd (the primary UK investment entity). Spearheaded group wide tax compliance approach across 15+ countries covering federal, state, direct and indirect taxes.
  • • Strategic Integration & Optimisation: Directed comprehensive post-acquisition integration frameworks, driving corporate legal entity rationalisation, transfer pricing harmonisation and synergy extraction across newly acquired divisions.
  • • Investee Growth Advisory: Designed and executed flexible tax operating models for high growth portfolio companies, advised investees on building robust tax compliance frameworks.

Director, Deal Advisory Tax

KPMG • Aug 2005 – Oct 2018
  • • Practice Leadership: Advanced through accelerated promotions to director of the corporate M&A Tax team in London, directly managing a team of ~15 high performing professionals.
  • • Transaction Advisory: Led M&A tax engagements for corporate and Private Equity clients, delivered global tax due diligence, complex tax structuring, funds flow and transaction documents.
  • • Overseas Experience: Completed a high-profile two-year secondment to Sydney targeting Private Equity and a three-month secondment in Mexico City.
  • • Other Experience: Completed secondments within financial services, tax technology and as the Executive Assistant to the Head of Tax for KPMG UK.

Sector Experience

Tech AI Robotics Chip development Telecoms Media Listed corporates Early stage investments Japanese headed groups UK headed groups

Leadership

  • • Function Building: Built the global SBGI tax function using a mix of external vendors, targeted internal secondments and external hires.
  • • Stakeholder Management: Maintained business critical interfaces across corporate leadership, including the CFO Office, Capital Markets Group, Legal, Finance and international executive teams.
  • • Corporate Reporting: Created quarterly tax risk materials and tax updates for the Head of Accounting and executive management teams.
  • • Talent & Development: Acted as an interviewer for external hires and managed the KPMG UK M&A tax training programme, frequently presented the global KPMG 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 rounds 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

Global Risk Management & Governance

Responsibility for the formulation, governance and mandatory public publication of SBGI's UK Tax Strategy. Engineered, implemented and monitored the internal tax control frameworks to satisfy Senior Accounting Officer (SAO) and Corporate Criminal Offence (CCO) legislation. Partnered continuously with Group Treasury to optimise global cash repatriation and international dividends.

Reporting

IFRS, US GAAP and UK GAAP reporting including quarterly, statutory and management reporting. Led relationship with auditors across several countries and business units.

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 etc.

Controvercy and Audits

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

Systems & Software

Word Excel PowerPoint Netsuite 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 advent of AI.

Endurance Training

Runner and cyclist. Serving committee member for East London Runners running club.

Charity Work

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