The current Directors’ details, all of whom are non-executive and are considered by the Board to be independent in character, are set out below. The Directors supervise the management of the Company and represent the interests of shareholders.
The Board of Directors
John Herring
Chairman
John qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1982. In 1986, John joined the corporate finance department of Kleinwort Benson, where he was involved in the IPOs on the LSE for several companies. In 1996 he established his own private equity advisory business and joined the boards of a number of public and private companies including JD Wetherspoon plc where he became deputy chairman and served as a non-executive director for 14 years.
Trevor Bowen
Non-Executive Director
Trevor has over 30 years’ experience spanning a variety of industries. Trevor spent 11 years as a partner of KPMG and 17 years as a partner of Principle Management managing artists in the music industry. Trevor has acted as a non-executive director on a number of boards, most notably as a director on the board of Ulster Bank for nine years, which included six years as the Chairman of its Audit Committee. He is an Irish national and a Chartered Accountant.
Keith Corbin
Non-Executive Director
Keith is Executive Chairman of Nerine International Holdings Limited, a network of trust and fiduciary services companies which is a wholly owned subsidiary of PraxisIFM Group Limited and serves as a director of a number of regulated financial services companies. Keith is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (ACIB) and a Member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP).
Peter Cornell
Senior Independent Director
Peter was Global Managing Partner of Clifford Chance until 2006. During his tenure with Clifford Chance his roles also included managing partner for Singapore, Spain and Continental Europe. He then became managing director of Terra Firma, a European private equity firm until 2011. Peter is a founding partner of Metric Capital, a pan-European special situations fund. He is also president of Delta Capital, a US based litigation finance firm.
Colin Kingsnorth
Non-Executive Director
Colin previously worked for Robert Fleming Asset Management, headed the investment trust research at Olliff & Partners and managed the emerging markets fund of Buchanan Partners Limited. In 1995, Colin co-founded Regent Kingpin Capital Management. In 1997, he founded Laxey Partners Ltd. Colin holds a BSc in Economics and is a CFA Charterholder.
Jemma Freeman
Non-Executive Director
Jemma is the Executive Chair of Hunters & Frankau Limited, the appointed distributor for Habanos S.A.’s cigar portfolio in the United Kingdom. She joined the business of Hunters & Frankau in 2002, was appointed Managing Director in 2008 and Executive Chair in 2019. Before going into the cigar business Jemma was a Strategic Planner in the advertising industry. She currently holds the position of Vice Chair of ITPAC, an Advisory Council established to support the tobacco trade in the United Kingdom. In 2013, Jemma was named “Habanos Man of the Year”, one of the most prestigious and illustrious prizes in the cigar world. Jemma also acts as a Trustee of a Cancer charity focused on immunotherapy research.
Investment Management Team
Sebastiaan Berger
Lead Manager
Sebastiaan A.C. Berger is a Dutch trained lawyer who has resided in Cuba since 1996. He has been assisting foreign investors in Cuba since 1996, first as founder of the Havana office of an international law firm, then as a founding partner of Berger, Young and Associates (1998). He has been the lead investment manager of CEIBA Investments Limited and Representative of the Havana Office of CEIBA Property Corporation Ltd. (CEIBA) since 2002.