Expert Witness

I study each and every commodity, instrument, product or service to a very detailed level before I ever embark on commercial activity and being a detail driven person who always reads the small print, I am well suited to litigation support. 

To date I have worked more than 28 cases as an expert witness and have experience in the witness box at trial where my expert opinion has been examined by Queen’s Counsel. 

While my time can be purchased, my expert opinion is not for sale. 

Guided by my experience and integrity, my expert areas are Coal (metallurgical and steam), Electricity, Gas, Water and Uranium.

Anti Corruption Investigator

In my work as a commodities risk manager, I have uncovered corruption on several occasions. I have experience of covert investigations into corrupt managers, rogue traders and have worked with international regulators and national law enforcement agencies. 

My work in this respect is highly confidential. 

If your company suspects criminal activity such as money laundering, rogue trader activity and alike, please contact me for a private consultation.

Agricultural Benchmark

I had an idea for the Amsterdam Agricultural Exchange that resulted in great cooperation with that company and an index that still sets a key agricultural price to this day in Great Britain. The bacon sandwich you ate for breakfast was initially priced by the index I conceived (while being vegetarian).

International Coal

I had an idea for the International Petroleum Exchange for a coal index and associated derivatives, they said it had no merit, so I took it to my old friends Mark Till, David Pinchin and Julian Harding at Tradition Group and they said it did. The API coal indices were born, and they remain the benchmark for coal power stations, Atlantic Basin coal mines and all associated coal trade to this day. At any one time there has been up to $500 billion of coal business linked to the forward curve I launched.

Italian Gas

I had an idea for the Italian gas market and an index that was near impossible to “game”. The  Month Ahead Gas Index of Italy (MAGI) was launched and is operated by friends at Tradition and their partners.

Retail Water

In 2017 water was set to become a competitive retail market in England & Scotland. I took the idea of water services broking to my friends at Tradition but they saw no merit in the concept. So, I sold my Karmann Ghia, my Vespa GS150, dipped into my savings and drew down an MBNA credit card and launched Grand Union Co. with some friends who now run the company from London, Virginia USA and Zug Switzerland. The company expanded into energy and carbon offsets and now manages utility and carbon risk for around one thousand commercial and industrial sites globally.

Wholesale Water

I had an idea called “the GB Virtual Water Main” for the British water market that shared water resources around the country and created a series of transparent regional indices to bring transparency and investment capital to update aging infrastructure. The VWM and the proper extraction tax that goes with it, remains my best-ever idea opposed by vested interests far and wide until the UK government finds a spine

I was so lucky to be surrounded by so many trader styles early in my career and quickly learned trading success was about having an angle of some kind. 

My frame of reference for trading became “relative value” (arbitrage) and my timing became driven by technical analysis of which Fibonacci-based tools I found most useful. 

While I am not permitted to publish my trading record, I am allowed to state during four distinct periods of my career where I traded, I never lost money across any financial year

My 25 year relationship with Tradition Group led to billions of dollars of procurement activity in multiple languages across 21 countries.

When Tradition turned down my idea to broker water services and I formed Grand Union Co., it started in water and branched out to cover electricity, gas and carbon offsets. 

I remain the majority investor of the business which now has offices in London, Virginia and Zug, and manages utilities and carbon risk for hundreds of manufacturing and retail consumers in Europe, USA and Asia Pacific.

I made sure Grand Union covered all its clients for gas and electricity three years forward between February and April 2020 at the start of the Corona pandemic. To me, it was the most blindingly obvious buy opportunity in energy market history. 

It helps to have been a trader.

Having brokered and traded I was in a good position to move into Risk & Compliance. I am poacher turned gamekeeper in that respect, so not much gets past me.

I designed and deployed key aspects of risk management for RWE Essen, BHP Billiton Den Hague and Kazakatom Switzerland, the latter contract became the most challenging of my career and utterly changed my worldview as regards risk and corporate governance.

My approach is holistic, pragmatic and jargon free in its reporting to the board. That should not be quite as unique as it is…

Across my career I have been entrusted with Business Controller or Chief Operating Officer roles alongside value generation/protection duties. 

My last two experiences in this respect, namely acting as COO after founding Grand Union Co. and the Business Controller aspect of my contract with Kazatomprom Switzerland (whose office and business functions I set up from scratch) were both extraordinarily challenging and had successful outcomes. 

For all I have done in my career so far, these two engagements – in particular – have prepared me for whatever the future holds in any commercial setting

• Energy Risk Magazine: Pioneer of Risk
• GlobalCoal: Risk Manager of the Year
• Member: Energy Managers Association
• Member: All-Party Parliamentary Water Group
• Past Member: Society of Technical Analysts
• Founder: the API Coal Indices
• Founder: Grand Union Co.
• Founder: The Weekly Tribune GB Pig Indices
• Designer: The GB Virtual Water Main
• Broker of the World’s First Coal Derivative
• Broker of the World’s First Commoditised Spark/Dark Spread
• Diploma in Strategic Business Management, London Metropolitan School of Business
• Registered Representative, Financial Conduct Authority (when UK based)
• Neuro Linguistic Programming Practitioner, Regents University London
• Diploma in Supply Chain Management, London Metropolitan School of Business, London
• MSTA Hons. Diploma, South Bank University, London                                                                                                      The highest UK based qualification in the technical analysis of commodity & equity markets 

These days home is our family house in Essex and an apartment/office in Switzerland overlooking the beautiful Lake Zug. I consider myself at the peak of my career and see a world of myriad opportunities. Onwards, upwards.