An Experienced and Approachable Senior Team
Our senior team is made up of creative thinkers with the expertise and energy to deliver outstanding results for our clients.
Patrick Woodrow
Patrick is a founding Partner of Fairgrove Partners, and has over 20 years’ experience as a strategy consultant. He previously worked for Burlington Consultants, a boutique strategy and commercial due diligence consultancy, joining as its first employee in 1994, and helping it grow to an international team of over 50 consultants, with offices in London, Paris, Seattle, Munich and Singapore, where he became Managing Director in 2000. Patrick subsequently operated as an independent management consultant, serving his own corporate and private equity client base, before co-founding Fairgrove in 2013. He has since led over 150 growth strategy and transaction support assignments for corporate clients, private equity firms and high net worth individuals. Patrick has an MA and first-class degree (English) from the University of Cambridge. He is the author of two thrillers, published by Random House and translated into 6 languages.
Paddy Woods Ballard
Paddy is a founding Partner of Fairgrove Partners, and has over 20 years’ experience as a strategy consultant and private equity investor. He began his consulting career with L.E.K. Consulting, where he spent 9 years advising a range of corporate clients and private equity funds in the UK and US on strategic issues. He subsequently spent 5 years with Octopus Private Equity, where he was a member of the Investment Committee. He sat on the boards of 5 businesses, with 2 of those ranked in The Sunday Times Fast Track 100. He is also non-executive chairman of Metdesk, a leading commercial weather forecaster. He has an MBA (with distinction) from INSEAD and MA in Economics from the University of Cambridge. Outside of work, Paddy enjoys playing tennis and spending time with his young family.
Viesturs Bemhens
Viesturs is a Director at Fairgrove Partners, and has 8 years' experience as a strategy consultant. Prior to joining Fairgrove Partners he worked for EY-Parthenon, where he advised a range of private equity and corporate clients on strategic issues, with a particular focus on TMT, Retail and Consumer sectors. Viesturs holds a Bachelor of Science degree (summa cum laude) in Finance and Business Economics from New York University Stern School of Business. Outside of work, Viesturs enjoys playing basketball and snowboarding.
Oli Lestner
Oli is a Director at Fairgrove Partners. He has eight years of consulting experience, having begun his career at KPMG, advising on operating strategy, operational improvement and cost reduction in both deal and non-deal environments. At Fairgrove, Oli has worked on over 50 commercial due diligence and growth strategy projects, predominantly in the B2B space, and within that, industrial services, products and broader B2B technology. Oli holds a first class degree in Economics and Philosophy from the University of Nottingham and is a chartered management accountant. Outside of work, Oli is Vice Chair of Governors for a local primary school and a Leeds United fan.
Bhavna Dewan
Bhavna is a Director at Fairgrove Partners, and has 6 years’ experience in strategy consulting, advising both private equity funds and corporate clients on a range of strategic issues. Prior to joining Fairgrove Partners, Bhavna started her consulting career at EY-Parthenon, and has experience across several sectors such as Education, Retail & Consumer, TMT and Industrial Products. Bhavna holds a first class degree in Economics and Finance from the University of Sheffield and the Level 1 CFA certification. Outside of work, Bhavna enjoys travelling, going to the gym, and playing tennis.
Sophie McGurk
Sophie is a Senior Manager at Fairgrove Partners. She started her career in the Audit & Assurance department at Deloitte, specialising in FTSE listed companies across a range of industries, before joining Fairgrove in 2019. Sophie holds a BA in Geography from Oxford University and is an ACA qualified Chartered Accountant. Outside of work, Sophie enjoys travelling and playing a variety of sports from tennis to touch rugby.
Alex Bridle
Alex is a Senior Manager at Fairgrove, where he started his career in earnest in 2018 after an enjoyable 4-month stint as an intern at a small strategy consulting boutique. For his undergraduate degree, Alex studied Chemistry at the University of Oxford, where he went on to complete a Master's in Chemical Education. Beyond the office, Alex enjoys travelling (South America in particular), attempting to learn Spanish, and cooking overambitious meals on weekday evenings.
Adam Lee
Adam is a Senior Manager at Fairgrove. Adam started his career at Deloitte, specialising in Private Equity audit and valuation, before joining Fairgrove in 2019. Adam holds a BA in History from Cambridge University, is an ACA qualified Chartered Accountant, and has passed CFA level 2. Outside of work, Adam enjoys cooking (and eating!), travelling, participating in various sports (mostly to a low standard), and walking his dog.
Warren Chester
Warren began his career in 1985 as a mining engineer for British Gypsum. In 1987, he moved into sales roles at Mars Confectionary and Mirror Group Newspapers, where he established a national account team and regional sales force of over 100 people. He transitioned into consulting in 1992 with roles at OC&C and Burlington Consultants, where he became a Partner, responsible for commercial due diligence projects and a broad range of strategy assignments for Microsoft’s operations centres in the UK, Ireland and US. Warren subsequently became a Partner in Deloitte’s strategy practice, where he continued to lead mid-market due diligence assignments, as well as being responsible for quality and risk management, and experienced-hire recruitment. He became an associate of Fairgrove’s in 2015. Warren enjoys cooking, and is Chairman of mobile accessories business, Proporta.
Jolyon Dannatt
Jolyon is a Senior Manager at Fairgrove Partners. He started his career at EY-Parthenon, where he advised corporate and private equity clients on a range of strategy and commercial due diligence assignments, with a particular focus on Retail & Consumer. Jolyon holds a BA in Economics & Management from the University of Oxford. Outside work, he is an avid hockey player and cyclist.
Allan Gasson
Allan is a highly respected strategy consultant, who began his career at Bain & Co in 1986. After 5 years, he left to become General Manager and Business Development Director for Beverages at Dole Foods Europe, where he was responsible for growing the group through acquisitions. In 1993, he founded Burlington Consultants, which grew rapidly to become a leading player in the UK commercial due diligence market, as well as a key advisor to Microsoft’s European and global operations centres in Dublin and Redmond (WA). As Senior Partner, Allan grew the firm to a team of 50+ consultants, before selling the business to Deloitte in 2005. He subsequently spent 11 years as a Strategy and Operations Partner at Deloitte, where he was also Lead Corporate Development Partner, responsible for identifying and executing complementary acquisitions for the firm. Allan advises Fairgrove on matters relating to strategy, business development and operations, and adds deep sector expertise to the firm’s consumer and industrials practices. He has a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Cape Town and an MBA from INSEAD. Allan is a keen sailor and cyclist, and is a certified assessor in psychometric testing.
“Fairgrove provided us with an excellent basis for our strategy. We thought their ability to piece together the story from so many sources was exemplary. The balance between analytical rigour and a focus on commercial application was tremendous.”
Chairman, Automotive Consultancy
“This was our first project with Fairgrove, whom we appointed on the basis of their sector credentials and strong client references. We were delighted with the quality of their work.”
Partner, Mid-Market PE Firm
“Fairgrove provided us with a well-structured framework in which to review our competitive position. In addition to the insightful research and analysis, we particularly valued their ability to 'storyboard' our strategy in context of the market.”
CEO, PCB Manufacturer
