Directors profiles
Our company is managed by a team of senior professionals
Together, this team of highly experienced and reputable professionals, provides a unique blend of expertise in investment banking and corporate finance, company management and turnaround, furniture retailing and production. These partners have known one another for a long time, and have worked together on numerous occasions.
These managers share a common vision on investment strategy, based not only on financial engineering but also on value creation through operational improvements.
They will not only be fully involved in all deals, but they will actively contribute to the development and the day-to-day management of the portfolio companies.
designcapital will moreover benefit from the added value brought by the non-executive members of its Board.
Frédéric Bobo (aged 49) - Executive Chairman
Frédéric Bobo, a French national, has almost 20 years of experience in investment banking and in corporate advisory services. He began his career in 1988, as a corporate banker at Banque Bruxelles Lambert, first in New York, then in Brussels. In 1990, Frédéric joined Eurogroup Consultants in Paris, where, as a consultant in organisation strategy for financial institutions and groups, he participated in the creation of the Warsaw Stock-Exchange (Société des Bourses Françaises assignment, 1991). In 1992, Frédéric assisted Société Générale bank in creating Société Générale Finance Développement (SGFD, Managing Director), an affiliate of Société Générate Investment Banking M&A Division) which was exclusively dedicated to investment banking and corporate advisory services in emerging markets (5 offices in Eastern Europe – Commonwealth of Independent States). There, Frédéric directly led and managed over 150 assignments including privatisations, corporate sales, IPOs, industrial restructurings, cross border M&A, joint-ventures and similar direct investment schemes, complex financial and tax related capital engineering, off-shore financial engineering. In 2001, Frédéric created his own venture, Stunning partners & co, which is both an idea laboratory and a corporate advisory consulting firm, and which provides corporate finance and strategic advisory services to companies and high profile managers. He graduated from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques d’Aix en Provence (1985); and also holds an MBA from the George Washington University (Washington, USA, 1988).
Michael Hosie (aged 51) - Executive Director - ACA
Mike Hosie is a Chartered Accountant with experience in finance and operations. He has worked in early stage and developing businesses at board level for both private and public companies. He joined RMS Communications plc in 1996, where he was managing director. In 1999 he joined Cedar plc as finance director. In 2002 he became a consultant to MCI Inc where he was appointed to develop and implement the European, Middle Eastern and African operating and business plan for the Board. Mike is also part time finance director of X-Phonics plc and Verdes Management plc both of which are AIM companies.
Helen Kennedy Lambert (aged 40) - non-Executive Director
Born in Ireland, Helen began her career in communications, notably as Director of Advertising for "Elle" magazine international, before becoming Managing Director of the AGA Group, a long standing international buying offices group focused on the luxury sector.
She purchased AGA in 2005 and rebranded it Lambert + Associates. It services all fashion categories of the luxury market, through the complementary activities of Buying, Sourcing and Consulting.
Acting as an intermediary to the luxury goods industry, Lambert + Associates identify new trends, designs and products, co-ordinate exclusive shows and displays for its clients buying teams, assist clients in driving sales and advise on luxury and lifestyle changes and on consumer behavior and habits.
From offices in New York, London, Paris, Milan and Florence, Lambert + Associates has extensive knowledge of the fashion/luxury industry, has long established relationships with both fashion houses and designers and also with suppliers and distributors and has been at the forefront of the international luxury goods retail market for over 30 years.
Helen is working with the following retail brands, including Neiman Marcus, Holt Renfrew, Lane Crawford & Pedder Group & Fenwick. Moreover, Helen has also very closed links with luxury Houses such as Yves Saint Laurent, Lanvin, Jean Paul Gaultier, Tom Ford, Paul Smith and Fortnum and Mason, among others.
