Our people

Michael Moore Chief Executive Michael Moore is Chief Executive of the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association.

Michael and his colleagues are focused on supporting the development of the private capital industry, as it invests in thousands of businesses and supports millions of jobs across the UK. As policymakers work on the competitiveness of the UK’s investment climate, Michael is confident that private equity and venture capital will continue to create significant public value through investment in growth, innovation and people.

Over the past 30 years Michael has operated at senior levels in both politics and business. In his political career he served in the Cabinet at the time of the Coalition Government, as Secretary of State for Scotland. He was a Member of Parliament for 18 years.

After the 2015 General Election, Michael became a Senior Advisor at PwC. Prior to entering politics, he qualified as a chartered accountant with the firm.

 

Leon de Bono Managing Director, Industry Development Leon de Bono is the BVCA's Managing Director. Before joining the BVCA in 2010 he was the Publishing Director and a member of the team that launched Private Equity News, part of eFinancialNews, which was acquired by Dow Jones in 2007. He began working in the private equity industry with Caspian Media in 2001. He has a BA from University College London and an MA from The Courtauld Institute.

 

Jayne Mould Chief Operating Officer Jayne Mould is the BVCA's Chief Operating Officer and Head of Finance. Jayne qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PwC where she worked in the audit, transaction services and structuring departments. Prior to joining the BVCA, Jayne was an Investment Manager at a LSE listed self-managed investment trust. She has also worked for an international media company where she was responsible for the assessment of investment opportunities and the on-going portfolio management held by the group. Jayne holds a B.A. (Hons) in Medieval and Modern History.

 

Amy Abbott Director, Events Amy Abbott is the BVCA's Director of Events. Prior to joining the BVCA in 2012, she was Head of Events & Awards at the Royal Academy of Engineering where she led a small team of event managers to deliver a highly regarded programme of events for the engineering fellowship comprising eminent chartered engineers, business leaders and Royal patrons. During her nine years at the Academy Amy was secretary to several awards committees including the prestigious MacRobert Award; involving events at Buckingham Palace. She also played a fundamental part in the launch of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering where she was responsible for the launch event involving the former three party leaders. She has a BA Hons in Business and Marketing from Oxford Brookes University.

 

Sarah Adams Director of Policy Sarah is Director of Policy at the BVCA, with Isobel Clarke. Isobel and Sarah have worked as a jobshare partnership since early 2020. They lead the Policy team and their work across tax, legal, regulatory, accounting and sustainability matters, working closely with members and the BVCA committees to progress key technical and strategic policy issues.

Sarah has over a decade of experience making policy in the centre of government, mainly at HM Treasury. She has led on policy areas across tax, spending and financial services, including pensions tax, venture capital and insurance markets. With Isobel, she has been deputy director for business tax strategy at HM Treasury, and deputy director for open justice and dispute resolution at the Ministry of Justice.

Sarah lives in London with her family. She studied economics at the University of Cambridge and worked on global health economics before joining the civil service.

 

Isobel Clarke Director of Policy Isobel is Director of Policy at the BVCA, with Sarah Adams. Isobel and Sarah have worked as a jobshare partnership since early 2020. They lead the Policy team and their work across tax, legal, regulatory, accounting and sustainability matters, working closely with members and the BVCA committees to progress key technical and strategic policy issues.

Isobel has over 13 years’ experience of working on government policy, mainly at HM Treasury but also at the Ministry of Justice. She has led policy work on business rates, tax devolution and the scrutiny of tax reliefs. She was, with Sarah, deputy director for business tax strategy and then deputy director for open justice and dispute resolution.

Isobel lives in London with her family. She read French and German at the University of Cambridge, spending a year in Berlin. Before joining HM Treasury she was a research and evaluation consultant.

 

Karim Palant Director, External Affairs Karim Palant is Director of External Affairs at the BVCA leading the Public Affairs, Communications and Research functions. He has two decades of tech and economic policy experience. Since 2015 he has led public policy and economic impact projects for LinkedIn and previously Facebook. Prior to that he had extensive experience working in politics and policy making including acting as Head of Policy to the Shadow Chancellor.

Based in London, he studied PPE at Oxford University having attended Calderstones Comprehensive School in Liverpool.