BVCA appoints former Cabinet Minister as new Director General

The British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA) has appointed Michael Moore, the former Liberal Democrat MP and Scottish Secretary of State, as its new Director General.

Mr Moore will succeed Tim Hames and is due to take up the position later this year. He is currently Senior Adviser at PwC, where he specialises in Government and public policy, and has been advising clients on Brexit over the last two years. A Chartered Accountant who previously worked in corporate finance, Mr Moore was elected as a Liberal Democrat MP for the Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale constituency in the Scottish Borders in 1997. He went on to join the party’s front bench in 2005, was Secretary of State for Scotland in the Coalition Government between 2010 and 2013 and then served as European Business Adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister until leaving Parliament at the 2015 General Election.

BVCA Chairman, Calum Paterson, said: “We have been fortunate to have had an outstanding Director General in Tim Hames over the last six years. He has been a great ambassador for private equity and venture capital and has fulfilled his role with great distinction. Identifying a worthy successor was never going to be an easy task, but we are delighted to have appointed Michael Moore.

“Michael brings exceptional credentials and experience in both business and politics. He has an intimate knowledge of Westminster and Government, is a first-class communicator and has also had direct experience of working with the private equity and venture capital sector in his role at PwC. I am confident that he will be an excellent leader of the BVCA at this important time for our industry and for UK business more generally.”

Michael Moore said: “I am very much looking forward to joining the BVCA and to supporting the private equity and venture capital industry in the invaluable work it does across the UK. The broader economic impact of the industry is extremely important in terms of employment, innovation and economic growth. I look forward to playing my part in ensuring that the crucial role it plays is fully understood and valued.”

For further information, please contact

Tom Allchorne, Director, Communications, BVCA
+44 (0)20 7492 0407
[email protected] or [email protected]

Notes to editor

1. Michael Moore was born in Northern Ireland and grew up in Lanarkshire and the Scottish Borders. After graduating from Edinburgh University with a degree in Politics and History, he joined Coopers & Lybrand in Edinburgh and after qualifying as a Chartered Accountant he worked with the firm in corporate finance and audit. In 1996, David Steel, the Liberal Democrat MP for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale, announced his intention to stand down at the next general election. Michael applied to be the Liberal Democrat candidate in his vacant constituency and was elected in 1997. As an MP, Michael represented a constituency of 70,000 people spread across a rural area of 1,500 square miles. He joined the Liberal Democrat’s front bench in 2005 as the party’s Shadow Defence Secretary. Subsequent portfolios included Foreign Affairs, International Development, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. He played an important role in the UK’s commitment (the first in the G7) to spending 0.7% of gross national income on international development. In 2010, Michael succeeded Danny Alexander as Secretary of State of Scotland in the Coalition Government. During his three years in Cabinet, he played a crucial role in the Edinburgh Agreement and the Scotland Act (2012), which granted further devolution. Following the 2015 general election he re-joined PwC as a Senior Adviser in January 2016. His role there has been to advise boards, chief executives, and management teams on public policy and political risks to their business, including Brexit.


2. Tim Hames has been Director General of the British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA) since May 2013. His first career was as an academic at Oxford University where he was a Lecturer in Politics, having previously been an undergraduate and graduate student at the university. He specialised in American Government and also taught British Government and Politics. In 1996 he became a journalist at The Times where he was ultimately the chief editorial writer, a political columnist, an Assistant Editor and edited the newspaper as a whole on numerous occasions. In 2009 he joined the BVCA as Head of Communications before going on to become the first Special Adviser to the Speaker of the House of Commons. In 2010 he rejoined the BVCA as Head of Public Affairs, Communications and Campaigns and became Deputy CEO in 2012.


3. The British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA) is the industry body for the UK private equity and venture capital industry. The BVCA has over 770 member firms, representing the vast majority of UK-based private equity and venture capital firms and their advisers.