Strategic Growth Leaders (SGL) is a corporate finance consultancy made up of experienced senior managers that focus on the strategic and financial planning objectives of growing companies who, due to increased demands, require these skills more than ever. Our panel of consultants have a wide range of industry experiences across multiple sectors, and depending on a client company’s requirements, we will identify a panel of the most appropriate experts for a company to select from.
John is an experienced Investment and Financial Advisor who specialises in working with SME's on their financial strategy and to secure the funding that they require. He has spent the last 19 years working in financial services and advisory firms, developing a deep understanding of the financial landscape, the players and the various challenges faced by Irish SME's when seeking funding.
John spent the first 10 years of his career working with large institutional investment firms working at a senior management level. In 2009 he founded his own financial advisory firm, dealing with both personal and corporate clients. In 2014, he was instrumental to successfully launching a new finance company into the Irish Market. Quite rapidly John recognized the diversity in funding options available and in late 2014 John, in collaboration with other finance providers, began to bring providers together and in 2015 launched IFP Ireland, an umbrella body representing most of the non-bank finance providers in the Irish market. He was subsequently elected as the founding Chairperson of this body.
In 2016 John identified that scaling companies needed to professionalise their finance function not only in order to prepare for seeking finance, but also as part strong corporate governance. Strategic Growth Leaders (SGL) provides a solution for scaling companies to have access to senior finance and CFO level professionals on a flexible basis that suit their needs.
John is now Managing Director of SGL and provides strategic and corporate finance advisory services to SGL client companies, and is the principle contact point for clients. John is widely recognized as one of the foremost authorities on the funding ecosystem available to Irish companies and regularly participates in and delivers presentations and workshop modules in areas of strategic financial planning, capital structure, fundraising, alternative finance and non-bank debt in the market.
Barry is a highly experienced Finance professional and CFO, with an enormous breadth of experience and expertise. As a Director of SGL, Barry has been instrumental in establishing SGL’s reputation and provides continuous, project and part-time FD/CFO services, advises ambitious companies looking to expand rapidly while remaining in control. He works closely with MD’s/CEO’s of companies at different stages, to develop strategic plans and make decisions based on a thorough understanding of their business. Assignments typically involve some element of fundraising or meeting a finance need to support growth plans. Creating detailed, concise business plans supported with plausible financial projections is a skill developed over many years.
Having worked across Practice, Industry and Public sectors, in manufacturing, professional services, technology, wholesaling and retailing organisations selling consumer and industrial products, he has developed the knowledge and experience to help business owners and company directors devise and implement plans to ensure that their businesses prosper.As an Outsourced FD/CFO, professionalising the finance function and other departments is achieved through imparting knowledge through direct training, mentoring and running internal workshops.
A Chartered Accountant, with a Business Degree from Trinity College and more recently a Diploma in International Selling awarded by DIT Business School, a programme developed and run, in conjunction with Enterprise Ireland.
