Director Biographies
Richard Gwynne Smith - Chairman
Richard qualified as a chartered surveyor with Debenham Tie Lung and has over 25 years' of experience in the property industry. In 1981 he founded Smith French and Partners, a property services and consultancy business, which was subsequently sold to London and Manchester Assurance. In 1989 he co-founded and was managing director of Artesian Estates plc, a BES investment company which, along with two sister companies, raised £13.5m by public subscription.
These companies merged and were floated on the London Stock Exchange. In 1991 Richard founded HML, of which he was chief executive and majority shareholder. HML was sold to LTC for shares in 1998 and Richard continued to grow HML in his role as chief executive. He was appointed chairman of LTC in 2000.
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Robert Henry Charles Plumb - Chief Executive
Rob qualified as a chartered accountant with Ernst & Young before joining the American financial services conglomerate, Avco Trust plc, in 1981. He rose to the position of managing director of the UK in 1992 and subsequently grew the business to operate in five additional European countries, overseeing the management of over 1,000 employees in 120 retail branch offices and call centres. He became the chief executive of European operations at Associates Capital Corporation when it acquired Avco in 1999. He oversaw operations in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Spain and France.
In 2000, Rob joined Hercules Property Services Plc, a company quoted on the London Stock Exchange, as CEO. During Rob's four year tenure at Hercules, he managed the integration and consolidation of a number of acquisitions and developed the corporate infrastructure that enabled the various divisions of the company to become leaders in their defined markets. He successfully helped build shareholder value in the years leading up to the company‘s sale in 2004. Rob was recruited as Chief Executive of HML in 2005.
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James Alfred Lloyd Howgego - Finance Director
James qualified as a chartered accountant at Smith & Williamson Limited in 1996. He subsequently moved to Ernst & Young to work in the entrepreneurial services division managing a portfolio of multinational clients. In 2001 he moved to Grant Thornton Corporate Finance working in acquisitions, disposals and other company transactions. In 2003 James left Grant Thornton to take up the position of Finance Director in an acquisitive, venture capitalist backed pub group called The Bar Group Limited, where he assisted in the acquisition and integration of two managed pub groups. James was appointed Finance Director of HML in January 2006.
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Geoffrey John Griggs - Non-executive Director
Geoffrey qualified as a chartered accountant in 1978 with Peat Marwick Mitchell and then moved to Spicer and Pegler where he became director of finance. He was later appointed managing director of MM&K Limited, a firm of City based specialist financial advisers, then an associated company of Morgan Grenfell. He has been a director of a wide range of companies and is a member of the Securities Institute and a Freeman of the City of London.
