With experience in rural and licensed property, James qualified as a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors in 1987 whilst working for Carter Jones. He subsequently joined Dron & Wright working in both their City and West End offices where he headed their Investment department advising the likes of British Land, Daejan Holdings, Provident Life and Wintherthur Life. In 1995 he left to manage the family portfolio which consists of two estates and associated businesses in Herefordshire and Cheshire which have been in the family since the 1800’s. An important part of this was the diversification into property investment and development, which has increased the value of assets he is responsible for to more than £150m. James has managed and either retained or exited in excess of 50 development projects in the UK with a GDV in excess of £75million. In addition, he has conducted developments in Europe, South Africa, United States and Western Australia where the development program amounted to approximately AUD$70m. James joined Calmez in 2009 as a shareholder and director. In 2015 he was appointed Chairman and continues in those roles with Saxon Trust. James also acts as a Deputy of the Court of Protection.

Adam has built a career in assembling and leading several exceptionally talented management teams through organic growth, targeted acquisition, mergers and successful exits of a number of high-profile businesses in the Fintech, property and financial services sectors over a 25-year period. Adam has held CEO positions at companies based in the UK and Europe in property and technology investments, including key experience working with, VCs and AIFs. Adam has overseen the implementation of quality assurance requirements and quality management systems achieving ISO 9001 accreditation. Adam has been responsible for several thousand employees across his career to date and held full P&L responsibilities. Adam has personally managed and led property development projects with values in excess of £100m, across a range of sectors. During the financial crisis, Adam was appointed interim turnaround CEO of several large property developments, investment and construction businesses on behalf of shareholders and banks such as Barclays. Adam joined Calmez Ltd in 2018 as a member of the credit committee and to work with the team on operational strategies and execution. Adam is a director of Saxon Trust.

Having spent over 35 years with Standard Chartered Bank in various credit and risk related roles including over 10 years as Regional Head of Country Cross Border Risk for SE Asia and Latin America before becoming Head of Strategic Investments Risk, Stuart is a highly experienced finance professional. From Standard Chartered, Stuart joined Banyantree Bank to manage and restructure their profitable portfolio of bridging loans. Within this role he was also instrumental in developing a network of new introducers, sourcing and then structuring new property lending transactions. Stuart’s current role involves working closely with the Saxon Trust board and institutional funders, managing the entire credit and risk function within the business. Stuart also works very closely with the new business team, assisting with new enquiries and prospective clients.

Andrew is a qualified solicitor having specialised in corporate finance and private equity starting his career at US firm, Squire Patton Boggs (then Squire Sanders LLP), and subsequently joining the private equity team at Travers Smith. Andrew supported a range of private equity firms and corporates, including providing legal advice on the flotation of a number of companies on the Premium Market of the London Stock Exchange and AIM, as well as a number of international exchanges including TISE and the TSX. Andrew left law in 2014 to establish a fintech group operating a number of brands and pioneering certain innovative and regulated business models which were the first of their kind. Andrew led this group through 5 rounds of venture capital funding, increasing the customer base to over 35,000 in 110 countries globally cumulating in the exit of the main trading entity. Andrew joined Calmez in 2017 to work on the re-branding and launch of Saxon Trust. Andrew is a director of Saxon Trust and works with the team to develop technology, innovation and growth strategies and to secure and manage institutional funding capacity.

A structured finance, investment, and treasury professional with diverse asset management experience, Nick has a Bachelor of Science degree in construction management and a Master of Science degree in investment management. Most recently Nick spent nearly 10 years at Coronado Property Developments Group in London and prior to this he worked for Botswana Insurance Fund Management (a member of the Sanlam Group), Fleming Asset Management and Stanbic Investment Management Services (part of the Standard Bank Group) during a decade spent in Botswana. He began his career working for several leading companies in South Africa including Investec and the Brait Group. During his time at Coronado, Nick fulfilled a range of treasury, investment and finance functions including the management of substantial senior and mezzanine funding arrangements and a large book of equity investor’s capital. He also established strong broker relationships from whom he sourced, arranged, and negotiated a range of senior and mezzanine funding facilities for development projects. Nick sources and conducts due diligence on new development and renovation loan enquiries. He also conducts site visits and builds relationships with developers, as well as monitoring and reporting on ongoing loans. Consequently, he works closely with both Saxon Trust’s Chief Investment Officer and co-founder/director, Andrew Gardiner.

A highly experienced ACMA Chartered Management Accountant, Marc has spent over 25 years in the property sector. He has worked for several high calibre companies such as Davis Langdon, Gardiner & Theobald, Ballymore, and Hammerson PLC. In over 10 years at Hammerson, he was responsible for flagship retail centres including Brent Cross and the Bullring as well as being heavily involved in the disposal of their office portfolio. From 2015 Marc was the Financial Controller for Augur Group Limited where he specialised in preparing and maintaining cashflows for existing projects and assessing the viability and potential profitability of new projects. He also produced the management and statutory accounts for the Group and managed their accounting processes. Marc has been vital in implementing new structures and processes to support Saxon Trust’s growth. As well as managing the day-to-day accounting he also works closely with both the new business team and assisting the Chief Investment Officer with the management of existing and the acquisition of new funding lines.

Chris has spent his whole career in the real estate space starting out as a property agent in London and subsequently growing his asset management firm to managing over 300 properties with a total value of over £135million. Through this journey, Chris has been responsible for identifying, originating, and closing acquisition and development/investment opportunities which were then funded and managed by Chris and James as partners. Chris has worked with James as partners since 1993 and has been jointly responsible for the development of more than 50 development projects with a GDV in excess of £75million. Chris has had day-to-day responsibility for the management of the developments in the UK, as well as the joint international developments in Europe, Western Australia, South Africa and America. One of the larger projects has been an extensive acquisition, investment, planning and development projects in Montenegro. The project consists of over 1 million square meters of land for residential and commercial development and included strategic planning gains and ground-up developments. Chris was a founding shareholder and director of Calmez when it was established in 2006 and has continued to be a director of Saxon Trust.

A highly experienced specialist financier, Brian has spent over 25 years in the property sector, holding senior roles at corporate blue-chip lenders such as GE Capital and serving two terms as a board director of the Association of Short-Term Lenders (ASTL) between 2015-2019. Following successful spells driving growth with smaller specialist lenders such as Swift, Funding 365 and Central Bridging, Brian spent 18 months working as a consultant for media and fintech companies including the Falbros Group and most recently for development funding specialists Pivot. Well known within media circles as a sought-after industry commentator and contributor to the short-term lending industry trade magazines, websites and to more mainstream publications including the FT. In his current role Brian is responsible for driving the Saxon Trust brand whilst building the Sales and Marketing Team to ensure the Group’s ambitious growth goals are met and surpassed. In addition, Brian has also continued to build and foster long-term relationships with brokers and developers alike. Brian works very closely with co-founder and director Andrew Gardiner to generate new business.