Gary Parker

During a career spanning 30 years Gary has held senior roles within professional membership organisations, awarding bodies and International blue-chip firms including City & Guilds, the Chartered Management Institute, the Engineering Employers Federation, and Ernst & Young.

Part of a Nation team of Business advisors responsible for the delivery of the Government’s £200m Business Growth Service / Growth Accelerator which supported 26,000 of England’s brightest businesses achieve their ambition and growth potential. Gary’s focus is working with companies to identify their barriers to growth and how to overcome them, tackling problems such as: Securing finance, Commercialising innovation, Developing leadership skills and Increasing Management capability.

More recently he was part of a team of investment analysts and professional advisors working in collaboration with Norfolk and Suffolk Local authorities and The University of East Anglia to create and deliver an Investment Readiness Programme helping SMEs access vital private equity and venture capital investment to grow.

Gary has spent many years working with SME’s looking to raise vital growth finance, and specialises in helping founders to plan their approach to raising investment, providing one-to-one and group pitch coaching and development sessions, affecting introductions to private investors and investment groups as well as creating a network of entrepreneurs who have experience of successfully raising investment and are keen to share their insights and knowledge with others.

Gary has extensive knowledge and experience of high growth organisations, having worked for Ernst & Young (one of the Big Four accounting firms) as part of their Innovation and Tax advisory team, advising clients on tax incentives to support innovation including R&D and Patent Box tax relief. A significant part of Gary’s expertise is providing information and advice to SME’s on the Innovation lifecycle, from initial concept through to R&D, Prototyping, creating an MVP and commercialisation taking into consideration access to grant funding as well as private investment utilising tax incentives such as EIS and SEIS.

An Associate Member of the Chartered Management Institute and an active member of the Institute of Directors, Gary’s passion is for helping small and medium-sized businesses fulfil their maximum potential through investment in innovation, greater sustainability and building a more circular economy. In his spare time he is also part of the UEA & Norwich Business School Mentoring Programme which offers students support with the critical transition from academia into the world of full time employment as well as career planning, establishing valuable contacts and building a professional network. The programme also offers advice to current and post graduate students seeking to establish a new business venture in terms of raising finance and creating a non-exec advisory board.