Leadership Team

A club run by members, for members.

SAIC is not a business, it is a club run by members, for members and it therefore relies on everyone volunteering time, as well as investing themselves. Currently the members who make up the leadership team are: 

Michael Penny - Chairman

Michael began his career with KPMG and after some time in the USA and the Netherlands subsequently held senior financial positions in a range of sectors including retail, leisure, media and property.

The roles involved companies with significant growth and in most cases involved buying/selling businesses and raising finance with PE houses.

Since leaving full-time employment, Michael has undertaken a pluralist career which has enabled him to spend more time (and money) supporting early stage businesses.

Michael has invested in early stage business since 2006 when he was a founder member of the Surrey Investor’s Club. This became the Southern Angel Investors Club in 2021 and Michael became Chair of the Leadership Team in 2025.

Tony Carter - Treasurer

Tony recently stood down as President of SAIC having led it since formation in 2020 after previously leading Surrey Investors Club since 2012. He now acts as Treasurer and manages the IT elements of the club.

Previously a management consultant specialising in major business change programmes and projects having worked with Ernst & Young and Barclays in the UK, Europe, North America, Russia and Asia.

Since becoming a business angel he has been a non executive director of two early stage companies and has been involved in supporting 30+ investments. He has been actively involving in developing relationships with neighbouring angel clubs and was particularly involved in the merger that created SAIC.

Charles Findlay - Opportunities

After a career in Engineering and Management Consulting at GEC Electrical and Accenture, Charles started investing in early-stage companies in 2007. He has enjoyed some spectacular successes, also (far too) many less than happy outcomes. But he remains committed to helping fund and support entrepreneurs.

He has been an active member of Angels5k, now part of SAIC, for the last ten years. For two years, he was a mentor/coach on the Ignite programme and has supported the CyberASAP and the UCL entrepreneurship programmes.

Charles is a vital member of the Leadership team, managing the application, shortlisting and selection of the businesses that are chosen to present to the club.

Chris Hall - Investment

Chris began investing in early-stage businesses in 2018 following the sale of his own businesses in 2016. With a degree in electrical engineering, he has spent over 40 years in technology related businesses having worked across manufacturing and process control, personal computing, software sales and licensing and most recently through a startup he established in 2001 focussed on web application development, B2B and B2C ecommerce including mobile application development.

He achieved his exit, partly through a trade sale, and partly through a management buy-in.

Chris now retains several non-executive director positions one of which being the Investor Director for one of the companies that secured a significant investment from the SAIC angel community.

He has invested in over 20 early-stage companies, mainly through Southern Angel Investors (SAIC) where he comments that the collaborative due diligence process has proven a real benefit.

Nigel White - Membership

Nigel spent thirty years or so in IBM, mainly in consultative sales and client relationship roles.  He then spent eight years working in smaller software and services companies in a variety of director break out and transformational roles. 

He first invested in startup companies in 2016 and has investments across a number of EIS funds and over 20 individual companies, mostly since 2021 when he retired from paid work. He feels lucky to have had a couple of successful exits and so far only a few failures.  

Nigel has been involvement with the SAIC for 4 years and feels the group offers access to a good variety of screened and credible opportunities. The pooling of knowledge, from other highly experienced (and friendly!) members, enhances the ability to assess investment potential and the group has become an essential part of his investment plans.

Mike Kelly - Sourcing

Mike became a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse then worked for TNT before becoming Group Accountant for Thames Television PLC, F.D. of Majestic Films & TV, F.D. of British Screen Group, Head of Finance for the UK Film Council and V.P. Finance & Production E.M.E.A. & Asia for Warner Bros.

He then established his own accounting and consulting business, Northern Alliance, which he runs today, providing business advice to clients including Aardman, Arts Council England, the BFI, Film London, Octopus Investments and Royal and Derngate Theatres. He has also been a NESTA creative business mentor and helped deliver industry development programmes across the UK and overseas, including as a visiting lecturer at Cass Business School.

Mike became a member of SAIC primarily to see if he could better the performance of the Venture Capital Trusts and similar vehicles he’d used to invest in small UK businesses. He’s pleased with his performance so far, which has been significantly enhanced by the experience and acumen of fellow members. The wealth of knowledge in the club, and the generosity with which members share it, is of tremendous value.

Emma Fadlon

Emma is a commercialisation and early stage technology specialist with a background in start-ups, technology transfer, and consultancy, where she led commercialisation and investment-focused activities for public and private sector funders, VCs, and family offices, supporting companies from inception to Series B.

In her current role, she supports government funded business growth initiatives and leads CyberASAP, the UK’s pre-seed accelerator for academic cyber security innovation. She also mentors and coaches emerging entrepreneurs, including through the European Innovation Council, helping founders strengthen their commercial strategy and prepare for investment.

Emma joined A5K and the Surrey Investors Club (now the Southern Angels Investor Club) in 2016 and became part of the leadership team in 2021. She brings a sector agnostic perspective shaped by work across diverse technology domains, with strong experience in investment readiness, early stage venture development, and ecosystem building.