Martin Belcher
Chairman
Martin began his career in the London insurance market in 1970 as an aviation facultative broker with Lloyd’s broker C E Heath. In 1983 Martin moved to Guernsey to join Transglobe Underwriting Management (Guernsey) Limited and was then in 1985 appointed Managing Director of Polygon who were the majority capacity provider to Transglobe.
In 2001 Martin orchestrated the management buyout of the fee-based companies from Polygon which formed the basis for a new company, Heritage Group Limited. In 2005 Martin also led the buyout of the Hiscox group’s shareholding of the Heritage Group and was instrumental in the Heritage Group’s expansion. During this time Martin was Chairman of Heritage Trust Company, Heritage Fund Admin, Heritage Insurance Brokers and Heritage Captive Management.
In 2008, Martin stepped down as Chief Executive Officer, moving to the role of Non-Executive Chairman of Heritage Group until 2014. Polygon then sold its shareholding in the Heritage Group and Martin now focuses exclusively on the development of his investment company, Polygon Collective.
Martin also holds a chairmanship for the Guernsey Rugby Association and is a president of the Guernsey Rugby Club.
D: +44 (0)1481 741051
M: +44 (0)7781 188881
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Alex Belcher
Deputy Chairman
After Alex graduated, he pursued a career in the wine trade for 10 years. He then returned to university where he graduated with an MBA and returned to the Channel Islands to work in the Groups’ property portfolio.
He led the development of Forum 3 on Grenville Street as well as the adjacent property Forum 4. Serviced offices have become a significant feature in both properties representing 4 of the 10 floors. The tenants of these buildings range from blue chip, listed companies to technology start-ups, as well family offices and Government organisations including Digital Jersey. Alex also developed the group’s acquisition in Anley Street in 2019 which is let to 2 multinational financial services providers. He then went on to lead the development of Les Vardes House and Bucktrout House which are operated purely as serviced offices in Guernsey. Work on Hadsley House is due to complete in 2022 which will continue this theme. The six properties amount to approximately 60,000 square feet and are currently fully let to over 60 tenants.
Alex is also currently on the board of BookingTek Ltd which is a significant group investment. The company has featured on the Sunday Times top 100 fastest growing companies and supplies software to hotel chains.
D: +44 (0)1534 706518
M: +44 (0)7797 717434
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Verienne Belcher
Executive Director
Verienne began her career in marketing where she has over 15 years’ experience and has gained her Chartered Marketer status. In that time, she ran the marketing department for a multi-jurisdictional financial services business and after 8 years, set up a marketing company as a subsidiary company in 2014.
Verienne joined the board in September 2015 as an Executive Director.
The salary survey business Polymetrix Limited (formerly named Hassell Blampied Limited) was purchased in 2017 and Verienne was appointed Managing Director of this company in 2018. Since then, she has developed and grown this business to increase client numbers in the Channel Islands, establish a significant Isle of Man offering and launch an iGaming survey in Malta in 2022.
Verienne is responsible for the development of Polymetrix’s employment data metrics which has become the leading employment survey offering in these jurisdictions.
D: +44 (0)1534 706539
M: +44 (0)7829 811118
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Paul Wright
CEO
Paul joined Polygon Group as the Chief Operating Officer in 2018 and was promoted to Chief Executive Officer in February 2020. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG in his home, New Zealand, before re-locating with KPMG to Guernsey.
With more than 25 years’ experience, Paul brings with him strong commercial finance experience having worked as Finance Director for Blue Diamond Group for over a decade driving significant growth and profitability and subsequently as Finance Director for International Energy Group, a multi-jurisdictional role where he was instrumental in the restructuring and sale of the company delivering significant value to the shareholder.
Paul has a wide-reaching responsibility for the Collective including responsibility for its finance and operational functions as well as having significant involvement in its investment portfolio. He is a director of Vantage Limited, Vantage Pension Trustees Limited, Vantage Insurance Brokers Limited and also Polygon Insurance Company Limited which is a Guernsey regulated insurance company.
Paul is member of the Australia and New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants.
D: +44 (0)1481 741053
M: +44 (0)7911 716220
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Amanda Groves
Director
Amanda has been assisting Martin Belcher for over 25 years with the administration, marketing and strategic aspects of the Heritage Group and subsequently the Polygon Group.
She now focuses exclusively on the running and development of the family-owned investment company Polygon Collective. Amanda has a wide-reaching responsibility for the Collective including company administration, company secretarial, property management, personal assistant and secretarial services.
She began work in the insurance industry with Martin after completing a Diploma in secretarial studies and has completed the Institute of Directors Company Direction programme.
D: +44 (0)1481 741052
M: +44 (0)7781 131957
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Joanna Leese
Director
Joanna is a qualified Chartered Accountant and has over 20 years’ experience in providing, implementing, and supporting a wide range of software solutions in both the commercial and financial sectors.
She joined Polygon Group Limited in 2008 working for one of the investment companies as the Accounting and Technical Officer and became IT Director of the Vantage Group in 2017.
Joanna is a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. She was appointed to the Board of Polygon Collective in 2020 and her role has wide-ranging responsibility including infrastructure and system development coupled with her group accounting role.
In 2022, Joanna became a Director of the Vantage regulated businesses.
Liaising with external IT providers, she maintains the group’s Cyber Essentials Certification and leads the data protection team.
D: +44 (0)1534 706514
M: +44 (0)7797 787299
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Bahar Mowbray
Head of Relations
Bahar has over 20 years’ experience in Marketing and Business Development in both the commercial and financial services sector.
Her roles included Guernsey Finance, the quasi-government promotional agency for the finance sector where she gained in-depth knowledge and experience working closely with the funds, private client, banking and insurance industry. She was key in leading the jurisdictional development plans and industry delegations worldwide.
Her subsequent roles within a leading offshore law firm and a bespoke private client firm has enabled her to gain further experience in their respective fields.
Bahar joined Polygon Collective in 2019 where she is responsible for the business development and the strategic implementation of the firm’s growth plan across the investment portfolio.
D: +44 (0)1481 741056
M: +44 (0)7781 142144
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Andrew Ogier
Group Investment Officer
Andrew has over 20 years’ commercial experience, having held senior positions across a range of sectors. He has experience in operations and project management as well as an understanding of the tech industry and the day-to-day workings of start-up businesses.
Starting out managing bulk sea and air transport he moved into 3rd party B2C logistics and as Director of Operations was responsible for overseeing a number of blue-chip and large FMCG clients across the Channel Islands, UK and Switzerland. In 2014 he co-founded Petwell.co.uk, one of the largest online pet retail stores in the UK. In early 2018 Andrew became COO of Found, which is a community focused, technology driven lost property management start-up with an insurtech offering.
Andrew joined Polygon Collective in July 2020 as Group Investment Officer, utilising his skills and experience to review potential early stage investment opportunities and the ongoing performance of the existing portfolio.
D: +44 (0)1481 741058
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Ed Daubeney
Non-Executive Director
Ed is an NED for the Polygon Collective, but his primary role is Deputy Group Chairman of Vantage.
Additional to this, Ed works with a small portfolio of high growth companies who are looking for early-stage capital and he has developed a strong network of sophisticated investors. He works with businesses from a range of commercial sectors, but focuses on technology companies.
Ed has been an Executive Director and Non-Executive Director to several organisations and has also provided project management and consultancy services to private and public sector organisations. He is currently on the Board of Calligo Limited and Jersey Sport, as well as being President of EYECAN and a Governor of St Michael’s School. His early career was with the Ford Motor Company and on returning to the Channel Islands he was the HR Director of the Le Riche Group Limited prior to becoming Managing Director of C.I. Hospitality, the Channel Islands’ largest pub estate. He led this business through major change prior to its ultimate acquisition by the Liberation Group. In a consulting role he assisted in the creation of Digital Jersey, Visit Jersey and Jersey Sport.
Ed holds an MBA from Ashridge Hult Business School.
Hiren Patel
Non-Executive Director
Hiren has been practicing law since 1991. He is a corporate lawyer with specialist practice areas in structured finance, capital markets, funds and insurance.
He is admitted to practice law in England and Wales, Hong Kong and Bermuda, and has extensive experience in cross-border transactions, having lived and worked in several offshore jurisdictions.
He currently practices English and Welsh law from his own law firm and prior to this he was a partner in MJ Hudson, Walkers and Applebys.
Hiren’s client base includes banks and companies involved in infrastructure, oil and gas, telecommunications, insurance and reinsurance, shipping and aviation and building projects worldwide.
His main client base is in India, China and the Far East. These clients focus on structuring inward and outward investments into these regions, listings on stock exchanges and the expansion of their Asian businesses.
Simon Livesey
Non-Executive Director
Simon has had a 27-year career in the City of London in Investment Banking the majority of which was spent as a managing director of Citigroup.
He now works as a consultant with a number of Family Offices as well as River Whey Capital.
He is also a non-executive-director for a number of investment companies and family offices based in Guernsey.
Currently, Simon is the team leader for the Entrepreneurship Committee at the Guernsey Chamber of Commerce where he spearheads their initiatives to build and develop Guernsey’s presence in the space.
