Polygon Collective strengthens Board with expansion

Polygon Collective (“the Collective”), formerly known as Polygon Group Limited, has strengthened its Board to mark a new era of the privately-owned investment and family office and its strategic expansion plans.

Paul Wright has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer from former Chief Operating Officer and Joanna Leese has been appointed to the Board as Director.

With more than 25 years of experience, Paul has strong commercial finance experience having worked as Finance Director for the Blue Diamond Group for over a decade and subsequently as Finance Director for the International Energy Group. He 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.

To mark the Collective’s growth in its angel investments’ division, predominantly in the tech and fintech space, the appointment of Joanna Leese to the Board is a timely one. Mrs Leese who joined one of the Collective’s investment companies in 2008 brings significant system development and change management experience, coupled with her accounting expertise, to the Board.

Founder and Chairman of Polygon, Martin Belcher says: ‘I am delighted to welcome Paul as CEO and Joanna as a Director to the Board of the newly launched Polygon Collective. Both bring invaluable experience to develop the company’s growth strategy further.

‘Calling ourselves a ‘collective’, we believe is a more authentic reflection of how we look today and our current investment portfolio is solid and diverse, made up largely of pan-island commercial property, as well as our intention to identify more opportunities in the tech and digital start-up space going forwards.’

One of the more immediate expansion plans of the Collective is to bring bespoke serviced offices to Guernsey. Mr Belcher adds: ‘Our model is to create smart spaces for businesses to thrive, meet and work in as part of a community. Spaces which are designed and equipped to enable anyone from start-ups to established businesses to connect, collaborate and grow. It will also be the first inter-island space, whereby tenants can freely use the facilities between the islands as a hub for meetings, work and presentations.’

The Guernsey Chamber of Commerce talk on 31st March at the Old Government House Hotel entitled ‘Enterprise Culture – setting the right environment for entrepreneurship to thrive’, sponsored by the Polygon Collective, will elaborate on why this is important for start-ups and the bricks and mortar which underpin such businesses.