Co-founded BlairWest and now approaching ‘industry veteran’ status, Simon is embracing the Tech sector with the occasional detour back into Consumer & Manufacturing. Happiest when everyone else is doing well.

Co-founded BlairWest after a career spent in M&A advisory and investments. Passionate about recruitment, he is responsible for (almost) everything you’d expect in an early stage business and is at his best delivering board search projects for invested businesses.

No, not the famous one. Previously worked in a start-up business that scaled significantly so the opportunity to ‘go again’ with BlairWest was really appealing. Excited by the day to day challenges in a growing business. Commercial guru.

The glue that binds BlairWest together – delivers most of the operational work that David and Simon think they’re responsible for whilst leading our Research across all delivery areas.

Born and raised in Gateshead, Aqueel’s first love is, and always will be, Tech. Like many others, he fell into recruitment 8 years ago and has never looked back. He can be extremely competitive, abiding by a ‘work hard, play hard’ mantra.

The region’s youngest ‘Nigel’ has finance in his blood and a Rainman-esque recall of the North East market. Born & bred in Newcastle, he is a big supporter of economic development in the region and his interests are; Finance, Football, Food. Often in that order.

An economics graduate with a passion for Technology and all things ‘Cloud’ and ‘Infrastructure’. In his spare time, you will find him cheering on Newcastle Utd or watching David Attenborough wildlife documentaries.