We are a team of corporate finance, communications, and leadership advisers. 

Your message is our mission. We will help you communicate with impact. Great to meet you…

Experts
at every level

George has extensive coaching, mentoring and advisory experience with a wide range of UK and international business leaders. He has assisted a numerous FTSE clients and Private Equity firms achieve key investor relations goals, as well as advising on numerous Private Equity portfolio disposals.

George is an enthusiast who brings genuine passion and ‘joie de vie’ to his work. He derives huge satisfaction from helping both individuals and teams to fulfil their potential. And, in transactions, it’s great when we help them exceed value expectations too! 

Prior to Capstar George had a successful military career, which culminated as the Commanding Officer of 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards on operations in Afghanistan.

George has worked in Germany and speaks very basic conversational German and French.

He is an enthusiastic off-piste skier and sailor. He also has a penchant for open water swimming – which his family don’t always share.

Capstar Partner

George Waters

Nigel co-founded Capstar in 2012 to create a business that leverages his passion and expertise for the power of spoken communications, and helping senior management teams communicate their business stories. Today he works with Capstar clients on key investor communications and supporting major M&A, IPO and fund-raising transactions. With a deep understanding of how to inform, persuade and engage an investor audience, he has a wealth of experience of advising and coaching at board level with major companies in the FTSE and internationally, across a breadth of sectors.

Nigel’s experience and focus lies across UK, Italy, Nordics, Asia and the US.

He has an extensive corporate finance advisory background and international experience in senior roles at Lazard based in London as well as India, Singapore and Seoul. He was also chairman of Chapman Bags for 13 years, a Carlisle based manufacturing business in which he co-invested and helped expand.

Nigel has a passion for the spoken word, arising from a strong educational grounding in Classics and the power of rhetorical technique. He also speaks conversational Italian and even some Hindi. 

Nigel Costain

Chris is passionate about purpose, people, and partnerships. Chris became a Partner at Capstar to make use of a lifetime of diverse, high stakes communications and leadership experience to help individuals and teams achieve their goals. It’s never better than seeing clients exceed even their own highest expectations.

Chris is a proven communications specialist and adviser to senior leaders around the globe, including FTSE 100/250 companies. Before becoming a Partner, Chris was a Major General in the British Army. He was private secretary to the Head of the Army, a senior commander up to Divisional level, founded and scaled a communications agency, and redesigned the Army’s talent pathways, training and recruitment engine. He is an experienced strategic leader who knows the pressures and responsibilities of heading up and transforming large organisations.

Chris' favourite moments as a Partner at Capstar are always the same. Helping management teams tell their story well and then watching them grow from taking tentative first steps through often unfamiliar processes, to confident strides with investor audiences and achieving high value outcomes.

Chris can speak basic conversational level German and has lived and worked overseas for more than 20 years, including Germany, the Middle East, Africa, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Republic of Korea, and the USA.

Chris Bell

Paul has extensive communications experience, particularly on transaction situations and investor relations.

A founding partner of Capstar, Paul previously had 27 years of financial advisory experience at board/partner level mainly in the UK and Europe with major public and private companies, private equity firms and government ministries. Engaged in all aspects of corporate finance advice: Public and Private market M&A, IPO’s, Debt Capital Markets and restructurings.

Paul qualified as an accountant at PwC, was an Investment Associate at 3i and then moved into investment banking, becoming a Director at Lazard and then Managing Director at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse. While at Lazard he worked for three years in Paris and speaks fluent French.

His enthusiasm for Capstar stems from the satisfaction we get in working together to help our clients. It’s personally very rewarding when a client says “you’ve made such a difference to my performance” and “thanks to you my team has really stepped up and we can see the impact on the investors”.

In his spare time Paul likes to combine favourite pastimes including cycling, motorcycling and open water swimming with his charity fund raising efforts.

Paul Kelly

Adele has been a partner at Capstar Advisers for over 6 years.

She has a deep understanding of financial and investor audiences, plus extensive experience of advising and coaching at board level. As Commercial Director for Xchanging plc, she was a key member of the team which grew the company from start-up to IPO and into the FTSE 250, and where she honed her passion for developing and winning competitive pitching. 

Prior to Xchanging Adele worked in M&A at Lazard for 6 years. She is a chartered accountant and a qualified executive coach.

Adele Cordle

Neil has worked across a wide range of sectors, geographies and deal dynamics. With deep experience of M&A and IPO processes combined with significant FTSE 100/250 exposure, he knows what good looks like and how to get individuals coming across at their best and as a cohesive unit.

He enjoys a challenging situation and likes nothing more than getting the best out of people, helping them achieve their objectives. His core focus is on the performance enhancement of individuals and teams.

Before joining Capstar, Neil was an Infantry Officer in the British Army serving on multiple tours in Afghanistan. His final role was as Company Commander. He has a postgraduate degree in Coaching and Behaviour Change from Henley Business School and a Masters from the University of St Andrews.

When not at work, Neil can be found at home in Scotland, spending time with his family or running up and down Munros.

Neil Gow

Roger brings over 30 years’ experience in corporate finance, industry and government acting both in principal and advisory roles and working with senior management and boards on their strategies and communications.

Roger takes great pleasure in seeing management teams perform as a cohesive unit, using his extensive experience to help them understand the process and how best to land the right points with the audience. He also takes satisfaction from working with people in a second language, ensuring that they are completely confident for their ultimate presentations.

Prior to joining Capstar, Roger spent 9 years as a Director of UK Government Investments, part of HM Treasury. He led on a number of high profile projects and transactions, including the privatisation of Royal Mail, the sale of the UK’s shareholding in Eurostar and the sale of the Green Investment Bank. Key to these roles was the need to combine corporate finance expertise with Ministerial engagement. 

Roger started his career in investment banking at Lazard, where he spent 11 years in corporate finance, including 2 years in New York. He then worked in industry for 3 years heading corporate finance at a large listed engineering company, followed by working across Europe and the Nordic region with an advisory boutique. He speaks conversational French.

Roger Lowe

Helen is a highly experienced Performance and Presentation coach to senior management teams and business leaders, including Capstar’s FT-SE 100/250 clients and Private Equity firms as well as our international clients around the globe. She delivers 1-2-1 bespoke presentation coaching for clients delivering Investor Day, Capital Markets Day and Results presentation speeches. She maximises the impact of the individual and how they come across as a presenter.

Before joining Capstar, Helen trained as a professional actress and has over 30 years’ experience in the theatre, TV and film industries, from West End productions to prime-time television drama series. She knows what it feels like to be both on stage and in front of a camera, with the pressure and presence of a large audience. For some, this can be an uncomfortable experience, often feeling unprepared and under rehearsed.

In the world of business and finance, management teams are often required to inhabit this demanding and potentially intimidating world of public speaking. For many, this is not always a natural fit.

“I equip clients with the required mindset and technical skills to deliver a speech or presentation with impact, clarity and confidence, including those working in their 2nd or 3rd language. Every presenter is unique, my role is to highlight their individual strengths and compliment those strengths with appropriate performance enhancement.”

“I am truly passionate about what I do. Nothing gives me greater satisfaction than supporting a client through these challenging moments and imbuing them with the skills and confidence to connect with their audience and land their story”

Helen serves on the board of a theatre company and mentors young actors hoping to break into the industry. She is an experienced horse rider and enjoys literature and the arts.

Experts at every level

Your message. Our mission.