Forbes 30 Under 30 founder, angel investor and consumer expert. Ruari has supported early stage consumer brands in brand development and GTM for over 10 years. Ruari co-founded 4CAST, the UK's first athlete led investment collective alongside World Cup winning athletes and brother Fergus. Advised global brands such as Red Bull, Amazon and Budweiser on their athlete marketing strategies. Holds several board and advisory positions at early stage consumer businesses.

Fergus is an ex-sportsman and award winning entrepreneur. Following retirement from professional sport in 2016, Fergus has remained passionate about working alongside elite athletes as they prepare for life outside of sport and has advised global athletes and brands throughout his career. Passionate Angel investor and lectures at The European Sports Business School (Athletes in Enterprise) whilst also sitting on the board of numerous early stage businesses.

18 years of experience in technology, VC, investment banking and managing high-growth operations. Formerly a Principal at Draper Esprit and headed up investments at Founders Factory. Kelvin gained operation experience as MD at a deep tech scale-up harvesting the power of computer vision which he exited. He also worked at Credit Suisse and HSBC after achieving a first class Master's degree in Computer Science from Imperial College London.

Phil is the former CFO of Amazon EMEA, Deliveroo and Groupon, with deep expertise in leading companies to public markets. He has completed IPO preparations for two companies and worked with top banks including Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley. Phil has accrued valuable public company board experience, most notably as an Amazon EU Sarl board member. He is a seasoned angel investor and advisor, having recently worked with JPMorgan to launch a £200m listed fund. At The Players Fund, Phil focuses on sourcing, executing D2C, B2C and e-commerce deals, and acquisition/IPO targets.

​​Ex-founder with experience in funding and developing tech-enabled consumer businesses. Gained a first-class degree in Management & Sustainable Development from St Andrews University. Analytical experience and due diligence processes as first employee at Hoptrail, where he built out a first-of-its-kind risk and compliance index for the crypto industry backed by reporting data.

Rowena is an accomplished legal Partner and founder of commercial sports consultancy, GENSport. She specialises in negotiating and implementing international deals for major sports properties and star athletes. As a former athlete, she is passionate about diversity in sports, as reflected in her TEDx talk and work with women’s sports groups. Rowena is dedicated to evolving perceptions in the industry and her expertise was recognised when Legal 500 included her in their elite "General Counsel Powerlist" in 2018, also naming her a Next Generation Partner for 2020-2023.

A seasoned marketing leader, Rebecca has carved her career by helping grow brands from both an agency seat and in-house. She has created multiple award winning campaigns for Adidas, McVitees, and Unilever to name a few. Rebecca founded the first B-Corp agency in the UK, Library, that focuses on consumer brands with a sustainability bias. A creative innovator by trade and connector at heart, Rebecca co-founded VC network ForGood, alongside Chris Smalling, focussed on building, launching and growing sustainably-led brands through their ‘change maker’ community.

Hasnain is a Y Combinator–backed engineering leader with over a decade of experience building secure, scalable platforms for high-growth companies. He specializes in multi-tenant architecture, data governance, and event-driven systems that turn complex inputs into reliable insights. Previously at Sled (now Dot) and other venture-backed teams, Hasnain built modern cloud-based backends and web applications. At The Players Fund, he leads engineering for the Scout platform, which automates the ingestion, enrichment, and analysis of founder and company data to support investment decisions. He oversees the full lifecycle from schema design to API delivery and release automation, ensuring reliability, auditability, and scale.

Michele is a former professional athlete with over 15 years of experience in the global sports industry, working alongside leading athletes, clubs, and federations. He has held senior roles at PUMA, Roc Nation, YMU, and EMW, where he led and scaled professional teams and commercial operations. Throughout his career, he has negotiated more than $150 million in sports marketing contracts and brokered over $100 million in brand partnerships. An active angel investor, entrepreneur, and advisor, he supports a range of early-stage ventures and organisations across sport and entertainment.

Andy is a rising star in the sports industry, recognised for his audience of elite sports and technology executives at Sports Pundit, where delivers weekly industry analysis. His career spans roles at CSM Sport & Entertainment (later became Wasserman), a sport media tech business, and Zone7, an AI-powered injury analytics platform. His expertise in storytelling and trend-spotting has led to advisory roles with forward-thinking companies and rightsholders, including Supertri, where he provides guidance on content and brand strategy.

A qualified corporate lawyer, Matthew leveraged his expertise in banking and finance at leading institutions including HSBC and Natwest. As Head of Compliance, he utilises his extensive experience advising startups as an investor and senior executive. His multidimensional skillset encompasses corporate law, investment strategy and executive leadership. As an FCA authorised Securities Representative and domain expert in UK regulatory compliance for investment funds, he ensures governance across diverse portfolios. His background makes him a strategic leader in navigating complex compliance frameworks.

With a career in the world of professional sport at Durham County, Mike played cricket at the elite level for a number of years before moving into further education at Loughborough University. With a keen interest in business outside of sport, Mike founded 4CAST with Ben Stokes, Stuart Broad, and Jofra Archer, as the first athlete-led entrepreneurial collective of its kind. The group provides athletes with exceptional opportunities with international sporting bodies and blue chip companies such as: Red Bull, Ryder Cup, Puma and LIV golf.

Sebastiano is a seasoned investor, entrepreneur, and advisor to funds, businesses and governments with a diverse portfolio spanning bioscience, food, agriculture, and technology. He is the founder of Vegan Capital, an early-stage investor in vegan ventures, and a partner in the Blue Horizon Group, a leading investor in plant- based companies. He has invested in over 80 companies in the plant-based food and beverage sector. Sebastiano also co-founded a SPAC, Natural Order Acquisition Corp, which successfully closed a US$230 million IPO on Nasdaq in 2020. His experience and broad network make him a valuable asset to any fund.

Peter is an experienced CEO, Chief Investment Officer, Investment Advisor, and Fund Director with over 25 years in the investment management industry. His career spans Private Equity/Debt and Hedge Fund investing in Australia, the US, UAE, and the UK. Peter recently co-founded a regulated Digital-RWA platform in Abu Dhabi, leading the first tokenisation of a Hedge Fund. With deep understanding of institutional governance, regulatory compliance, and investors' evolving needs, Peter is well-positioned to support The Players Fund team.

An accomplished business leader with a proven track record in driving growth, strategy, and innovation across sports and media. As Business Director at LALIGA Studios and Account Director at MRM, Flora has led multi-million-dollar projects, built and scaled brands, and developed high-performing teams that deliver measurable results. Combining strategic insight with creative execution, she excels at turning ideas into impactful outcomes. With a focus on building authentic, commercially successful brands that resonate with audiences, she now supports TPF’s Corporate Ventures in partnering with rights holders to create meaningful business opportunities.

Julian is a former Swedish National Team rower and Co-Founder of AthleteFC, a sports-tech SaaS platform serving professional European football clubs. Under his leadership, the company has achieved early traction with European club partnerships and high engagement across personalised video campaigns. With a background spanning B2B sales, marketing, and product development, Julian brings a deep understanding of how technology can elevate customer experiences and engagement at scale. Julian supports TPF with Growth and Go-To-Market strategy.