OUR TEAM
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Ruari Bell - Co Founder & Managing Partner
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.
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Fergus Bell - Co Founder & Managing Partner
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.
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Kelvin Au - IC Member
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.
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George Burrough - Principal
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.
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Phil Green - GP & IC Member
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.
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Rowena Samarasinhe - Athlete Committee Chair
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.
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Rebecca Wheeler - Head of Marketing
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.
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Haaris Shah - Analyst
Haaris gained experience on the investment team at Evergreen Eco Capital, a ESG friendly fund focusing on Sports, Tech, Fashion, Food and Wellness. Haaris also served as a Director at Oakwood, an ESG fund he managed into equities such as Tech and Healthcare. A passion for sport turned into a career path, when he joined B-Engaged, an award winning athlete management and marketing firm in London, working with elite athletes and companies such as Puma and Nike. Haaris brings a blend of financial analysis and experience working with athletes to the team.
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Andy Marston - Value Creation Partner
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.
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Matthew Barnes - Head of Legal & Compliance
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.
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Mike Turns - Athlete Liaison
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.
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Sebastiano Cossia Castiglioni - Advisor
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.
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Peter Coates - Advisor
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.