Sam Smith (born 22 May 1974) is a British businesswoman and financier. She is the founder and chief executive of the corporate advisor and brokerage firm

FinnCap finnCap Group, comprising finnCap Capital Markets and finnCap Cavendish, is a British investment bank, financial services firm, and a corporate and institutional stockbroker, based in London. It provides strategic advisory and capital raising ser ...

, the largest broker for companies listed on London's growth stock market AIM and a top five broker for the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

. Smith is the first female chief executive of a

City A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

stockbroking firm.

Early life and education

Smith was born and raised in Selsey,

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...

, and attended

Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School is a mixed-sex grammar school with academy status located in Hurst Road ( A222), Sidcup in the London Borough of Bexley, England. It is located adjacent to Lamorbey Park, the Rose Bruford College drama sc ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. She studied Economics and Accounting at the

University of Bristol , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

, graduating with a BSc in 1995.

Career

After graduating, Smith joined

KPMG KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations. Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...

, where she qualified as a Chartered Accountant. In 1998 she joined investment manager JM Finn to establish its corporate advisory and brokerage division. In 2007, Smith established FinnCap and became chief executive following a 50% buyout of JM Finn Capital Markets, making Smith the only female chief executive of a City broking firm. The British venture capitalist

Jon Moulton Jon Moulton (born 15 October 1950) is a British venture capitalist. He is the founder and managing partner of the private equity firm Better Capital, and is the former managing partner of the private equity firm Alchemy Partners. He is an active ...

became chairman of the firm in January 2010. The buyout was completed in April 2010 when the outstanding 50% of the company was acquired from JM Finn. FinnCap is now 95% employee-owned and offers new employees low-interest, long-dated loans to purchase shares. The firm is now the largest broker for companies listed on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM growth market, with over 120 clients. It advised companies on raising a total of £363 million in the financial year ending 30 April 2017. Smith was announced as a finalist for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards in April 2017.

Other activities

Smith is a supporter of women in business and finance; Finncap established a female founders forum in March 2017, aiming to enable more female CEOs to scale up using growth capital. She is a former winner of the Women of the Future Award for Business, and is a patron for the

Modern Muse Dame Mary Lesley Perkins, (born 14 February 1944) is an English billionaire who is the co-founder of Specsavers, the British retail optometry chain. Together with her husband, co-founder and chairman Doug Perkins, Dame Mary has three childre ...

project, a not-for-profit social enterprise designed to inspire and engage the next generation of female business leaders and entrepreneurs.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Sam 1974 births Living people People from Selsey People educated at Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School Alumni of the University of Bristol British women in business English stockbrokers