Actual Operating Exeprience
Experience Matters
Many International businesses trust Nick to help them enter and set up in the UAE and wider Middle East region. Having spent 40+ years in running tech businesses, he founded several start up and has run some large IT Services brands. He has raised more than $75MM for his own ventures and has worked in the UAE for more than 15+ years - alongside key families in the region that gives him great access and understanding of the protocols, nuances and political landscape. His background includes building systems products, running large businesses was a founder of the business process engineering movement - he has handled several turnarounds, post merger integrations and business transformation - big and small. A believer that business is simple, that technology is mostly being used wrong, as the world shifts to PULL. His sector expertise extends to Consumer Retail, Insurance, Capital Markets & Trading, Supply Chain, Defense, Healthcare, Travel & Logistics and....
Family Office Network
Nick has chaired and moderated some of th world's largest Family Office and Investment Summits for 20+ years. He is no stranger to debating with Chief Investment Offices, Family members and principals and UHNW the topics of the day - whether allocation strategies, private credit markets, venture capital, Family Office 2.0 evolution, and investing in Ai, Healthcare and the latest innovations.
Nicks unique perspective as a technologist and wide experience gives him useful perspectives on a wide range of topics - from geopolitics, capital markets, global supply chains and of course how technology impacts investment decision and returns.
Thought Leader
Nick is an accomplished global speaker and technology thought leader, he has a broad perspective on how emerging tech is already impacting businesses, global trade and the nature of work.
Regularly ranked as a top 5 thought leader and influencer in Ai, Blockchain, Quantum Computing and B2B2C - he uses this insight to advise business - how to deal with what's coming next?
Learning computer science in the 1970's his background encompasses mainframes to desktop, from mobile and internet evolution to Bitcoin and Fintech, and now Ai and the Quantum future.
A unique perspective on business, technology and what happens next...
Access to the right people..
Family Office Network
It takes time to win the hearts and minds of the key families in the Middle East, and Internationally. Chairing and moderating Family Office & Investment summits give me a unique privilege of getting to know some of the world's most powerful families, and the next generations coming through. The Families in the UAE are somewhat different, maintaining large operating companies and can focus on certain sectors from real estate, to mining, to oil & gas, consumer retail & hospitality, construction and development, healthcare and technology. Their appetite to invest in innovation, the cutting edge stems from doing what's they can to make the UAE prosper and meet its Vision and deliver the Values.
The Future is - Made in UAE
I was please to be part of the announcement on stage 9th October 2025 - our last FO Summit where my friend Theo Valich announced and then showed silicon processors - yes you guessed it - design in the UAE, then showed a new server in partnership with AMD - servers made in the UAE!
A significant statement and further consolidates its position as the leader in AI, data centres, smart cities and healthcare.
Family Office 2.0
A favourite topic and one that I have debated onstage with Chief Investment Officers and family principals of some of the largest International Single Family Offices - the evolution and progression as new younger members take over the reigns. A $84trillion wealth transfer to a next-gen that think and act differently to boomers like me.
The influence of AI, enabling smaller FO to push above their weight and see more deal flow, get better access to data and information and monitor current portfolios - the search for FO LLMs and the answer drives the debate. Younger family members who are more tech savvy want to do more direct deals than their parents. But one thing is for certain FO technology is both legacy, inefficient and no longer fit for purpose - maybe it never was.