Our Specialists

Chairman

Sir Bernard Zissman

Sir Bernard Zissman has been a Partner at Advantage Business Angels since 2003.  He is Chairman of AQC Consulting Ltd, Cerebrum Private Equity Ltd and Lambton Tailoring and has served as Chairman and Non-Executive Director of a number of small-to-medium companies,

He was formerly a member of the Council of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry and its Policy Group.

Sir Bernard served as a leading member of Birmingham City Council for thirty years, during which time he was elected Leader of the Conservative Group, and Lord Mayor of Birmingham.  He led the teams which developed the International Convention Centre and Symphony Hall and the successful development of Millennium Point in the Eastside of Birmingham.

Appointed by Network Rail, Sir Bernard chaired the judging panel which selected the design, and architect, for Birmingham’s £600 million Grand Central development at New Street Station.

Sir Bernard is a trustee of the CBSO Benevolent Fund, Open Prepaid Funeral Trust,a member of the Appeal Council of the recently completed National Memorial Arboretum and former Chairman of the Midlands Committee for the Princess Royal Trust for Carers.

Knighted for public and political services in 1996, he holds Honorary Degrees from the University of Birmingham [1997] and Birmingham City University [2001]. He is the author two published books, Knight out with Chamberlain and Herzl’s Journey.

Managing director

John Rankin

After more than 30 years of working at senior levels in the SME sector John Rankin has spent the last fifteen years putting his knowledge and experience to work in helping early stage companies raise equity finance.

John Rankin became Managing Director of Advantage Business Angels in 2017. He has deep experience in sourcing and qualifying early stage and growing businesses, improving investment readiness where necessary, and has worked with management teams on hundreds of assignments. He is a veteran analyst of Business Plans and has a discerning eye for what is both commercial and fundable: having been both a business owner and an investor John has personal knowledge and experience of what drives both.

director

Bob Barnsley - In Memoriam

Bob sadly died in March 2022. He was one of the “Founding Fathers” of the UK Angel Investment industry and he will be greatly missed by friends, colleagues and the many business owners and founders he has helped in getting established over over the last three decades.

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Bob was the founder of Advantage Business Angels, with a finance and banking background.

In his early working life he worked for Midland Bank now HSBC, and also for First National City Bank of New York. During the 1970s he set up his own finance consultancy business helping to raise finance for small businesses.

During the 1980s he was instrumental in setting up Mercia Venture Capital Ltd, which operated a BES fund. He was its Managing Director for eight years. In 1990 in conjunction with a number other finance specialists he formed Colmore Development Capital PLC, which acted as a corporate finance boutique out of which grew the idea for Advantage Business Angels.