Our Directors

ABOUT US | OUR DIRECTORS | OUR PARTNERS | PRIVACY POLICY & LEGAL

Two of the Founding Directors are David Rogers, a former Chief Operating Officer responsible for Abercrombie & Kent’s many operating companies around the world, and Desmond Patrick-Smith, former Managing Director of Abercrombie & Kent Europe. Between them, they have more than 50 years’ experience of international luxury travel operations and are well able to ensure that the houses around the world will be expertly managed and maintained.

DAVID ROGERS

David read Law at Magdalene College, Cambridge. His passion for the world, fuelled by two years as a District Assistant in Africa and other travels, outweighed his interest in the law however, and he started his first company Supertravel, in Knightsbridge, London, at the age of 24. Supertravel had grown into one of the largest privately owned luxury tour operators in the UK, specialising in winter sports, by the time David sold out in 1984.

Soon afterwards, he identified an opportunity for a joint venture with Abercrombie & Kent in connection with inbound travel from the USA to Europe and a company was formed in 1988. It grew rapidly into a highly-profitable business and David sold his shares to Abercrombie & Kent some ten years later. David continued to work with Abercrombie & Kent for a period after the sale, becoming Chief Operating Officer responsible for their many operating companies around the world.

David’s knowledge of the world and his experience of the provision of high-quality accommodation, transportation, food and wine, are almost unmatched. He now brings all of this experience to Rocksure, for which he has worked full-time since it started in 2005.

DESMOND PATRICK-SMITH

Desmond obtained a BSc Hons. from Buckingham University in Business Studies and an MBA from Exeter University. Desmond has lived throughout Europe with homes in Geneva, the Côte D’Azur, the Haute Savoie, and Portugal. Having also worked in Germany, Desmond speaks French and German.

Desmond started his career with Nestlé as a Business Analyst but left to travel the world for two years which gave him an enduring love of exploring the world and has led him to explore over 100 countries. He joined Abercrombie & Kent in 1994 and spent ten years with the company, rising to become Managing Director of Abercrombie & Kent Europe Ltd. During his time with the company, it won two Queen’s Awards for Enterprise and was recognised by the Deloitte Indy 100 awards for the UK’s fastest growing companies. The Deloitte Indy 100 aims to recognise and reward companies that have shown sustained growth over a five-year period.

ANDREW GALLOWAY

Andrew Galloway was formerly Managing Director of Coutts (Cayman) Limited, part of the Coutts Group which is the international private banking arm of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc. He is admitted (non practising) as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales, is a member of the Institute of Directors in the United Kingdom and is a member of the Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners.

He obtained his M.A. from Magdalene College, Cambridge where he studied law. He completed law school at the College of Law in Guildford before joining Slaughter & May in London where he qualified in 1992 into a general corporate practice group. In 1994 he joined Coutts (Cayman) Limited as Adviser, New Business prior to his appointment as Managing Director in 1999. Andrew has a number of years experience on the boards of a funds established in Cayman, Ireland and the United Kingdom as well as with a number of operating trust companies in Cayman, Bahamas and Bermuda.

He has particular experience with fund of fund structures, private equity funds and private investment vehicles. Andrew has served on the executive committee of the Cayman Islands Bankers Association and the legislative sub-committee of STEP Cayman Islands.

RALPH WOODFORD

Ralph Woodford is a qualified Portfolio Adviser and was admitted in 1995 as an Associate of The Institute of Investment Management and Research, a UK affiliate of the CFA Institute. He started his career with Ernst & Young (Edinburgh) in 1989 and became a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland in 1992. Ralph studied at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh and holds a BA degree in Accounting & Finance (Distinction), which he received in 1989.

Ralph joined Edinburgh Fund Managers plc as a Portfolio Adviser in 1993. He has extensive experience in Technology research, small-capitalised stocks and Emerging Markets. He focused initially on UK large and small-capitalised stock portfolios and latterly on Asian equities, co managing close to US$1bn of Asian client money. Ralph was formerly Managing Director of Caledonian Directors Limited, a director services company within the Caledonian Group. He was responsible for the corporate governance overview of an extensive range of Institutional and boutique hedge fund clients. He has considerable knowledge across different investment strategies, both on single and multi manager platforms. His experience also included being a director of a licensed trust company and working closely with hedge fund administrators located in Cayman, USA and Europe.

GREGORY LINK

Gregory Link obtained a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand and a Bachelor of Laws with Honours degree from the University of Liverpool, England. Gregory was called to the Bar of England and Wales and admitted as an Attorney in the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands in 2000. Gregory was CEO of Q&H Corporate Services, Ltd. from 2004 until he joined ICG in 2008. He has over 16 years offshore legal and accounting experience.

Prior to joining Q&H Corporate Services, Ltd., Gregory practised in the corporate and litigation departments of Quin & Hampson obtaining significant exposure to both the establishment of funds and litigation involving funds. Gregory has also acted through a corporate entity as liquidator on a large number of fund structures. His accounting experience was gained working with KPMG both in New Zealand and the Cayman Islands and as the Chief Financial Officer at Schroder Cayman Bank & Trust Company Limited. Gregory is a director of a number of Cayman Islands regulated mutual funds and other client companies. He has advised on corporate governance matters and contributed the Cayman Islands’ chapter in Butterworths International Guide to Money Laundering Law and Practice (2003).