Board of Directors

The Board of Directors is composed of the following accomplished and experienced members;

David Traynor

David Traynor

Interim CEO

David began his career in 1987 in investment banking, working in corporate finance roles for Credit Suisse First Boston, UBS and Lehman Brothers.  In 2003 he moved to WhatIf Ventures, the investment arm of the innovation company WhatIf, where he specialised in commercialising new products and technologies in markets including UK annuities, high street retail, fast food and innovative polymers.

Prior to becoming CEO at Byotrol plc, David ran Byotrol Consumer Products (BCP) from its inception in 2007 within his partnership role at WhatIf Ventures, moving to full time early 2012.  He led BCP to profitability in 2011 and then to the full acquisition by Byotrol plc in October 2013.

David has an MBA from London Business School and a BA from Oxford University.

Chris Sedwell

Chris Sedwell

Chief Financial Officer

Chris began his financial career at Deloitte, qualifying as an ACA in 2003. He was most recently a Portfolio Finance Director with The FD & CFO Centre, working with numerous SMEs to provide finance consultancy, and improve reporting systems and processes.

For the preceding six years, he was Finance Director of ConvaTec Limited, a FTSE 250 listed medical products and technologies business. Prior to this, he was Head of Finance & Administration at Iceland International, a part of the UK supermarket chain Iceland Foods Group.

Dr Trevor Francis

Dr Trevor Francis

Non-executive Chairman

Trevor’s career at Unilever spanned 29 years, initially in Manufacturing and that included 3 years as Production Director in Cote D’Ivoire, The second half of Trevor’s career at Unilever was spent in a number of Research and Development roles that culminated as Global VP R & D Homecare in 2001.

During Trevor’s period in R & D, he managed teams that brought a number of successful innovations to the market place. Trevor was also a principal driver in developing a progressive approach to Fragrance Management. After Unilever, Trevor established a management consultancy business, working with a number of consumer and chemical companies, before starting work as a consultant with Byotrol Consumer Products (BCP) not long after its inception.

Trevor is a graduate in Applied Chemistry of Queen’s University, Belfast and following completion of his Ph.D. at Queen’s he worked under Professor Zahn as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at DWI Aachen, Germany.

Ashley Head

Ashley Head

Non-executive Director

Ashley joined the Board of Byotrol in September 2023 as a Non-Executive Director.

He began his career with Chase Manhattan Bank, where he rose through the ranks of technology and online banking. He then joined MasterCard, where he became responsible for the African region of the group. After recognising the opportunities within eCommerce Ashley founded Proc Cyber, growing the business to a valuation of over £60 million in three years and then merging with Datacash in 2006 where he assumed the role of Chairman. Under Ashley’s leadership, Datacash grew to a market-leading position with MasterCard purchasing the company in 2010.

Ashley continues to lead a vibrant portfolio career and currently serves as Chairman of The AI Corporation, MySense Group, Ocean Harvest Technology Group, and Champagne Piaff in addition to other director positions.

Ashley is also a trustee for the National Emergency Trust, Epsom College, and Stonegate Foundation.

Sean Gogarty

Sean Gogarty

Non-executive Director

Sean spent 20 years of his career at Unilever, where his roles included Global Divisional CEO of Unilever Baking, Cooking and Spreads, and Global Category EVP for Household Care. In the latter role, he led the rapid growth of a number of well-known household brands, including Domestos, Cif, Lysoform and Sunlight, from a sales value of €800m to over €2.5bn.

Sean also has a strong track record of advising a range of leading private equity firms and companies on the development of business strategies, brand portfolio plans, organisational structures and supply chain strategies.

He also acts as a Non‐executive Director at Slicethepie Ltd.

Sean has a BSc in Economics from University College London.

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