The Challenge Capital Partners Management Team is comprised of highly experienced and qualified executives, with strong track records. In addition to this team, Challenge Capital Partners has an advisory team with highly relevant experience and roles in the oil industry, commerce, political arena and investing/finance.
“Topper” Gurdon Flagg Quinn formed the Challenge Group of companies based primarily in Wyoming – USA, but with offices in London, New York and Dubai in 2006 as a private equity structure for various investment opportunities.
His investment banking career started in 1988 with the Ansbacher Group, which provided mergers and acquisitions advice. In 1994, Topper co-founded Knatchbull Quinn Communications, a media investment company based in London. In 2000, Topper founded Greater Challenge Venture Partners, a consulting firm which provided corporate advice to the various companies active in technology, real estate, telecommunications, media and entertainment, food, natural resources and the fashion industries.
In 2005, Topper created Opportunity Limited, a London based consulting firm to help clients such as corporations, private equity and hedge funds access the capital markets worldwide. Topper continues to identify esoteric sources of expansion capital for its various clients worldwide.
While still at New York University, Topper worked summers as a roughneck in the oil & gas fields of Texas, Oklahoma and Wyoming and helped to operate an electric arc furnace in Sweden. Topper graduated from New York University TOSA with a BFA in 1987 where he wrote, produced and directed short films and authored screenplays.
Challenge Energy Partners has an alliance with, and Topper is also the President of, the Global Network for Energy and the Environment, which is developing energy technologies that are beneficial for the environment.
Patrick Fraser started his career with General Electric after studying Industrial Engineering at the University of Montreal. He held management positions in Manufacturing, Finance and Marketing. After earning his MBA from the Ivey Business School (London, Canada), Patrick returned to General Electric where he joined its European Healthcare division, based in Paris. After a few years overseeing the global logistics operations of several product lines, he joined the M&A function as Corporate Development manager. Patrick quickly contributed to the division’s rapid growth through numerous acquisitions across Europe.
Patrick moved to the UK in late 2000 to become responsible for Alliance UniChem’s M&A activities, one of Europe’s leading pharmaceutical wholesalers. The group merged with UK’s Boots pharmacy business in 2006 to become Alliance Boots, before being taken private by KKR and Stefano Pessina in 2007. In December 2014, Walgreens completed its acquisition of Alliance Boots to create Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA). Patrick remained responsible for the enlarged group’s M&A function throughout, overseeing numerous sizeable and complex acquisitions across the globe, including Latin America and Asia.
After leaving WBA in late 2017, Patrick has leveraged the combination of his operational expertise and extensive M&A experience to advise clients with their development initiatives. In addition, he invested in manufacturing businesses and held non-executive directorships in start-ups in the Healthcare sector. He currently runs his own consultancy advisory business. Patrick holds dual Canadian and UK citizenships.
Simon Hedley is a chartered accountant (FCA) with audit experience (PricewaterhouseCoopers). He has over a decade of investment banking experience across Morgan Stanley, Royal Bank of Scotland and Abn Amro. He was an investment manager at Abn Amro and Royal Bank of Scotland – including with primary responsibilities for the day to day management of c. 1.2bn€ inside regulated UCITS approved investment funds.
Simon graduated with a 2.1 BSc in Mathematics from Durham University and was a major scholar at Tonbridge School.
Kumar Patodia is a Director at Unimark Group and heads the group’s core business strategy. Prior to this, he worked at JP Morgan Securities in New York. He is the Co-Founder of Calcutta Angels, Kolkata’s first platform for entrepreneurs and angel investors, board member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) Calcutta, member of the Managing Committee of CREDAI Bengal, member of the Executive Committee of the Indian Chamber of Commerce, member of the Core Committee of the Indian Green Building Council Kolkata, Co-Chair of the Penn Club of India, and has served as Curator of the Global Shapers Kolkata, a World Economic Forum initiative. He is involved in social and philanthropic work through the Unimark Foundation and Patodia Welfare Society.
He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Economics (Finance and Operations in Information Management) from the Wharton School and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the College of Arts and Sciences.