Chris Upton

A Chartered Accountant with a broad range of expertise as Finance Director in the SME sector.  He has held that role in publicly quoted companies as well as private companies and those backed by Private Equity.  The companies he has worked for have all had an entrepreneurial culture. He has specialised in the hospitality sector for over 25 years, in hotels, restaurants and pub groups. He previously held senior positions in finance and IT at a number of commodity trading companies. He has experience of IPO’s, MBO’s and mergers and acquisitions as well as negotiating various forms of bank debt.

He was a founder shareholder and non-executive director of Pod Food; and co-founded Snoozebox Plc, an innovative portable hotel concept.

He is currently Chairman of HOSPA, the Hospitality Professionals Association (www.hospa.org), the leading association for finance, IT and revenue management professionals in the sector and also works for the FD and CFO Centre (www.cfocentre.com) as a portfolio Finance Director.