The thread running through the career is a rare dual perspective: 25+ years operating on both sides of the vendor relationship in complex regulated financial services environments.
A commercially astute executive who bridges revenue growth, platform innovation, and operational rigour in regulated environments. Not a conventional C-suite hire. Someone who has operated on both sides of the market.
18 years inside HSBC Alternative Investments on the client side, partnering and building bespoke in-house technology, operations and data models across the alternatives ecosystem, while selecting, contracting, and overseeing the external vendors whose world he later joined. Then crossing to the vendor side at Backstop Solutions, ONYX Capital Group and Leo Regtech, building commercial operations, taking new products to market and monetising proprietary data into external revenue streams. That dual perspective, understanding how institutional clients evaluate, procure, and retain vendors, is what informs the commercial and operational advice One Blackwater brings to regulated firms and their technology partners. Certified Artificial Intelligence Governance Professional (AIGP, IAPP). Irish citizen, based in London, free to work across the EU.
Relationships. I am Senior Advisor, Financial Services at Forge Orbital, commercial partner to Xpanse AI, and an affiliate of Leo Regtech, where I held the fractional Chief Revenue Officer seat to May 2026. Where a client is considering a vendor I work with, I say so and step out of that decision. No payment from any vendor on a purchase I advise on. Referral and advisory relationships with vendors are declared up front.
