Jonathan Short - Managing Director

Having graduated in 1985 with an honours degree in accountancy from Newcastle, Jonathan has worked within the recycling sector ever since with over 25 years of industry experience. In 2000 he saw an opportunity to further develop waste recycling by treating the waste at source and this resulted in the forming of Alternative Waste Solutions Ltd in 2000, now re-branded as ECO Plastics Ltd. By 2003 the trading of recycled material led the growth of the business and during 2006 the decision was taken to build the companies first processing facility in Hemswell to sort and re-process plastic bottles. He has driven the company to be at the forefront of mixed plastics processing within the UK with a principal focus on the sorting and treatment of mixed plastic bottles for industrial applications and most recently for direct food contact.

Jeff Holder - Finance Director

Jeff joined ECO Plastics in April 2009 after eight years with NVM Private Equity as part of the investment team.  During this time he had the remit for investing within the North East and Yorkshire regions and led a number of successful transactions.  He has worked with a number of different companies at varying developmental stages and till recently was a non-executive director of DxS Limited, LEDA Recruitment Holdings and Knight Valeting Limited.  Before this, Jeff trained as a chartered accountant with KPMG, qualifying in 2000

Duncan Oakes - Commercial Director

Duncan has worked within the recycling industry for over 10 years. Originally involved in sales of capital equipment such as balers and shredders with Riverside Waste Machinery Ltd. In 2004 Duncan joined ECO Plastics as a buyer covering northern England. As the company has expanded Duncan has grown with it and now overseas all commercial aspects for the company.

Peter Gangsted - Chairman

Peter started his career with Unilever where he was a financial, operational and managing director for a number of Unilever businesses around the world.  He then jointly founded Allianz Capital Partners, the direct investment arm of Allianz AG before joining Cinven as managing partner of their Frankfurt office. Amongst other investments, Peter successfully acquired, developed and exited the plastics packaging company Klockner Pentaplast and the plastic bottle manufacturing company Schmalbach-Lubeka. Peter now has a number of business interests, including the Chairman role of ECO Plastics since early 2009.

Keimpe Keuning - Investor Director - Robeco Private Equity

"Keimpe Keuning is Investment Director at SAM Private Equity AG, a subsidiary of Robeco, a Dutch-headquartered asset management firm wholly owned by Rabobank. Robeco was established in Rotterdam in 1929 and has offices located world-wide. Robeco offers a wide range of investment products and services to institutional and private investors. SAM is an investment group focused exclusively on Sustainability Investing. The firm’s offering comprises asset management, indexes and private equity.

Keimpe joined Robeco in 2006 and his focus is on Clean Technology investments. He is also on the boards of Fallbrook Technologies Inc., the continuous variable transmission technology company, Enerpulse Inc., the maker of the Pulstar (TM) pulse plug and SPG Solar Inc., a proven leader in the design and installation of high performance solar photovoltaic systems. Prior to Robeco, Keimpe worked at Fortis Bank as Associate Director where he advised a broad range of clients on numerous transactions. He began his working career at Ernst & Young as a tax advisor. Keimpe studied U.S. and International tax law at the University of Florida and received a master's degree in tax law from the University of Leiden. He is a diploma holder of the Institute of Directors and has also participated in executive education at the Amsterdam Institute of Finance and INSEAD."

Sam Richardson - Director

Sam has over eight years experience in venture capital investing having begun his VC career at Sitka Partners, an early stage technology investor in 2000. Following the acquisition of Sitka by investment bank Noble in 2005, Sam joined their Private Equity & Venture Finance team as Senior Investment Manager. During this period he worked on 17 investments in healthcare and technology companies. Sam then joined E-Synergy Ltd as Investment Director for the Sustainable Technology Fund in 2007 and formed part of the core team that spun the fund out into Curzon Park Capital.

Cédriane de Boucaud – Investor Director -Curzon Park Capital

Cédriane has over 18 years experience in venture capital and corporate finance working in the US, Europe, Russia and Asia working to fund and build businesses with a focus on energy and infrastructure. She has been involved in funding and growth for more than 20 technology companies at various stages of development. Cédriane currently manages the Sustainable Technology Fund at Curzon Park Capital and sits on the Board of Q Chip, Eco Plastics and PyroPure. Cédriane's passions are conservation, skiing, diving and technology innovation. She has an MA in Economics from Cornell University.