Mark McGowan's Bio

Mr. McGowan has spent the last 15 years as a consultant focused on helping growth-oriented, U.S.-based companies complete IPOs on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM and was the CFO of DDD Group plc, an AIM-listed company with its corporate headquarters in Santa Monica, California.

Mark began working with DDD in 2001 as the then Canadian public company prepared for its reorganization out of Canada and into the U.K. via an IPO on London’s AIM in 2002.  Mark became the CFO in 2003 and led several rounds of post-IPO investment on London’s AIM into DDD, including; a strategic investment in 2004 and separate financings in 2005 and 2006 from a variety of U.K.-based investors.

As a publicly traded software company, Mark oversaw all accounting, finance and regulatory functions, including; U.S. GAAP, U.K. GAAP and IFRS compliance, corporate strategy, financial modeling, budgeting and taxation and worked closely with DDD's nominated advisers, nominated brokers, attorney, auditor, house and independent equity research analysts, registrar, company secretary and insurance agent.  In addition, Mark led the post-IPO change of nominated adviser and nominated broker in 2004 and 2007 and evaluated the company's options, and ultimately engaged an independent equity research firm in 2005.  Mark attended all board meetings, assisted in the recruitment of two board members who are well-respected, international businessmen, and actively participated in all board-level decisions.

Prior to forming AIM Advisers, Mark was the Assistant Divisional Director for Grant Thornton International's Asia-Pacific Division, a Senior Manager with Grant Thornton Hong Kong and a Senior Manager in Grant Thornton's Los Angeles office from 1993 - 2001.  During this time, Mark helped oversee the operations and client needs of Grant Thornton's Asia-Pacific Division, which spans 14 countries, from China to Australia and from India to Japan, with 70 offices and 3,500 employees.  Mark also worked within Grant Thornton Hong Kong on internal operational issues, with the Hong Kong firm's U.S. and European clients and with a variety of Grant Thornton's Los Angeles office clients on audits, IPOs and other financial advisory assignments.

Mark earned his BS in Accounting from the University of Scranton in 1991 and started his career with an accounting firm in Philadelphia.  Mark earned his CPA license in 1993 and his MBA from UCLA Anderson in 2003.