About

Meet the team

Our team are all fully qualified due diligence specialists with experience of working with a range of business types, sectors and sizes. We bring a mixture of skills and credentials so we are well equipped to listen, understand and help you add speed, efficiency and value to a transaction.

Hayley Brightmore

Director

Hayley is a founder and Director of Knight Transaction Services and personally leads transaction support projects from discussion and preparation through to delivery and completion.

Prior to joining the Knight Group, Hayley has ten years' experience as a due diligence specialist, at Mazars and Grant Thornton, and has worked with a wide range of private equity houses, banks and corporate clients.

She has worked with both private and listed entities in a multitude of sectors, from pre-profit stage to those generating revenue of over £500 million, providing a range of services including vendor due diligence, vendor assist, buy side due diligence and associated services such as advice around carve outs, net working capital, locked boxes and completion accounts reviews.

Hayley won Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2021 Manchester Young Talent Awards and Young Accountant of the Year at the 2022 Young Insider North West Awards.

She was also listed in Insider North West's Professional Power List 2022 and shortlisted for Rising Star at the 2022 North West Rainmaker awards.

Jennifer Serridge

Associate Director

Jenny has over five years' experience of providing transaction advisory services, having previously worked at Grant Thornton.

During this time she has worked with entities of varying sizes, predominantly focussing on SMEs, and across a range of sectors. Jenny has experience of providing buy side due diligence, vendor due diligence, vendor assist and other associated services such as completion accounts reviews, and providing advice around carve outs and net working capital for corporate clients, banks and private equity houses.

Jenny will be involved in all stages of the transaction support process and will work with the client and any other parties to ensure the smooth running of the project.

Jenny was highly commended for Finance Professional of the Year at the 2021 Manchester Young Talent Awards.

Erin Berry

Associate Director

Erin is an ACCA chartered accountant with over ten years' experience in practice.

Erin previously worked in business services and audit before moving into deal advisory where she has obtained extensive experience in providing a range of due diligence services such as vendor due diligence, vendor assist, buy side due diligence and associated services such as advice on net working capital, locked box and completion account reviews.

Erin's portfolio includes a wide variety of business sectors and sizes (both domestic and international) having recently completed a number of significant transactions within the SaaS, Ecommerce and Manufacturing sectors. She prides herself on providing excellent client service, managing the due diligence process and liaising with the client, target and any external advisors as necessary.

Erin won Finance Professional of the Year at the 2022 Manchester Young Talent Awards.

Joe Donnelly

Assistant Manager

Joe is an ACA qualified accountant with six years’ experience in practice and joined the firm in January 2023. Joe previously worked in external audit at Beever and Struthers, where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant, before spending a further three years in the PwC audit team where he worked across a wide array of sectors. He graduated from the University of Leeds with a BsC in Pharmacology.

Since joining the team, Joe has assisted on a number of financial due diligence transactions.

The wider Knight team can add genuine commercial insight which adds value to buyers, lenders and investors.

Adam Zoldan

Director

Adam is a founder and Director of Knight, developing the business alongside Paul from inception to a market leading corporate finance boutique, and personally leads transactions from preparation through to completion. Prior to this he had over 15 years experience in the telecoms and technology sector. He was a founder shareholder of V Networks a reseller which was acquired by Opal Telecom in September 2008 and prior to this he worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers Corporate Finance as a Lead Advisor for telecommunication transactions. Adam is also a Director of Knight R&D, a R&D tax relief consultancy, and Advisory Board member of fund:tmt, a small TMT investment fund.

Paul Billingham

Director

Paul is co-founder and Director of Knight with Adam, who have together established Knight as a market leading corporate finance boutique focused on telecoms and technology. Paul leads transactions from preparation through to completion. Prior to co-founding Knight he was Commercial Director at Talk Talk Business and has held various operational and finance roles in the telecoms industry at Martin Dawes Telecommunications, Opal Telecom and Talk Talk. Paul is also a Director of Knight R&D, a R&D tax relief consultancy, and Advisory Board member of fund:tmt, a small TMT investment fund.

We are part of the Knight Group

The Knight Group was founded by Adam Zoldan and Paul Billingham in December 2008 with the specific aim of advising businesses and entrepreneurs in the technology and telecoms sector. To date it has completed over 100 successful transactions.
We make your ambition a reality. Our expertise is to listen, understand and deliver the success you deserve. And, we can do this because we have sat in your seat: starting, building and successfully exiting businesses.

Learn more

How else we add value:

Knight R&D – rewarding your innovation
We have been where you are. We’ve started, grown and sold businesses. We know how valuable R&D is and how it can give back to the business. Our specialist R&D consultancy works solely in R&D tax relief, a government sponsored incentive. We work to help you realise your full R&D relief entitlement fast and with minimum risk. Since launching in September 2016, we’ve helped companies make over 100 claims – many unaware that they could even make a claim.

>_fund:tmt – flexible, intelligent investments
In partnership with Spark Impact, Knight’s founders have launched a new fund focussed on the technology, media and telecoms (TMT) sector. They make Investments of c£500k to £750k for a range of purposes (development capital, shareholder equity release, buy-out minorities, M&A).

We are here for you

If you would like to hear more about our services or start a conversation with one of our specialists, please get in touch.