CEOTHE FINANCE MONTHLY

AWARDS

2018

ANDREW JOHNSONFounder & CEO of Aurora Lighting

Chairman of Gooee

MYLES PEACOCKGlobal CEO of CreativeDrive

BRUCE LUCASChairman & CEO of Heritage Insurance

Featuring:

STEVE O’HANLONCEO of Numerix LLC

FINANCE MONTHLY CEO AWARDS 2018

www.finance-monthly.com 49

UNITED KIN

GDO

M

DR. SELVA PANKAJCEO & Co-Founder, Regent Group

Regent House, 167 Imperial Drive, Harrow, HA2 7HD | Tel: 0208 966 9900Email: selva.pankaj@regentgroup.org.uk | Website: www.regentgroup.org.uk

ABOUT DR. SELVA PANKAJEarly DaysSelva, who is a Chartered Management Accountant, took the role of CEO of Regent Group in 2009. However, before his career in education launched, Selva had an enviable career in the City between 1994-2008 working in the investment banking and fund management sector for a number of well-known organisations including Pricoa, Rockspring, Fortress with a Joint Venture relationship with Goldman Sachs and Prudential Financial Inc amongst others. Some of his major achievements include involvement in major capital raises of over $1.5 billion of capital, tax restructuring and the co-ordination of IPOs.

In 2000, he co-founded Regent Group with his wife and partner, Tharshiny Pankaj, and his father Senior Selvanayagam. For nine years, Selva juggled his day job in the City whilst endeavouring to build up Regent Group during spare evenings and weekends.

Post-2009In early 2009 Selva stepped down from his role as Executive Vice-President at Fortress Investment Group to become Regent Group CEO. Initially including just one tuition centre, a small independent school and a nursery, the Group has enjoyed impressive growth and now in 2018 turnover stands at £12m + compared to £1m nine years ago. The number of sites within the Group has increased from two to eight, meaning the company has circa £20m + worth of property assets with the combined enterprise valuation sitting at circa £40m +. The number of staff on roll has risen in parallel and now stands at 250.

Self-DevelopmentNot one to rest on his laurels, Selva constantly seeks to refine his knowledge further, searching out other learning experiences. These have included time spent at Harvard Business School studying Disruptive Innovation with the renowned Prof Christensen, a week at The London Business School studying Essentials of Leadership, and most recently Selva has immersed himself in the teachings of Bob Proctor of the Proctor Gallagher Institute.

Key AchievementsSelva’s natural talent for business and his ability to seize opportunities that present themselves have been recognised on a number of occasions. In 2016 he was awarded the Entrepreneur Of The Year Award at the Asian Achiever Awards and in 2018 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Young Scientist University.

Personal InterestsPhilanthropy is important to Selva. He supports a number of initiatives each year which of late have included The Prince’s Trust, Combat Stress, the Tamil School Sports Association and the Duke of York Community Initiative.

Selva also likes to use the skills has he has gathered to give back to the community. He therefore participates in the Education and Training Foundation’s Technical Education Panel. Additionally, given his awareness of the stresses placed upon young people in today’s society, he has developed a special programme – Thinking into Character – designed to build resilience.

Selva and Tharshiny, having experienced civil unrest in Sri Lanka, from which they originate, are also working to promote unity and harmony through the establishment of the Global Unity Forum, which they hope to launch in late 2019.

Rest & RelaxationIn his spare time, Selva likes to go out to events with Tharshiny and his two daughters. Fine wine, politics and Bollywood music are some of Selva’s other passions and he can happily pass many hours reading tomes from key figures in industry, such as Sir Richard Branson.

Selva’s mottoBe the best example you can possibly be and people will follow you.

FIRM PROFILEThe company as it stands today, as outlined below, is very different to its existence in 2009. It has moved beyond education into other areas allowing Selva to utilise his financial talents in new ways.

Regent Group 1: This business division consists of the following revenue generating divisions. 1. Higher & further education2. Independent schools, sixth form centres, learning centres & nurseries 3. Recruitment of staff (primarily for the education sector but also other needed sectors post Brexit) 4. Corporate training & leadership transformational programmes 5. Children’s community services & residential homes

Regent Group 2: This business division consists of the following real estate activity. 1. Commercial & residential real estate portfolio2. Residential development projects

Regent Group 3: This is an Investment Management business and trades as RIM London.1. Investment management of real estates and companies, buy and build mode. 2. Real estate asset management3. Mergers and acquisitions advisory 4. Capital raising and financing advisory

Whilst its headquarters remain in Harrow, NW London, Regent Group is expanding overseas with a number of projects in the pipeline, namely in Dubai, Canada and the USA.