Gerry Fitzsimons (28 August 1959—22 November 2007) was a British businessman, chief executive of TTP Ventures, a director of TeraView, Oxford Diffraction and TTP Group plc.See: ; He was

Cambridge Network Cambridge Network is a not-for-profit membership organisation that brings people together from business and academia to exchange ideas, foster collaboration and build partnerships for shared success. Through networking, events, training and recruitm ...

's first company secretary.

Career

With a degree in jurisprudence from

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

, he left

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in 1981. After the College of Law in Guildford, he joined

Clifford Chance Clifford Chance LLP is a British multinational law firm headquartered in London, England, and a member of the " Magic Circle", a group of leading London-based multinational law firms. In 2022-2023 Clifford Chance was the third largest law fir ...

in 1982 and qualified as a solicitor in 1984. After qualification he spent time at Clifford Chance—now the world's largest law firm—and with the leading New York law firm of

Shearman & Sterling Shearman & Sterling was a White shoe multinational law firm headquartered in New York City, United States. In 2024 it merged with Allen & Overy to form A&O Shearman. History Wall Street origins Shearman & Sterling was founded in New York City ...

. In 1987, Gerry moved to Taylor Vinters in Cambridge where he remained until 1996, when he started up the Cambridge Garretts office alongside

Arthur Andersen Arthur Andersen LLP was an American accounting firm based in Chicago that provided auditing, tax advising, consulting and other professional services to large corporations. By 2001, it had become one of the world's largest multinational corpo ...

. He was managing partner of the Cambridge office of Andersen Legal until 2002 when its global offices were hit by the fall-out at Arthur Andersen following the

Enron scandal The Enron scandal was an accounting scandal sparked by American energy company Enron, Enron Corporation filing for bankruptcy after news of widespread internal fraud became public in October 2001, which led to the dissolution of its accounting ...

and the firm was closed down. Gerry then took up the chief executive role at TTP Ventures with his familiar passion. He had been external legal counsel to TTP Group since it was formed and to the fund. He was also a director of TeraView, Oxford Diffraction and TTP Group plc. Gerry had extensive experience of negotiating and structuring private equity transactions and exits. As a top corporate lawyer with a particular focus on the technology sector, he undertook a large number of private equity transactions – both for investee companies and funds. The major legal profession guides all rated him "an outstanding rainmaker.” His significant transactions included the October 2000 IPO of TTP Communications plc, the December 2000 merger of The Astron Group Limited and Tactica Group plc and the merger of Dalehead Foods Limited and Roche Foods Limited in September 1999. His regular venture capital clients had included Technomark and

Lloyds Development Capital Lloyds Development Capital (Holdings) Limited (LDC), is a mid-market private equity house and subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group, established in 1981 as Lloyds Development Capital Limited. From 1999 to 2011, it was known as Lloyds TSB Developmen ...

, Amadeus Capital Partners Limited, First Cambridge Gateway and TTP Ventures.

Death

Gerry Fitzsimons died aged 47 following a lengthy battle against lung cancer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzsimons, Gerry 1959 births 2007 deaths 20th-century British businesspeople