John East became a member of the London Stock Exchange in 1974, when he was with Panmure Gordon & Co. He established the stockbroking firm of Kent, East, Newton & Co in 1977 before merging the firm with and becoming senior partner of Margetts and Addenbrooke, one of the oldest firms in the country with a long history of advising smaller public companies. During this period Margetts and Addenbrooke played an active role in the development of the Unlisted Securities Market, the first UK market for young and growing companies. Following the sale of the firm, he joined the predecessor of John East & Partners Limited in 1987 and led its management buyout in 1992. He joined the Board of Merchant Securities Group plc in October 2007 following its acquisition of John East & Partners Limited. He was a founder member of the executive committee of the Quoted Companies Alliance, the City group which champions smaller companies and which was instrumental in pressing for the establishment of AIM. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment.

Simon Clements graduated from Hull University with a degree in Accounting in 1994 and qualified as a chartered accountant with Horwath Clark Whitehill in 1998, where he worked in the corporate finance department. He joined the predecessor of what is now Merchant Securities Limited in 2000 and has been involved in and led a significant number of new issues, reverse takeovers and acquisitions and disposals. He is a Member of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment.

After graduating from Cambridge University with an engineering degree, David Worlidge joined Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co in 1978. He qualified as a chartered accountant in 1981 and after spending three and a half years in the Sydney office, he joined Guidehouse Group plc in 1988 as M&A manager. In 1989 he formally transferred to the predecessor of what is now Merchant Securities, becoming a member of the management buyout team in 1992. He is a Member of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment.

Lindsay Mair has over 20 years' experience of working in the UK Small/Mid Cap sector. Before joining Merchant Securities, he worked at a number of stockbroking firms including Blue Oar Securities, Daniel Stewart (where he was head of corporate finance), Sheppards and Citicorp Scrimgeour Vickers. Lindsay qualified as a chartered accountant with Touche Ross in 1986.

Virginia Bull graduated from Liverpool University with a degree in Mathematics. She joined the predecessor of what is now Merchant Securities Limited in 2004 and is an Associate of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment.

Scott graduated from the University of Birmingham with a LLB Law degree, and is a qualified chartered accountant. Prior to joining Merchant Securities Limited, he was an audit senior at Menzies LLP, an accountancy firm specialising in providing accounts, and audit services to small / medium sized companies. Most recently, Scott was an industry analyst at a London based boutique corporate finance firm.

Richard Goldsmith graduated from Oxford Brookes University with a degree in Engineering. Prior to joining Merchant Securities, Richard worked in wealth management sales in Shanghai, China and as a Procurement Manager for Airbus Operations Ltd, a leading aircraft manufacturer.

A former fund manager and head of corporate finance at a number of well established houses, Jeffrey Coburn's long career has spanned the development of small to medium companies' markets over the last 20 years, during which time he played a significant role in the development of the Unlisted Securities Market. He joined the predecessor of what is now Merchant Securities Limited in 1991 and is a Member of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment.