Harvey Boulter

Harvey Boulter (born 7th November 1969) is an entrepreneur, philanthropist privacy advocate and is Chairman and Chief Executive of Porton Group, a venture capital group.

Boulter came to public prominence in 2011 when his and the Porton Group’s legal case with 3M alerted the UK press to what became the Liam Fox and Adam Werritty scandal, and led to the resignation of the former as UK Defence Secretary.[1]

Early life & education

Boulter born in Angmering, West Sussex, England, Boulter was raised in Worthing and went to the University of Bristol in 1988 where he studied Economics and Accountancy. Boulter qualified as a chartered accountant (ICAEW) and as a member of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI) in 1994.

In 2004 Boulter was made a Fellow of ICAEW[2] and in 2016 he was made a Fellow of CISI.

Career

Boulter joined Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) in 1994 based in London. During this time, Boulter won an advisory mandate for the UK Ministry of Defence to consider the privatization of certain of their research assets. This led to Defence Evaluation and Research Agency being split into what became QinetiQ and Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, headquartered at Porton Down.[3] It was here that Boulter first identified certain military technologies that were potentially of material value in the civilian sector. Boulter has held a number of security clearances, including Secret and Top Secret during his career.[4]

Porton Group

In early 2000, Boulter left UBS to found Porton Group. Under Boulter, as Chairman & CEO, Porton Group built a number of partnerships with Government laboratories, funding and developing technology for military purposes that have parallel commercial applications.[5]

Boulter funded initial research at Porton Down that led to the creation of P2i.[6]

One of Porton's longer term and more significant investments which was sourced directly by Boulter from Defence Science and Technology Laboratory,[7] at Porton Down is Enigma Diagnostics Limited. Enigma was designed to rapidly detect biological agents on the battlefield using a point of need portable molecular diagnostics instrument. Since the creation of the company in 2004,[8] and with investment of over £140 Million, Enigma has developed, in part as a result of a partnership with GSK, into a point of care medical diagnostics business, achieving CE Mark accreditation in Jan 2014 on its Influenza A/B assay. In 2014, Enigma made a move towards the Chinese markets, first partnering with Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and then partnering with Leadman Bio whilst also securing a $50Mn investment from Shanghai Debay Capital.[9][10][11]

In 2011, Boulter and Porton Group commenced litigation against 3M over the latter’s failure to fulfill their contractual obligations regarding their purchase of Acolyte Biomedical Limited, and the MRSA detection technology Baclite.[12] In November 2011 the UK High Court found in favor of the Porton Group. However, Harvey Boulter as a public face in this complex law suit, exposed the unusual relationship between Adam Werritty and Liam Fox MP as a result of this bitterly contested litigation.[13][14][15]

Porton Cyber

In 2012 Boulter created Porton Cyber, as a Cayman Islands investment fund. One of its investments in this space is focused on secure messaging and mobile voice protection technologies through Communication Security Group, of which Harvey Boulter is Chairman.[16] CSG’s Seecrypt and Cellcrypt products use military-grade encryption for instant messaging and voice/conference calls, and are in use within UK, US, Canadian and Australian Governments.[17]

References

  1. ↑ Bowcott, Owen; correspondent, legal affairs (29 January 2014). "Liam Fox settles libel case over Adam Werritty claims". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
  2. ↑ "Member Search". ICAEW.
  3. ↑ Booth, Robert (10 October 2011). "Harvey Boulter: I assumed Adam Werritty was an MoD man". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
  4. ↑ Jack, Andrew. "Secret meetings and blackmail claims". Financial Times. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
  5. ↑ Wilson, Harry. "Investors round on Harvey Boulter". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
  6. ↑ Blackledge, Robert D. Forensic Analysis on the Cutting Edge: New Methods for Trace Evidence Analysis. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9780470166901. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
  7. ↑ "Annual Report and Accounts 2007/2008" (PDF). Retrieved 3 August 2016.
  8. ↑ Robertson, Benjamin. "HK investors suffer huge losses in bets through Cayman Islands firm". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
  9. ↑ Hollmer, Mark. "U.K.'s Enigma Diagnostics jumps into China with disease pathogen testing". FierceBiotech. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
  10. ↑ "Engima Lands $50m From Shanghai Debay Capital". AltAssets.
  11. ↑ Martin, Dermot. "Porton Down firm secure £31m Chinese deal". Salisbury Journal. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
  12. ↑ Meier, Barry (21 July 2011). "In 3M Case, Lawsuits and Intrigue Over a Medical Test". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
  13. ↑ Thomas, Beatrice. "Dubai businessman settles libel lawsuit brought by UK MP". Arabian Business. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
  14. ↑ Neate, Rupert (7 November 2011). "Judge rules on case that exposed Liam Fox and Adam Werritty friendship". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
  15. ↑ DRURY, IAN. "'Cover-up' claim over Fox in Dubai: I was told to deny meeting, says executive". Mail Online. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
  16. ↑ Thompson, Cadie (17 September 2014). "This app promises to keep your pics from hackers". CNBC. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
  17. ↑ Rose, David. "Police fear £2 app which lets mobiles use secret code could be used by terrorists to encrypt bomb plotsPolice fear £2 app which lets mobiles use secret code could be used by terrorists to encrypt bomb plots". Mail Online. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
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