User:CamKot/sandbox/Gregory Neil David Thain

Gregory Neil David Thain
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Gregory Neil David Thain (born February 1954) is an English entrepreneur, director, investor and speaker on modern business with over 40 years’ of corporate experience. Previously living in Moscow, Russia to support his long 16 year career in the Russian and Emerging Markets industry, Thain now resides in Monaco. He is currently a Senior Partner at TWND Capital ltd, Chairman of the Board at http://raremetal.co.uk, Chief Operating Officer at New Sparta , Adjunct Professor of marketing & E-Commerce at the International University of Monaco, and Chairman of Storewars International.

Thain is an expert in developing, leading and assisting businesses across a variety of sectors and international territories. Expertise ranging across FMCG (fast moving corporate goods), retail, e-commerce and manufacturing, real estate, banking, investment and property funds, publishing, fundraising and stock markets, the digital revolution, big data, and internet/tech. Over the last 25 years, majority of his focus has been on emerging markets; either owning or managing businesses in Russia, India, China, Turkey, Hungary, Romania, Greece, Ukraine, Sweden and Kazakhstan. Consequently, Thain has offices based in Monaco, Shanghai, Dubai, London and Moscow.

Career
From 1985-1993, Thain served as the CEO of International Communication & Data Plc (ICD). At the time, it was one of Britain’s largest lifestyle database companies, evidenced by its trade on the Unlisted Securities Market of the London Stock Exchange. After 9 years as chief executive, Thain sold off his ICD shares and left London to move to Moscow in the early 1990’s. By 1993 Thain had established Russian Market Research Company (RMRC), one of the first domestic market research agencies in Russia, in order to target the emerging Russian middle class. By 1996, he founded a leading market research agency entitled GfK Rus (the Russian subsidiary of GfK Group). At that time, the GfK Group ranked among the top five market research firms in Europe and top 10 in the world. Concurrently, 1996 also saw the establishment of IMSG (International Marketing & Sales Group) by Thain, which he chaired for 14 years. Following Russia’s financial collapse in 1998, RMRC was bought by GfK Rus whereby Thain served as managing director until his resignation in 1999 in order to devote his time substantially to IMSG.

IMSG was amongst the first domestic agencies specialising in below-the-line marketing and advertising operating primarily in Russia and other emerging markets, namely India, Sweden, Hungary, Romania, Greece, Turkey, and Ukraine. Consequently, in this division, IMSG became the first marketing agency to undertake an IPO on the London Stock Exchange.

Moreover, Thain has been involved in Russian Real Estate over the past 20 years. In 1995, following the fall of the Soviet Union, he facilitated the first significant International Bank loan ($500m) to a Russian Property developer. By 1996, he was among the founders of PMC, a Russian real estate consultancy, which soon became one of the leaders in the Moscow market . In 2003, PMC obtained a license from Knight, leading to the creation of Frank Knight Russia and the appointment of Thain as Chairman until 2008, which saw the company balloon to more than 400 people. During this time, Thain oversaw the creation of a property investment firm, Raven Russia, and founded the Rutley Russia Property Fund, effectively raising $300m and $100m respectively.

Since 2006, Thain has been Chairman of Storewars International, a world-leading business simulation/training/coaching programme utilised by the top FMCG and Retail Food businesses in more than 40 countries. With the intention of sharing his extensive knowledge of retail and marketing, Greg has been running the Storewars business simulation program since 2003 for clients such as Dirol, Wrigley, Tesco, SABMiller, Henkel, JTI, Philip Morris, Mars, Gillette, AC Nielsen, PWC.

The year 2016 was a busy year for Thain as he assumed multiple roles; Senior Partner in TWND Capital ltd, Chairman of the Board for Rare Metal Ltd, Chief Operating Officer of New Sparta, and Chairman of Wilton Group. Central to his role as at TWND, is the development of new investment products, and raising equity and debt. Rare Metal Ltd is an EIS (Enterprise Investment Scheme) company involved in the restoration and trade of classic cars. New Sparta Limited is the holding company of a diversified investment group in specialist emerging markets in energy, infrastructure, financial services and telecommunications in developing economies. Wilton is a financial services group focussing on fundraising, EIS investment, listings on various exchanges and private equity.

Multimedia
In the 1980’s and 1990’s, Thain founded Publishing Holdings which owned 15 financial titles. Effectively pioneering a wide range of advice-giving magazines including “What Mortgage?”, “What Investment?”, “What Finance?”, “What Video?”, “Popular Video” and others. He has since developed more than 20 newspapers, magazines, and journals including the original compilation of renowned investors in the UK, known as The British Investors Database. In addition, Thain launched the original Local Radio Awards to acknowledge the efforts of the UK local radio industry.

Most recently, Greg has authored three books; “Storewars: The Battle for Mindspace & Shelfspace” published in 2012 with John Bradley, “FMCG: The Power of Fast-Moving Consumer Goods” published in 2014 with John Bradley, and “E-Retail Zero Friction in a Digital Universe” published in 2015 with Alexandra Skey.

Public Speaking
Greg’s 40 years in the business industry earned him the privilege of keynote speaker at several prestigious conferences including the First HP conference in Asia (Macau, July 2013) presenting the "Key Trends in Internet and Retail Worldwide”, which was attended by more than 450 leading retailers in Asia/Greater China. In 2014, Thain presented a speech at the Retail Asia 2014 Awards and Leadership Forum in Marina Bay Sands, Singapore (November 2014), on "The Future of Retail and E-retail in Asia”. In May 2015, Greg’s keynote address to the Latam Retail Congress Shop in Chile was aimed at the future of manufacturers and retailers across the globe.

A Professor of modern marketing & internet at IUM (International University of Monaco), Thain speaks regularly throughout Europe and Asia on a wide variety of modern marketing topics. His current public speaking venture is on the “Future of Business 2035”, encouraging companies to think about how quickly changes and restructuring in business is going to occur in terms of jobs, AI, big data, the shifting energy paradigm and much more.

Charity
Thain has been involved in various charities and funding events, namely D. Chairman of “sense”, a UK charity for deaf and blind children. He has also been awarded the title of “Commander of the order of Saint Stanislaus” for work on sending book to Poland.

Politics
Candidate for the UK Conservative Party for the European Parliament in 1991  and Chairman of the Russian branch of Conservatives Abroad, in Moscow from 1993 to 1997.

Published works
Thain, G and Bradley, J. (20 Jul 2012). Store Wars: The Worldwide Battle for Mindspace and Shelfspace, Online and In-Store. Thain, G and Bradley, J. (13 Aug 2014). FMCG: The Power of Fast-Moving Consumer Goods Thain, G and Skey, A. (14 May 2015). E-Retail Zero Friction in A Digital Universe