We are excited to announce the appointment of Diane Gray-Smith as the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Investment Officer at STS Capital Partners. Diane brings over 28 years of extensive experience and a distinguished track record in strategic financial leadership, further strengthening our executive team.
Diane will be critical in shaping the company’s financial and investment strategies, ensuring robust revenue growth, profitability, and overall development. Her valuable skills in optimizing financial performance and enhancing the overall success of our initiatives will play a crucial role in supporting STS’s strategic vision and objectives. Diane’s career is marked by her significant contributions to hypergrowth sectors, including fintech, blockchain, financial services, and new media. Her acumen in guiding publicly listed companies and fast-track startups through various stages – including restructuring, fundraising, acquisitions, divestments, maximizing enterprise value, and initial public offerings – is a testament to her versatile and dynamic leadership.
Among her notable achievements, Diane has held positions such as Global CFO and Chief Growth Officer of Glantus Plc, a leading publicly listed account payable SaaS platform. Here, she managed operations supporting transactions worth $1.6 trillion globally. As the Global CFO of Marco Polo, she played a key role in establishing a world-class distributed ledger and blockchain solution for trade finance. Her tenure as Global CFO at Uphold, a multi-asset digital currency trading platform, is especially noteworthy for her successful navigation of regulatory processes, including the Bank of England’s grant of a Small Specialist Banking license for The Bank of London.
Diane’s educational background, including a Bachelor of Commerce degree from James Cook University and her status as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA,) complements her professional journey. Her qualifications include FSA registrations, and she is an experienced Non-Executive Director.
Sean Friday, CEO of STS Capital Partners, commented, “We are thrilled to welcome Diane to the STS team. Her financial expertise and strategic leadership in the global finance sector will enable STS to continue our strong growth and deepen our industry-leading capabilities in sell-side M&A advisory services.”
Diane’s appointment marks another step forward in STS Capital Partners’ commitment to excellence and leadership in enabling entrepreneurs and private business owners achieve extraordinary exits when selling their businesses in the middle market, globally. Her proven track record, combined with her innovative approach, positions her perfectly to lead our financial and investment strategies toward new heights of success.
