Meet the team

Since co-founding britishairways.com in 1994, Julia has invested a combination of her time and money in a series of new businesses in the digital and environmental sectors, including most recently Trillion Fund, a loan-based crowdfunding platform for renewable energy projects.

She co-founded the UK Crowdfunding Association in 2012 and has been instrumental in reforming regulation for crowd investors and in the creation of the new Innovative Finance ISA.

Julia joined Downing in March 2016 to lead the crowdfunding business, offering corporate bonds to retail investors.

Parag joined Downing in October 2016 as Crowdfunding Operations Director. Parag gained his experience in the crowdfunding sector by founding and operating a peer-to-business lending platform. Prior to this, he was involved in various pharmaceutical and retail businesses.

Parag holds a degree in business information management from the University of Glamorgan and is currently studying towards obtaining the IMC.

Tom joined Downing in 2010 and has worked with the Crowd team since 2016. He manages Downing Crowd’s new product development.

He previously worked for Robinson Reed Layton as an audit and tax senior, specialising in personal and partnership tax, and small company audits. He qualified as a chartered accountant in 2009. Tom holds a degree in economics from the University of Durham.

Dan joined Downing in February 2017 to drive the platform’s development and market positioning. Prior to this, Dan was Chief Product Officer at Crowdsurfer, a data intelligence business focussed on the emerging crowd finance industry.

In addition to detailed knowledge of the crowd finance market, Dan brings over 10 years’ experience of taking new fintech products and propositions to market. He holds an MBA with Distinction from Cass Business School.

Ceri joined Downing Digital in April 2018 to help launch and manage Downing’s new discretionary bond service and SIPP products, as well as look for new revenue streams.

Prior to that he spent 4 years at RateSetter one of the world’s largest peer to peer lenders, where he was Head of Investor Operations. At RateSetter he launched their award-winning SIPP product and managed relationships with financial intermediaries such as institutional investors, IFAs and wealth managers. He was a regular contributor in the press and speaker at industry events. Before that he spent 12 years in publishing roles at the Financial Times.

Dinesh joined Downing Crowd in 2016 as Lead Solutions Architect. He has over 15 years’ experience in IT covering a range of roles including systems development, IT solutions architecture and systems design. He has previously worked for GoCompare.com with a focus on solutions architecture and has designed and delivered a peer-to-peer crowdfunding platform at Funding Empire.

Dinesh is certified in enterprise and solutions architecture by the British Computer Society and holds a degree in business information management systems.

Jonathan joined Downing in October 2016 as a Lead Developer to improve Downing Crowd's digital presence. He has over 10 years of development experience in a range of roles from developer to IT contractor.

Prior to joining Downing, he was Lead Developer at GoCompare.com for their energy comparison product re-write. He was a co-founder of the crowdfunding platform Funding Empire.

Jonathan holds a degree in software engineering from the University of Glamorgan.

Matthew joined the Downing Crowd team in January 2018, to assist in executing Bond raises for the platform and provide customer service to Downing Crowd investors.

Prior to joining Downing, he worked at a crowdfunding startup, ShareProperty Ltd. During his time there, he was responsible for business and IT operations, compliance and customer service, among other things.

Matthew holds a First Class degree in Business Management with Marketing, from Cardiff Metropolitan University.

Dafydd joined Downing in September 2017 as Test Lead. His main responsibility is to thoroughly test the Crowd platform.

Prior to this Dafydd worked at insurance software company Xuber for two years, testing their insurance software. He was also Test Analyst at Target Group, where he was responsible testing their loan, mortgage and investment systems.

He holds a degree in computer science and is an ISTQB Certified Tester.

Anthony joined Downing Crowd as a Senior Developer in October 2017. He has over 12 years of experience producing software for the travel and training industries.

Anthony holds a degree in computer studies from the University of Glamorgan.

Jonathan joined Downing Crowd in May 2017 as Solutions Architect, and is responsible for supporting the technical development of the platform. Prior to this, Jonathan spent four years at GoCompare.com, re-writing existing products and developing new ones.

He holds a degree in computer systems and networks.

Carrie joined Downing in June 2018 as User Experience Designer for the Crowdfunding platform. She’s an advocate for our customers and will adopt an user-centred approach to product development. Carrie has over 10 years international design experience working across a variety of sectors.

Prior to Downing, she was Senior Design Manager at Vodafone Group. She holds an MA in design management and BFA in interactive design.

Amy joined Downing Crowd in September 2016 to focus on UX design for the platform. Originally from New Zealand, she worked as a developer for a promotions company in Auckland, where she developed online promotions, games and e-commerce websites.

Amy holds a degree in graphic design from Auckland University of Technology and a Diploma of Web Development with Distinction from Yoobee School of Design.

Rojini joined Downing in October 2018 as Digital Product Analyst for the Crowdfunding Platform. Originally from Australia, she was a Product Manager at Telstra, the largest telecommunications provider there.

Rojini holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne, majoring in Finance and Marketing.

David joined Downing as a Full-stack Developer in April 2018. He has over 5 years of experience developing bespoke applications for financial and retail industries.

David holds a degree in media technology from the University of Glamorgan.

Sonnie joined Downing in October 2018 as a Customer Service Executive, assisting the customer service team with customer queries and processing customer requests.

Sonnie previously worked as a Customer Service Agent at Firstsource, where he quickly progressed to their VIP Team.

Natasha joined Downing in 2014 as front of house before becoming fund administrator in 2015. She is responsible for investor communications and the administration of Downing-managed EISs. She has worked with the Crowd team since 2016 to assist with platform administration.

Before joining Downing, Natasha worked as a receptionist/administrator for a granite and tile manufacturing head office.