Our Team

Mark Harms is founder and managing partner of Bespoke Capital Partners (Bespoke) and is the Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Global Leisure Partners (GLP). Mark manages the firm and sits on the board of Bespoke’s portfolio companies. Mark was a Vice Chairman of the World Travel & Tourism Council for 5 years, a member and on the Board of the International Association of Gaming Advisors, a William Pitt Fellow of Chatham House, on the Advisory Board of the L,S&A College of the University of Michigan, and active in a number of other charitable endeavours. Mark co-founded and was Education and Chapter Chair of the Mayfair chapter of YPO and is a member of CEO. Mark divides his time between the U.S. and the U.K.

Mark has significant experience in the leisure sector having completed advisory and principal transactions in North and South America, Europe and Australia over the last 40+ years. With over 150 completed advisory engagements and with more than half of these in the fitness, gaming, hospitality and leisure industries, Mark brings a deep understanding and knowledge regarding the competitive strategies of the major companies in each industry sector. In addition, Mark has extensive experience with regard to leveraged debt, mezzanine and equity financing techniques in Europe and the U.S. with over $100bn in completed transactions. Mark has a strong knowledge of financing markets worldwide, significant restructuring expertise and is also highly experienced in cross-border transactions. He has a powerful network of relationships globally, and access to substantial amounts of capital.

Mark’s transaction experience includes several recent private to public mergers and complex recapitalizations: the recapitalization of McLaren (7 transactions, over $2.1bn of capital raised); the $3.3bn Aldel/ Hagerty business combination for which he also helped raise a $700m PIPE, The $600m BCAC/ Vintage Wine Estates merger and associated $120m PIPE, and the $6.2bn combination of Everi and IGT Gaming & Digital (now being sold to Apollo for $6.3bn).

Mark is an experienced non executive Director for both private and public companies. He represented Bespoke on the boards of its portfolio holdings including 24 Hour Fitness, Vinventions, World Fitness Services, Ainigma Holdings and Vintage Wine Estates. 

Prior to founding Bespoke and GLP, he previously worked at Oppenheimer as a Managing Director and at CIBC as Global Head of the Gaming, Lodging, and Leisure Group as well as the Head of the Consumer Growth Group. Under his leadership Oppenheimer and CIBC developed a global reputation for financing and advisory excellence and leading market shares in each of the key financing product lines. Mr. Harms has a BA (Honors) from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the University of Chicago (Highest Honors). He is fluent in German.

Tom was part of the formation of Bespoke Capital Partners in 2014. Tom previously joined consumer and leisure-focused merchant bank Global Leisure Partners in August 2013.

Prior to Global Leisure Partners Tom worked in the Industrials M&A team at Citigroup and trained as a Chartered Accountant at Ernst & Young.

Tom worked on the acquisition of Nomacorc and formation of Vinvention Capital Partners. Tom also led the investment structuring for World Gym Taiwan.

Tom received a BEng (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Nottingham.

Sonya joined Bespoke in 2014 as an Analyst.

Prior to Bespoke, Sonya interned at NM Rothschild & Sons, in the Global Financial Advisory division, in Singapore. Sonya worked on the buyout of 24 Hour Fitness, and works on various aspects of Bespoke’s portfolio management and new deal execution.

Sonya attained a BSc in Medical Science and Finance from The University of Technology, Sydney.

Yusuf joined Bespoke Capital Partners in 2022.

Prior to Bespoke, Yusuf worked at PA Capital where he focused on lower middle market private equity co-investments and primary fund commitments, and at Nomura Securities, where he worked on the Consumer / Retail Investment Banking team.

Yusuf holds a BS (Marketing and Finance) from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Neil Everitt is Chairman of SARE Ltd, a residential real estate developer in India. He is a Director of Pegas Nonwovens SA, listed in Prague and Warsaw, and one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of nonwoven textiles, and also Chairman for the European region of YPO. Previously he was Group CEO of Stock Spirits Group, which he built through acquisition and organic growth to create Central Europe’s leading spirits producer. Earlier in his career he spent 11 years with Allied Domecq plc, latterly as President, Europe, and prior to that he held a number of management positions in South America and Europe with British American Tobacco plc.

Current United States Ambassador to Belgium and former CEO of Helene Curtis, a major hair care and consumer products company. Ron spearheaded the sale of Helene Curtis to Unilever for over $900 million in 1996.

Current Chairman of Firmenich and Board Director of Atos. Former CEO of Reckitt & Colman; former Chairman of Thomson Travel Group; former of Chairman and/ or Non-Executive Director of Gala Plc, Pearson, Photo-me International, Zurich Financial Services (Ch), Food Standards Agency, The Really Effective Development Company, Cofra (Ch), Beltpacker and Taylor Woodrow plc.

For over twenty-five years, Mr. Lamb, as a lawyer, investment banker, investor and Board member, has advised publicly traded and privately held businesses in connection with a wide variety of matters, including UK and US domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, private equity, UK and US public floats and private placements, venture capital and joint ventures. Among the companies he has advised are Access Industries, AGC Equity Partners, Amazon, Cadence Design Systems, Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures, General Catalyst Partners, Global Leisure Partners, The Gores Group, Heineken, Intel Corporation, Marlin Equity Partners, Marvell Technology Group, Pace plc, P&O Cold Storage, PeopleSoft, Playfish, The Rezayat Group, Saputo, Siemens Enterprise Communications. Unicom Systems, Verne Global and Zoopla. He currently invests in seed and early-stage digital, mobile, social media and Internet companies with Initial Capital, a European-based VC firm.

Jim Murphy is the former President and CEO of Diversified Distribution Systems, a leading distributor of goods to the specialty retail supplies market, also acting as provider of consumable supplies to over 180 brands globally. He led the successful sale of the business to Bunzl in 2017, having helped grow revenues to US$ 312m during his 15 year tenure at the firm.

Founder of ESPA; sold control of the company to KSL Capital and then with KSL sold the business to Hut Group for over £100 million. ESPA is a leading spa products and services brand and the #1 operator of luxury spas in hotels worldwide.

Frank Napolitano currently serves as President (2014 – present) of 24 Hour Fitness. He is the Founder and Chairman of BDP LLC, an investor in emerging fitness and wellness brands, and Founder and Chairman of Wexer (UK), a provider online fitness videos and programming.

Formerly served as CEO and President of GlobalFit (2006 – 2012) and as Senior VP, Strategic Planning & Special Projects (2000 – 2006) of Town Sports International.

David Patchell Evans, also known as Patch, is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of GoodLife Fitness, the largest chain of Health Clubs in Canada. He was previously the Chair of the Board of Directors of IHRSA. He serves as Member of Advisory Board of Thomas Franchise Solutions LTD. He is a best-selling author; his first book, Living the Good Life, has sold over 1 million copies.

CEO and part-owner of World Gym Taiwan, spearheading the firm’s growth (both organic and acquisition) to become the largest health club chain in Taiwan. 

30+ years experience in the fitness industry including seven years as co-owner of a fitness chain based in Southern California. Served with LA Workout as VP of Sales/Marketing and Partner for 5 years.

Robert Drake has been the Group Chief Financial Officer of Galaxy Entertainment Group since April 2008. Prior to this, he served as Vice President, Finance of Harrah's Entertainment's Western Division in Las Vegas which primarily includes Harrah's 13 properties in Nevada including Caesars Palace, Paris and Flamingo. Previously, he was a Managing Director of Wm Sword & Co., a boutique investment banking firm located in Princeton, New Jersey.

Gavin Isaacs currently serves as Chairman of SBTech. He spent four years as CEO and board member of Scientific Games and was responsible for championing game-changing mergers and acquisitions and growing the global lottery and gaming supplier from $1.3 billion to $2.9 billion revenues in just two years.

Gavin previously was previously the CEO of SHFL Entertainment, and COO and Executive Vice President at Bally Entertainment, eventually leading the negotiations to buy his former employer while at Scientific Games in November 2013 for $1.3 billion; a 37% premium in share price and at sector high multiple. Prior to joining Bally Isaacs spent seven years with Aristocrat Technologies in several roles including President, Managing Director and marketing and business development in Las Vegas, London and Sydney.

Craig is a seasoned lottery and gaming specialist with over 17 years experience in successfully launching lotteries across the world. Craig’s skills sets are unique in having a very detailed and operational understanding of every aspect of the lottery eco-system. Craig is now regarded as one of the leading advisors to lotteries and governments around the world in the area of lottery privatization and associated operations. Craig advised the State of Illinois and Indiana on successfully restructuring their Private Management Agreement’s (2 of only 3 privately operated lotteries in the US). Craig has held a variety of executive roles during his 12 years with Camelot (operator of the UK and Irish National Lotteries) and was part of the executive team that originally set up the South African National Lottery (setting up the Finance, Treasury and Credit Control functions).

Lorne Weil serves as Executive Chairman of Inspired Entertainment, Inc., a position he has held since December 2016. Previously, Mr. Weil served as Chairman and CEO of Inspired’s predecessor, Hydra Industries Acquisition Corp., since October 2014. Mr. Weil previously served as Chairman of the Board of Scientific Games Corporation (and its predecessor Autotote Corporation) from October 1991 to November 2013. Mr. Weil also served as the Chief Executive Officer of Scientific Games Corporation (and its predecessor Autotote Corporation) from 1992 to 2008 and from November 2010 to November 2013 (Mr. Weil had retired in 2008) and as the President from August 1997 to June 2005. Under Mr. Weil’s stewardship, the company made a number of significant acquisitions and joint ventures, including the privatization of the off-track betting operations of the State of Connecticut, and the acquisitions of Scientific Games Holdings Corp., IGT Online Entertainment Systems, Global Draw and WMS Industries, and the privatization of the Illinois, New Jersey and Italian lotteries. Prior to joining Scientific Games, Mr. Weil was President of Lorne Weil, Inc., a firm he founded which provided strategic planning and corporate development services to technology-based industries, a role he maintained from 1979 to November 1992. From 1974 to 1979, Mr. Weil was Vice President — Corporate Development at General Instrument Corporation.

From 1970 to 1974, Mr. Weil was a manager with the Boston Consulting Group. Mr. Weil received his undergraduate degree from the University of Toronto, an M.S. degree from the London School of Economics and an M.B.A. from Columbia University, where he served for more than 10 years on the Board of Overseers. From 2011 to 2013, Mr. Weil was a director of Avantair Inc. In 2012, Mr. Weil was the sponsor and Chairman of the Board of Andina Acquisition Corp., a Nasdaq-listed blank check company. Mr. Weil is currently the Non-Executive Chairman of the Board of the successor entity, Tecnoglass Inc.

Harsha V. Agadi is the president and chief executive officer of Crawford & Company. He is chairman of GHS Holdings, LLC, with investments in restaurants, hospitality and other related industries. Agadi has nearly 30 years of experience in various senior leadership positions for several food service and franchise companies as well as Fortune 500® companies.

Additionally, Agadi serves on the boards of Belmond Ltd., Crawford & Company, and Diversified Foodservice Supply, Inc. He currently extends his work with these boards via his presence on the audit, investment, and compensation committees and taking on the role of compensation committee chair for Belmond Ltd. A member of the Crawford board since 2010, Agadi is very familiar with its management, operations and strategic planning process. Until recently he also chaired the compensation committee prior to becoming the interim chief executive officer in August 2015. This is his fifth time holding the CEO title.

Aside from Agadi’s corporate endeavors, he also actively participates on several charitable boards in the United States and abroad. He is on the board of Eaglebrook School in Massachusetts and Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, Agadi’s alma mater. In India, Agadi serves as chairman of the board of SKSVMA College of Engineering & Technology, a top 10 institution in Karnataka, India.

Martin Broughton serves as Deputy Chairman of IAG, having previously served as Chairman of British Airways from 2004. He was President of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) from January 2007 until June 2009. Martin chaired the British Horseracing Board from 2004-2007, having joined as an independent director in 1999. From 1998-2004, he was Chairman of British American Tobacco (BAT), having previously been group chief executive since 1993. Earlier he had been chairman of the Wiggins Teape Group and chairman of Eagle Star. He was the European chair of the TransAtlantic Business Dialogue until 2008 and is a member of the European Round Table of Industrialists.

Barbara Cassani is a business leader with experience in the US and Europe in starting-up and running companies in the travel and hospitality sectors. Most recently she was Executive Chairman of Jurys Inns – a fast growing private-equity owned mid-sized European hotel group. She also founded the European low cost airline Go for British Airways which in time was merged with easyJet. Highlighting her flexibility and diverse background, she also founded the successful London 2012 Olympic bid and stepped in to chair Spanish airline Vueling after a crisis among Shareholders.

John Donaldson has had a 40 year+ career in the Travel and Leisure sectors. He is the ex-CEO of Thomas Cook, where he led the £990 million demerger in 2001. 

During the past 12 years he has been an investor/director in a number of high growth private equity backed businesses including onthebeach.co.uk, Encore tickets, laterooms.com, holidayautos.com, Ebookers.com, Cannons Health and Fitness, ATP International and Thames Clippers. During this John has gained much experience about raising development capital, getting the best out of Private Equity partnerships and creating shareholder value. He is currently Chairman of XLN Telecom.

Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio is recognized leader in the global Travel and Leisure industry from his experience as owner and Executive Chairman of Silversea Cruises. He transformed Silversea from a cruise line with three vessels to the market leader with 9 ships cruising to over 900 destinations worldwide. The fleet continues to expand and is currently building its tenth ship, Silver Moon, with four more in the pipeline. Further, he expanded the product range of the company by adding the Expedition fleet, quickly becoming leader in luxury expedition cruising as well. He recently sold two thirds of his stake to Royal Caribbean at a value of $2bn. 

In 2019 he acquired Abercrombie and Kent, the luxury holiday provider. He has also held key roles in CLIA, including European Chairman, Member of the Global Executive Committee, and Chairman from 2007-2013.