​Neil Tregarthen attended grammar school in the U.K. from 1969 to 1976 and having failed to persuade his father to support his university law degree, left Cornwall for London, in 1977. He took on any job which would pay the rent, which included selling life assurance via cold calling and washing cars for a vehicle rental company. It was in the car rental world that people thought he had something to offer and over a number of years, he progressed to Operations Director for Europcar. Neil has also worked for a number of FTSE 100 companies, including the British Airports Authority and Hays PLC.

After their first child was born with the challenge of Downs Syndrome, Neil decided in the ensuing years, that a PLC environment was unlikely to deliver what was economically required for this new family challenge and he came to covet the private equity sector and its risk/reward profile. Accessing that world proved very difficult with no first degree or formal business qualifications however, so he took a year out, completed an MBA and then looked again for his first PE opportunity. It worked, a number of deals followed and his "swan song," was the sale of NES Global Talent to AEA Partners from the U.S. for £234m., back in 2012. 

Neil’s MBA is from Henley Management College and he has managed private equity businesses for the last twenty years. The development of NES Global Talent, saw it grow from a small UK business, into one with 45 offices around the world and revenues of US$1bn. Having worked for two years post the AEA deal, Neil semi retired and bought a house on the water back home in his native Cornwall, where he now lives with wife of 40 years, Amanda. He has invested in a number of start up companies, the latest being (https://www.startlemusic.com/) he owns a marine engineering business based in Falmouth (https://www.armadaglobal.co.uk/) a residential property development company (https://www.tolimandevelopments.co.uk/) and runs a fully family and personally funded charity for disadvantaged young people (http://www.stand-for.co.uk)  

Neil and Amanda have two other children, a daughter who is a doctor in the NHS and their youngest son, who runs his own smart vehicle repair business in Buckinghamshire. 

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About NextWave Partners:
“I’ve known Adam and Alex for a number of years and a few of their team previously worked with me when I was still CEO at NES Global Talent. Thus our “courtship,” has been lengthy and broadly based, so I felt very comfortable when the invite came along. This is the only recruitment sector offer I’ve accepted since I left NES in 2014 and that indicates how highly I think of the NextWave business and those involved.”​