New hires and promotions
at the Development Bank of Wales

Here at the Development Bank of Wales, attracting and developing talent is always a top priority.

When the pandemic began last year we made a full transition to remote working, which has been really successful, and we’ve also continued to hire new colleagues, encourage professional development, and provide career progression opportunities. From March 2020 to the start of February 2021, we’ve had 24 new starters and 17 internal moves and promotions.

One team that has recently grown following a busy 2020 is our Technology Venture Investments (TVI) team, who make equity investments to give early stage tech businesses the very best start.

Dr Helen Kuhlman has recently joined the team as a senior investment executive. She holds a BSc in Biomedical Science and a PhD in Cell Physiology and Pharmacology. Existing team member Alex Leigh has been promoted to a senior investment executive, and David Blake has been promoted from an assistant investment executive to an investment executive.

Alex holds an honours engineering degree in Mechatronics from Stellenbosch University and MBA from the University of Cape Town and London Business School. David is an MSc Computing graduate from Cardiff University and is a fully qualified member and fellow of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants.

At the Development Bank we offer an attractive employment package and strive to foster an inclusive, innovative, and truly diverse organisation. We have an ongoing commitment to offering staff progression opportunities, and we’re continuously developing a workplace where colleagues can enjoy work and realise their full potential.

Technology Investment Director, Simon Thelwall-Jones said: “I’m delighted to welcome Helen and to promote Alex and David. Our team is made up of talented individuals from a variety of professional backgrounds, who all bring unique skills and perspectives. At the Development Bank we are keen to offer career progression and to reward hard-working colleagues with the development opportunities to help them reach their goals.”

Michael Rees is another member of the TVI team, who joined in April 2019 from the Welsh Financial Services Graduate programme as a TVI Graduate. He was later appointed as a full-time Investment Analyst in September 2019. Michael said: “I work alongside great colleagues and together we have a commitment to support technology businesses in Wales, helping them from seed stage to IPO and beyond.”

Since we joined the graduate programme in 2015 we’ve had 21 graduates and 7 have gone on to have permanent positions here.

If you want to find out more about working for the Development Bank of Wales, please visit our careers page and take a look at our people strategy.