Commercial Edge.

Board-Level Impact.

Portfolio NED and Board Advisor working with PE-backed and growth-focused boards that want straight-talking commercial challenge alongside strategic support.

Most boards don’t lack governance. They lack commercial edge — someone at the table who has built, scaled, and turned around businesses, and who will say what needs to be said. That is what I bring. As a Portfolio Non-Executive Director and Board Advisor, I work with PE-backed and growth-focused boards across the UK, Europe, and internationally. My background is operational: Regional MD at Henkel, doubling revenue across five Southeast Asian markets, co-founding and exiting a Strategy and post-acquisition integration firm. I sit on boards not as a governance layer, but as a commercial asset.

Terry Irwin at an informal meeting

Board Advisory & Non‑Executive Director roles 

Straight-talking commercial challenge at board level. Working with PE-backed and growth-focused boards as a Non-Executive Director and Board Advisor.

M&A & Market Intelligence

Commercial due diligence, market intelligence, and strategic advisory for acquisitions, disposals, and market entry. PE-relevant, operator-led.

Trusted Counsel 

Confidential commercial counsel for Chairs, CEOs, and senior executives at decision points where the stakes are commercial. Not coaching. Not theory.

AI at Board Level

Practical AI literacy applied as a commercial lever, not a technology project. Helping boards treat AI as a value creation opportunity — with the governance architecture to make it credible.

CASE STUDY

PE-backed services business reset

A PE-backed professional services business stalled 18 months into a 4-year value creation plan. Board-level commercial challenge diagnosed strategy mismatch, reset execution, and launched exit 18 months early.

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CASE STUDY

Professional services partnership transition

A Managing Partner faced succession, partnership friction, and personal transition simultaneously. Confidential commercial counsel resolved all three: internal successor confirmed, two-tier partnership approved, NED portfolio career launched cleanly.

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CASE STUDY

Founder-led scale-up under investor scrutiny

A £15m ARR Series B-funded business needed to evolve from “founder + friends” to professional governance. Independent NED challenge improved unit economics, supported founder transition, and unlocked Series C at a higher valuation.

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CASE STUDY

Building a board-grade AI operating system

A Portfolio NED built a personal AI operating system with human-in-the-loop governance — demonstrating the same principles a board would expect of a portfolio company. Multi-agent stack, golden rule, credibility proof.

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Ready for straight-talking commercial challenge at board level?

If you’re a Board Practice partner, PE Operating Partner, or Chair seeking a NED with genuine commercial depth and international operating experience, let’s talk.

“I would highly recommend Terry as a mentor! He helped, coached and supported me through a recent role transition and always had great answers and suggestions for me to take away and think about from our conversations together. I am extremely thankful for his guidance and feel I have greatly benefited from his advice and […]”

Andrew Orphanou, Demand Planning Insights and Analysis Senior Manager, the LEGO Group

“Terry provided short business talks on a number of occasions related to specific topics requested by the members of The Executive Association Thames Valley, of which I was chairman at the time. Terry’s talks were professionally delivered with good quality visual aids, well researched and specific to the topic requested. I would have no problem […]”

Brian Aldridge

“Terry presented very successfully to a group of professionals we brought together and really got the audience thinking around how they could apply new ideas in what was then a slowing economy. He is very professional in his approach, which combines a desire to focus on the key business factors but at the same time […]”

Duncan Ponikwer

“Terry’s broad international experience as an executive leader comes to the fore in coaching and mentoring at the inflection points in business life. He was and continues to be inspirational in provoking personal challenge and positive reinvention.”

Damian Broadbent, Global Business Leader; Chief Executive; Managing Director; Head of Advisory Services

“Terry was my mentor following my decision to adjust my lifestyle away from my FTSE executive role to a non-executive portfolio career. During this time he provided me with the benefit of his deep commercial acumen in general and the NED market and what was needed to be successful in the role and help drive […]”

Duncan Crocker, Senior Independent Director at Openwork; iNED at IDAD

“Terry encouraged us to rethink our whole client proposition, knowing the challenges that lie ahead. Through Terry’s efforts, we’ve improved the clarity of our business objectives, and we continue to greatly value his advice, vision and attention to detail.”

Eugene Lawlor

“I worked with Terry when he was based in Russia as MD running the adhesives business for Henkel based in St. Petersburg. He has great strengths as leader and strategic thinker and was responsible for major growth in the Russian business in general and profitability in particular. Since leaving Henkel he has been the driving […]”

Stanislav Krause, Certified Associate, Adizes Institute (formerly colleague at Henkel Russia)

“Terry was Country MD for the Consumer Adhesive Business at Henkel in Russia when we discussed options for strengthening the business for Decoration Adhesives in this region. I found Terry an open, honest and reliable business partner who very well put the opportunities of this product group in line with the resources of his team […]”

Volker Kranefeld, Lecturer at University of Applied Sciences and Arts Dortmund, (formerly colleague at Henkel)