Monthly
Board presence
An advisor at the table each month — challenging papers, testing assumptions and capturing decisions that stick.
International advisory & corporate consulting
Senior counsel for boards navigating what comes next
Global Advisory Board places seasoned operators alongside UK mid-market boards — when strategy must be reset, when a new market is in reach, and when the board itself needs to work better. No junior teams. No borrowed frameworks. Advice from people who have run the P&L.
3–6 weeks
typical time from first conversation to a board-ready mandate
Sectors we serve
Financial servicesIndustrials & manufacturingTechnology & softwareConsumer & retailEnergy transition
Engagement rhythms
Advice that arrives in the rhythm your board already keeps
Most advisory work fails because it arrives as a project and leaves as a document. Ours lands inside the board calendar and stays useful between meetings.
Quarterly
Strategy reviews
A structured half-day each quarter: traction against plan, market shifts, and the one decision the next ninety days must serve.
Annual
Agenda & effectiveness
Each year the board agenda is redesigned around what matters next, followed by an effectiveness review with anonymous director interviews.
Market entry radar
Six dimensions, one honest scorecard before you commit capital
Before any market entry, we score six dimensions against the evidence — and show the board where the plan is thin. The example opposite is a UK industrial group weighing DACH expansion.
Scores below 60 carry a red flag and a remediation step in the entry plan. Nothing advances to entity setup until every red flag has an owner.
Market demand evidence88
Route-to-market economics76
Regulatory & legal load54
Partner availability69
Pricing localisation61
Team & entity readiness47
Illustrative scorecard — UK industrial group, DACH entry, Q1 assessment.
120+
combined years of line leadership across our core panel
40+
markets entered, exited or turned around by our advisors
£10–150m
transaction range we support with diligence and negotiation
1
partner accountable end-to-end on every mandate
Why Global Advisory Board
Operators first. The war stories are ours so the mistakes don't have to be yours.
Our panel is deliberately small: former country managers, CFOs and divisional chief executives who have carried revenue in the markets they now advise on. Between mandates they hold non-executive seats across UK industrials, software and consumer businesses.
- Every mandate led by a named partner — no leverage pyramid
- Fixed-scope pricing agreed before work starts, in pounds
- Confidentiality as standard; conflicts declined, not managed
- Recommendations carry owners, dates and a governing metric
Recent mandates
Anonymised, but nothing softened
Client confidentiality allows us to describe our work without naming names — the situations, however, are exactly as they happened.
Industrial group, £80m revenue. Two-year DACH entry scored on the radar, entered through acquisition of a distressed distributor; break-even in month eleven.
PE-backed software, £24m ARR. Board reset and pricing architecture rebuild ahead of a successful secondary at 4.1× forward revenue.
Family consumer group. Governance architecture and a first independent board chair; two siblings moved to executive roles with clear mandates.
Questions boards ask
Frequently asked, plainly answered
Working with us
What kind of companies does Global Advisory Board work with?
UK-headquartered mid-market companies — typically £10m to £250m revenue — and their boards: founder-owned businesses preparing for scale, PE-backed portfolio companies in transition, and listed subsidiaries needing independent counsel.
Who actually does the work?
A named partner from our panel leads every engagement and attends the working sessions. We do not staff mandates with analysts; when specialist research is needed we commission it explicitly and share the cost transparently.
How are engagements priced?
Fixed scope, fixed fee, agreed in writing before work begins. Retained board advisory is quoted as an annual rhythm. Expenses are passed through at cost, and we accept no commissions or referral fees from vendors.
How quickly can an engagement start?
A first consultation happens within a week. Scoping takes one to three weeks depending on access to data and people. Most mandates start within a month of first contact.
Boundaries & independence
Do you provide legal, tax or FCA-regulated advice?
No. We advise on strategy, markets and governance. Legal, tax and regulated financial services work is referred to, and conducted by, appropriately authorised professional firms — we coordinate with them as one team but never substitute for them.
Will you sign an NDA before we discuss our situation?
Yes, as standard. Most first conversations happen under mutual confidentiality, and our conflicts process declines mandates where independence could reasonably be questioned.
Can you take a non-executive seat on our board?
Where a mandate calls for it and conflicts allow, individual advisors accept non-executive appointments. This is always disclosed to the full board and priced separately from advisory work.
What if we only need a second opinion?
A structured second opinion — a review of an existing plan, deal or board paper — is one of the most common entry points. It runs to a fixed two-week scope and gives the board a written, independent read.
Next step
A forty-minute conversation is usually enough to know if we can help
Tell us the decision in front of the board. We will say honestly whether it is ours to take on — and if it is not, we will point you to who should.
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