Our team of Wavemakers
Our first Wavemakers are our founders, Nick Hounsfield and Craig Stoddart. They are the people who have led The Wave’s pioneering and successful business from a pretty radical idea to the growing business it is today.
Craig Stoddart, founder
Craig is a qualified accountant who started working life working for a FTSE 250 holiday business and a global investment bank.
He honed his entrepreneurial skills by buying his first company at the age of 26, and went onto set up a multi-channel retail business selling children’s furniture, which he exited in 2009 having grown the company to £15m turnover with 85 employees.
Craig has since worked with a wide range of funders and businesses both in the UK and internationally to raise money, build value, manage challenging turnarounds and optimise performance.
Nick Hounsfield, founder
A background steeped in surfing, sport, healthcare, policy and strategy development and social impact.
Voted one of the UK’s most disruptive entrepreneurs. Nick is also director of Surfing England and a director of British Surfing (leading the British Surfing Team through Olympic qualification).
Nick Asheshov, investment director
Nick has worked successfully in the financial industry as an equity sales director in Russia.
In 2015, Nick ventured into the nascent inland surfing industry and has become part of The Wave team as an investing Director and leads investor relations. Nick is also Executive Director of The Wave London. A passionate surfer and experienced investor.
Gaynor coley, chairwoman
An experienced non-executive director Gaynor joined the board in 2018.
Her background of working in leisure, education and finance made her the perfect choice for Chair of the Board. Most recently Gaynor worked at Kew Gardens as Director of Public Programmes and before that she was at the Eden Project as Managing Director for over 15 years.
We are so grateful for the support of our main investors, JAR Capital, for making it possible for us to build The Wave in Bristol. They helped us make our vision a reality and we couldn't have done it without them.
Our supporters
Before The Wave even had a name it had a loyal band of supporters. These are the incredible group of Wavemakers who surfed with us, backed us with crowdfunding, shared our story on social media and motivated us every step of the way.
They are still part of our team today and as our earliest Wavemakers help to keep us on our toes so that we continue to deliver brilliant experiences for everyone, every day.
Crowdfunders
- Jamie De Barros
- Lucas Chinn
- Fiona Beckie
- Stuart Peverelle
- Sarah Thomson
- Stephen Lovell
- Alf Anderson
- Jens Fitter
- Caroline Ball
- Lyn Horscroft
- Amy Lambert
- Fran Evans
- Dr Katie Mallam
