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Rupert Merson

Rupert specialises in helping businesses ambitious for growth with organisational development, governance, strategy development and people management problems. He is a skilled consultant and facilitator and has a particular interest in the organisational problems caused by growth. Rupert has over 30 years experience working with businesses from a broad range of sectors and countries, including in particular entrepreneurial businesses, partnerships, family businesses and not-for-profits.

Rupert’s experience

Rupert Merson is a Chartered Accountant and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Rupert took a first and a university prize from Oxford and studied at Harvard Business School. 

Rupert is an Adjunct Professor of London Business School where he has taught courses on the management of the growing business, new venture development, corporate turnaround, entrepreneurship in emerging markets, strategic innovation and family business. Since the Summer of 2009 Rupert has also been an Adjunct Professor of INSEAD. He also teaches at CEIBS in Shanghai and has taught at Cambridge, Oxford, and ISB in Hyderabad. Rupert has led business education programmes on strategy, growth and entrepreneurship for clients in many sectors, and addressed international audiences in Australia, New Zealand, Continental Europe and South Africa as well as the UK. He has won prizes for his teaching at both London Business School (2015 & 2018) and INSEAD (2015.) Rupert has also sat on the SME Council of the CBI.

For 16 years Rupert Merson was a partner in BDO Stoy Hayward, London, where he was also a member of the Stoy Centre for the Family Business.

Rupert lives in a house that has turned into a library stuffed with the best in literature, history and philosophy. Room has also been found for a piano, a harpsichord, a clavichord, a lute and a guitar – now that the children have started to leave home.

Rupert’s publications

Rupert publishes frequently in the national press on a broad range of business topics. He has published four books on the key roles in the growing business, and co-authored a fifth book on the family business. A sixth book, Rules are Not Enough, on Corporate Governance, was published in February 2010. His seventh book Guide to Managing Growth was published by The Economist in the Summer of 2011. His latest book Growing a Business: Strategies for Leaders and Entrepreneurs was published by The Economist in February 2016.

Joanna Merson

Joanna specialises in helping owner-managed businesses and not-for-profits with their accounting, performance management, reporting, recruitment and governance problems. Most of her experience has been with entrepreneurial businesses and not-for-profits, and she has a particular interest in addressing the problems that arise where family and business interact. Joanna has over 25 years’ experience working with clients from a broad range of sectors, including start-ups and established businesses.

“I have been Rupert's partner in life for at least 35 years and in business for 13 years. I believe that we have attributes that complement each other in both spheres; we work well as a team for our clients, some people find this unusual, but we find it normal!”

Joanna’s experience

In addition to her advisory experience, Joanna has held senior accounting positions in a range of enterprises including property businesses and a leading multi-site not-for-profit in the South East. 

Joanna is a Chartered Accountant and a graduate of Oxford University.

Accountants understand numbers but not people. HR professionals understand people but not numbers. We appreciate that the most important issues fall between these two.

Rupert Merson is an established author and expert in growth for owner managed businesses.

Read more about Rupert and the team
At the heart of many owner-managed businesses is an entrepreneur. That entrepreneurial spirit needs to be protected and nurtured as the business grows and matures.

Rupert Merson is an established author and expert in growth for owner managed businesses.

Read more about Rupert and the team
Businesses founded by teams grow faster and further than those founded by individuals. Successful entrepreneurs need to be team builders as well as business builders.

Rupert Merson is an established author and expert in growth for owner managed businesses.

Read more about Rupert and the team
Growth isn’t just about getting bigger. A growing business is a changing business and it needs to grow up as well as grow.

Rupert Merson is an established author and expert in growth for owner managed businesses.

Read more about Rupert and the team