Geoffrey Nicholson

Chairman & Managing Partner, Blindside Partners

Role: Associate

Site: CDL-Oxford

Stream: FinTech

Geoffrey Nicholson is the founder and managing partner of Blindside Partners. He has 40 years of experience consulting on strategy issues to a range of companies but has particular expertise in financial services and technology. In his career he has been based in London, New York, Boston, and Moscow. He has managed BCG’s financial services practice in the Americas, Oliver Wyman’s UK financial services practice, and PwC’s consulting practice in the former Soviet countries. He has also had short stints in investment banking and private equity at Goldman Sachs as well as a Russian investment bank.

For the last nine years, Geoff has had his own consulting practice working with some large banks in Eastern Europe and with many smaller technology companies, particularly in fintech. He is a mentor in the TechStars accelerators in London, Amsterdam, and New York. He is the chairman of Bellator Tech, a startup which aims to improve the quality and efficiency of compliance checks in the payments system.

Geoffis the U.K. Director for Kana Labs, an Indian developer who builds infrastructure for DeFI providers. He is also an advisor to the venture capital firm Digital Horizon. His particular areas of experience and interest within tech investing and advisory include competitive strategy, payments, compliance, and the application of artificial intelligence to fintech.

Geoff received his bachelor’s in physics from Harvard University and his MBA from Harvard Business School. He is a British and Canadian citizen.