Tom Allen joined Advent in 2004 and is a Managing Director in London. He is responsible for the healthcare sector in Europe. Tom has advised on 11 investments during his career at Advent.
Prior to joining Advent, Tom began his career with Arthur Andersen in its private equity advisory team.
Tom holds a BA in Economics from the University of Manchester and is a Chartered Accountant.
How do you pick out interesting companies in your areas of focus?
Advent invests other people’s money, and we take that incredibly seriously. People have worked very hard to generate those funds, and they’re trusting Advent as an active asset manager to find the best opportunities we can. We screen a high volume of targets and are highly selective in our sourcing process. Advent tries to be ambitious when assessing the potential of a business. That means we rely heavily on our Operating Partners, because we’re trying to support change and improvement – often accelerated growth or business transformation. If Advent can support a business to become better quality, higher growth, more sustainable, and more focused, it is incredibly rewarding.
How have you grown professionally while at Advent?
If you’re intellectually curious and goal driven, it’s a fantastic place: you’re always learning about a new industry, a new company, and a new business situation. When you’re in a junior role, it’s all very analytical. You’re trying to synthesize a lot of data into structured analysis to enable decision making. As you become more senior, it becomes far more about behavioral skills around management of people, leadership, influencing, and judgment. You never stop learning.
“A vital part of what Advent does involves partnering with outstanding business leaders and helping them to be successful.”
Tom Allen
Managing Director, Advent
What mistakes have you made, and what have you learned from them?
There have been many – and a lot of the lessons learned have been about people. A vital part of what we do involves partnering with outstanding business leaders and helping them to be successful. One of the key things I have learned is the importance of clear communication and giving leaders the space to take responsibility and deliver.
What has been a highlight of your Advent career?
We’ve been able to play a positive role in some big, important healthcare companies. This has improved people’s access to care, medicines, and therapies, and increased the treatment options available to them. For me, it’s an added layer of reward, on top of the core satisfaction of supporting the process of building a great business. Our goal is to have a positive impact – in healthcare, our focus has to be on the patient, the payer and the healthcare professional. Advent wants to build successful businesses and support innovators in the sector.
What’s something that people might be surprised to learn about you?
My father was a farmer, which is actually quite an entrepreneurial environment to grow up in – there was always something new he was trying to do. My mother was a small business owner, too, so it was probably inevitable that I became interested in investment and building businesses. I still like to get back to the countryside where I grew up, where there’s space to reset and get back to nature.
