About NED Capital

NED Capital is a specialist recruitment practice dedicated entirely to board-level appointments — non-executive directors, independent directors, board chairs and committee specialists. We exist because the board is different. A non-executive appointment is not a scaled-down executive hire; it demands independence, governance judgement and the credibility to challenge a management team constructively, and assessing for those qualities calls for a different discipline from executive search. That discipline is the whole of what we do.

We work with boards across the UK — private and family-owned companies, private equity and venture-backed businesses, listed companies, charities, and FCA-regulated firms — to place directors who strengthen governance and sharpen decision-making. Every search is led personally by our founder, Adrian Lawrence FCA, and every appointment is assessed against the specific needs of the board it will join.

Founder-Led Board Search

NED Capital was founded by Adrian Lawrence FCA, a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales with over 25 years working alongside boards, investors and business owners. Unlike a career recruiter, Adrian comes to board search as a former listed-company Finance Director who has sat in the boardroom, presented to boards, and understood first-hand what separates a director who strengthens a board from one who merely occupies a seat. That practitioner background shapes how every search is run.

Founder-led means exactly that: Adrian personally takes the brief, leads the search, assesses the candidates and manages the process through to appointment. Clients deal with the person doing the work, not a account manager passing a specification to a research team. This is deliberate. Board appointments turn on judgement and trust, and those are not qualities that delegate well. Adrian holds an ICAEW practising certificate and read for a BSc at Queen Mary College, University of London.

What Makes Board Recruitment Different

A non-executive director is a director in law, carrying the same statutory duties and the same personal liability as any executive, despite the part-time and independent nature of the role. But the contribution is distinct: oversight rather than management, challenge rather than execution, stewardship rather than delivery. Recruiting for that contribution means assessing qualities an executive search rarely tests — genuine independence of mind, the judgement to challenge without overstepping into management, governance literacy, and the behavioural maturity to build trust with a board while holding it to account.

We assess every candidate against the independence criteria of the relevant governance framework — the UK Corporate Governance Code for premium-listed companies, the QCA Code for AIM businesses, or Charity Commission guidance for trustee appointments — and against the statutory duties set out in the Companies Act 2006. We operate in line with the voluntary code of conduct for executive search firms, and the duties every director accepts are set out in our guide to NED responsibilities and legal duties.

Who We Work With

Our work spans the full range of board appointments. We place first-time non-executives and independent chairs into private and family-owned companies professionalising their governance; experienced directors into private equity and venture-backed boards where value creation and exit readiness set the agenda; committee chairs and senior independent directors into FCA-regulated firms under the Senior Managers and Certification Regime; and trustees into charities and mission-led organisations. We recruit across sectors from technology and financial services to healthcare, real estate and the public interest, matching each director to the specific stage, ownership structure and challenge of the board.

Our Commitment

We keep our approach simple and honest. We take on searches we are confident we can complete, and we lead them personally. We build genuine, long-term relationships with the directors in our network rather than treating them as entries in a database. We give clients straight advice, including when that means telling a board it needs a different appointment from the one it first had in mind. And we handle every search with the discretion these appointments require. Our aim is not to make the most placements; it is to make the right ones, and to be the practice a chair returns to for the next appointment.

NED Capital | Sister practice of FD Capital | ICAEW practising certificate held by Adrian Lawrence FCA.