Phil Watkins

Phil joined Oxford Nanopore in 2020 having consulted for the Company since 2018.

He now heads the finance function, overseeing the department and the financial and management reporting.

Throughout the Company’s fundraising in 2019 and 2020, Phil led the due diligence process liaising with potential investors and managing their advisors. Since joining full time, Phil led a major restructuring of the finance team, boosting both the size of the team and the experience within it. He will continue to oversee the preparation of accurate and timely financial information so senior leadership can make management decisions based on reliable data.

Phil has significant corporate finance experience across acquisitions, disposals and joint ventures, as well as broad commercial experience working with both the private and public sectors. Prior to joining Oxford Nanopore, he was both Managing and Finance Director of GEO Group Inc’s UK subsidiary, successfully winning a number of high profile outsourcing contracts. He has also held a number of senior group finance roles at Jarvis plc, including M&A Director, and spent three years as Finance Director for a number of start-up environmental tech companies.

Phil started his career at Ernst & Young and has a BSc in Agriculture from the University of Reading.