Darren Mercer
Group CEO
Darren Mercer has served on the board of directors of NASDAQ listed company, MICT Inc., since November 2019, initially as Non-Executive Director, and then as Interim Chief Executive Officer in April 2020, before subsequently being appointed as Chief Executive Officer in 2021. Since joining the MICT Board, Mr. Mercer has led MICT to pivot from a small Israeli telematics business to a multinational FinTech solutions provider, with offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing, and Shanghai.
Prior to joining the Board of MICT, Mr. Mercer spent 15 years in Mainland China, Hong Kong and South East Asia, leading a number of fast-growth private and public FinTech companies. During this time, Mr. Mercer established strong business relationships with numerous Government Agencies, Stated Owned Companies, major online businesses, telcos, banks and technology companies, gaining a great deal of experience working in partnership with many of them. Through these relationships, Mr. Mercer has helped MICT over the past two years to grow its business activities and achieve a strong position from which it could make strategic acquisitions. Most latterly, Mr. Mercer has led MICT through a merger with Tingo Mobile PLC a highly profitable FinTech and Agri-FinTech company, with revenues of more than $1billion per annum. Mr. Mercer is now working with the founders and management of Tingo to internationalize and accelerate its growth, and introduce it into Asia.
As a graduate in Economics from the University of Manchester, Mr. Mercer began his career in the 1980’s, holding senior roles in institutional equity sales and corporate brokering at a number of investment banks, enjoying considerable success with his private equity investments.
John McMillan Scott
Chairman and Independent Director
John McMillan Scott has served on the board of directors of MICT since November 2019. Mr. Scott began his career as a stockbroker in October 1970 with Charlton Seal Dimmock & Co. He became a Partner at the same firm in 1982 and subsequently a Director of Wise Speke Limited following a merger in 1990.
In August 1994, he joined Albert E. Sharp LLP as a Director, where he remained until June 2007. In 2007, he joined WH Ireland Group Plc, a financial services company offering private wealth management, wealth planning and corporate broking services, where he oversaw the firm’s private client business in Manchester, U.K. until his retirement from his role as an Executive Director from WH Ireland’s Board of Directors in 2013. Mr. Scott holds a BSc in Economics from the University of London.
John J. Brown
Independent Director
John J. Brown served on the board of directors of the previous parent company of Tingo Mobile Limited since September 2021. Since 2016, Mr. Brown has also been the Managing Partner of Sands Point Consulting, an advisor to entrepreneurs, founders, and senior corporate leaders to develop new business strategies for a rapidly changing market. From 2009 — 2016, he was the Group Managing Director and a member of the WMA Executive Committee for UBS Wealth Management Americas. From 1995-2000, Mr. Brown was the Managing Director and Global Head of Convertible Securities Trading at UBS, and from 1980-1995 and again from 200-2009 he was a Managing Director for Merrill Lynch & Co., holding senior executive leadership positions at Merrill Lynch, most notably COO, Operations, Technology & Corp. Services Group. At Merrill Lynch, Mr. Brown managed a $1 billion annual operating budget. He also served as the Head of US Equity Financing & CEO, Merrill Lynch Professional Clearing Corp in its Prime Broker Division.
Kenneth Denos
Director, Executive Vice President, General Counsel of Tingo Group Holdings LLC
Kenneth Denos has served as Tingo’s Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary since September 2021. Since June 2005, Mr. Denos has been an officer and director of Equus Total Return, Inc. (NYSE: EQS), a closed-end fund traded on the New York Stock Exchange, serving as its President and CEO from 2007-09. He is also a founder and principal of Outsize Capital Ltd., an international corporate finance advisory firm based in London, and is the founder and Chairman of Kenneth I. Denos, P.C., a U.S.-based corporate and consumer law firm. Previously, Mr. Denos was the CEO of MCC Global NV, a Frankfurt stock exchange listed investment advisory firm based in London, and also served as a director and executive officer of two London Stock Exchange listed firms, Healthcare Enterprise Group plc and Tersus Energy plc. Mr. Denos has worked in the private equity and advisory industry for virtually his entire career, having served as a principal and/or advisor to private and public companies and funds in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and North America. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Finance and Political Science from the University of Utah. He also holds a Master of Business Administration and a Juris Doctor from the University of Utah. We believe that Mr. Denos is well-qualified to serve on the combined board due to his extensive international legal and corporate governance background, as well as his financial services and investment experience.
Sir David Trippier, R.D.,J.P.,D.L
Independent Director
Until April 2011 Sir David Trippier was the Chairman of Cambridge shire Horizons, the company delivering sustainable development in the Cambridge Sub-region, and he was the Chairman of W H Ireland Group plc, Stockbrokers until May 2008 when the company was taken over by a consortium. He was until recently a Non-Executive Director of ITV Granada Television and has been a director or Chairman of several quoted companies. Sir David was knighted by the Queen in July 1992 when he was 46 years of age.
At the age of 22, Sir David was admitted to the Stock Exchange. He was also a director of a financial planning company as well as being a Stockbroker. He was a senior partner in Pilling Trippier & Co before it was taken over by Capel-Cure Myers whilst he was a Minister. He was elected to the Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council in 1969. In 1975, he became the leader of the Council when he was 28 years of age and in the same year was appointed a magistrate. In 1979, he was elected as MP for Rosendale at the age of 32 and became MP for the new constituency of Rosendale and Darwen from 1983 to 1992. In 1982, Sir David was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the then Minister for Health (Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke QC, MP). From June 1983 to September 1985, Sir David was the Minister for Small Firms and Enterprise at the Department of Trade and Industry. From September 1985 to June 1987, he was the Minister for Tourism, Small Firms and Enterprise in the Department of Employment. In 1987 he became the Minister for Housing, Inner Cities and Construction in the Department of the Environment. Later in 1989, he was promoted to become the Minister of State for the Environment and Countryside. As the “Green” Minister he was instrumental in negotiating the international agreements on Climate Change and Global Warming on behalf of the United Kingdom. In 1994 he was appointed by the Council of the Stock Exchange to sit on the committee, which formulated and launched the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in June 1995. Since 1992, he has been Chairman or main Board Director of three companies, which have floated on the Stock Exchange and are now in the Main List, and one that has floated on the AIM Market.
Sir David was born in May 1946, educated at Bury Grammar School and later was commissioned as an officer in the Royal Marines Reserve in which he has served for 30 years. He passed the Commando Course at the Commando Training Centre in Devon in 1969 and the following year qualified as a parachutist at RAF Abingdon.
Robert Benton
Independent Director
Robert. Benton has served on the Board of MICT since April 2021. He has been the Director and Founder of Anthology Media, Ltd, where he provides integrated strategies designed to bridge the gap between creativity and finance for TV and film production companies since August 2010. Prior to his employment at Anthology Media, Ltd, Mr. Benton was a Managing Director and Head of Media Investments at Canaccord Adams Ltd., from September 2008 to June 2010, where he focused on marketing, sales, and corporate finance. Prior to his employment at Canaccord Adams Ltd, Mr. Benton was employed as the Chief Executive Officer at Bridgewell Securities Ltd, a United Kingdom investment banking firm, from January 2002 to June 2006. From 1997 to 2001, Mr. Benton served as a Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for Charterhouse Securities Limited. Mr. Benton also served as the Global Head of Sales for ABN-ABRO from June 1994 to June 1997. Prior to that, Mr. Benton was a Managing Director of HSBC James Capel Ltd, from November 1992 to June 1995. Mr. Benton currently serves as the Deputy Chair of Everbright Securities Financial Holding Limited, which engages in the provision of financial brokerage services. Mr. Benton sits on the Advisory Committee for Nash & Co Capital, Ltd, which is an independent corporate finance and advisory company. Previously, Mr. Benton served as the Chairman of Clarkson Plc, the FTSE 250 shipping group, from May 2005 to January 2015. Mr. Benton holds a degree in Politics and Economics from Exeter University.