I've worked with Nathan Cole for a number of years now, and I can say with confidence that he is one of the strongest finance directors I have on my books in the independent hotel space. He brings 16 years of experience to the table, all of it grounded in hospitality, and his current role at Dakota Hotels has given him exactly the kind of commercial environment where he has genuinely thrived. What stands out to me immediately is the depth of his strategic thinking. This isn't a finance leader who simply reports the numbers. He shapes the conversation around them.

The achievement I keep coming back to when I talk to clients about Nathan is the private-equity-backed expansion he led the finance function through at Dakota. He told me himself that it was the defining period of his career, and when you dig into what that actually involved, it is easy to see why. Navigating M&A activity, managing investor reporting, keeping the day-to-day finance operation running cleanly while the business was growing at pace, that is a genuinely rare combination of skills to find in one person. For a hotel group with ambitions to grow, whether organically or through acquisition, that experience is directly transferable and immediately valuable.

Nathan is based in Glasgow and is working to a three-month notice period, which is entirely standard at director level and reflects the seniority of his current position. He is considering his next move carefully, which tells you something about how he approaches decisions generally. He is not simply looking for a change. He is looking for the right opportunity, one where he can have genuine strategic influence. I believe this role could be exactly that, and I would be very happy to talk you through why I think he is worth a conversation.