Meet The Team
Meet the Kene Partners team.
Adam Kene
Managing Director
Ali Lyons
Chief of Staff
Tonye Vianana
Head of Finance
Rosie Silk
R&D Tax Manager
Sage Lakhani
R&D Tax Manager
Loren Burgess
Business Support and Internal Asset Manager
Bella Russell-Hills
Business Support and Internal Assets Assistant
Natasha Patel
R&D Tax Consultant
Oliver Williams
R&D Tax Consultant
Edward Lucas-Rowe
R&D Tax Analyst
Vishnu Pillai
R&D Tax Analyst
Karun Harrar
R&D Tax Analyst
Max Braham
R&D Tax Analyst
Grant Aldridge
R&D Tax Analyst
Dan Handforth
Senior Business Development Manager
Chanh Dip
Senior Business Development Manager
Ian Cashin
Senior Business Development ManagerApply to become a member of the Kene Partners team
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Adam Kene
Managing Director
Previously held Senior Business Development and Consulting positions at the two largest R&D Tax consultancies in Europe prior to starting Kene Partners. Currently sits on HMRC’s R&D Incentives and Reliefs Consultative Committee. Worked with over 150 companies successfully submitting 500+ R&D tax claims
Ali Lyons
Chief of Staff
Having graduated from Exeter in 2016 with a degree in English and Philosophy, Alistair began his career at Raffler. At Raffler, he was responsible for generating and maintaining new revenue streams, and during his time there it grew to become the UK’s #1 Lifestyle App on the App Store. From Raffler, Alistair moved to Motive Partners, a next-generation investment firm based between New York and London, where he worked as an Analyst, supporting the innovation arm of the business working with an international ecosystem of financial services and technology firms. Alistair joins Kene Partners as Chief of Staff to the MD.
Tonye Vianana
Head of Finance
Tonye Vianana has worked in a variety of key finance positions within Financial Services and other sectors. She recently worked for a fintech start-up (right from infancy all through to its £40m acquisition by private equity), where she was responsible for the delivery of the finance function; mainly accounting, budgeting, tax, treasury, and senior stakeholder management.
Rosie Silk
R&D Tax Manager
Rosie has a background in Law and Science (Biomedical Science/Human Physiology); in 2016 she was admitted to practice as a Solicitor in the Supreme Court of Victoria. For the past 4 years, Rosie has been assisting companies in Australia and the US to grow through innovation. This has been achieved by introducing these companies to grant and incentive programs as well as other forms of financing. Access to these programs help make them more sustainable and profitable in the long term and allow them to focus on their research and development activities.
Sage Lakhani
R&D Tax Manager
Previously held positions at two boutique Tax consultancies working with entrepreneurs and growth businesses across a range of sectors. Specialised in the implementation of technically robust tax solutions, developing and managing the processes/workflow management to ensure consistent quality of delivery, client relationships and team management. Qualified Chartered Tax Adviser, having started her career with PricewaterhouseCoopers London. Enjoys running in all weather, pilates and is a qualified personal trainer.
Loren Burgess
Business Support and Internal Asset Manager
Previously assisted in building out the People, Operations and Marketing functions for two medium-sized start-ups prior to joining Kene Partners. Currently enrolled on 24 Assets, a course designed to assist in building our Internal and External Assets. Enjoys long distance road cycling across the often cold and windy Kent hills.
Bella Russell-Hills
Business Support and Internal Assets Assistant
Bella has previously worked in film and television production with a particular focus on commercials, feature films, and documentaries. She’s currently focusing on the creation and development of Internal Assets at Kene Partners. Bella has a passion for making independent documentaries, playing sports, and, above all, riding motorbikes.
Natasha Patel
R&D Tax Consultant
Natasha is an ACCA qualified experienced consultant who joined Kene Partners from EY having spent 3 years on their R&D Tax team. In Natasha’s spare time she considers herself a bookworm trying to consume as much knowledge as possible in all areas, but this does not shy away from the fact that she enjoys having a drink every now and then. Natasha is also a keen gym goer working on keeping fit and bettering herself.
Oliver Williams
R&D Tax Consultant
Oliver joined Kene Partners from Leyton where he enjoyed a role within their Software and IT team compiling R&D claims. He has learnt and developed organisational skills from various project management roles at Olamalu. Outside of work, Oliver enjoys keeping fit, cooking, and playing music. He has a passion for learning new languages and loves travelling and being a part of different cultures.
Edward Lucas-Rowe
R&D Tax Analyst
Edward joined Kene Partners off the back of a season teaching skiing and snowboarding in Japan. Prior to that, he studied Politics, Philosophy, and Economics at Exeter which included studying a year abroad at Ottawa University. His current role as Assistant R&D Tax consultant involves working closely with multiple clients and Project Teams across a multitude of sectors. He can often be found behind a wall of screens coding in-house software and devising marginal gains tactics.
Vishnu Pillai
R&D Tax Analyst
Vishnu joined Kene Partners having completed his studies of Materials Science and Engineering MEng at Imperial College London – areas of specific study included: Nanotechnology, Structural Ceramics, and Advanced 3D modelling. His current role as Assistant R&D Tax consultant involves working closely with multiple clients and Project Teams predominantly in manufacturing, engineering, construction and software.
Karun Harrar
R&D Tax Analyst
Karun graduated with a Masters in Aeronautical Engineering from Loughborough University and more recently gained experience in the Renewable Energy and Finance sectors. His work was focused on developing a network in the R&D Investment industry, specialising in professional social interactions. Karun enjoys working on cars and the simple pleasure of a morning drive. He aims to complete a road trip abroad by the close of 2019.
Max Braham
R&D Tax Analyst
Max previously worked as an Account Manager for a national banking facility before joining us at Kene Partners. He earned a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering while at university and enjoys getting involved in a wide variety of sports including football, golf, and skiing.
Grant Aldridge
R&D Tax Analyst
Grant has been on both sides of the R&D process starting off his career as an Electrical Engineer for a large oil and gas company where he was heavily involved in the testing of new subsea modules through the R&D process. Grant has experience in compiling R&D claims for various sized companies across a range of industries from Food Technology to Aerospace Engineering. He has also spent a large proportion of his time performing Quality Assurance of R&D claims, this has meant in many cases he was the last port of call before the claims were being submitted to HMRC making sure the claims were robust.
Dan Handforth
Senior Business Development Manager
Held Directorships, Senior Business Development, and Strategic Consulting Roles for Large Corporates across legal, accountancy, wealth management and tax consulting organisations. His current role involves developing our Strategic Partnership and client network. He spends much of his free time being the “Dad Taxi” for his three children, and is a keen sailor, being a member of the French Sailing Federation. He is also a former board member of Anti-Slavery International.
Chanh Dip
Senior Business Development Manager
ATT Qualified, Chanh is an experienced Business Development leader with extensive experience working within the Top 100 in the accountancy industry, providing tax advisory services to SME’s across all sectors nationwide. Chanh supports clients and introducers in a consultative, knowledge-based sales approach, and is responsible for identifying and delivering successful partnerships in the business.
Ian Cashin
Senior Business Development Manager
Ian is an experienced Business Development Consultant with a wealth of experience in the world of R&D incentives. Ian joined Kene Partners from Moore Stephens where he was responsible for driving the Business Development Strategy for his sector team, working 1-2-1 with the firm’s partners to help them achieve their BD goals through coaching and prospecting new potential clients to increase revenue targets. Ian also managed the relationship with 8 of the firm’s international offices.