How To

A graduate of Oxford University, Giles spent two formative years in industry before starting in international book packaging with Elsevier. This was followed by eight years working overseas with Oxford University Press in Nigeria, East Asia, and East Africa before returning to OUP`s Oxford headquarters as Sales then Managing Director of one of the Press`s three worldwide publishing divisions. Giles also served on the Group`s main board.

Giles`s experience also includes two interim management contracts with a part-work publisher and an educational publisher owned by The Thomson Corporation, which he sold to Longman Pearson.

In 1996, and with Mike O`Regan, Giles acquired How To Books – of which he is now Managing Director - and Bios, the latter being sold to an international publishing group.

Giles also worked as non-executive director for a year with The Internet Bookshop, subsequently sold to WH Smith.

After graduating in Economics from Cambridge, Mike travelled, worked on the shop floor and taught for two years before joining Mike Fischer in 1973 to start Research Machines, now RM plc, a large and highly successful Oxfordshire-based supplier of IT to education which is listed on the UK stock market. From 1992 to 2004 he was then a non-executive director of RM.

As well as being a non-executive Director of How To Books Ltd., Mike is now Director and investor in a number of small companies, and of the Oxford Technology VCTs. He also chairs and funds the educational charity Hamilton Trust, which he founded in 1988, and is a trustee of PEEP, The Oxford Trust and a number of other educational charities.

A fully qualified accountant (CIMA) Martin spent his early days gaining experience in a number of international business environments and industries, before building over twenty years CFO experience, largely in Blackwell Science, a world-renowned academic publisher. As one of a three man executive team he turned what was a medium sized UK business into a fully international group with a turnover of $190m.

As non-executive Finance Director for How To Books Ltd., Martin brings successful experience in business start ups, acquisitions and disposals, corporate restructuring, financing and latterly an AIM listed company. He is also a Governor of Oxford Brookes University.

As Editorial Director of How To Books Ltd., Nikki is responsible for commissioning and publishing all the company`s new titles and new editions each year, and for maintaining the company`s back list of over 300 titles in print.
 
Nikki first went into publishing as a copy-editor with Macmillan and subsequently with How To Books, where she worked with the founding owner to develop a strong list of reference titles.  Nikki`s involvement now extends to all development initiatives, including the launch of a new fiction publishing company in 2004.

Once a full-time mother of four for 14 years, Nikki returned to higher education in her mid-thirties, graduating from Exeter University with an Honours degree in English Literature.

After spending almost a decade working within major publishing corporations, notably Thomson and Elsevier, Chris joined a management consultancy firm based in Oxford where he advised clients on ways to utilise new technology within their marketing efforts.

In 2003 he established himself as an independent marketing consultant advising publishers on marketing issues and emerging technologies.

He is now Business Development Director for How To Books, directing the company`s internet and content development strategies and online marketing.