My Story
Justin Walton
CTA, ATT (Fellow), MILM, ICF Member
Where it all started
It took me 27 years and a fantastic career of change and opportunity in several professional firms to get to the point of starting Purple Bear Group. In some ways, I wish I had started sooner but it's that wealth of experience that makes me who I am today.
Buckle in, here's what has happened along the way...
The BDO years (Stoy Hayward)
As a young man I wanted to pursue a professional career. On leaving college with A levels in History, Economics and Accountancy I joined a large accountancy firm in London, on their tax trainee programme. The firm was Stoy Hayward which was a forerunner to BDO. Their approach in taking on A-level trainees was forward-thinking back then but is more commonplace now. Being able to access the professions without a university degree was a great opportunity and one I wanted to make the most of. 'Stoys' provided me with wonderful experiences, great training and learning opportunities and lots of happy memories, including meeting my wife to be, Wendy. It was where I qualified as a Chartered Tax Adviser and I spent several years there specialising in tax advisory, planning and compliance.
With Wendy and I both working at Stoys and not wishing to be 'bringing work home' every night, we made a family decision that I would look for my career opportunities elsewhere whilst she started to prepare herself for partnership at the firm.
Without my start at BDO, my life might look quite different now so I have a lot to thank the firm for.
The MBS and KPMG years
With that choice made, after 7 years at Stoys I moved to a mid-tier London-based accountancy firm, MBS. During my time there I took over running the corporate tax team. The firm offered me good opportunities in the three years I spent there but I realised shortly after joining that I wanted to get back to working in a larger organisation when a suitable opportunity arose.
That's what happened as my next career move took me to KPMG, one of the Big 4 accountancy firms, based in Canary Wharf, London. This was an exciting time for me, moving to such a prestigious firm and working in a part of London that was almost changing and growing by the day.
KPMG was where I started to specialise in property, construction and infrastructure, advising businesses and government bodies. In my time there, I played an integral role defining how large infrastructure projects should be taxed in the UK and also in how Government should assess tax receipts from such projects in pricing them and taking them to market. I also got involved in long-term business modelling, M&A transactions and related tax due diligence work. Working at a firm like KPMG offers great opportunities but is also very hard work. It certainly engrained professionalism in me.
During my time at KPMG, Wendy and I were bringing up two young children whilst both working full-on roles, hers as a partner at BDO, so the time was right for me to look for my next opportunity.
The John Laing years
From KPMG I moved 'in-house' to John Laing, an international, FTSE 250 investment business which specialised in infrastructure and property. I thought I might follow the pattern of many first movers into industry and stay for three years' or so but it proved to be such a great business to work for. We had a small tax team but were all over the activities the business was involved in. The business expanded overseas, developed into new markets, de-listed from the London Stock Exchange only to relist several years later and yet still had many of the great qualities of the family business it started out as 150 years earlier.
The business had nearly 200 companies and other legal entities worldwide so came with complexity, a tax advisor's dream! My role included developing the tax strategy for the business, advising on projects and managing compliance all the while working closely with the Board, commercial and finance teams and various committees and stakeholders.
By the time I left John Laing after 10 years, I had played a key role in the IPO of the business, its international expansion, its development of two listed infrastructure funds and running the in-house tax team. I had become Group Head of Tax, a role I aspired to at the start of my in-house journey.
... and now it's Purple Bear Group
That brings me to starting Purple Bear Group, which I did late in 2015. The forerunner to the Purple Bear Inspires brand was PLS Tax Solutions where my focus continued to be as a tax advisor. Since I started the business I have been lucky to have worked with the likes of large retailers, large infrastructure businesses, franchisees, small business owners and property investors, amongst many others, advising on tax, business and personal development matters.
The business has evolved and rebranded as I now focus on Coaching Services including Executive Coaching, Leadership Coaching, Business Coaching, Small Business Coaching and Financial Coaching. These services all build on the client-led approach to business I developed over many years as a tax professional. I became a Member of the Institute of Leadership and Management in 2016 and have been enhancing my executive coaching skills at Henley Business School where I passed the Professional Certificate in Executive Coaching.
My interest in property, M&A and due diligence has been a constant through most my professional life. Through a great deal of forward planning, property investment and related operations also now feature in my skills and experience. This is represented by investments for professional people in the private rented sector and holiday rentals under the
Purple Bear Properties brand.
In my personal life, I enjoy travelling, live events and live sport. Music and sport are my main means of positive wellbeing - rocking out to the Foo Fighters, Green Day or Muse are right up there as well as supporting my beloved QPR (I know!). I am also an avid squash, racketball and padel tennis player.
As someone that has lived with his fair share of anxiety and panic for parts of my life, I am now a Mental Health First Aider through MHFA England
and a local Group Facilitator for a fabulous and much needed men's mental health charity, Andy's Man Club. The charity has been incredibly important in supporting me through the loss of close family members and whilst as a facilitator I am first and foremost a user of the group, I am also able to give back and support other men going through their own challenges. In fact, the origin of Purple Bear is that Purple is the colour of Pancreatic Cancer UK, a disease I sadly lost my mother-in-law to in 2017 three days after diagnosis.
What that all means for you
Having worked in the professions for my entire career, professional people are my tribe and so the people that I predominantly support now. You can see that I've had a career where change and transition has been a constant. I've had a career where I've been fortunate to have made many choices on my terms but that's not to say its been easy. I bring my experience and professionalism to my businesses now, looking to support other professional people through inspirational work with Purple Bear Inspires and making quality property available through Purple Bear Properties.
If you would like to know more about how I can help you, please contact me
on this site or connect with me on LinkedIn.
