b'Strategic report Governance Financial statements90+Peter Dines,employees Chief Operating OfficerKey to the success of the day-to-day operations and responsible for all theGroups EIS investment activity, Peter engenders engaged participation acrossall teams, regions and projects. He is the champion of several of our key initiativesand working groups as well as heading up the VCT and EIS subsidiary of Mercia. Peter joined the Group in 2015 as Head of Life Sciences & Biosciences, with over 20 years experience in this sector, and became Chief Operating Officer in 2018.#OneMerciaCollaborating for sustained growthO2 is a working group of engaged colleagues that supports improved business processes and offers a broader range of insights to Mercias senior leadership team. Critical to the sustained success of Mercia, this group offers the benefits of its diverse opinions, ideas and points of view that might sometimes be lost in a more hierarchical business. The members of this group not only provide better vertical channels of communication to support understanding and implementation of Mercias strategy, they are also very proactive in providing new initiatives or insights that will shape future strategy. Many of the members of 8 the group will choose to progress to senior roles within the business, as part of Mercias succession planning.offices across the UKMercia Asset Management PLC 41Annual Report and Accounts 2020'