OUR TEAM

Greg Shippee

Managing Partner

Over eighteen years of corporate finance experience in the US, Europe, Middle East and Africa. Multidimensional expertise in strategy consulting, family office controlling, acquisition due diligence, systems implementation, financial planning, budgeting and control.

Gail Goring

Partner & Head of Regulatory & Compliance Services

Experienced corporate lawyer with over 20 years’ experience in regulatory and compliance services spanning across the Caribbean, Cayman Islands and in the UAE. Strong knowledge of international business companies’ regulatory frameworks, financial services (including FinTech as qualified under Oxford/Saïd Business School Fintech Programme) and financial products (particularly Funds). Extensive experience as well as specialized expertise as a certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist and FATF trained Legal expert examiner and certified in FATCA & CRS reporting, ADGM OCAB regime.

Achievement: Awarded 2021 Leading Woman in Private Wealth Management by MENA Wealth Briefing Association.

Formerly: Legal Counsel at Cayman Islands Monetary Authority: 2008-2016;

Formerly: Head of Regulations and Operations for RAKICC (IBC Offshore & Free zone Registry): 2016-2017

Former: Prosecutor/ Regulator & Legislative Drafter

Neil Guthrie

Senior Director - Finance and Tax

Neil’s career spans almost 40 years, during which he has operated at CFO-level for more than 20 years. A UK citizen, Neil is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, having trained and qualified with KPMG.

He has extensive experience in finance, tax, accounting, treasury, and M&A across several sectors and geographic regions in both SME and large corporations. He is an experienced board member in both finance and non-finance roles.

Neil’s experience has exposed him to the tax and regulatory regimes of numerous countries across the globe including the UAE where he has lived and worked for 7 years.

John Kartonchik

Senior Director - Regulatory and Compliance Services

With over 20 years of experience, working in numerous jurisdictions globally, John is considered a regulatory compliance subject matter expert with a proven track record where he’s been able to successfully blend the ability to interpret complex and ever-evolving global regulations with regulatory and financial services risk management best practices. His experience with implementing best of breed regulatory compliance policies, procedures, systems and controls, and ability to understand regulatory requirements and how to pragmatically overcome challenges has been consistently demonstrated throughout his career.

John has been at the forefront in advancing compliance best practices through participation in regulatory and compliance committees and organizations, and ongoing communications with financial services regulators to interpret the ever-changing regulatory compliance landscape. His activities focus on providing advice and guidance on risk and compliance strategy, with a view to achieve an overall reduction and potential for exposure to legal, regulatory and financial risk.

John has been licensed for the past 15 years as a Compliance Officer and Money Laundering Reporting Officer in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). He has a postgraduate diploma from the University of Manchester Business School, is a member of the International Compliance Association, the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS), and a former board member of the ACAMS Hong Kong Chapter.

Muktha Menon

Director of HR Services and Talent Acquisition

Seasoned HR Professional with over 15 years of experience in India and UAE with demonstrated track record in HR Consulting, Recruitment, Employee Relations, Payroll, Compensation and Benefits, Grievance management etc. She holds Masters in HR and Business Finance.

Nisha Shah

Director (Regulatory and Compliance)

A Financial Services professional with extensive experience in regulatory and compliance, domestic/international taxation, across India and the UAE.
Nisha is a Chartered Accountant and is a member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments. She has steered complex projects involving onshore/offshore fund structuring, investment or business restructuring, from a tax and regulatory standpoint and has worked on regulatory licenses/approvals and clarifications.

In the UAE, Nisha has been working on FATCA/CRS, AML/KYC Advisory and Implementation for Financial Services companies, assisting clients in seeking regulatory approvals/clarificationsfrom the Regulators for financial services business in the UAE including cryptocurrencies.

Maria Shmatova

Director (Regulatory and Compliance)

Diversified professional with a rich 12-years’ experience in regulatory compliance and AML, corporate structuring, international tax structuring (all in Dubai) and banking (in Moscow). Maria has a deep knowledge of financial services regulations and frameworks, tax and legal matters, various non-regulated entities framework including international business companies and free zone companies.

She has worked on various large multinationals’ tax and corporate structuring projects, as well as on the revision of internal policies and procedures for an asset manager firm.

Maria holds a master’s degree in economics (corporate finance) and is a member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments.

Charu Spall

Director (Accounting Services)

Charu is a qualified CPA (US) with over 15 years of experience in accounting and financial reporting. She is experienced in finance and accounting with a demonstrable history of working in the Oil and gas, corporate service provider, legal services and BPO industries. She is skilled in Management Information Systems (MIS), system implementation, Accounting, Financial Analysis, Budgeting, Financial Model & valuation, Consolidation.

She manages team of Accountants, Senior Accountants and Finance Manager. She is responsible for overall accounting & controls and reporting of several DFSA/FSRA regulated and non-regulated entities.

Keerthi Voodimudi

Director (Tax)

Keerthi is a tax professional with over 10+ years of demonstrated experience in tax advisory, implementation, compliance, and tax audit support in the UAE, Bahrain, and India.

In the past five years in the UAE, Keerthi focused on VAT optimization and risk mitigation for businesses in Banking, Investment Fund Management, Real Estate, and Oil & Gas sectors and assisted companies in making strategic tax decisions on mergers & acquisitions and key projects in the UAE. At Rethink, Keerthi steered varied projects involving GCC VAT Law, Economic Substance Regulations, and Beneficial Owner Regulations in the UAE.

Keerthi is now using her tax proficiency to direct the implementation and advisory projects on the upcoming Corporate Tax in the UAE

Rowena Bethel

Associate Director of Compliance

A veteran senior executive in financial services and communications sector regulation and policy. In depth experience at international and national levels in financial crimes regulation, cross border tax cooperation frameworks, data protection, pension fund management and digital transformation.

A UK qualified barrister-at-law, Rowena is a former senior legal adviser to The Bahamas government on financial services and communications sector reform, former AML regulator of DNFBPs, insurance and credit unions, and former head of the International Tax Cooperation Unit. She has worked extensively with World Bank ROSCs, IMF Article IV consultations, FSRB MERs, as an assessor for OECD Global Tax Forum EOI peer reviews and Tax information Exchange Treaty Negotiator. She is a former member of the UN Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters and the UN Expert Committee on Public Administration.

In the UAE private sector, her experience covers start-ups, SFO operations, asset management, virtual asset regulation and implementation of FATCA, CRS, data protection, general regulatory compliance, AML & Sanctions mandates.

Rowena has an LL.B (Leics), UK and LL.M in IT and Telecommunications Law and Policy (Strath), UK. She is CAMs certified and a member of the Honourable Society of Middle Temple (UK), Bahamas Bar Association, ACAMS, IFAUAE and IAPP.

Ateeq Shaik

Senior Finance Manager

Ateeq has over 12 years of corporate finance experience in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and MENA regions while working in Aviation, IT, Consultancy, Digital Media, Events and Promotions, Defence and Government, Logistics and Supply Chain, Retail and Hotel/Restaurant industries. With a background in process optimizations, he has Project Managed multi-million USD contracts performing Accounting, Financial Analysis, Commercial Pricing, Budgeting, Forecasting, Financial Modelling and Consolidation.

Ateeq is an effective business partner who uses data to support in making meaningful strategic decisions.

Kent Sabejon

Senior Finance Manager

A Certified Public Accountant (CPA) with 9 years’ experience in accounting, financial analysis, and corporate finance, Kent started his career in Rethink as a Senior Accountant in 2017. Having worked with clients from various industries – trading, consultancy, asset management, academe – he has developed a deep understanding of financial reporting implications of high-complexity transactions with respect to accounting standards.

Well-versed in system implementation, management reporting, and process improvement, Kent has steered projects involving high-complexity business consolidations, multiple-year backlog accounting and VAT implementations, and Finance Officer responsibilities for regulated entities in UAE financial free zones.

Now managing his own team, Kent continues to support the business by providing more value-adding services, leading onto client satisfaction.

Urvi Zatakia

Senior Finance Manager

Financial Services professional with over 10 years of post-qualification career experience, ranging from analysing P&L, managing and leading client projects across operational efficiency, revenue leakage, profitability analysis, cost monitoring to providing financial tools to clients.

Have gained Exposure to diverse industries – Custodial and Fund administration services to mutual funds in some of the globally renowned banks, Operation advisory to Wealth and portfolio management divisions in banks.

Managing the finance officer function for category 2, 3A, 3C and 4 regulated firms in terms of their capital adequacy monitoring , monthly management reporting, accounting and bookkeeping, quarterly EPRS filings and liaising with internal and external auditors. Authorised as a finance officer since 2019.

Managing a team of qualified chartered accountants and senior accountants.

Neha Kelkar

Tax Manager

Neha is a tax professional with 6+ years of experience in the field of Value Added Tax in UAE and India.

Over the past years, Neha has handled multiple VAT implementation projects across UAE for businesses in real estate, logistics, utilities, and retail sectors. She currently focuses on providing efficient VAT advisory, implementation, and compliance support to companies in the UAE.

For the upcoming Corporate Tax in the UAE, Neha is supporting advisory projects for companies in various sectors.

Neha is a Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and has spent the initial four years of her career in the field of Accounting and Assurance.

Barry Madlin

HR & Recruitment Manager

Barry has gained 18 years of HR and Recruitment Management experience in United Kingdom and GCC region within consulting and in-house environments. He offers expertise in Contingency & Executive Search, Recruitment Strategy and Recruitment Project Execution.

Currently managing the Recruitment Team, he provides solutions to client staffing requirements including; sourcing, screening and shortlisting of candidates with extensive experience in niche roles and industries. The placements include high level senior executive roles and complex technical requirements.