Meet our consulting team

Sage Lakhani

Head of Consulting

Having started her career with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) London, Sage has previously held positions at two boutique tax consultancies, working with entrepreneurs and growing businesses across a range of sectors. Sage is also a qualified Chartered Tax Adviser.
Leading the consulting team, Sage specialises in the implementation of technically robust tax solutions. She helps her team to develop excellent processes and workflows, ensures consistent quality of delivery and maintains strong client relationships, all with flawless team management.

When not working, Sage enjoys running in all weather, Pilates and is a qualified personal trainer.

Andy Royce

R&D Senior Manager

With a background in law, Andy worked in legal insurance for several years, before pursuing a career in tax. His most recent role was tax manager for the UK’s largest specialist R&D credit agency. Andy plays a vital role in communicating R&D tax strategies to ensure optimal client value, whilst providing practical solutions to highly technical tax legislation. His proactive approach is key to us remaining ahead of the curve, keeping the team constantly active in learning new skills and expanding our knowledge.

In his spare time, Andy enjoys walking the dog, writing geography-related quiz questions and spending time with his daughter.

Olly Newman

R&D Technical Manager

Olly studied at the universities of Warwick and Oxford and has over a decade of technical-writing experience, beginning his career writing instruction manuals for smartphones and devices. Olly has worked in specialist R&D claim preparation for over 5 years, including direct support for businesses of all sizes in their correspondence with HMRC.

His role involves providing claim support and specialist expertise surrounding the R&D legislation. He also takes a lead role in the team’s ongoing technical training.

Vishnu Pillai

R&D Manager

Vishnu joined Kene Partners having completed his studies of Materials Science and Engineering MEng at Imperial College London. His areas of specific study included: Nanotechnology, Structural Ceramics, and Advanced 3D modelling.

His current role as an R&D tax consultant involves working closely with multiple clients and project teams predominantly in manufacturing, engineering, construction and software.

Max Braham

R&D Manager

Max has a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Surrey and has previously worked as an Account Manager for a national banking facility. His R&D knowledge covers a range of different specialisms, including engineering, printing, construction, software, and food.

Outside of work, Max enjoys getting involved in a wide variety of sports including football, golf, and skiing.

Fergus Watson

R&D Senior Financial Consultant

Having started out at one of the Big Four accountancy practices for several years, Fergus has extensive experience with R&D tax claims. His focus is on the financial side of claim preparation, obtaining and calculating all relevant expenditure to ensure these are accurately captured in each client report before submission.

As our finance guru, Fergus also provides financial training to the rest of the team and supports our internal finance operations. He has efficiently optimised our internal structure to ensure benefit payments are instantaneous.

When not working, Fergus enjoys long walks in the country and exploring different cities.

Dr Arwyn Evans

Senior R&D Consultant

With experience from both academia and industry, Arwyn joined Kene Partners from an agri-tech start-up using materials science. Prior to this role, he graduated with a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College London, having worked on an industrial project funded by BP-International Centre for Advanced Materials (ICAM).

Using his core expertise, Arwyn has extensive experience preparing claims for our construction clients, with an unrivalled ability to grasp technical language to fully quantify relevant R&D activities.

During his spare time, he enjoys running or can be found following any form of rugby, football or cricket.

Jack Howley

R&D Consultant

Jack has a background in Chemical Engineering, completing his Master’s degree in 2019. Before joining Kene Partners, Jack worked for KPMG as an auditor.

Since joining us, Jack has worked on a variety of clients, ranging from construction to software, each with exciting and pioneering projects.

In his spare time, Jack enjoys running and boxing as well as watching sports such as cricket and football.

Lu Edwards

R&D Trainee Consultant

Lu’s impressive background includes being nominated as STEM Rising Star of the Year Finalist in 2020. She has a BEng in Aeronautical Engineering from The University of South Wales, working as an engineer for five years before becoming an R&D tax consultant.

Her expeirence in R&D includes a focus on the software and technology industries. Lu loves learning about why people have decided to start their projects and the mindset behind their innovation.

In her spare time, Lu is part of a British Karting Championship team as a mechanic (which was sadly put on hold during Covid) and is in the process of writing her first EP!

Riley Robinson

R&D Technical Consultant

Riley has a background in Theoretical and Computational Physics, completing his MSc in the subject at King’s College London. His specific areas of focus include: Quantum Mechanics, Quantum Computation, Numerical Modeling and Simulation.

During the course of his degree, he had the opportunity to work with the Rosaland super computer cluster as well as investigate solutions to PDE’s involved in Electromigration using random walk methods.

In his free time, Riley enjoys exploring London and when he returns to his hometown of Devon, enjoys surfing and longboarding.

Jack Duddridge

R&D Associate

Jack has a background in Chemical Engineering having completed a master’s degree at the University of Bath in 2020. Jack also has previous experience working in environmental management within the manufacturing industry where he was involved in auditing and continuous improvement projects.

Outside of the office, Jack enjoys travelling as well as playing and watching sports including football, running, tennis and golf.

Haseeb Malik

R&D Associate

Haseeb has a background in Mathematics with Statistics, completing his BSc at the University of Manchester. His areas of specific study included: Statistical Modelling in Finance, Markov Processes and Medical Statistics.

Since joining Kene Partners, he has been working on a variety of exciting and innovative R&D projects with software clients to food & beverage clients.

Outside of work, Haseeb enjoys powerlifting training – it is his goal to take part in powerlifting competitions in the future.

Chris Libby

R&D Associate

With a BSc in Neuroscience from the University of Nottingham, Chris joined us to learn from and support the variety of R&D activities happening in the UK. His previous roles include teaching and working in a COVID testing lab.

In his own time, Chris loves travelling, but where that’s not possible, he’ll settle for reading about it! He also enjoys hiking, cycling, and powerlifting.

Rob Taylor

R&D Associate

Rob studied Biochemistry at the University of Birmingham, gaining a practical understanding of how to collate, analyse and interpret scientific data.

Following his degree, he worked alongside a leading solutions provider in the life science industry to produce conferences and networking events. These helped connect business leaders and academia to better facilitate knowledge and innovation across the industry. Rob’s interest for innovation has led him to us, ready to support business growth and understanding through R&D tax incentives.

Outside of work, Rob enjoys watching rugby and walking in the countryside.

Klara Adams

R&D Analyst

Klara has a background in Mechanical Engineering, completing her Bachelor of Engineering at the University of Warwick in 2020. She most recently gained a MSc in Sustainable Energy Futures from Imperial College London and believes R&D plays an integral role in facilitating the UK energy transition. As co-founder of the Warwick Women’s Engineering Society, Klara is passionate about driving long-lasting change and fostering sustainability through cross-cultural collaborating and promoting diversity in STEM.

With a strong background in research and data analysis, Klara has joined Kene Partners as an R&D Tax Analyst.

Outside of work, Klara loves to explore new worlds through travel and in books and enjoys activities such as skiing, scuba diving and cooking with her friends.

Maike Schmidt

R&D Analyst

Born in Germany, Maike lived in Italy, China and Oxford before moving to Leeds to study. She graduated from the University of Leads in 2022 with a first class MS in Physics.

Her experience includes working for Richter Lab. Responsibilities included adapting a new experimental technique and fault finding. She was also the first person to produce data with an experimental technique, along with finding any limits of well-known theories for the particular application of her research.

Maike enjoy being at the forefront of new technology and seeing the real-world applications. She enjoys applying her knowledge in the field of physics to help more business benefit from R&D tax credits.

In her spare time, Maike enjoys playing hockey and is an ex county hockey champion who competed international. Her other hobbies include going to the gym, cooking and trying new recipes.

Katerina Platonova

R&D Analyst

Katerina is passionate about chemistry and its diversity of topics, from materials chemistry to cosmetic chemistry. Her previous experience includes working in a material testing laboratory alongside NASA and British Safety Industry Federation.

She has also briefly worked in assisting life-changing cancer research and was Chief Scientist Short Projects Team during an internship at AWE, finding thermal conductivity of transition metal sulphides.

Whilst studying her MSci in chemistry at University College London (UCL), Katerina covered a number of key products. These included finding an alternative Transparent Conducting Oxide material that could successful reduce the price of iPhone’s by £200 and working on the stability of a cathode used in thermal batteries.

In her spare time, Katerina likes to go on long dog walks with her maltipoo, Toto, as well as watching and talking about Formula 1. She also used to do gymnastics competitively, performing as a trio.

Sam Holmes

R&D Analyst

Sam completed his BSc (Eng) in Chemical Engineering at the University of Cape Town. His sub-focus was numerical simulation, with interests in biotechnology and computer science.

Before joining Kene Partners, Sam gained consulting experience in the plastic packaging and plastic recycling industries. This involved solving a variety of problems revolving around plastic wastage and logistics optimisation.

In his free time, Sam enjoys surfing and watching all manner of sports. He is also a cinephile and enjoys learning about the filmmaking process.

Farheen Khalid

CT Operations Analyst

Farheen joins us with a Bachelor’s degree in Physics with Theoretical Physics from King’s College London. Her favourite topics include cosmology, general relativity, and condensed matter physics.

In her free time, Farheen likes to upcycle furniture and visit different towns and cities with her family. She is also a sports enthusiast and enjoys swimming and playing tennis.

Lorenzo Montani

R&D Enquiry Analyst

Lorenzo graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2022, where he studied History. With a background that prioritised strong research and writing, he has joined Kene Partners as an Enquiry Analyst.

Lorenzo is fascinated by the position R&D credits hold in the UK’s industrial strategy. He is really excited to be on the front-line of the effort to help modernise the economy, and is looking forward to gaining exposure on a variety of industries and companies.

In his spare time, Lorenzo enjoys cooking and watching an array of sports. He is also a lover of all things media, so avidly watches TV and reads as much as he can, from online magazines to novels.