Doug Barrowman

Douglas Alan Barrowman is a Scottish businessman and investor. He is the founder and Chairman of the Knox Group of Companies. Barrowman also founded Aston Ventures Group and previously worked at 3i.

Douglas "Doug" Barrowman was born on March 1, 1965 in Glasgow, Scotland. He was raised in Simshill, before moving to Rutherglen at the age of 13, where Barrowman attended Kings Park Secondary School. He later attended Glasgow University, graduating with a Bachelor of Accountancy degree in 1985. Barrowman was the first person from his family to attend university.

After graduating, Barrowman completed his professional examinations and qualified as a Chartered Accountant. At the age of twenty he set up paintball sites in Scotland as his first business. He then spent three years at private equity fund 3i. Barrowman resigned from 3i in 1992, to pursue his own business interest in corporate finance, and set up his own corporate finance practice during the 1990s at the age of thirty. He exited from this practice in 1999, to concentrate on his own private investment vehicle Aston Ventures, which he founded in the late 1990s.

Over the next ten years, Aston Ventures made 13 acquisitions of “old economy” businesses, including the third largest cable making company in the world B3 Cables, with a total turnover of about £400 million over that period. In 2008, Barrowman moved to the Isle of Man, in order to found The Knox House Group, which owned several businesses as well as Barrowman’s interest in Aston Ventures. In 2008 Barrowman moved to the Isle of Man and founded The Knox Group of Companies. The Group is engaged in Private Equity, Property and Wealth Management. In 2011 Barrowman co-founded the KHG Private Equity Fund. The Knox Group of Companies has funds under management and administration of £1.5 billion. In 2017 Barrowman became the interim Chairman of Ve Interactive, after an emergency cash injection and investment into the firm.

Barroman has six homes, an automobile collection with fifteen cars, and a private jet. He was featured on a 2015 episode of the television series Million Pound Mega Yacht, featuring his 183-foot yacht named Turquoise. He is also an art collector, with pieces by Picasso, Salvador Dali, and Marc Chagall. Barrowman has four children, two from each of his prior marriages. Barrowman is also the founder of The Barrowman Foundation, a charitable organization. He has also lent pieces from his art collection to institutions such as the Manx Museum. Barrowman has also lent pieces to London Galleries, such as his George Daniels Space Traveller Watch, which was featured at the V&A for the exhibition What is Luxury.