Laurence Vaughan qualified as a chartered accountant in 1989 with Coopers & Lybrand and worked in their audit, corporate finance and management consulting divisions before joining a consultancy client as finance director in 1991. He joined Sytner in February 1993 as finance director and was promoted to managing director in December 1993, continuing to have responsibility for the finance function until June 1995. He led the team that achieved a stock market flotation in 1997 and the sale to United Auto Group (UAG) in 2001. Laurence became chairman of Sytner UK in 2003 and served  as a non-executive director of UAG, a Fortune 500 speciality retailer, until 2005.  Laurence is a partner in the private equity firm, Opus Ventures LLP.