Alan Cartwright was born in Berkshire in 1959. After graduating with honours from Oxford Brookes University with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Studies, he went on to join the accountants, Ernst & Young in 1981. Alan qualified at his first attempt as a Chartered Accountant in 1983.
Alan enjoyed a fast track career with Ernst & Young leaving as a senior manager responsible for a number of high profile clients including The Royal Dutch / Shell Group, EMI Records, Whitbread and TRW Inc. During his time with Ernst & Young, he spent a year working in Boston, USA on a number of US acquisitions & disposals for BTR and Hanson Trust.

In 1990 Alan moved to CIC Video International, a joint venture between Paramount Pictures and Universal Studios. Alan was CIC Video’s first Director of International Audit and established a high profile department visiting 20 subsidiaries or licensees in his first year. Alan was promoted to VP Finance in 1991 responsible for the treasury, financial planning and management reporting for CIC Video's worldwide operations.

In 1995 Alan completed strategy and financial planning consultancies for Turner Pictures Inc. and Virgin Interactive Entertainment (Europe) Ltd., a worldwide publisher and distributor of computer games.  Alan was appointed VP Commercial Planning for Virgin in 1996. Following the successful MBO of Virgin from its parent Viacom Inc., he was promoted to CFO in 1998 and helped conclude subsequent merger negotiations with Interplay Productions Inc.

Alan left Virgin in 2000, shortly after its takeover by Titus Interactive SA and worked for eleven months as a consultant FD for PrimeEnt PLC, a listed Independent Film & Television Company.