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Enterprise Scotland 2010
What is the future for Scottish business?
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Tuesday 9th February 2010
Radisson Blu Hotel, Edinburgh
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Speakers | | | | |
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MARK STEPHEN Broadcaster
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Mark Stephen is one of Scotland’s most prolific and popular broadcasters. He studied at The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and Glasgow University.
After a year spent as a commercial producer in local radio he joined the BBC where he spent 20 years on their staff in a wide range of jobs - floor manager, researcher, trails director, newsreader, senior announcer, instructor, producer and presenter.
He left the corporation 7 years ago to set up his own multi-media production company, Nevismark Ltd.
He and his associates still do a lot of work for the BBC, both presenting and producing programmes.
He lives with his wife Jean and their daughters Rebecca and Jessica on a 10 acre small-holding in rural Aberdeenshire.
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JIM MATHER MSP Minister for Energy
Enterprise and Tourism, The Scottish Government |
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Born in March 1947, Jim Mather MSP was educated at Paisley Grammar, Greenock High School and Glasgow University, where he studied accountancy, law and economics.
In 1964, he became an apprentice chartered accountant, going on to work in the computer industry, latterly running his own business, before entering politics.
From 2000 until 2004, he was the party's National Treasurer. At the 2003 Scottish Parliament election, Jim was elected as a Highlands and Islands MSP. As Shadow Enterprise and Economy Minister, he was a member of the SNP's Shadow Cabinet.
Mr Mather became the MSP for Argyll and Bute at the 2007 Scottish Parliament election and was appointed Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism.
He has been involved in the development and promotion of the Economic Case for Independence and is a Director of Business for Scotland.
He is married with two children. |
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LENA WILSON Chief Executive
Scottish Enterprise |
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Lena Wilson is Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise – Scotland’s main economic development agency.
Prior to this, Lena was Chief Operating Officer of Scottish Enterprise and the CEO of Scottish Development International, leading Scottish Enterprise in supporting companies to grow and Scottish Development International in helping to promote Scottish businesses overseas and attracting new high value investment to Scotland.
In a career spanning over 20 years, she has held a range of positions covering all aspects of economic development.
Seconded to World Bank in 1998 for 2 years, she worked in over 20 countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia advising governments on private sector development
Lena is a Board member of the Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust, Board of Management member of Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy in Scotland and Ambassador for the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice. She has also held non executive roles in Arts and Leadership organisations. |
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IAN RITCHIE CBE leading Scottish entrepreneur and Chairman of iomart plc
Computer Application Services Ltd, Scapa Technologies Ltd, the Interactive Design Institute and Caspian Learning Ltd |
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Ian Ritchie is the non-executive Chairman of the Interactive University, Scapa Ltd. and Computer Applications Services Ltd. He is a Board Director of Digital Bridges (iPlay).
He is the Chairman of Connect Scotland and has been active in entrepreneurial areas for 20 years. Since founding OWL in 1984 and selling it to Panasonic in 1989, he has been involved in over 16 start-up high-tech businesses.
Ritchie is a member of the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council (SFC), and a past-President of the British Computer Society. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) and the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE). He serves on the boards of the National Museums of Scotland, the Edinburgh International Film Festival, Bletchley Park Trust, and Dynamic Earth.
He was awarded a CBE in the 2003 New Years Honours list for services to Enterprise and Education. |
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GRAEME BLACKETT Trustee
Reform Scotland and Director, Biggar Economics |
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Graeme Blackett is Managing Director of BiGGAR Economics Limited and a Trustee of Reform Scotland.
Graeme was born and brought up in Inverurie in Aberdeenshire and is an Economics graduate from the University of Strathclyde. He now lives near Biggar in Lanarkshire.
Before co-founding BiGGAR Economics in 2002, he was an economic consultant for Deloittes and for SQW. He has worked as an applied economist based in Scotland for 17 years. BiGGAR Economics is a leading economic consultancy based in Roslin, working for governments, local authorities, public sector agencies, universities and companies throughout the UK and Ireland.
Graeme has appraised and evaluated projects that aim to stimulate and support inward investment in Scotland and in other regions and countries, including Ireland (which has attracted significant foreign investment in recent decades). He has also contributed to the evolution of economic development policy in Scotland in the last decade and has been involved in a wide range of projects that aimed to improve economic competitiveness and stimulate Scotland’s economic growth by supporting priority sectors.
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PROF. WILLIAM STEVELY Board Member
Skills Development Scotland |
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Professor William Stevely CBE, Board Member, comes to Skills Development Scotland with a wealth of experience in the higher education sector. He's held the posts of Principal and Vice-Chancellor of The Robert Gordon University. A former member of the Scottish University for Industry Board, he also served on the Board of Glasgow College of Technology and was convenor of Universities Scotland for two years. He currently chairs the Board of NHS Ayrshire and Arran, is a Vice Chair of the Board of the Scottish Agricultural Council and is a member of the Council of the Open University. |
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PROF. BERNARD KING CBE Principal and Vice-Chancellor
University of Abertay Dundee |
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As one of Britain’s longest-serving Vice-Chancellors, Professor King has extensive experience of higher education at regional, national and international level. He is currently Vice-Convenor of Universities Scotland, and a member of the Tripartite Advisory Group that advises the Scottish Government on funding and strategy for universities set up in 2008 year following the Joint Future Thinking Taskforce on Universities, on which he also served.
At UK level, he has been a board member of both the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service and the Higher Education Quality Council, and he is currently a board member of the Higher Education Academy and Chair of its Audit Committee, and a Member of the Council for Industry and Higher Education. He has also served as a Council member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities. For six years, the ACU and the Commonwealth of Learning co-funded leadership and change management courses for the leaders of some 80 African and Commonwealth universities using Abertay as a case study for innovation.
He has also served as a Trustee of Tayside Primary Healthcare Trust, as Chairman of the Committee of Principals of the Conference of Scottish Centrally-Funded Colleges, as a member of the Board of Directors of Scottish Enterprise Tayside, as a member of the Six Cities Board, and as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Scottish Crop Research Institute.
Professor King was educated in Dublin and worked in industry and research prior to taking MSc and PhD degrees from the University of Aston in Birmingham. He is a Companion of the Chartered Institute of Management, a Fellow of both the Institute of Biology and the Institute of Wood Science, a member of the International Research Group on Wood Preservation and of the Biodeterioration Society.
Professor King is thoroughly committed to the indivisibility of teaching and research as the basis of the unique contribution that universities make to society through the creation of new knowledge and the education of graduates with the attributes to exploit that new knowledge. He believes that to make their optimum contribution, universities need continually to be innovative, flexible and responsive to social, cultural, technological, economic and political change.
Professor King writes and lobbies on higher education matters, including funding, research and the future of Scottish higher education in the context of a globally competitive marketplace. Professor King was a member of the Scottish Executive’s Science Strategy Review Group and a member of the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council’s Knowledge Transfer Working Group. In 2002, he was appointed a Distinguished Honorary Professor of Nanchang University in China, and also a Distinguished Honorary Professor of the Technical University of Varna in Bulgaria. In 2003, he was appointed an Honorary CBE.
For leisure, Professor King enjoys sailing, late medieval music, opera and reading. He is married to Maura and has two daughters.
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DAVID VALENTINE Head of Economic Development and Environmental & Consumer Protection
Angus Council |
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Originally from Ramsbottom, Lancashire, David graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee with a Diploma in Town and Regional Planning, before joining Angus District Council as a Chartered Town Planner in 1975. He is currently Head of Economic Development and Environmental & Consumer Protection with Angus Council and his remit covers international trade, business support, marketing Angus as a destination for investment & tourism, external funding, rural development as well as environmental health & trading standards functions.
He is a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute; the Institution of Economic Development and the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE). He is a former Chair of the Scottish Local Authority Economic Development Group (SLAED) and is a special adviser on tourism to the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla). He is currently Chair of the Business Gateway Scotland Board.
Since 1996 he has been responsible for leading Angus Council’s “Angus in China Initiative” and developing Sister Area links with Yantai in China’s Shandong Province. He is a member of China Britain Business Council’s national Steering Group for Scotland and In March 2008 he was made an honorary citizen of Yantai in Shandong Province.
Married with two boys Iain (34) and Alan (31), two grandchildren Lewis (7) and Zoe (5).
He would love time to play some golf! |
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HEATHER SIM Chief Executive
Space Unlimited |
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Heather created Space Unlimited after working for nearly 20 years in economic and business development. During that time she became increasingly interested in learning about what encourages innovation, and, especially, what holds us back when human beings are, by nature, creative. Heather decided she wanted to do something about this and so Space Unlimited was born. She has led the company since it was set up in September 2006, as a spin out from Scottish Enterprise. Prior to joining Scottish Enterprise, Heather managed tourism businesses in both the private and public sector in Scotland and overseas. She completed both her degrees – MBA and BA (hons) in Marketing with Languages - at the University of Strathclyde. |
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ROBERT GIBSON Managing Partner
Financial Solutions Centre - Edinburgh, Clydesdale Bank |
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Robert Gibson is the Managing Partner of Clydesdale Bank's Edinburgh Financial Solutions Centre based at the Clydesdale Bank Plaza. Robert leads an experienced team of approximately 80 staff covering all areas of Corporate & Commercial Banking, Private Banking, Invoice Finance, Asset Finance and IFA.
Robert is a career banker with a wealth of experience and has worked for both RBS and Clydesdale Bank throughout his career. Robert understands the Scottish marketplace well and the challenges and opportunities that face SME's in Scotland. |
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DAVID COYNE Executive Director
Glasgow Works |
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David was appointed as Executive Director of the Glasgow Works consortium in August 2007. The consortium is delivering the DWP “Cities Strategy” Welfare to Work programme and the Scottish Government’s Workforce Plus programme, and is made up of Glasgow City Council, Skills Development Scotland, Jobcentre Plus, the Glasgow Employer Coalition, NHS Greater Glasgow and the Glasgow Community Planning Partnership.
Prior to taking up this post David was the Chief Executive of One Plus, a medium sized Charity which employed 800 staff in Pre-5 Daycare, Out of School Care, Home-based Care and Employability and Learning environments.
David also worked for three years as a self employed Management Consultant, mainly supporting Third Sector organisations in the west of Scotland, but also managed a two year external aid project under the PHARE programme for the EU during 2004/05 based in the Ministry of Finance in Lithuania.
As Chief Executive of Castlemilk Economic Development Agency for 5 years and as a senior manager with in other NGO’s and public sector bodies in Scotland (including Scottish Enterprise Network and Community Enterprise in Strathclyde) David has accrued a depth of experience in the public, charitable and Economic Development sector in Scotland. |
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Conference development by: Sarah Woodward
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Upcoming conferences
| September 2010 |
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| October 2010 |
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