Speakers

Chairman

Arvind is one of Scotland’s most respected practitioners and thought leaders in creative and digital media. He has 20 years’ experience across senior consultancy and in-house corporate communications roles ranging from large media organisations to international blue chips. His areas of expertise include the use of strategic marketing as a business and organisational development tool. Arvind’s public policy and communications work has been featured at the White House and the consultancy was the only Scottish company to be shortlisted to present at the International 5th World Public Relations Conference & Festival, London. He is expected to gain Fellowship of CIPR in 2010 and is the creative digital media representative on the board of Skillset. He sits on the Institute of Directors West of Scotland committee and is a non-executive director of East Park board and Chairman of The Unity Foundation.

Andrew joined Google in 2005 and manages the UK Direct Sales Team, based in Manchester. He is responsible for building and retaining key agency relationships within the Northern region and advises agencies on how best to grow strategic advertising revenue. He relocated from London in 2005 to help to establish Google’s second UK office in Manchester. Prior to joining Google Andrew worked for handbag.com where he was the Head of Agency Sales. Before that he worked for a major online display network and Carlton TV, where he managed agency ad sales relationships with media agencies in London.

Tim was one of the world’s first Qualified Google Advertising Professionals and has been using search engine marketing to drive traffic to websites since 1999. He was quick to realise that getting visitors to a website was one thing, but persuading them to buy was another. The Edinburgh-based agency he set up, Attacat Internet Marketing, focuses both on driving traffic to websites and on converting that traffic into paying customers. Attacat regularly brings about six-, seven- and even eight-figure revenue increases.

David is Managing Director of Sts Digital Technology, who are helping today's organisations meet the challenge of utilising digital technology in innovative ways to best serve their business needs.

David’s skills include building relationships, trust and rapport with almost anyone, and then brokering these relationships while making connections between people, creating partnerships and alliances, and motivating forward momentum to ‘get things done’.

David began his career on a path that is rare among other digital technology executives. Having started in the world of actuaries and pensions, David went on to hold very senior roles in the UK actuarial and financial services industry including sales and marketing activity until early 2003. By 2003 David found himself being head hunted as a Vice President of US software company, KCRS Inc, developing software for the healthcare market. This position was based in Pittsburgh and provided a new and very different challenge. He held several senior positions in the organisation, including VP Business Development in Pittsburgh before becoming VP of European Operations. While working for KCRS Inc he had experience of working through multiple business fiscal cycles in the US and UK. He was responsible for project management within a multinational customer base and gained invaluable experience in global technology projects and exposure to sales and marketing on a global basis.

David has presented at very senior levels in a number of countries including the US, Canada, Germany, Finland, Spain and the Netherlands.

Lennert is Director of Distribution & Business Development for citizenM and has been with the company since it was founded. Before citizen, Lennert was part of the roll out of the SynXis reservation system (now part of Sabre Hospitality) in Europe. Lennert is based in the Netherlands and enjoys skiing, sailing and spending time at the park with his two French bulldogs.

Gregor developed a passion for business and brands studying Business at Edinburgh University. He then spent eight years in brand management at Procter & Gamble where he worked on some of the biggest brands in the world including Gillette, Pantene and Pringles. He left P&G in 2010 and entered the world of entrepreneurship and Morphsuits.com with brothers Fraser and Ali Smeaton. Two years on from their initial investment of £3k, Morphsuits has eCommerce platforms in 16 countries, one million Facebook fans and £5m turnover. In his spare time he enjoys rugby, music festivals and working for his granddad’s charity, the Bill McLaren Foundation.

Alex is Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure and Capital Investment with particular responsibility for procurement, Scottish Water, European funding, the Scottish Futures Trust, transport and housing and communities. Since the Scottish Parliament election in May 2011, Alex has been SNP MSP for Airdrie and Shotts, having previously represented Central Scotland since 1999.

After election to the Scottish Parliament at the top of the SNP list in 1999 he became SNP spokesperson for social justice before chairing the Parliament's Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee from 2000 to 2003 and again from2004 to 2007. From 2007, Alex was vice-Convenor of the European and External Relations Committee and a member of the Finance Committee. He was also co-Convenor of the Cross-Party Group on the Scottish Economy and on the Council of Europe's Local and Regional Authorities Association. In February 2009 he became the Scottish Government Minister for Housing and Communities.

Linda started eCom from an EU research project in 1996 and spun out in 1999, before completing the MBO in 2001. Over the last 11 years eCom has been involved in research and development in new models and techniques of eAssessment and eLearning delivery.  Linda’s background is in education and technology and, over the past 20 years, she has been involved with a variety of training and academic institutions. Linda is ex-chair of the eLearning Alliance and is currently on the Board of the eAssessment Association.

Tim Wright is co-founder of twintangibles. He has worked as a consultant, practitioner and senior manager with organisations including Egon Zehnder International and McKinsey & Co and has worked with clients across all sectors helping them to understand, identify and create value from the opportunities presented by social technologies and the mindset that underpins their use.

A graduate of both Durham University and Robert Gordon Universtity, Tim has an MBA with Distinction from the ULSM and is a past winner of the Ashridge/Guardian MBA Essay of the Year.