About us

Team of Advisors

  1. Richard Cook – Director

    Richard Cook was appointed Director of Think Scotland earlier this year and is responsible for management of all contributions to the Think Scotland website. He lives in Clarkston, East Renfrewshire, with his wife Elaine and is a Director of an export company in the environmental waste managment and recycling industry.

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  2. Robert Kilgour – Chair

    Robert Kilgour is a Scottish entrepreneur, investor and property developer now based in Monaco. He is the Chief Executive (and Founder) of London-based Dow Investments Ltd, and a Director of Forthcare Ltd, Network Webcams Ltd, Camvista Global Ltd, and Alba Holdings SA.

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  3. Struan Stevenson MEP – MEP Scotland

    Struan Stevenson became one of Scotland’s two Conservative MEPs in 1999. In February 2005, he was elected Vice President of the ruling EPP-ED Group of 267 MEPs and Chairman of the ED Group of 40 MEPs

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  4. Shailesh Vara MP – MP North West Cambridgeshire

    Shailesh Vara was elected as the Conservative MP for North West Cambridgeshire in May 2005. Shailesh was educated at Aylesbury Grammar School and Brunel University, and after qualifying as a solicitor in 1990, he worked in London and Hong Kong.

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  5. Paul Riddell – Editor, The Shetland Times

    Paul Riddell is Editor of The Shetland Times and former Senior Assistant Editor of The Scotsman.

    A highly experienced media operative, prior to his four-year spell on The Scotsman he was an Assistant News Editor of the Daily Mail in London, Bureau Chief of the Scottish Mail on Sunday and News Editor of the Scottish Daily Mail. After 14 years working for national newspapers, he returned to his native Shetland in May 2008 with his wife Ruth and young son Magnus to edit the award-winning local paper and write books. His first, “300 Years Ago Today: A Beginner’s Guide to the Union of 1707”, is forthcoming from the Saltire Society.
      

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  6. Andrew Laidlaw – Advisor

    Andrew Laidlaw is a policy advisor in the Law Society of Scotland’s Brussels Office, representing the views of the solicitors’ profession on proposed legislation and policy to the EU institutions.
      

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  7. Bob Leitch – FCIBS

    Bob Leitch is currently Chief Executive of Ayrshire Chamber of Commerce & Industry having spent four years from 2001-2005 first of all as Parliamentary Officer with Scottish Chambers of Commerce and then as Director of Scottish Chambers of Commerce.

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  8. Phil Gallie – Advisor

    Phil Gallie retired as a Scottish Conservative and Unionist member of the Scottish Parliament in April 2007. A former MP, Phil remains on his party’s candidate list for Westminster and Europe. His working career prior to full time politics began with an apprenticeship in Rosyth Dockyard.

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  9. Charles Ferguson – Partner, Ferguson Solicitors

    A Solicitor Advocate based in Hamilton, he appears regularly in the Sheriff Courts and High Court and specialises in criminal matters. He has an avid interest in comparative European Jurisprudence and has visited the major legal centres of most European countries.

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  10. John McGlynn – Advisor

    John McGlynn founded the Airlink group while at university; it is now one of the fastest growing private groups in Scotland, with interests in car parking, property development, document storage and venture capital. In 2005, he also founded Scotland House to promote business links between Scotland and Estonia; this successful format is being replicated to foster links with other small nations worldwide.

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  11. Brian Monteith – Advisor

    Brian Monteith is a writer and commentator with a broad experience of politics and marketing. Working in public relations in London and Edinburgh throughout the 80s and 90s he then served eight years in the Scottish Parliament before returning to commerce in April this year.

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  12. Margaret Mitchell – MSP

    Margaret Mitchell was elected as the Conservative List MSP for Central Scotland in 2003. She was justice spokesperson and a member of the Justice 1 Parliamentary Committee from 2003 to 2007. She is currently the Convener of the Scottish Parliament’s Equal Opportunities Committee.

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  13. Paul Holleran – Advisor

    Paul Holleran is the National Organiser for the National Union of Journalists. Based in Glasgow he represents around 4000 journalists and other media workers in Scotland in newspapers, broadcasting, public relations and research facilities (including Holyrood).

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  14. Tino Nombro – MD, Ambergreen

    As one of the co-founders of Ambergreen it is Tino Nombro’s vision and determination that steers the company towards its goal of world class excellence. Ambergreen was an early pioneer of search marketing and has a powerful reputation as one of its leading players and opinion formers, delivering cutting edge search strategies for forward thinking bluechip brands, including My Travel, Marks & Spencer Money and Carphone Warehouse.

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  15. Professor Gavin Don – FRSA

    Gavin Don is an entrepreneur, corporate financier and Visiting Professor of Entrepreneurial Finance at the University of Edinburgh’s Management School. Through his investment company, Equitas, Gavin specialises in all aspects of Entrepreneurial Finance. Among these he helps young companies grow by advising them on strategy and finance, by developing new investment techniques and vehicles, and by investing in and starting young companies as a business angel and entrepreneur. Gavin is also an acknowledged expert on strategy and tactics for growing innovative companies with particular emphasis on the problem of driving sales.

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  16. Elena Kachkova – Advisor

    Elena Kachkova was born in the USSR in 1961. She finished an English-speaking school in Academytown, Novosibirsk, and continued her education in Minsk, then the capital of the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, at the State Pedagogical Institute of Foreign languages, which she graduated from, with Honours, in 1984. (this equates to a double first in English and German).

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  17. John Purvis CBE – MEP Scotland

    John Purvis is one of Scotland’s most experienced and respected MEPs. Having served in the European Parliament for Mid Scotland and Fife from 1979 to 1984, John returned to the Parliament in 1999. He is currently the Vice Chairman of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and a Member of the Committee of Inquiry into Equitable Life. John is also a Member of the Delegation to the Mashreq countries (Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon), a Member of the Delegation to Iran, a Substitute Member of the Industry, Research and Energy Committee, and a Substitute Member of the Delegation to the Gulf States, including Yemen.

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