Biographies

Andy Campbell graduated in design in 1994, and has amassed a wealth of corporate and business development knowledge within the video games industry. He has gained a high level of national/international deal making experience along with strategic creation, planning, implementation and management of a start-up business within a dynamic industry.

In 1996, Andy founded Red Lemon Studios and established the company as one of the UK's leading game development companies. At Red Lemon, Andy was responsible for the winning of $10m worth of prestigious new contracts with a number of Blue Chip companies including Viacom, Sega, Warner Brothers, and The Jim Henson Company, with the launching of five games worldwide included the contract to develop the BAFTA nominated game ‘Braveheart', based on the Oscar winning movie. In addition, Andy raised £2m of venture capital growing the company from 3 to 40 staff. Andy also headed up the management buy-out of a fellow founder/director in 2000, doubling his stake in the business.

In 2002, Andy sold the assets of the business to Visual Sciences Ltd and joined forces will fellow games expert Russell Kay. Joining in late 2002 as Chief Commercial, Andy was instrumental in growing the company from 35 to 100 staff, generating over £10m worth of new sales, annually doubling turnover, returning the company to profitability and establishing an LA based studio. After 3 successful years, Andy decided to leave in July 2005 to return to his entrepreneurial roots to establish his own business venture.

In late 2005 Andy joined forces with his most loyal supporter, Claire his wife, to set up Specialmove Consultancy Ltd. As CEO, Andy oversees the entire business. Specialmove specialises in the provision of business consultancy services for video game developers and recruitment services for full time positions within the industry. The company has already established a wide range of global clients including Sega, Rockstar, Codemasters, amazon.co.uk and Activision. In January 2008, Andy strategically expanded the company by establishing a new office for Specialmove in Santa Monica, California. This will allow the business to tap into the growing development sector within North America and Canada.

Andy is an active member of the Entrepreneurial Exchange, a mentor with PSYBT, a spokesperson for the Scottish game community, an avid video gamer, holds a Black Belt in and teaches Shotokan Karate which he started at age 9.

In 1986, Gordon White founded Design Matters, a design consultancy that provides design solutions for print and new media to a wide variety of organisations throughout the UK. In September 2006, in response to the growing demand for podcast content, he founded Podcastmatters Ltd, a company offering a complete range of podcast and new media production services.

Gordon is a past Chairman of Links of Scotland, a marketing group of 26 manufacturing companies in Scotland specifically tasked with promoting products in the USA. From January 2000 until June 2006, he was owner and Chairman of John Letters of Scotland until the business was sold to Direct Golf.

Gordon has a particular interest in new media and online marketing regularly delivering presentations and consultancy advice to senior executives about web marketing and how to leverage new media. Gordon is also an accomplished artist and is renowned world wide for his golf art that is sold via his own golf art web site.

Peter Grant.  Peter has a background in newspapers having risen through the sales side of Thomson Regional Newspapers. He spent time with a variety of companies including The Scotsman and John Menzies, before becoming Circulation Director of the Daily Record in 1994. 

In 1997 Peter and his wife Colette, founded Grant Management (GAM), which has since become both the largest and fastest growing residential Property Management and Investment Company is Scotland. The company has roughly doubled in size each year, primarily through client referrals, and now has some 1,300 flats under management. It buys and renovates around 400 properties per annum.

Clients range from private individuals with just one flat, to high wealth clients with a property portfolio. Investor retention has been well over 97% since the company started in 1997.

In 2005 GAM started working with larger Institutional clients, also. In early 2006, GAM formed a £100m JV Investment Fund with Bank Of Scotland. BOS also took a 20% stake in GAM.

With its head office in Edinburgh, and a full time staff of 95, the company is now expanding from 6 to a further 20 locations throughout the UK. The aim is to become an integrated "Asset Management" business, for Residential Property, across the UK. This has become particularly relevant with the advent of REITS, from 2006.

Peter is in the process of setting up two new businesses, one being a fund management business. These will help exploit the new REIT market opportunities.

Having being awarded "Professional Service Company of the Year" in 2004, 2005 saw Peter Grant awarded "Entrepreneur of the Year" at the National Business awards for Scotland.

Peter also owns a personal property portfolio, and set up GmSailing.com - a Luxury Corporate Sailing Charter business, in the West Coast of Scotland. Peter is also a Director of The Entrepreneurial Exchange.

Personal interests include skiing, sailing and golf.