Board of Advisors

Rebecca Difford

Rebecca started working for the University of Edinburgh in 2005, working initially for the Edinburgh Pre-Incubator Scheme (EPIS). Prior to this she developed and managed a service offering initial market assessments for small businesses at the University of the West of England, Bristol.

Rebecca also has seven years commercial experience in direct marketing and brand management. She worked as a Senior Brand Manager at Gerber Foods Soft Drinks in Somerset, managing soft drinks brands. She graduated from the University of Birmingham in 1996 with a degree in Law and Business Studies and was recently awarded a Masters degree in Marketing, focussing on Market Research for high-tech start-ups. She is Chartered Marketer and member of the CIM, and has a Chartered Institute of Marketing Diploma.

Peter Van Bruchen

Peter is the SIE Regional Business Advisor for Edinburgh and the East of Scotland. After working as a lawyer in Australia and as specialist intellectual property advisor to the Western Australian Government, Peter began freelance consulting on IP and commercial strategy matters. He has also worked as a Business Development Manager in a Scottish University.

Alison Lynch

Alison is a Business Adviser on the Business Gateway team, and has been for the past two years. After acquiring a BSc in Science with Industrial Studies, Alison went to work with Clydesdale Bank Plc gaining experience in retail banking, customer service, training and management amongst other things. Whilst in the business banking sector she was responsible for around three hundred small-to-medium sized enterprises. Alison is a member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers Scotland.

Gerry McGowan

Gerry is an experienced Civil Engineer with an extensive background in both Building and Construction, having worked on both the contracting and construction sides of the industry. He has been employed previously by a consultancy to the house-building industry being a Project Manager for many new build housing projects. Clients included Tilbury Homes, Bellway Homes, Wimpey Homes, McAlpine Homes, Lovell Lawrence, Broseley, SL Homes and Strathvale. During this 10 year period, he built up an extensive knowledge of the Building Regulations and of the aspirations and need of the house building community. He actively took part in focus groups for the Home Builders Federation to determine future standards.

He was subsequently head hunted to become Chief Engineer in charge of Ideal Homes before moving on to become Technical Manager for the Strathvale group of companies. During his 10 years there he was heavily involved with the housing arm of the group, namely SL Homes and SL Timber Systems. He was also providing assistance with the company’s computer arm, SLPI, which was in the process of building a property database using cutting edge technology.

John Cranston

With an Honours degree in Physics with Business Studies his involvement in alternative energy began in the early 70's when Edinburgh University had a world lead in the development of wind and wave power generation. His project portfolio included generating electricity from wave power. With the withdrawal of all funding for alternative energies he entered the engineering sector on the production side of tube welding, and from there into the paper and packaging industry. John was a successful Sales and Marketing director within the Carnaudmetalbox group (now part of Diageo) developing and selling into world markets. This led to him creating the Eastern Europe Division of the group, involving the purchase and integration of eastern businesses and introducing new management ideas as well as new products and developing a sales network.

Ten years ago he helped start up Scalar Technologies an optoelectronic company which involved him raising funding and generating worldwide sales. Following the successful inception of Scalar Technologies, John sold his shares to acquire a run down tool and equipment hire business which has now been turned around into a profitable enterprise with a focus on customer service.