Previous Business Networks

November 2022 - “Scotland – A Leading Innovation Nation”

We were delighted to welcome current parent and OA Adrian Gillespie (1987), Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise, as Keynote Speaker at our recent St Aloysius’ College Business Network, held at Strathclyde University.  Grateful thanks to Adrian for his excellent presentation which focused on how Scotland’s outstanding capacity for innovation is being harnessed to not only create opportunity for a more prosperous future in Scotland, but to deliver solutions to global challenges faced in communities all around the world.  Collectively, business, industry, academic excellence and the ingenuity of the people in Scotland is helping lead the way in areas like climate change, advanced manufacturing and life sciences.

As Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise (SE) – Scotland’s national economic development agency, Adrian is responsible for leading a global workforce to create a more productive, resilient and competitive economy for Scotland. To achieve this, SE helps drive business innovation, build international competitiveness and encourages more investment in companies and infrastructure. Previously, Adrian was The University of Strathclyde’s first Chief Commercial Officer and member of its Executive Team.  He oversaw growth of the University’s extensive industry facing activities, centres and relationships as well as the development of innovative, place-based economic development projects including the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland and the Glasgow City Innovation District. Before joining Strathclyde, Adrian spent sixteen years at SE where he was a member of the Executive Leadership Team and Managing Director of Operations.  He led SE’s business support through account management of high growth companies, entrepreneurship development and high growth start-up support, R&D and innovation support, and the Business Infrastructure division. He also held various roles in areas such as the Creative Industries, Digital Media and Enabling Technologies and Energy & Low Carbon Technologies. During the 1990s he held various commercial and financial management positions within Marks and Spencer plc.Adrian has a Bachelor of Accountancy degree from the University of Glasgow, and an MBA with Distinction from the University of Strathclyde. He is a former trustee of Glasgow Science Centre, the Glasgow Science Centre Endowment Fund, and a former Board member of Opportunity North East (ONE).

March 2022 - "Green Recovery" of the Economy

At our first in-person Business Network event since November 2019, current parent and Chief Executive Officer of ScottishPower Renewables, Lindsay McQuade delivered her presentation on the “green recovery”’ of the economy in a post-pandemic context, ScottishPower’s role in the transition to Net Zero, and what the Glasgow Pact agreed at COP26 really means for us all.   Sincere thanks to Lindsay for being our keynote speaker, and to ScottishPower for hosting us and for helping to make the evening such a success.Lindsay is responsible for ScottishPower Renewables’ fleet of renewable generation and future developments of its pipeline of wind, storage and solar plant across the UK and Ireland.  Prior to her appointment as CEO, Lindsay was the Policy & Innovation Director of ScottishPower Renewables, having held a number of strategic roles across ScottishPower over the last 20 years.

In her early career Lindsay also held roles with British Energy, Stakis, and Clydesdale Bank. Lindsay is a past Board Director of both Renewable UK and Scottish Renewables, helping to shape and inform the policy and regulatory environment for deployment and integration of cost-effective, low carbon, renewable generation, as well as promoting the industrial benefits delivered by investment in renewable energy generation across the UK. She holds a BA (Hons) in Economics from the University of Strathclyde, qualified as an Associate Member of the Association of Corporate Treasurers, and has taken part in the 4th edition of the Energising Leadership Programme with ESADE Business School and the 7th edition of the Global Leadership Programme with IMD Business School.  In 2021, Lindsay was awarded a Strathclyde Executive Leadership Award and was ranked in the top 20 of A Word About Wind’s “100 Top Women in Wind”.

November 2019 “The Road to Success is always under construction”

 A huge “thank you” to Old Aloysian Stephen Glancey (1978) for returning to join us as keynote speaker.  Stephen, who is Chief Executive Officer of C&C Group PLC, delivered his inspirational presentation and shared the lessons learned from his career and the challenges he faced on his journey to achieve his current success.

Stephen studied English at Glasgow University before undertaking a Diploma in Accountancy. He began his career with Arthur Young in Edinburgh where he spent multiple years becoming a Chartered Accountant before joining Whitbread in Glasgow as Financial Controller.  In 1992 he joined Scottish & Newcastle (S&N) based in Edinburgh, initially running internal audit for the Retail Pub and Leisure business including Pontins and Centre Parks. During Stephen’s time at S&N he had many roles from finance, transactions, sales, logistics and brewing, and when the business was acquired in 2008 by Heineken and Carlsberg, he was part of the defence team securing a reasonable price.   He joined the Irish Cider maker C&C in 2009 and was appointed Group Chief Executive Officer in 2012.

Sincere thanks also to Old Aloysian Jonathan Kelly at Santander for generously hosting us and for making us feel so welcome.

May 2019 - "Success.  Chance or Design"

 

We were delighted to welcome back to Glasgow our keynote speaker Robin Sieger, Old Aloysian (1974) and international bestselling author, who delivered an engaging, honest and thoughtful presentation.  Many thanks to Robin for a fantastic event. Thank you too to ScottishPower for generously hosting our event and for all their help on the night.

Robin Sieger is a successful businessman, bestselling author, and broadcaster with offices in the UK and the USA. Robin is a leading success strategist and has developed a reputation within media and circles as a motivational ‘guru’.  He has a world-class reputation as a conference speaker who passionately delivers high impact presentations that are informative, inspiring and entertaining.

 

 

November 2018 - "From Coatbridge to Hollywood"  

A big 'thank you' to Mark and Lucy Millar for a fantastic sell-out event in November and to Stephen Glancey, CEO of C&C Group for his generosity in hosting and sponsoring the evening at the Drygate Brewery and giving us an insight into Glasgow's historic world of brewing in the Drygate area.  A wonderful night had by all!

Our keynote speaker was New York Times bestselling author, founder of Millarworld, Mark Millar, who delighted the sell-out audience with the story of his journey "From Coatbridge to Hollywood”.  Mark took us through his remarkable career, starting at London’s 2000AD in his late teens through DC Comics, Marvel, his own Hollywood franchises and the eventual sale of Millarworld to Netflix in 2017.   His wife Lucy Millar, CEO for Millarworld division of Netflix, also spoke about the business side of the company. Please click here for biographies of Mark and Lucy.

 

May 2018 - "Making Money"

Our Guest Speaker was David Freer (1993) who studied Graphic Design at Glasgow School of Art and Rhode Island School of Design. He spent  the start of his career at Saatchi & Saatchi in London before co-founding O Street in Glasgow about 10 years ago.  O Street have worked on local and international projects spanning from their celebrated rebrand of the National Galleries of Scotland and packaging for BrewDog, through to infographics for Spotify and Google.

David gave us an insight into O Street’s development of the new design for the Royal Bank of Scotland polymer banknotes. Talking collaboration, co-design and midges, this was  a glimpse at the methods used by a modern design studio on a once-in-a-lifetime dream project ... Making Money!

Thank you also to David McGowan, OA, General Manager of Broughton Ales, who provided complimentary craft beer on the night!

November 2017 - Journey to the Garden of Eden

In our first Aloysian 'pop up shop' event, OA and entrepreneur Paul Miller, founder of Eden Mill Distillery told us his story 'Journey to the Garden of Eden'. 

Paul Miller, OA (1980) and Entrepreneur, established the Eden Mill Distillery & Brewery at Guardbridge, St. Andrews in 2012, and it is the only distillery and brewery operating on a single site in Scotland.  Paul, who has a MBA in Marketing from Edinburgh University, is highly skilled and has proven expertise in the wine and spirits industry.  He has been employed at Director level by Glenmorangie plc, Molson Coors Brewing UK Ltd and the Scottish Government Alcohol Industry Partnership.

Paul began his career with IDV, a forerunner to drinks giant Diageo, where he worked in innovation and new product development. He was involved in bringing brands as diverse as Bombay Sapphire Gin and Malibu to the market. 

Having started locally, Eden Mill now trades in over 20 countries globally. It employs over 50 staff (6 are OAs) and is set to launch its first single malt whisky in the coming months to complement its gin and beer ranges.

 

May 2017 - PowerPoint or NoPoint?

Paul Coia gave us his hot tips on giving presentations in his talk entitled "PowerPoint or NoPoint?"  Currently, Paul presents his own radio shows for the BBC in London and Berkshire, he writes a weekly celebrity interview column for the Scottish Sunday Post, and he travels extensively whilst coaching executives and hosting conferences.

 His current corporate clients include Rolex, English Heritage, Shop Direct (Very.co.uk and Littlewoods), Lloyds Bank, EE Mobile Phone Network, Barry Callebaut (the world’s largest chocolate manufacturer), The House Of Lords, English Mutual, Creditsafe and many more.

 He has presented at conferences for a long list of clients including Barclays, BT, Credit Suisse, Emirate Airlines, Goldman Sachs, Lloyds Bank, Philips Electrical, Thomas Cook, Unilever, Zurich Financial, and dozens of household name companies.  He is the Winner of Scottish Radio Personality of the Year, The Broadcast Critics Award, and Rose D’Or, Montreaux.

 

February 2017 - 'From Wax Tadpole to Unicorn' - Building a Billion £ Internet Business

Frank Skivington left St Aloysius way back in 1983 and went on to study Accountancy at Glasgow University, and then on to CA training with Deloitte. A few years in therecruitment industry followed and he then joined Scottish Media Group PLC in the commercial function. In 1999 he was one of the founding directors of s1, the (at the time) new internet arm of SMG, which went on to become the most successful internet business in Scotland, being named by The Marketing Society as one of Scotland's brands of the century (along with Glenmorangie, Irn Bru and RBS).

In 2008 he joined Skyscanner, a small but ambitious 20 person start-up based in a business centre in Leith. In the ensuing 8.5 years he built and led the commercial sales and marketing functions and was responsible for the establishment of international offices in Singapore, Beijing and Miami. In late 2016 they successfully concluded a £1.45 billion sale of the Skyscanner business to CTrip, China's largest online travel business.