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About
About
Directors
Lucy-Rose Walker
Lucy-Rose studied Psychology at Glasgow University where she took a keen interest in the psychology of marketing. Her first job took her around the highland games of North America promoting a Tartan Credit Card to the Scottish diaspora, alongside Lord Sempill. Having experienced the passion and enthusiasm for Scotland felt by so many North American Scots she went on to conceptualise & develop the board game Scottish Quest. After 3 years of brand development and a number of distribution deals she felt it was time for a new challenge - The Gathering 2009 closely followed by Panalba...
Lord (Jamie) Sempill
Jamie has over 32 years of commercial management experience in marketing and communications, having worked for major corporations at home and abroad. He has spent over 12 years living and working overseas, mainly in South Africa, returning to Scotland in 1992. In 1995 he inherited one of Scotland’s oldest titles and took his seat in the House of Lords as an independent Crossbench Peer. In 1998 he became actively involved in the Scottish devolution debate, joined the Conservative Party and in May 1999 stood for Edinburgh North & Leith in the inaugural Scottish Parliamentary elections. He continued his involvement as constituency Chairman until 2002, during which time he was also a lay inspector of schools. From 2001 to 2003 he worked for a distiller and travelled extensively in Russia, South Africa, India and the Far East. He then spent 6 months in the USA promoting an affinity card scheme to the Scottish American community. From November 2003 until the end of 2005 he worked for the Caledonian Brewing Company as Director of Marketing. He is also a Director of The Gathering 2009 and vice-convenor of the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs.
Gareth Thomas
Gareth has more than 19 years of technology expertise, including a number spent living in California running two successful software companies Mercury Software Solutions and Castell Technology, before moving to Scotland in 2005. Previously he was Director of Product Development for over 3 years at exclusive social networking site ASMALLWORD. He has also held senior technical positions at HBOC and First Data Group. With considerable experience in the Internet business he currently acts as an advisor to a number of internet companies.
Jenny Gilmour
Jenny’s first job in event management was over 15 years ago when she co-ordinated ‘Fringe Sunday’, a major part of Edinburgh’s famous Fringe Festival at which 200,000 people turned up! Since then she has worked in the UK and around the world as a freelance event director on major sporting events, large corporate occasions and bespoke private events. She has worked at some of the world’s great event venues including the Sydney Opera House, London’s Wembley Stadium, Gleneagles Hotel and Edinburgh. She is also a Director of The Gathering 2009
Writers & Contributors
Diana Gabaldon
Author
Diana Gabaldon is the New York Times best-selling author of the Outlander series, which tells the story of Jamie Fraser, a Scottish Highlander from the 18th century, and his time-traveling wife, Claire. Diana will be writing a regular blog on Panalba, you can read more about Diana on her own site here.
Tom Bruce-Gardyne
Born in London and partly raised in Scotland, Tom Bruce-Gardyne discovered drink at an early age. In his twenties it was all about wine which led to a career in the trade in London and then Milan where he looked after exports for the Sicilian producer Corvo. While in Italy he began writing on the subject for magazines including 'Decanter', 'Wine & Spirit' and 'Harpers'.
On returning home in 1996 with a wife and an ever-growing brood of daughters, he became a full-time freelance journalist with 'Caledonia' and 'The Sunday Telegraph' among others. He moved back to Scotland a year later and has been writing on whisky ever since, publishing The Scotch Whisky Book (2002) and co-writing the Eyewitness Guide to Whisky (2006). He is currently engaged on a third whisky book and writes a weekly drinks column for The Herald.
James Irvine Robertson
Historian
James Irvine Robertson is a broadcaster, lecturer, humorous columnist & contributor to a wide variety of newspapers and magazines in the UK, US and Australia. Currently he is a regular contributor to Scotland Magazine on Scottish history and clans. He has published. He has published 21 books. Over the last decade he has been working on family papers from Highland Perthshire and hence specialized in Scottish history. Transcripts of these papers are here published on line for the use of family historians and others, at www.jamesirvinerobertson.co.uk. He has been editor of The Stewarts and has edited the Clan Donnachaidh Annual for 15 years.
Richard Bath
Food critic Scotsman
Richard Bath is an award -winning journalist who is senior features writer for Scotland on Sunday newspaper. He writes about subjects as diverse as food, sport, travel, culture and politics, and also contributes to a wide range of magazines. He has written several books. Richard is married with three children and lives in Ayrshire.
Dave McNicol
Travel Writer
David McNicoll was hewn from the rough hills of Highland Perthshire back in 1974; and grew up on an old Highland Estate before going on to study geography at Aberdeen University. After Uni he came down to Edinburgh and worked for one of the top tour companies before, in 2004, deciding to set up and run his own tour company - Scottish Routes. As well as his business, he is also an avid walker, follower of St Johnstone Football Club, and a member of the Duke of Atholl's Private Army - the Atholl Highlanders.