John Gillies – Managing Director and Data Protection Officer
John is a qualified IASME and CyberEssentials Assessor as well as a qualified GDPR specialist. John’s has 23 years experience in the technology sector, including MD of an Oil and Gas IT Managed Service Provider for 12 years, and several software based startups. John has provided consultancy to businesses in the Highlands and Aberdeen areas through Oyster since 2015.
Neil Christie – Chief Technology Officer
Neil is Managing Director of Converged Communication Solutions which was formed in 2005 to address a requirement in the IT and Telecoms industry for a service provider driven by cost-effectiveness, commitment to excellence and accountability to their clients.
Converged employs 40 people and has a revenue of £3.8m and has grown from a two-man operation into a fully-fledged IT/Telephony integrator – a single and accountable point of contact for a company’s internet, networking IT and telephony requirements.
Marcus MacIver – Finance Director
Marcus MacIver is a chartered accountant, and the director of Mackay & Co CA, a firm of chartered accountants with offices in Golspie, Dingwall, Oban, and Ullapool. His family hailing from the Isle of Lewis, Marcus trained as a CA in Perth, and then worked for a while with a firm on the west coast before acquiring Mackay & Co CA in 2015. The firm has since expanded to four offices, and acquired a business consultancy division – GHRL – in 2019.
Karen Sutherland – Business Development Director
Karen Sutherland is the Business Development Manager and Company Secretary of Mackay & Co CA, a firm of chartered accountants with offices in Golspie, Dingwall, Oban and Ullapool. Born and bred in Helmsdale in Sutherland, she worked for 20 years in banking, has run her own retail outlet with e-commerce site and post office before moving into accounting. She is a co-director of GHRL, the consultancy division of Mackay & Co CA.
Brian Sheret – Strategy Director
Brian has been part of the team developing Grampian Highland Resources Limited (GHRL) since its inception in 2001, into one of Scotland’s leading interim management and business support providers. GHRL is now a part of the MacKay & Co. Chartered Accountants and Business Advisory Group of Companies. Brian’s key interests lie in Customer service excellence, innovation, good governance and business development. Prior to GHRL, Brian spent 21 years in UK & International shipping and logistics, particularly in support of the oil and gas sector.