GrowBiz Team
We have a dedicated team of people to make GrowBiz happen on a day to day basis - like meeting with clients, arranging events and running our meetings. Find out more about each person by clicking on their name.
Gareth Ruddock, Interim CEO
Gareth became Interim CEO of GrowBiz in June 2026. He brings a wealth of experience to the role, having formerly been Chief Executive of Giraffe Trading in Perth for almost 10 years. Giraffe was a charity and social enterprise supporting trainees with autism and disabilities with inclusion, training and employment. Before this, he ran national programmes with Prince’s Trust, managed Scottish Government 3rd Sector Enterprise Growth funds and worked in employability with the Wise Group.
He is currently a Trustee for Perth and Kinross Opportunities Trust and on the Advisory Group for Great Perthshire and has previously sat on the board for a number of organisations across Scotland including Social Enterprise Scotland, University of Strathclyde Students Association, the local Anti-Poverty Task Force and more.
Email: garethruddock@growbiz.co.uk
Karen Martin, Deputy CEO
Karen joined GrowBiz in 2020 as an Enterprise Facilitator and is now Deputy CEO, with a particular focus on programme and contract delivery, finance and organisational operations.
Before moving to the Cairngorms National Park, Karen had a successful career managing government-funded programmes in the not-for-profit sector. In 2013, she made the move into self-employment herself, relocating to the Highlands to run a guest house. She now operates a successful self-catering business and rental property alongside her work with GrowBiz.
Karen has extensive experience in business support, project and financial management, marketing and operational delivery. She brings a practical understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing rural businesses and is particularly interested in sustainability and adapting to change.
She is also Chair of the Grantown Business Association, where she works closely with businesses, community organisations and public-sector partners to support local economic development. Karen is particularly passionate about ensuring that rural and micro-businesses have a strong voice and access to practical, relevant support that helps them start, develop and thrive.
Email: karenmartin@growbiz.co.uk
Jane Mason
Jane is a highly experienced learning, education and skills senior executive with extensive knowledge across the charity, social enterprise and public sectors.
Jane has been self employed since 2017, working across the charity and social enterprise sector, in a variety of roles including developing network partnerships and overseeing an Educational Trust.
Jane joined GrowBiz as an Enterprise Facilitator in October 2024, supporting the CAYR Local project in Ayrshire.
Email: janemason@growbiz.co.uk
Caron Ironside
Caron has been involved in supporting the local creative sector, working with Culture Perth & Kinross and running the online Perthshire Creates network for the last 5 years.
Also a creative herself working in textiles, Caron has an insight into working as a sole trader in the sector, having taken part in Perthshire Open Studios and other events as well as running workshops sharing creative skills. Having previously worked in a marketing and events management capacity in the retail and hospitality sector, Caron combines this experience within the creative sector and keenly promotes the regions creativity through writing business content, social media and organising Design Markets.
Caron joined GrowBiz in May 2020 as an Enterprise Facilitator supporting creative business clients and leading on the Perthshire Artisans project.
Email: caron@growbiz.co.uk
Alison Finlay
Alison’s background combines many years in consultancy with experience as a senior marketing professional within the food and drink and leisure and travel industries in major blue-chip organisations.
Alison joined the GrowBiz team in August 2019 as an enterprise facilitator and now also runs the GrowBiz learning and development programme.
She has her own business as a business coach and has experience as a mentor with both the Scottish Chamber of Commerce’s Business Mentoring Scheme and a social enterprise.
She is also a qualified Kinesiopractor® and runs a clinical practice that deals holistically with individuals to help them with their physical, emotional and mental health. She has worked with hundreds of individuals to help them improve their work, home and family lives.
Email: alisonfinlay@growbiz.co.uk
Daniel Muir
Daniel first joined GrowBiz as a mentor in 2019 and has since become an Enterprise Facilitator and the project lead for the food & drink network / regional food group, administrated by GrowBiz.
With a background in continuous improvement, IT and supply chain management, mostly in food and drink manufacturing businesses, he is passionate about process improvement and applying best practice to make businesses work better.
His consultancy business, Supply Chain Scotland, aims to apply his knowledge and experience in forecasting and planning, customer and supplier engagement, and logistics to smaller businesses to help them improve their performance and results.
Email: danielmuir@growbiz.co.uk
Jenny Lyall, Enterprise Facilitator and Social Enterprise Lead
Jenny's background includes roles in Administration, Accounts and Operational Management in the Electro-Optics Industry.
12 years ago Jenny founded her own International Machinery Export Business, shipping Agricultural Machinery to various countries around the world.
Jenny is passionate about supporting other Entrepreneurs and was delighted to join the GrowBiz team in Spring 2021, as an Enterprise Facilitator.
Email: jennylyall@growbiz.co.uk
Amie-Jayne Pardoe, Finance Administrator
Amie-Jayne has a background in administration, finance, and operations, with experience supporting both mental health services and businesses. She has worked across NHS departments including Older Adults Mental Health and CAMHS, developing expertise in organising patient care, managing referrals, and maintaining accurate records.
As an ADHD Virtual Assistant, Amie-Jayne supported clients with bookkeeping, document management, and improving day-to-day systems to ensure everything ran smoothly. Passionate about creating clarity and promoting equal opportunities, she is dedicated to making structures work for people, helping both individuals and organisations reach their potential.
Angela Laurie
Angela is an approachable and enthusiastic professional with over 20 years’ business development experience.
She’s run her own company since 2014, working with business’ in a broad variety of sectors, supporting the development of sustainable solutions for their success.
More recently, Angela has enjoyed developing her experience within a local Community Action Planning framework.
Angela joined GrowBiz as an Enterprise Facilitator in May 2022 and is committed to supporting rural businesses realise their goals by understanding how clients would like to start, develop, or grow their business
Email: angelalaurie@growbiz.co.uk
Alan Garratt
Alan is a qualified engineer who has held a number of positions at operational and senior management level in various companies and in a wide range of industries.
He has worked in innovation development and commercialisation since 1999, advising investors and innovative businesses both in the UK and in other countries throughout the world on product development and intellectual property protection as well as business strategy.
An honorary lecturer on innovation and creativity at the University of Dundee as part of its ‘enterprise gym’ programme, Alan also managed an EY-funded project on the commercialisation of university research and has been an enterprise facilitator at GrowBiz since 2016.
Email: alan@growbiz.co.uk
Abi Shepherd, Marketing Coordinator
Abi Shepherd is a published author of short stories, blogs, lifestyle articles and children’s fiction and has used her writing skills to develop into a business content writer and editor.
In April 2018, Abi started a local travel and lifestyle magazine along with her husband, taking on the editor role. She was involved in organically building its highly engaged social media audience. As editor, she still plans and writes many of the articles.
In 2021, the couple expanded the business into providing digital marketing services, offering social media managemant, photography and copywriting.
Abi is the marketing coordinator at GrowBiz and loves helping to promote and support small rural businesses and community enterprises.
Shareon Gordon, Mentoring Lead
Shareon has a varied background in administration, working with young people, mentoring, health and wellbeing.
As Mentoring Lead at GrowBiz, Shareon leads the mentoring programme, supporting mentors and mentees from initial onboarding and training through to matching and ongoing support.
Shareon is passionate about helping people build confidence, recognise their strengths and achieve their goals. She also has her own Hypnotherapy and Motivational Training business, bringing her experience in personal development and wellbeing to her role.
Shareon joined the GrowBiz team in September 2022 and is proud to now lead the GrowBiz Mentoring Programme.
Email: shareongordon@growbiz.co.uk
Becca Vincent
Becca is a serial entrepreneur and lawyer, specialising in commercial contracts and intellectual property law.
After several years working as a solicitor in private practice and for Higher Education Institutions and small/medium sized companies, Becca took a break from the law in 2015 to participate in the Saltire Foundation Fellowship – an entrepreneurial leadership programme in Boston, Massachusetts.
On her return to Scotland, Becca set up her own legal consultancy business, Becca Flory Consulting Limited, providing affordable and flexible legal advice to clients, combined with exceptional service. She also set up an ethical, fashion e-commerce brand, winning several awards including Best Online Newcomer at The Herald Fashion Awards and funding from Scottish EDGE. She went on to the start The Little Travelling Bookshop, a mobile bookshop and unique events space in 2018 and in her spare time, she runs a holiday let with her fiancé, Andrew, at their home in rural Perthshire!
Becca joined GrowBiz as an Enterprise Facilitator in May 2024. Her varied background and skillset mean that Becca is well placed to help entrepreneurs and micros with their business and legal queries.
Email: beccavincent@growbiz.co.uk
Corrie Watson, Client Services Manager
Corrie is a self-employed business support professional providing a wide range of services to a variety of clients in the Tayside area and beyond.
Her background is in IT, project management and people management, and Corrie enjoys helping clients become organised and focus on what it is that they enjoy about their business.
She is the Client Services Manager for GrowBiz, allocating and matching client requests, developing the CRM system and also seeing clients as an Enterprise Facilitator.
Email: corrie@growbiz.co.uk
Alison Powrie
Alison worked for over twenty-five years as a legal executive, primarily specialising in family law.
She set up her business The Sorting Office in 2015, providing flexible support to help take the load off the day-to-day running of small businesses and organisations.
This includes administration services, marketing and events organisation and management. Alison particularly enjoys using social media and online platforms to promote her clients and their services.
Having first approached GrowBiz for advice on setting up a business, the enterprise support organisation became one of Alison's first clients in late 2016. She is responsible for providing social media support for GrowBiz.
Email: alison@growbiz.co.uk