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
Gordon Hector
Gordon Hector comes from an economic development and public policy background. He started his career in communications, at social policy think-tank the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, in government as a speechwriter, and for a health startup. He then worked in the Scottish Parliament before leading the placemaking and public services team at Urban Foresight, a Dundee-based innovation consultancy, until 2024.
He now advises local and national government bodies on policy and strategy, alongside his GrowBiz role. He is also a Trustee of Plunkett UK, a community wealth building charity which supports community-owned businesses in rural areas.
He is passionate about supporting small businesses, and their role as the foundation of thriving communities - particularly in rural areas. He takes inspiration from people who have started, run and owned businesses and the sense of empowerment and fulfillment that path can offer.
Email: gordonhector@growbiz.co.uk
Alexia McClure
Alexia McClure has many years of experience of working in business and enterprise support in Scotland, the UK and internationally. Most recently Alexia was the Chief Operating Officer and on the board at Jersey Business, Jersey’s business support agency where she was responsible for all the functions that underpin the operation of the organisation. Alexia developed the strategy for growth that saw the business develop, manage and deliver programmes that supported entrepreneurs leading businesses of all sizes and across all sectors, in their business journey.
In her leadership role, Alexia believes that an empowering and supportive culture is vital to the success of every organization and is what enables its people and clients to thrive. And, that businesses, like GrowBiz, that have positive impact at the heart of their culture and operations can be a force for good for their people, community and environment, making these organisations more sustainable, resilient and effective in the long term.
Email: Alexiamcclure@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
Karen Martin, Contracts Manager
Following a successful career in the provision of government funding for a not-for-profit organisation, Karen moved to the Cairngorms National Park to start her own business as a Guest House owner. She now manages self-catering property, is a property landlord and heads up the Grantown Business Association where she supports rural businesses with destination marketing, networking opportunities and general business support. She also volunteers as a Director for Grantown’s community development company.
Karen joined GrowBiz in July 2020 as an Enterprise Facilitator. She has a strong background in marketing, operations and finance and understands the challenges faced by small businesses in rural economies.
Email: karenmartin@growbiz.co.uk
Michael Costello
Michael Costello is an experienced entrepreneur and enterprise facilitator with over two decades of success across commercial, public and non-profit sectors. He brings extensive knowledge of business development, operational improvement and stakeholder engagement, combined with a strong record in social enterprise support. Michael has led large-scale projects, including the creation of a £400,000 sustainable business and enterprise hub and the delivery of income generation initiatives for the third sector.
Passionate about helping entrepreneurs and social enterprises to thrive, he provides practical mentoring and strategic guidance to drive sustainable growth and strengthen local economies across rural Scotland.
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
Margaret McLaren
A fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, Margaret has practised as a self-employed Accountant since 1987.
Margaret focusses on helping small businesses with their accounting and tax affairs and has extensive experience creating clarity from chaos and dealing with HMRC both on day to day matters and Tax Investigations. She helps and supports businesses and organisations with financial management and training and is QuickBooks Online Advanced Certified, FreeAgent Expert Practitioner, Certified Xero Advisor and a GrowBiz Business Mentor.
Margaret has also been a Scottish Enterprise Business Mentor and an After-Care Advisor with the Princes Scottish Youth Business Trust and joined GrowBiz in 2019.
Email: margaret@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
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
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.
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
Shareon Gordon, Administrator and Mentoring Coordinator
Shareon's background includes roles in Administration, working with Young People and all things Health and Wellness.
Shareon has her own Hypnotherapy & Motivational Training business and is passionate about helping and supporting people to become the best versions of themselves.
Shareon was delighted to join the GrowBiz Team in September 2022 as an Administrator.
Email: shareongordon@growbiz.co.uk
Janet Hunter
Janet is a rural development consultant with particular interest and expertise in innovative thinking and facilitation for tourism initiatives in rural areas. Janet sits on the Boards of the Cairngorms National Park Authority, the Outdoor Access Trust for Scotland and the EUROPARC Federation of Protected Areas in Europe and sustainable tourism is a key element for each organisation. She is a Director of the Cateran Ecomuseum, which is currently piloting a circular economy approach to regenerative tourism. She also works as a consultant to adventure tourism businesses in Norway and Switzerland, has experience of Product and Brand development and speaks several languages.
Janet chairs the Cairngorms Tourism Partnership and, since March, the weekly meetings of CTERG (Cairngorms Tourism Emergency Response group). At a European level Janet is involved with the creation of the EUROPARC strategy for Climate Change as well as the Fund Raising and Sustainable Tourism Commissions.
Email: janethunter@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, editor and social media expert.
In April 2018, Abi started The Perthshire Magazine with her husband, taking on the editor role. She was involved in organically building its highly engaged social media audience. As editor, she plans and writes many of the articles.
In 2021, she and Nathan launched The Perthshire Media Co, helping other local businesses with their social media, photography and copywriting.
Abi is the marketing coordinator at GrowBiz and loves helping to promote and support small rural businesses and community enterprises.
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 through her company Coo Doo Business Support.
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
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
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
Keith Glass, External Finance Advisor
Keith has nearly twenty years of experience in both accountancy practice and industry having worked for individuals and small businesses as well as within one of the country’s biggest motor dealer groups.
He now runs his own Perthshire-based practice, KWG Accountancy, and is the finance manager for GrowBiz, taking up post in 2017.
Keith has always been proud of the fact that both clients and colleagues throughout his career have told him he is “not your typical accountant” and this is the approach that he has taken with his own practice.
Providing friendly and down-to-earth professional advice, he is committed to helping people understand their finances more - and maximise and retain as much of their earnings as possible - by simplifying and streamlining the accountancy process and tax affairs.
Email: keith@growbiz.co.uk