Ben Goedegebuure is Director of Sales of the Scottish Exhibition + Conference Centre (SECC), a member of the company's management team and heads up the sales team responsible for all aspects of the venue and events sales that includes conference, exhibition, and concerts and events sales, the venue box office as well as all sales marketing support. Ben joined the SECC in 2005 as Director of Conference Sales and was promoted into the new Director of Sales position in 2008.

Ben has been involved in different sides of the conference, events and exhibition industry. With a background in Information Management, Ben began his career at the Federation International d'Information et de Documentation (FID, The Hague, the Netherlands) in 1985, where he was appointed Executive Director in 1989, a position he held for seven years. In 1997, Ben joined Congrex Holding BV, the international PCO and meeting planning company where he held office as Conference Director, Deputy Managing Director of Congrex Holland (Amsterdam) and finally, Director of Marketing and Sales for the Congrex Group (Amsterdam and Stockholm).

Ben is involved in a number of industry associations, committees and initiatives and is active in the international meetings management scene. He is a member of the International Task Force for PCMA (USA) and was recently asked to join the London 2012 Business Development Group. Ben is a Dutch National who has become a strong advocate of Glasgow, the vibrant, can-do city on the West Coast of Scotland. In his spare time he enjoys his home life, friends, all that Scotland (and The Netherlands) has to offer and is trying to learn how to play golf (very badly indeed).

Donald MacLeod has been the fundraising chairman of the NRMTS fundraising committee for 7 years and has recently been elected co-chair of the board of management alongside Heather Gardner. The Tartan Clef Music Awards, the charity's biggest fundraising event, has gone from strength to strength with Donald at the helm and has grown from a small luncheon into The Scottish Music Awards, raising hundreds of thousands of pounds for NRMTS. Donald has also assisted in fundraising for Epilepsy Scotland and is currently working on sending instruments to Kenyan musicians whom he met earlier this year.

Donald is the managing director of CPL Entertainment Group, a company he set up 20 years ago, which runs many of Glasgow's top nightclubs. He has an extensive history of live band promotion from Oasis to Marilyn Manson, Moby to Maroon 5 and is an active member of both the Glasgow Licensing Forum and the Nightclub Forum. Donald has been writing a weekly column in The Scottish Sun since 2006 and also hosts a weekly radio show on 96.3 Rock Radio.

Fran McIntyre is Managing Director of QD Events Ltd and Scotland's leading events expert and a recognised authority in the industry.

QD Events is Scotland's largest exhibition company responsible for producing some of the country's best known exhibitions including the Scottish Wedding Shows, Scottish Baby Show, Caravan & Outdoor Leisure Show, the Irn-Bru Carnival, The Fishing Show and The Main Event.

Fran started her career in London joining what was then Blenheim Exhibitions - home to business events including Confex - later to become part of CMP Information. Across a number of years, Fran worked on a series of successful launch events in the UK and Europe, including Brand Licensing, RSVP and Flowers.

Returning to Scotland, Fran joined QD Events in July 2007 and oversees the entire portfolio of events. Fran has identified several key factors in sustaining a successful business in today's economic climate - namely being ambitious in planning the company's growth and planning this growth around the qualities and skills of the team she has in place.

Geoff Ellis started his promoting career as an Entertainments Manager at Middlesex Polytechnic in London. One of his first events was bringing the Stone Roses for their pivotal first concert in London. He then moved to the world famous Marquee Club securing acts such as Aerosmith for a rare club show. He moved to Glasgow in 1992 to join DF Concerts (DFC) as promoter of the company's legendary venue King Tut's Wah Wah Hut and as the company rose to become one of Europe's leading music and event promotion companies, Geoff's progression in turn led to his appointment as Chief Executive in 2001.

As CEO of DF Concerts, Geoff Ellis is dedicated to bringing the very best live music and events to Scotland - with the result bringing significant cultural and economic impact to the country. Concerts range from grassroots level at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut (which the company owns) to stadium shows including, in 2009 alone, Take That, AC/DC, The Eagles, Bruce Springsteen and Coldplay. DF Concerts are perhaps best known because of Scotland's biggest music event, T in the Park Festival which Geoff has developed into one of Europe's most successful music festivals attracting an audience of 85,000 each day including 70,000 campers! The company is also behind The Edge Festival, which attracts over 130,000 music fans to Edinburgh during August. Other events which the company has been involved with include Glasgow on Ice, Radiance Festival of Light, Santa's Kingdom, Live 8 - The Final Push at Murrayfield, Tsunami Benefit Concert, Homecoming Live as well as international events in Red Square, Moscow; Val D'Isere; Brandenburg Gate, Berlin; Prague, Valencia and Versailles.

Former lawyer, journalist and TV executive, Oli Norman launched his Glasgow-based DADA agency in 2002 operating with four distinct divisions - PR, Events, Ventures and Design and Advertising. The business now employs some 80 people and Norman was named Ernst & Young Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2008. Through its events Divison, Norman and his team are behind some of Scotland's best known events, including Miss Scotland, comedy competition Take The Mic and beauty and fashion event GLAM, presented by Gok Wan. Norman also owns Sloans, Glasgow's oldest bar and restaurant, which he restored it to its former glory complete with a fully refurbished ball room.

A graduate of Strathclyde University, Scott Taylor is an expert when it comes to the hotel industry - his career has seen him managing three Glasgow city centre hotels as well as being brand manager for two of Forte Hotels' brands. In 1998 he joined Greater Glasgow & Clyde Valley Tourist Board as Director-Convention Bureau, later becoming Director of Marketing, encompassing both Leisure and Discretionary Business Tourism. He took over as Acting Chief Executive in July 2004, leading the integration of GG&CVTB into the new VisitScotland structure in April 2005. At the same time, Taylor set up Glasgow City Marketing Bureau (GCMB) to ensure Glasgow retained its strategic accountability, authority and responsibility for marketing the destination and helping deliver the city's economic strategy. As part of this Taylor was integral on the launch of the Glasgow: Scotland with Style brand for the city.

Sera Miller along with business partner Colin Spence, opened the doors on Material Marketing & Communications on the 17th January 2003.

The Glasgow based company, had a hugely successful start up with Tennent's, arguably one of Scotland's leading brands, on their client roster. Specialising at that time in sponsorship, experiential marketing and PR, Material was appointed to look after and activate the sponsorship portfolio of the brand which included T in the Park, T on the Fringe and T Break. The company also undertook the role of event PR for T in the Park, possibly the biggest PR job in the country. Although a tremendous start, this huge client was their only one, and the members of staff were few in numbers...there was therefore a huge job to be done to grow the company and turn it in to a success story.

Seven years on and the hard work is beginning to pay off. Material has grown from a company with 4 members of staff to operating with a staff of 23. The client roster features a number of leading brands and organisations whose marketing activities have extended into event platforms. Current clients include Lloyds Banking Group, Scottish Hydro, BAFTA Scotland, Oxegen Music Festival, Whyte & Mackay, The Edinburgh International Festival and the Scottish Football Association to name but a few. In addition to this, the company have retained their very first client Tennents, with their scope of work widened to football activity including the new sponsorship of Celtic and Rangers.

Further to this, Material's offerings as an organisation have also grown. The company now has five core areas of expertise; Strategy, Sponsorship, Media, Production and Creative. In addition, Sera has driven Material to become innovators in their field, for example securing Carbon Neutral status, one of the first agencies in Scotland to do so.

In summary, the growth of Material and the innovative activity embarked upon internally can be attributed to a number of factors, but none so much as the leadership and direction provided by Sera Miller.

Tessa Hartmann launched her agency Hartmann Media some 13 years ago and has during that time built it into an award-winning fashion and lifestyle communications agency. A graduate of Stirling University, Hartmann has worked in Washington DC and London for a number of blue chip brands before deciding to focus on her passion for fashion. She has gone on to pick up numerous awards for her work. Accolades from the Institute of Public Relations Pride Awards & Public Relations Excellence Awards have earned the agency the reputation as Scotland 's authority on fashion and lifestyle. Client have included Ralph Lauren, Swarovski, LK Bennett, Patek Philippe, Bafta Scotland, Bvlgari, MTV Europe, Louis Vuitton and Bentley Motors UK.

Hartmann founded and produced the inaugural Scottish Fashion Awards in 2006, with has grown in stature and has now become the most high profile fashion and style event in Scotland attracting a host of luxury brands and international media from around the world.