Eddy Graham - Director

Eddy is an experienced consultant with considerable experience of strategy, research and community consultation work.

He began his career with National and Provincial Building Society in a variety of business planning and marketing roles. During this period, he assessed various strategic diversification opportunities including estate agency, unit trusts and new mortgage products. He was closely involved in the assessment, planning and launch of new products in the consumer credit and life insurance fields.

Eddy returned to Scotland as Senior Company Development Executive with Glasgow Development Agency in 1991. During his time at GDA, Eddy acted as Account Manager for a number of key Glasgow companies, ensuring that the Agency’s powers and resources were effectively used to assist the growth and development of these businesses.
Eddy joined the consultancy firm, T.L. Dempster in 1996 and between 1998 and late 2002, he headed up its research and consultancy activities

He left TLD to establish ibp Strategy and Research in late 2002, and has been joined by a number of his colleagues.

Amongst the work already delivered is:

• Refreshment of a Citizens’ Panel for Argyll and Bute SIP.
• Community consultation focus groups for Aberdeenshire Council’s Scrutiny and Audit Committee.
• Consultation with ethnic minority communities for Perth and Kinross Council.
• Evaluation of the “Passport” initiative for the Department of Trade and Industry.

Eddy has a B.A. (Hons) Degree in Politics from Stirling University, holds the Chartered Institute of Marketing Diploma, the Certified Diploma in Accounting and Finance, the certificate of Market Research Society, and an MBA from Glasgow Caledonian University.

Jim Johnstone - Senior Consultant

Jim is an experienced consultant with twenty year’s business experience as a salesman, consultant and economic development professional. He spent a number of years learning his trade as a front line salesman for Golden Wonder. After acquiring his MBA he moved into a consultancy role with Ewbank Preece where he specialised in business consulting on infrastructure projects.

Jim returned to Scotland as Senior Company Development Executive with Glasgow Development Agency in 1991. During his time at GDA, Jim was responsible for undertaking Business Development Reviews with a wide range of companies. Following on from this, he worked closely with the senior management of companies to understand the issues facing their businesses and then developed and managed the implementation of projects that met the needs of both the company and GDA.

In 1995, Jim joined Scottish Enterprise Dumfries and Galloway (SEDG) as Senior Manager with responsibility for business and organisation development. This role included the overseeing and development of the Small Business Gateway in Dumfries and Galloway and the input of SEDG to the community planning process.

Jim left SEDG to join T.L. Dempster in late 2001, where he contributed to a number of community consultation and community development projects. He became part of the ibp team in early 2003.

Jim has a first degree in Scottish History and an MBA from Strathclyde University.

Elspet Brown - Field Survey Manager

Elspet manages the administration of all survey work.

Elspet has over 20 years’ experience in market research as an interviewer then supervisor and field manager.

She has worked with national, well-respected market research agencies such as MAI and NOP, managing a wide range of research studies and utilising many forms of research techniques.

Fraser Gilfillan - Business Analyst

Fraser manages the data processing and analysis aspects of ibp's work, as well as contributing to desk research and other aspects of data gathering. He is responsible for the management of data processing and analysis for all research work carried out in-house, including the following projects:

• Various Citizens’ Panels on behalf of Local Authorities
• Social Inclusion Partnership Panels
• A variety of social surveys on behalf of Housing Associations, Councils, and Social Inclusion Partnerships.

Fraser joined TLD in 1998 from Haden Maintenance Ltd, where he had a research role. Prior to this he gained a BA in Marketing at the University of Paisley. Like Elspet, he joined ibp early in 2003.