SQW’s consultants bring extensive experience to their assignments, with backgrounds in academia, national and local government, industry, and development agencies. Short profiles of our Directors and Associate Directors are given below.
Chris Green – Chief Executive
Chris Green has been Chief Executive of SQW Group, the parent company of SQW and Oxford Innovation, since May 2006. Before that he was Managing Director of SQW Ltd for eight years, during which period the firm’s turnover and profitability increased very substantially, three new offices were opened, and the market profile and penetration improved greatly.
He led a management buy out of SQW in 2004, and negotiated the recent merger with Oxford Innovation, which brought OI into the SQW Group. He has 28 years experience of economic development and planning work in public and private sectors, including 18 years in consultancy and 10 years in local government in the UK and Australia. He has experience in virtually all aspects of the firm’s work, and has undertaken project work throughout the UK and in 29 other countries. He was responsible for setting up SQW’s office in Hong Kong and establishing SQW’s track record in East Asia. Chris is a long term member of the Royal Town Planning Institute and serves on the RTPI’s Regeneration Network Steering Group.
Simon Pringle – Managing Director
Simon Pringle is Managing Director of SQW Consulting. He is a consultant with some nine years experience in the industry, having previously held management positions with the DTI, both in Whitehall and at Regional level.
Clients don’t forget projects that Simon has worked with them on. The breadth of his economic development experience is matched by excellent process skills and political awareness. This guarantees the successful delivery of complex projects, even when faced with potentially difficult mixes of stakeholders.
Patricia Ambrose – Associate Director
Patricia Ambrose is head of SQW’s London office. She has over 12 years’ experience of working at the national level in higher education, most recently as chief executive of GuildHE, a national policy and representative organisation. Over this period, Patricia has developed an extensive understanding of the higher education sector and the diversity of institutions within it. She contributes to SQW’s work on higher education and related learning and skills areas.
Patricia is a creative and strategic thinker with excellent interpersonal and analytical skills. She is a Fellow of the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education and the Royal Society of Arts.
Alan Brazewell – Associate Director
Alan Brazewell specialises in economic impact analysis, including evaluation, appraisal and performance measurement. This covers a wide range of public sector interventions especially in relation to the promotion of business growth, area regeneration and social/economic inclusion. Alan’s previous experience was with Scottish Enterprise, an earlier spell of eight years with SQW and six years running his own successful business. He rejoined his former colleagues in SQW in 2007. He brings logical thinking to assignments as well as the capacity for clear and thoughtful expression of conclusions.
Eleanor Breen – Associate Director
Eleanor Breen has over 25 years experience in the field of applied policy analysis, including working in North America, the UK and on projects for the European Commission. She specialises in labour market policy development and evaluation. Her experience includes policies to enhance labour market information for individuals, institutions and businesses; the responsiveness of the education and vocational training infrastructure to the specific needs of sectors; and better alignment of the opportunities from economic growth to equality of access for excluded groups. Eleanor has a particular understanding of the partnerships and relationships needed at national, regional and local levels to deliver improvements in employment, skills and productivity.
Robin Brighton – Director
Robin Brighton leads SQW’s work in science and technology policy and higher education. He is an economist by training and his initial career was as a university lecturer. Robin’s experience encompasses programme evaluation and feasibility studies and organisational and strategy reviews. UK clients include government departments, higher education funding and research councils, individual higher education institutions and the regional development agencies. He has worked in Scandinavia, Central and Eastern Europe, the Former Soviet Union and South East Asia for international agencies and national bodies.
Chris Bronsdon – Associate Director
Chris Bronsdon joined SQW in September 2007 to develop and lead work on Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development. Chris has a diverse background with prior experience gained in the electricity utility sector, as Director of an independent policy think tank on energy and environment issues and most recently in private consultancy. He has managed a wide variety of projects throughout UK working at the strategic level on industry-wide market and technology issues within energy policy development and implementation, as well as more focused work on technology support, research and development. Chris is a strong and effective communicator, presenting key messages at senior level whilst having an appreciation of both the detail, and the broader perspective on energy issues.
Stewart Brown – Associate Director
Stewart Brown is an expert in research commercialisation, innovation and support for new knowledge/technology-based business formation. With a background in scientific research, R & D management and technology transfer, Stewart brings extensive experience of working the interfaces between the research-base, the public sector and business in the UK and internationally. He has also developed particular knowledge of science parks and innovation networks. Stewart has a keen interest in systems thinking and deploys well developed critical thinking and communication skills to diverse appraisal, strategy development and evaluation assignments.
Scott Dickinson – Associate Director
Scott Dickinson is an economist by training. He has substantial experience in the development, delivery and evaluation of public policy. His particular strengths are in local government and regeneration. As a Senior Fellow at the Office for Public Management, he undertook organisational reviews for major public sector clients. At the Audit Commission he led research on Sustainable Communities and Neighbourhood Renewal. Prior to joining the Commission he was Head of European Funding at Birmingham City Council and Head of Local Economic Development and Partnerships for West London Training & Enterprise Council.
Christine Doel – Director
Christine Doel heads SQW’s Regional and Local Economic Development team, which works across the UK with regional development agencies, devolved administrations, local authorities and partnerships. Her own consultancy and research interests are focused on sustainable rural regeneration and service delivery; regional and sub-regional strategy, partnership and governance; and the competitiveness of clusters and sectors. Before joining SQW in 1995, Christine completed a PhD in economic geography at the University of Cambridge.
Michael Frearson – Associate Director
Michael Frearson contributes to the firm’s activity in the employment and skills area. He joined SQW with 10 years’ experience in research, development and consultancy roles in further and higher education and work-based learning, having worked for the Learning and Skills Development Agency, the Higher Education Staff Development Agency, and the universities of North London and Leeds. He is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
Jennifer Hurstfield – Associate Director
Jennifer Hurstfield has recently joined SQW after more than 25 years’ experience of conducting research in employment policy areas. She is a specialist in labour market disadvantage and in equality and diversity research. She has directed research projects for a variety of public sector clients including government departments and equality agencies. Her areas of expertise currently include gender inequality in the labour market; policies on disabled people’s participation in employment; the implementation and impact of equality legislation; employers’ use of migrant workers; and work-family policies in the UK and Europe. She was previously a Principal Research Fellow at the Institute for Employment Studies, and prior to that Research Manager at IRS Research. She started her career as an academic sociologist, and has particular expertise in the design of qualitative research methodologies.
Richard Hindle – Director
Richard Hindle heads SQW’s Leeds office. He has wide-ranging and in-depth expertise in economic development, as a practitioner, designer and evaluator. This includes market feasibility studies, project appraisals and plans, programme evaluations and associated organisational reviews. He has worked on business development/innovation, urban and rural policy planning and area regeneration for regional development agencies, local authorities and partnerships, government and non-governmental organisations.
Bruce Macdonald – Associate Director
Bruce Macdonald manages SQW’s Edinburgh office. Bruce is an economist with a wide range of experience built up since joining the firm in 1994. He specialises in economic impact and evaluation work, and has undertaken many studies for the Scottish Executive, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. His experience spans impact assessments of major events such as the G8 Summit, the MTV Awards, the Commonwealth Games and the Rugby World Cup to evaluations of technology, skills, regeneration and rural development programmes.
David Mack-Smith – Associate Director
David Mack-Smith leads SQW’s activity in the area of Information and Communications Technology, and is Head of Knowledge Management for the firm. He has many years’ ICT market experience, having previously worked for Analysys Consulting and BT. At SQW, David has led numerous policy development assignments, including our assistance to the Scottish Executive in accelerating broadband roll-out in Scotland. His particular interests include ‘next generation’ broadband, the economic impact of ICT, and public policy towards e-business.
Kathrin Peters – Associate Director
Kathrin Peters heads SQW International, the unit of the firm charged with working outside the United Kingdom – in particular, Central and Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia Pacific. She joined SQW in 1985 and focuses on the design and evaluation of local and regional economic development strategies and instruments. She has particular expertise in feasibility studies of science and technology parks and innovation centres. She also specialises in sector studies including ICT, life sciences and the creative industries.
Jane Rindl – Associate Director
Jane Rindl has responsibility in SQW for our work related to entrepreneurship and SME development. She brings 17 years’ experience working with small businesses, as a practitioner and, prior to joining SQW, as an academic in Durham University Business School’s Small Business Centre. Jane’s interests range from early stage stimulation of enterprise in the education sectors to the specific characteristics and needs of various SME typologies. These include science, technology and knowledge-based businesses; rural and land-based businesses; businesses in disadvantaged communities; and groups with shared characteristics such as social enterprises.
Mary Scott – Associate Director
Mary Scott joined SQW in January 2008, bringing substantial national, regional and local policy experience. An expert in local government strategy, policy and performance, she led Local Area Agreement negotiations and performance improvement assignments for Government Office for London. She was a qualified Comprehensive Performance Assessment assessor for the Audit Commission while leading the strategy unit at Cambridgeshire County Council. She also has a strong background in sustainable development, including a secondment to Whitehall to advise on local government policy, and she was the University of Cambridge’s first corporate environmental advisor. Her earlier Civil Service career included commissioning planning policy research.
Graham Thom – Associate Director
Graham Thom is an expert in the area of skills and employment. He first joined SQW in Edinburgh and worked there for five years before moving to be office manager in London for three years. For much of this time he led the firm’s work in skills and employment. He then become Director of Ekos/Gen Consulting in Glasgow for almost four years, where his consulting work continued to focus on the skills area, with a number of high profile assignments for the Scottish Government, SSDA, the Scottish Funding Council, HEFCE, Scottish Enterprise and a number of Regional Development Agencies. Graham re-joined SQW in January 2008.
Tim Thorlby – Associate Director
Tim Thorlby is Head of Operations for SQW Consulting. Tim has wide experience of neighbourhood renewal, partnership development and evaluation, working at national, regional and neighbourhood levels. He has been project managing the long-term National Evaluation of the Neighbourhood Management Pathfinder Programme since it began in 2002, and has also worked on numerous assignments for other Government departments, the Big Lottery Fund, regional development agencies, local government and local regeneration partnerships. Tim is a Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute.
Rob Walker – Associate Director
Rob Walker’s consulting background is in innovation strategy and the development of knowledge economy initiatives including business support programmes, science parks and business incubators/innovation centres. His interest in innovation strategy began when, working on Defence Diversification at the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment, he became the founder general manager of the science park at Porton Down. He is an R&D professional by background, with a PhD in Chemical Engineering, who has worked in R&D management for Unilever, UKAEA, Rio Tinto and Water Research Centre.
Geoff White – Director
Geoff White is responsible for our work with UK central government clients such as DTI, DfES, ODPM and Defra. He specialises in performance management and evaluation, but works across a very wide range of policy areas such as neighbourhood renewal, public service delivery, regional and local development in urban and rural areas, business support and regulation. Geoff was previously with PACEC and Coopers & Lybrand and, prior to that, was a Senior Economic Adviser at HM Treasury and the DTI.
Malcolm Williams – Associate Director
Malcolm Williams joined SQW in 2007, bringing wide-ranging and in-depth experience of housing, neighbourhood renewal, community engagement and regeneration. Malcolm has led a series of major innovation and good practice projects piloting cross-sector governance and service delivery for the EU, the Home Office and the Housing Corporation. He has also been involved in a number of business start-ups, including his own role as Director of TiC consultants, a social enterprise. Malcolm previously led corporate planning, strategy and communications as executive director of a PLUS housing association, and acted as lead evaluator for regeneration for the Housing Quality Network.