The Courier’s Impact 100 list for 2013 continues with positions 50-26. See Friday’s paper as the countdown reaches this year’s winner.
50. HAYLEY SCANLAN. (Last year’s position: NEW)Her year: Scottish Young Designer of the Year Hayley Scanlan is an official ambassador for Dundee and recently made two films backing the City of Culture bid. At the request of the V&A, she launched her HS diffusion line in a catwalk show at the McManus to celebrate the organisation’s commitment to the city. She was the only UK designer and one of only four to participate in a pop-up boutique at Topshop’s flagship London store and in October her pop-up shop ran exclusively at Debenham’s in Dundee’s Overgate. With past clients like Jessie J and Erin O’Connor, this year X-Factor contestant Tamera Foster and SeSe from girlband Miss Dynamix, plus Vanessa White of The Saturdays, have been seen wearing her clothes.
PANEL VIEW: Hayley is Dundee born and bred, lives here with her two young sons, works here and trained here. She counts the city as one of her biggest inspirations. She is already a designer with a reputation as one to watch and with a combination of youth, talent and hard work, the only way seems to be up.
49. SOPHIA GEORGE. (NEW)Her year: A BAFTA-winning Abertay graduate, Sophia George is co-founder and chair of Swallowtail Games who launched their first title this year – Tick Tock Toys, a puzzle game for iPhone and iPad. It was featured in Apple’s App Stores in 40 countries worldwide. She was recently appointed as the V&A’s first-ever Games Designer in Residence and sees this as recognition of gaming as an artistic and creative medium that is often overlooked in the art world. Sophia George is active in trying to encourage other women to work in the gaming industry.
PANEL VIEW: The V&A is leading the way by embracing computer games as a creative activity and opening up its collection for interpretation by a game designer. At only 22, Sophia has already made a big impression and her appointment can only go further in putting Dundee and its gaming education at the forefront of a massive worldwide industry that’s going from strength to strength.
48. DAVID MACH. (99)His year: Mach’s monumental King James Bible exhibition, Precious Light, took on an international dimension when it toured and went to New York. He also stayed true to his Fife roots by coming back from Hong Kong and New York to bringing the exhibition, Commando, to Fifespace in Lochgelly, his childhood stamping ground. His boyhood reading of DC Thomson’s own Commando books inspired him to create a whole series of striking images linking to the stories and visuals, using actual copies as an integral part of the collage. He saw the publications as a material as well as a source, the latest in a series of unusual materials he has used to create stunning pieces of work.
PANEL VIEW: David Mach never ceases to surprise and it’s particularly good to see him creating contemporary pieces inspired by his childhood in Scotland and making sure that they are shown here, as well as in prestige venues across the world. You can take the boy out of Fife…
47. FIONA LOGAN. (NEW)Her year: Fiona has been the chief executive of Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park since 2008 and is at the forefront of trying to shake up the financial efficiency of Scotland’s national parks through greater involvement of the private sector, local business sponsorship and visitor contributions. Born in Montreal but brought up in Newport-on-Tay, she was named as Public Servant of the Year at the National Women in Public Life Awards 2013.
PANEL VIEW: At a time when environment and business often seem at odds, Fiona Logan’s aim is to bring them together to the benefit of Scotland’s wonderful natural heritage and its future. She’s a savvy thinker with big ambitions and a practical outlook.
46. JACKIE McNAMARA. (NEW)His year: Jackie McNamara was appointed manager of Dundee United at the beginning of 2013 and has overseen a turnaround in the club’s fortunes, with the team now sitting in the top five in the Scottish Premier League. He has been determined to concentrate on the painstaking and methodical building of a team rather than panic buying players or making flashy additions to the squad.
PANEL VIEW: Jackie McNamara has inspired a lot of confidence in players and fans and has raised hopes that he might be the man to go about the careful shaping of a new Tangerine dream.
45. DENIS LAWSON. (NEW)His year: As an actor, he took over a main and very visible starring role in the ever-popular TV police series New Tricks. He is also actively supporting the drive by Strathearn Artspace towards the creation of a new arts centre and cinema in his home town of Crieff. “I was inspired by watching films in Crieff cinema as a child – it’s where I got the idea to become an actor.”
PANEL VIEW: Denis Lawson continually reinvents himself as an actor and has put his money where his mouth is in encouraging a hub for arts and culture for other young people – and for a wider audience – in the place he was born and that shaped his decision to become a performer.
44. PROFESSOR MICHAEL FERGUSON CBE. (NEW)His year: The dean of research at Dundee University’s College of Life Sciences was presented with the Royal Medal in August, the pinnacle of awards made by the Royal Society of Edinburgh. This year, he also became the first Regius Professor in Life Sciences at the university and was the recipient of a £2.3 million Senior Investigator Award from the Wellcome Trust.
PANEL VIEW: Michael Ferguson’s achievements are a personal triumph, an example of the great collaborative work going on in his department and yet another indication of the reach of research at Dundee and the high regard in which it is held.
43.GORDON YOUNG. (NEW)His year: Gordon Young was the chairman of the St Andrews abattoir, who helped to push through its closure this year, with serious knock-on effects for farmers, producers and associated business and services in Fife and beyond.
PANEL VIEW: This move was a serious blow for the Fife farming community and is still having serious repercussions for livestock operations and movement in the area, as well as for the wide rural economy.
42.JAMES OSWALD. (NEW)His Year: A Fife farmer and would-be writer, James Oswald hit pay dirt this year when his self-published crime ebooks gained 350,000 Kindle downloads, proving so popular that mainstream publishers sat up and took notice. He now has a three-book, six-figure deal with publishing giant Penguin, his debut novel, Natural Causes, was picked for Richard & Judy’s Book Club and his Inspector McLean novels have been sold on three continents. He’s been called “the new Ian Rankin” and apparently spent part of his advance on a new tractor.
PANEL VIEW: This is an amazing example of do-it-yourself success, a man who believed in what he could do so much that he decided to go it alone, using new technology and methods, in the face of the might of the traditional publishing industry. And he won, with a golden future as a writer opening up before him.
41. CATHERINE LORIMER. (NEW)Her year: The Territorial Army recruit, combat medical technician and bouncer, with extensive first aid training, saved a man’s life by tying her ID badge round his leg as a tourniquet after he was critically injured in a crash on the A92. The man she saved is a former soldier, Greig York of Carnoustie, and family man who served for 10 years in the Royal Engineers and was in Bosnia as a tank driver. Friends and family started the “Leg for Greig” fund-raising campaign for a special prosthesis. Catherine is up for recognition as a TA Armed Services Hero but said: “I just did what anyone else would do.”
PANEL VIEW: Brave, quick-thinking and selfless, Catherine Lorimer embodies the very best of those qualities of the Good Samaritan who turns up trumps in a life-threatening situation to save the day. She’s the person we’d all like to think we could be in a crisis.
40. MIKE GALLOWAY. (NEW)His year: The director of city development, Mike Galloway is the man steering the wholesale facelift of the waterfront area of Dundee, an ambitious, long-term project to reconnect the city with the river Tay and its setting, regarded by many as one of the most beautiful in Europe. His remit includes overseeing the construction of the iconic, world-class new V&A outpost which received planning permission in August.
PANEL VIEW: Mike Galloway is very much the driving force in the waterfront project which is vital on a number of levels. It’s not just about the city and citizens of Dundee itself – it’s about the face we present to the world and about highlighting and promoting the beauty and amenity of the landscape, countryside and communities around the urban centre.
39. PETER LEDERER. (NEW)His year: Currently, he is at the helm of the preparation at Gleneagles for the hosting of the Ryder Cup in 2014, when the Perthshire resort will host the world’s major golf stars and around 40,000 spectators. It is the culmination of a 25-year dream for a man who has also presented Scotland’s best face to the world as chairman of Visit Scotland.
PANEL VIEW: Scotland’s profile has rarely been higher than it will be in 2014. The eyes of the world will be on us for several very different reasons and the current preparations and presentation of one of the biggest events in the golfing and sporting world adds to the list of events that put the nation at the forefront of international attention. It is a series of unique chances to show others what we are made of.
38. ERIC JOYCE. (NEW)His year: Eric Joyce is the former career soldier and Labour MP whose disgrace and resignation led to national controversy over the choice of the candidate to succeed him in the Falkirk West seat. Allegations of vote-rigging and interference by the Unite union, the Labour Party’s biggest donor, in the constituency were investigated and discounted but the fall-out continues with senior Labour figures pressing for a reopening of the inquiry. The controversy extended to the recent crisis at Grangemouth, over the involvement of Unite convener Stevie Deans, also chairman of the Falkirk West constituency Labour Party. Eric Joyce is due back in court next year on further charges of threatening and abusive behaviour.
PANEL VIEW: Eric Joyce’s disgrace and eventual departure started a domino effect in local politics in the area that threatened to engulf the lives and jobs of hundreds of Scots when the closure of the Grangemouth plant seemed inevitable. The shock waves throughout the Scottish political arena continue – and are lapping around the feet of Labour leader Ed Miliband on a national level.
37. JADE RICHARDS. (NEW)Her year: If at first you don’t succeed, try, try , try again could be the motto for the Buckhaven vocalist, three times a reject from TV talent show The X Factor. Although she was sent home again this year, the never-say-die Fifer has now signed a record deal with Glasgow-based label Boombox, who reckon she has what it takes to become a recording artist. She reckons that, after all she went through, it just shows “what a great platform X Factor is to be discovered.” As she says on her Twitter page: “No-one can tell me I can’t.”
PANEL VIEW: Jade’s a trier and everyone loves a trier. The fact that she is now going into the recording studio shows that her determination as well as her voice has got her very close to where she wants to be. Whether she is a star of the future or not, she’s got to be admired for her guts and drive.
36. CALUM WILSON. (NEW)His year: As CEO of Forth Energy, Calum Wilson is at the forefront of pushing for several biomass developments in Scotland, including a highly controversial plan for a plant on the waterfront at Dundee, currently facing stiff local opposition. This year, planning consent was granted for a major development at Grangemouth, backed by the same consortium as is focusing on Dundee.
PANEL VIEW: This project is one of the most highly contentious currently being proposed for Dundee at a time when the physical shape of the city is changing and it is positioning itself as a place of culture and artistic merit. Opinions are strong and tempers short where this kind of development is concerned and Calum Wilson is at the heart of a move which could have huge impact on the face of Dundee both for locals and for the face it presents to the rest of the world.
35. NORMA GRAHAM. (61)Her year: The first woman chief constable in Scotland became the first Scottish chief constable to be convicted in a court of law. She appeared on a charge of careless driving earlier this year, was found guilty and fined £400, with seven penalty points. Mrs Graham retired from her police post last year – prior to that she was considered a top contender for the leadership of the first unified Police Scotland force.
PANEL VIEW: Norma Graham’s strong career and reputation were abruptly disrupted when this case came to public attention. It had a very definite effect on both the community she served and the wider community in Scotland, at a time when the face of policing nationwide was changing.
34. THOMAS McCULLOCH. (NEW)His year: Thomas McCulloch was released from Castle Huntly open prison in the Carse of Gowrie in May this year after serving more than 30 years for the axe murders of three people in 1976. He and Dundonian murdered Robert Mone escaped from the State Hospital at Carstairs and committed the three murders before their recapture. Now 65, McCulloch has taken up residence at an address in Dundee. A decade ago he used European law to have his prison term fixed at 30 years, after which a parole application was allowed.
PANEL VIEW: As a man guilty of one of the most heinous and well-publicised crimes in recent years in Scotland, the release of Thomas McCulloch and his reinstatement into the community must have a powerful impact on both those whose lives he directly damaged and on those who now live as his near neighbours.
33. GORDON SHEDDEN. (49)His year: Gordon came within a whisker of successfully defending his top slot in the British Touring Car Championship this year, following his win in 2012. The runner-up place is still a hugely impressive feat in what is the biggest prize in motorsport for the business development director of Fife’s Knockhill circuit. More to the point, is there any truth in the rumour that the Scottish racing ace is the current incarnation of Top Gear’s mystery man, The Stig? “Flash” Shedden refuses to confirm or deny it!
PANEL VIEW: Gordon’s driving prowess has put him and Scotland on the map in one of the most competitive and lucrative sports of the day. And if he is The Stig, he probably has one of the biggest and most devoted fanbases among petrolheads the world over!
32. HERMANN TWICKLER. (NEW)His year: A master engineer and ship builder by trade, Hermann Twickler worked in the shipyards of North Germany and North America before going to work for Boeing and eventually moving to the UK. In 2008, after a company merger, he decided to start his own business, selling his house and car to create Pressurefab Group, now a leading designer and manufacturer of offshore development equipment. The company moved to a new, specialised facility this year, as well as acquiring Arbroath firm RT Metal Services Ltd.
The company carried off three gongs at the recent Courier Business Awards and Hermann Twickler was named Business Leader for 2013.
PANEL VIEW:Commitment to the workforce, to training and through links with one Dundee’s universities, to offering graduate work placements make this a forward-looking company with a long-term strategy. Hermann Twickler has made his personal mark on the style and direction of one of Dundee and Scotland’s most impressive businesses.
31. PROFESSOR SUE BLACK OBE. (36)Her year: Sue Black has worked tirelessly to place Dundee at the forefront of forensic anthropology and she has secured a distinguished international profile for herself and the city in the process. Controversy surrounded the evidence she gave at the trial of a mother accused of killing her child earlier this year. She is currently at the helm of the Million for a Morgue campaign, to bring state-of-the-art procedures to the University of Dundee. She has reclaimed her profession from the fictional versions in “real CSI” style television shows, including History Cold Case and was named as one of Radio 4 Women’s Hour 100 Most Powerful Women of 2013. She is also now deputy principal of the University of Dundee.
PANEL VIEW: Sue Black has gathered a company of top, multi-disciplinary academics at the Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification, making it world-renowned. She and her colleagues have often put a human face, often literally, on complex science and on the understanding of history, through detailed investigations and reconstruction techniques. She also gets out there and speaks directly to audiences about her work and what it means to us as human beings.
30. ALAN CUMMING. (51)His year: Cumming, one of Hollywood’s most respected actors and who has joint British/American citizenship, has been an outspoken supporter of the Yes campaign for Scottish independence and this year bought a flat in Edinburgh to make sure he has the right to vote in next year’s poll. He had a huge success with his one-man Macbeth on Broadway and is currently preparing a re-run of his award-winning Cabaret with Michelle Williams as Sally Bowles. He is also due in his home town on November 30 to perform the official opening of the state-of-the-art Birks Cinema, of which he is patron and a keen fund-raiser.
PANEL VIEW: Alan Cumming is an international star who has never forgotten his Scottish roots and who celebrates its contemporary role. He works here regularly, supports Scottish projects and has trenchant views on his native land’s ability to stand up with the best of the rest of the world.
29. MARK BEAUMONT (NEW)His year: Record-breaking cyclist, charity fund-raiser, inspirational speaker and adventurer Mark Beaumont has travelled and seen the world, writing and broadcasting about it. But this year marks what even he calls “the journey of a lifetime”. For BBC TV and radio, he’s following the progress of the Queen’s Baton Relay in the run-up to the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, as it travels 118,000 miles over 288 days through 71 nations. He’ll be on the spot right the way through to paint a picture of the life and times of the modern Commonwealth.
PANEL VIEW: If anyone can capture the excitement and drama of this unique event for the armchair adventurer, it has to be a man who has cycled the world and rowed the Arctic and shows no signs of stopping.
28. PROFESSOR STEVE PARKES. (NEW)His year: Steve Parkes is director of the Space Technology Centre at the University of Dundee, leading research work on spacecraft on-board data-handling networks (SpaceWire), planet surface simulation and autonomous lander navigation, and digital signal and image processing for satellites. He is also director of the NERC Satellite Receiving Station and managing director of STAR-Dundee, a University spin-out company to provide services and support to organisations using SpaceWire. STAR-Dundee carried off Business of the Year and Digital Excellence awards at this year’s inaugural Courier Business Awards.
PANEL VIEW: Having this kind of state-of-the-art space technology here in Dundee is an amazing achievement, to be built on for the future as yet another arm of Dundee’s scientific contribution to major global projects.
27. SIR BRIAN SOUTER. (8)His year: He moved from his role as CEO of Stagecoach to chairman in May of this year, after the company posted results were revealed to be ahead of market expectations. He and CEO Martin Griffiths oversaw the launch of a London to Scotland network of overnight sleeper coaches, the first coach operator in Britain to offer such a service, and other investments included buying a stake in a legal firm specialising in traffic accidents. Over the past three years alone, the Souter Charitable Trust has awarded more than 3,000 grants to the value of £24 million to projects for the relief of human suffering.
PANEL VIEW: Stagecoach remains a hugely significant Scottish-based company, employer and service provider, affecting the lives of probably millions worldwide. Although Sir Brian Souter is taking on a different role, it is still very much his vision that drives it – and that drives his own personal charitable impulses that grow and develop year-on-year.
26. ANDREW MARR (42)His year: Broadcaster and political interrogator Andrew Marr is a weel-kent face presenting topical events and historical series. But this year he became the story when he suffered a terrible stroke that nearly cost him his life. Although still physically affected, he has since returned to TV, using a stick for his first appearance on The Politics Show. His and his family’s experiences have highlighted the plight, treatment and needs of stroke patients and he admits he “sees the world differently”. Having rediscovered a passion for drawing through art therapy, he is now campaigning for more art teaching.
PANEL VIEW: A public figure who suffers a life-changing illness can draw attention and increase awareness of what that means and what sufferers – and their families – need to recover. Andrew Marr has turned his sharp mind and wide contacts to doing just that and to talking openly and movingly about his difficulties.