People: Brewin Dolphin | Aberdeen Asset Management

MARTIN Gilbert has been chief executive of Aberdeen Asset Management for 27 years, so the question of his retirement is one often asked. He had been known to respond that he’d step down when Sir Alex Ferguson leaves Manchester United – but he was quick to back-track recently.

“It was a terrible blunder to compare myself to Alex Ferguson the week before he stepped down, but I’m enjoying it too much to retire,” he said at the sidelines of London Business School’s Global Leadership Summit. “[Ferguson] knew when to put his arm around some people and kick others – not that you can kick people in asset management.”

Sponsorship has benefits

Brewin Dolphin has been a big supporter of the Perth Festival of Arts over the last ten years and this year the wealth manager sponsored two keynote concerts – by Jools Holland and the closing event with the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra.

Callum D’Ath, senior divisional director at Brewin, said: “This is a wonderful event for Perth and we are very happy to have been associated with it for so long.”

It also means the firm got to be “cool for cats” and rub shoulders with Holland, founder of new wave band Squeeze. Pictured above, left to right are Graeme Smith, Craig Dennis (chairman, Perth Festival of the Arts), John Cowmeadow, Enrico Frattaroli, Callum D’Ath and Lindsay Kemp of Brewin Dolphin.

Photobooth gets makeover

Photographer and entrepreneur Darran Barton is getting back to his roots with his latest creation, the “Deer Hunter”. The hardwood photobooth with stag antlers will be rented out for weddings and parties and comes complete with “beauty lighting” and even a wind machine for that outdoor look.

Barton said: “Our latest booth is a bit of a throwback to our Scottish heritage. I was really keen to design something that would stand the test of time and wanted to use as many natural materials as possible.”

It’s not known whether props for the Deer Hunter booth will include the bandana and the revolver needed to recreate scenes from the classic Robert De Niro film…

Radio charm offensive

SMOOTH-TALKING sports presenter Vassos Alexander laid on the charm when interviewing Sir Tom Hunter and Lady Marion Hunter on Chris Evans’s BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show ahead of their weekend at the Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix.

The Hunters were among five couples who bid for a trip to Monte Carlo, donating more than £1 million for the Children in Need charity campaign between them. As the Hunters sat in a McLaren F1 sports car, Alexander asked what Lady Marion was looking forward to the most.

“I’m looking forward to the glitz and the glamour,” she replied.

Quick as a flash, Alexander quipped: “And it will be all the more glamorous for having you there, Lady Marion.”

Careful Vassos, she’s already taken.

Lawyers rise to the charity challenge

SPONSORED cycles and runs, a zip slide across the Clyde and an abseil down the Forth Bridge all helped lawyers at Burness Paull & Williamsons raise more than £18,000 for charity this year.

Staff at the firm, which is based across offices in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow, also held charity breakfasts, lunches and a Burns Supper in aid of Scottish Autism. The funds raised at the law firm are going towards the charity’s advice line.

Philip Rodney, chairman of Burness Paull & Williamsons, said: “Our charity of the year is voted for by our employees, and it is fantastic how they have come together to support such a worthwhile cause that they chose to engage with.

“I am proud of everyone involved in our charitable initiatives and look forward to continuing to help.”