Alan Jones

Filming Team

Alan is a highly skilled self-shooting producer/director and editor, with a variety of broadcast and corporate credits.  After graduating from Stirling University, he went to work for BBC Scotland, working on programmes including Munro: Mountain Man, The Cinema Show and Primetime.  Alan then moved into TV development with BBC Scotland’s Children’s TV.

As a freelancer, he shot and directed a number of short films, gathering a series of award nominations in the process.  Alan joined Speakeasy in 2013 and has used his wide variety of skills as a camera operator, director and editor on many different projects.

Alan works across the board for Speakeasy clients including Scottish Enterprise, Aberdeen University, Lloyds Banking Group and the Scottish Government.

Most awesome work moment… Climbing the Black Cuillin on Skye on a cloudless day in May. There are definitely worse ways to earn a living!

“That was good…can we try one more take?”

Breakfast, preferably involving strong coffee.

Ashton Togneri

Project Manager

Ashton gets all the tough jobs. Since graduating with a First Class Honours degree in Events Management from the University of Gloucestershire, she’s organised events all over the world, including Johannesburg, Paris, Zurich – and an Australian event series that had her based in Sydney for two weeks. Clever girl :0)

During six years in London with member-based consultancy firm CEB, Ashton’s passion and people skills saw her progress from events co-ordinator to event manager, responsible for planning and executing events from private networking dinners to 200 person conferences and large drinks receptions. 

No two days are ever the same!

"Just keep swimming, just keep swimming!"(Finding Nemo) Pretty applicable to the events world as well!

My dogs Betty & Maddie! A walk on the beach in North Berwick is my favourite thing to do

Colette Black

Events Director

Originally from South Africa, Colette has more than 20 years’ experience in event design, operations, logistics and project management. Her contagious enthusiasm, whirlwind energy and military attention to detail have established her reputation as an exceptional events manager in the UK and internationally.

Unruffled and upbeat under the tightest of deadlines, Colette says her toughest challenge is getting her dog Oban to stop chasing birds while they’re out in the wilds.

She has worked on large scale events and international conferences throughout the UK, Europe and Asia for clients including Food Standards Scotland, The European Society of Toxicology, The International Society of Travel Medicine, Old Mutual Wealth and Sanlam Investment Management.

Arranging a Gala Dinner on the Great Wall of China

Trail Running

Forget the mistake but remember the lesson

Jennifer Cunningham

Events Assistant

Jennifer has a BA Honours in Events Management from the University of the West of Scotland and has been supporting events across Scotland for more than five years.

She cut her teeth volunteering for music events including Celtic Connections and organising her university’s fourth year business school graduation ball at Glasgow’s Grand Central Hotel. Jennifer then worked in operations and marketing roles supporting the delivery of events including the Food Awards Scotland, the Irn-Bru Carnival and the Scottish Wedding Show.

She also helped to organise the UCI Fort William Mountain Bike World Cup 2017, including volunteer coordination; processing GB snow sport industries memberships and engaging with potential suppliers.

I love a good label maker!

I get to meet lots of new and interesting people!

Margot Robbie (if I had blonde hair)

Jeremy Hewitt

Creative Director

A chronic over-thinker (he pens an entertaining blog on this topic) with a seemingly unlimited capacity for innovation, Jeremy has overall control of Speakeasy’s creative output, both in Scotland and London.

He is a First Class Honours graduate in English Literature and Language (MA) and has 23 years’ experience as a writer and producer. Jeremy has devised and pitched hundreds of film and event concepts for clients including Travis Perkins, Newton Investment Management, Lloyds Banking Group and the Scottish Government.

He has won countless awards for his work from the Event & Visual Communication Association (EVCOM), the Institute of Internal Communicators and New York Festival Film and TV Awards.

Jeremy is also a guest lecturer on media courses at Perth College and sits on the Subject Advisory Committee for Film and Media at the University of Stirling.

9am on 3rd October, 2004 when I walked into Speakeasy, and every moment since.

The life cycle of the jellyfish and effect of bananas on the ripening of fruit (courtesy of kids’ school projects).

Probably Samuel L Jackson – he’ll do anything.

Jonathan Young

Managing Director

With a background in sales and marketing and more than 25 years in industry, Jonathan brings an unrivalled level of commercial acumen to Speakeasy.

Since joining the business in 2005, he has led the acquisition of two production companies in London and Edinburgh. He has also driven the transformation of Speakeasy into a full service events and film company, including exhibition design and build.

His cool head, charm and unflappable professionalism have seen him compared to George Clooney (only by Jonathan himself…) He’s also an expert tea maker (we’ll need to take his word for this) and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of almost everything Speakeasy has ever done, which admittedly comes in handy.

Jonathan has orchestrated hundreds of live events across the UK and internationally for clients including BAE Systems, Newton Investment Management and the Glasgow2104 Organising Committee.

Working with great people on fantastic projects for brilliant clients. Oh, and getting to play around with all the tech…

Making the tea – but everyone beats me to it!

Bagpipe playing.

Kathryn Slater

Project Manager

Down-to-earth, plain speaking and laser-visioned, Kathryn has over 20 years of high-level event management experience and is a member of the Association of British Professional Conference Organisers.

After a BA (Hons) degree in Marketing with Modern Languages at the University of Strathclyde, she cut her teeth in public relations and marketing at agencies including Barkers and Catchline Communications before joining the The BIG Partnership as head of events.

Since joining Speakeasy in 2007, she has managed regular public events for clients including Food Standards Scotland and Scottish Enterprise.

Alongside her extensive skills in content development, delegate management and event production, Kathryn has rediscovered her talent for art after 20 years. “I love it! It’s so relaxing – and I’ve even sold some paintings to people who aren’t relatives!”

Carrying six full mugs of tea or coffee up the stairs without the use of a tray

The bell we ping when we win another job!

Rose Leslie, formerly Ygritte in Game of Thrones and now rocking it as a kick-ass lawyer in The Good Fight.

Peter Smith

Editor

Peter knows Final Cut Pro X like the back of his hand and is also unexpectedly good at Boolean algebra simplifications (using the standard set of equivalences).

After a Philosophy degree and postgrad diploma in IT from the University of Glasgow, he worked in IT in Germany, learning the language along the way. Returning to Scotland, Peter began freelancing as a cameraman and editor, gathering a host of corporate and music industry clients.

When Speakeasy acquired Edinburgh-based corporate video specialist Republic Productions in 2008, Peter was the company’s senior editor – so we’re v pleased he joined our fold!

He now manages our post-production facility in Edinburgh, as well as troubleshooting routine tech and IT problems.

The camaraderie.

Compute axis-aligned bounding box collision detection for a game I'm making. In real-time, of course.

I once learned enough Norwegian in a month to be able to read a simple novel, solely by listening to Norwegian radio. (It was many years ago, I was unemployed and had a lot of time on my hands. I have forgotten almost all of it. But I still have the book I read).

Shona Johnstone

Finance Director

Our longest serving team member, Shona has been with Speakeasy since the business was founded in 1993, earning her the sobriquet ‘The Godmother’ (only joking Shona!)

She has seen many changes over the years – including the arrival of the internet, LED lights, QR codes – and the demise of fax machines and Betamax tapes – and has grown with the company to become its Finance Director, Company Director and Company Secretary.

Hard-working and tirelessly dogged, Shona oversees personnel and office management functions as well as day-to-day financial duties. Her key responsibilities include financial control and planning; providing advice and guidance on financial strategy; overseeing all accounting systems – and preparing budgets and financial reports, including monthly management accounts.

We’re not going back to Florida next year. (Fast forward two months) We’re booked for Florida next year…!!

Multitasking

Reece Witherspoon

Stacy Haddow

Conference and Events Manager

A psychology and sociology graduate from Napier University (BA Hons), Stacy has more than ten years’ experience in the conference industry, specialising in the medical, academic and scientific event fields. Before joining Speakeasy, she was conference manager at In Conference, professional conference and event organisers who manage large national and international conferences and exhibitions throughout the UK, Europe and North America.

Stacy’s key responsibilities include project management; budget management and financial reconciliation; venue negotiation and management – and client and delegate communication.

Scheduling over 180 parallel sessions during a three-day conference

Spelling bee

True Romance

Stuart Simpson

Head of IT

Modest and unassuming, Stuart has a planet-sized brain and is basically the office expert on Everything. His technical prowess and infinite wisdom have helped us out of more than a few IT scrapes over the years (seriously Stu – thanks!). And his ability to remain calm and rational in the face of hysteria is simply masterful.

Stuart has a BA in Film and Media from Stirling University and since joining Speakeasy in 2003, has helped develop our edit facilities into one of the best post-production departments in the UK.

Stuart’s technical ability and vast knowledge of Final Cut and Creative Cloud have been developed whilst working on thousands of client programmes ranging from drama to documentary.

Fixing anything that's broken

Migrate a 4GB fibre network to 10GB Ethernet

I can field-strip and rebuild a 2 stroke engine

Victoria Masterson

Content Producer

A news junkie and former hack, Vicky is also an avid recycler and informal member of the Punctuation Police.

After graduating from the University of Edinburgh with an MA (Hons) in English Literature, she freelanced for BBC Radio Scotland before embarking on a 20-year career in print and broadcast journalism.

Specialising in business, Vicky was formerly deputy business editor of The Herald and Scottish business editor of The Sunday Times. She was also part of the launch team at L!ve TV, the former Mirror Group cable channel. Vicky started freelancing for Speakeasy in 2014 and joined the business full-time in 2016. Vicky’s Speakeasy clients include VisitScotland, the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration, NHS Education for Scotland and the Scottish Government.

Green Team Champion

Just do it

Audrey Hepburn or Grace Kelly, of course