Key Staff

John Campbell, Managing Partner

John has been engaged in the provision of Messengers-At-Arms & Sheriff Officer services for over 24 years. He received his first commission as a Sheriff Officer in 1984 and received his commission from the Lord Lyon King of Arms as a Messenger-At-Arms in March 1986.

John founded the business of “John Campbell” in April 1991. He has held various offices within “the Society of Messengers-At-Arms & Sheriff Officers” and is currently President of that Society. John has also held various office bearing positions at one time or another within the Scottish Association of British Investigators.  John has written numerous articles, which have been published and jointly authored a published textbook in respect of Messengers-At-Arms & Sheriff Officer services, citation, diligence and investigation.
 

Bill Irvine, Head of Business Development

Bill has spent most of his professional life working in local government and has held various senior posts.  He was, until 2001, Head of Benefits, Revenue and Advice Services at South Lanarkshire Council.  He was also a COSLA advisor on benefits and revenue matters and a member of the Housing Benefit Standing Committee, London.

In 1999 Bill initiated changes to the Council's revenue recovery strategy which brought about significant improvements across the breadth of functions.

The improvement in council tax represented £7m in year one, improving South Lanarkshire’s standing in Audit Scotland’s annual league table to 1st in City/Urban grouping. Bill subsequently helped staff in West Dunbartonshire council to achieve similar improvements in revenue collections.

Bill was also instrumental in changing the way South Lanarkshire pursued rent arrears recovery. The Council’s record is recognised by Audit Scotland as one of the best in Scotland’s councils, despite minimal use of evictions. The approach has since been replicated in the work we do for our Housing Association and Property Management clients, and is an area we hope to further develop as a specialism in this important sector.

Marilyn Deans, Project Manager

Marilyn has been Project Manager for the past six years. She is responsible for ensuring new client accounts and large scale projects are carefully planned and implemented, guaranteeing a seamless and trouble-free transition. She has a thorough knowledge of our systems, procedures and and a sound understanding of the range of Sheriff Officer and Messenger-At-Arms services we offer. Marilyn has the ability to very quickly familiarise herself with each of our clients particular needs and preferences and she has fostered excellent working relationships through her commitment to get the job done and wherever possible exceed our clients expectations.
 

Alan Davie, Operations Field Manager

Alan has been engaged in the provision of Messenger-At-Arms & Sheriff Officer services for over 20 years. Alan received his first commission as a Sheriff Officer in June 1986 and received his commission as a Messenger-At-Arms in March 1988.

Alan joined the company in 1991 and is currently responsible for the management of all operational and fieldwork services and has managed our citation and diligence workload for 11 years.
 

Gordon Russell, Investigation Services Manager

Gordon joined the company in July 2002 and quickly progressed to the role of senior investigator and then manager. He has accrued 10 years experience in the field investigation and debt recovery areas of our business and is particularly skilful in tracing, pursuing and recovering the debts of debtors who are found to have removed, sometimes referred to as “Gone Aways”.

In addition to the tracing of removed debtors, Gordon has extensive experience in relation to the serving of our “Notice Prior to Proceedings” and the ingathering of information to facilitate the identification of the most appropriate form of diligence to ensure optimum recovery levels for our clients.
 

Terri Colman, Finance Manager

Terri joined the company in May 2003 and is responsible for all day to day financial transactions, accounting and liaising with our auditors, Inland Revenue and Customs & Excise.

Terri has accrued some 20 years of experience in the accountancy field and has been instrumental in creating and implementing procedures to ensure the smooth running of all  financial transactions, accounting records and our IT support systems.

Terri has successfully interfaced with the relevant personnel of each of our clients to ensure we maximise the effectiveness of our transactional exchanges and through this has fostered excellent working relationships.
 

Donna Savage, Office Manager

Donna ensures our clients instructions are processed quickly and accurately. She has a complete understanding of our systems, procedures and is the key point of contact with our clients in relation to operational matters. Donna has the ability to very quickly familiarise herself with each of our clients particular needs and preferences and she has fostered excellent working relationships through her commitment to get the job done, and wherever possible exceed our clients expectations.