Board
David Sibbald - Founder and Chairman
David is the founder and Chairman of Sumerian.
Prior to founding Sumerian, David was the Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Atlantech Technologies, a communications software company which he founded in 1992 and sold to Cisco Systems in March 2000 for £115M.
David is the Founder and Trustee of the Kate MacAskill Foundation, a charitable organisation providing education, care and micro-enterprise development for children and young adults in the developing world. He is also the Co-Founder and Chairman of Generation Science, a charity providing science education to primary school children in Scotland and is a member of the UK Board of Trustees of UNICEF, the United Nations children's fund. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's National Academy of Science and Letters.
Calum Smeaton - Chief Executive Officer
Calum joined Sumerian in 2002 and became CEO of the company in January 2006. Prior to joining Sumerian, Calum was the founder and CTO of Orbital Software, an enterprise knowledge management company which he founded in 1994. His role within Orbital covered a wide range of activities, including spending 2 years based in California establishing the company's US operations. After floating on the London Stock Exchange, Orbital merged with Sopheon PLC in November 2001.
Joan Saywood - Finance Director
Joan is a Chartered Accountant with over 20 years' experience in a variety of senior financial positions across a number of different sectors. Those include Chief Financial Officer of Orbital Software Holdings PLC, Deputy Managing Director and Financial Director of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society Ltd, and Group Financial Controller of Kwik-Fit Holdings PLC.
Joan joined Sumerian in July 2004 and is primarily responsible for the finance and administration function.
Martin Velasco - Co-founder and Board Member of Sumerian
Martin Velasco is an entrepreneur with extensive experience in the electronic, medical and biotech areas.
In the June 2000 Business Week special report "The Stars of Europe", he was selected as one of the leaders at the forefront of change in Europe. Martin was also dubbed the leading "Business Angel" by the Wall Street Journal European edition in June 1999. On March 2004, Martin was elected Business Angel of the year 2004 by the ASBAN and Bilanz.
Martin serves on the board/advisory board of several high-tech start-ups - including Speedlingua SA in which he serves as Chairman and CEO, AC-Immune in which he serves as Chairman, and Sumerian of which he is Co-Founder and Board Member.
Martin is the Founder and Chairman of Infantia Foundation, a philanthropic organisation aiding children in the developing world, and is also a Member of the Board and Executive Committee of BlueOrchard, a leading microfinance investment advisory company.
David Allan - Non-executive Director of Sumerian
David is Head of the Corporate Department in Biggart Baillie, one of Scotland's leading firms of commercial lawyers, and is also a non-executive Director of Sumerian.
In his professional capacity, David specialises in equity investment, Purple Book/AIM and M&A. He has particular interest in fund-raising and has acted for many businesses, from start-ups to listed companies, in connection with funding.
As non-executive Director of Sumerian, David advises the company on funding, IP, contractual matters and compliance.
Calum Paterson - Non-executive Director of Sumerian
Calum is Managing Partner at Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) and one of the UK's most experienced and respected venture capital practitioners. He was SEP’s founder and has led its development into one of Europe’s leading venture firms. He has been responsible for many of the its most successful investments in early stage and emerging growth technology companies over the years.
In addition to leading SEP's venture capital team, Calum works closely with a number of the firm's investee companies. He also leads the firm's fundraising activities and plays a principal role in maintaining relationships with SEP's blue chip investor base.
SEP are an investor in Sumerian.