Our Team

Stephen Robertson (Director)
Acknowledged as one of the "World's 250 Leading IP Strategists" by IAM Magazine, Stephen founded Metis Partners in 2003 to assist businesses with the maximisation of value from their IP assets. He has advised a range of enterprises including FTSE quoted companies, SMEs, global banks, insolvency practitioners and public sector organisations across Europe and the United States. Stephen’s experience includes monetising IP assets, providing IP due diligence, delivering IP strategies, IP asset brokerage and IP asset valuation. He also provides expertise with IP commercialisation, using IP assets as security to restructure debt and IP infringement and invalidity. Stephen has 20 years’ experience in corporate finance and has worked in banking, business angel investment and the plc sectors. Stephen graduated with a degree in law before qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte and Touche. He is currently Chairman of the Licensing Executives Society for Scotland and is a member of the LES Council for Britain and Ireland.

Nat Baldwin (Head of Corporate Recovery)
Qualified in law after training at Pinsent Masons where he gained a broad commercial experience covering many sectors and working with a diverse range of clients from online retailers to high street banks. He specialised in Corporate, Banking, Commercial and Intellectual Property work. Nat showed a passion for innovation and doing things differently from an early age by inventing a competition-winning eco friendly “frog-bin” that can now be seen around the country and at 17 becoming a University Lecturer for a year at Matanzas University, Cuba, teaching to a range of students from professionals to school leavers.

Ken Green (Head of IP Restructuring)
Originally a physicist, Ken was a member of the senior management team at Point Source Ltd for over 10 years during a time which was pivotal to company growth, expanding from £300k turnover in 1997 to £15 million in 2008 when it was sold. With a BSc in Optoelectronics from Heriot-Watt University, Ken has spent his entire career in the Innovation and Marketing functions whether in private industry as a business developer and technology manager, or in the public sector as a technology commercialisation specialist with the Research Councils; finding homes for academic IP and know-how. Most recently Ken worked for Scottish Enterprise where he helped many businesses gain competitive advantage through innovation and exploiting their intellectual property. He has also assisted businesses with understanding commercial opportunities, possible business models and routes to market. Ken's greatest claim to fame is that he appeared in his school choir next to Doctor Who.... and it wasn't Tom Baker!

Daniel Kieran (Business Development Executive)
Daniel graduated from the University of Strathclyde with a degree in Business, Honours in Marketing in 2011. During his time at university, he worked in a number of positions across various industries including, hospitality and retail in Scotland. He also worked on two placements in the aviation industry whilst in the UAE. Daniel has also travelled extensively around countries in South East Asia including Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. He has also undertaken charity work in Ghana, West Africa, working on teaching and construction projects. Daniel is a huge sports addict. He has completed marathons in New York City and Berlin, raising several thousand pounds for charity. His ultimate goal is to complete at least one marathon in each of the world’s seven continents.

Linda Shannon (Junior Analyst)
Linda graduated from St. Andrews University with a degree in International Relations and Modern History in 2009. She completed the Graduate Diploma in Law in 2011 and has worked on placements at a number of law firms. After graduating Linda spent five months in Azerbaijan where she worked as an intern for the anti-corruption organisation Transparency International. Linda has also travelled around Eastern Europe and spent a summer teaching English as a volunteer at a Romanian summer school.

Sebastian Harrison (Junior Analyst)
Sebastian graduated with a Diploma in Legal Practice from the University of Glasgow in 2011 after completing an Accelerated LLB from the University of Edinburgh. Prior to working at Metis Partners he worked at a number of law firms covering criminal, personal injury and public sector charity work before working in-house with Scottish Widows in their legal department. Sebastian has also completed an Honours degree in Journalism and has worked at a variety of newspapers. Sebastian has also spent time in South Korea where he worked as a freelance reporter for the Korea Herald for three years. He combined this writing work with a job as an English teacher in public elementary schools and playing for a foreign football team. His claim to fame is that Sebastian once appeared on Korean TV as the guest English presenter on a quiz show called “Golden Bell”.

Julia Gray (Student Intern)
Julia joined the team in the summer of 2011 and is now working on a part-time basis with us while completing the final year at the University of Glasgow studying Business and Management. Before joining Metis Partners, she worked in the wedding industry organising wedding fayres and events. She is also chair and co-founder of Glasgow University's Business School Grad Ball committee.

Bill Gemmell (Associate)
An experienced business analyst, Bill has worked across a number of industries and market sectors in business development and change management roles since 1990. He most recently was operations director at Livingston-based IT services company Wisdom IT, where he gained specific expertise in the creation and development of innovative projects in the public sector. He also has extensive knowledge of the Higher and Further Education sectors in Scotland, having delivered strategic consultancy to the institutions on behalf of educational agencies. Bill holds a postgraduate degree in Operational Research from Strathclyde University and an MBA from the University of Edinburgh.

Dr Caroline Sincock (Associate)
Trained as a biological scientist, Caroline is an intellectual asset and Intellectual Property (IP) specialist with over 20 years' experience in innovation, commercialisation and product development. A former associate with patent and trade mark agents, Murgitroyd & Company, she has advised on international IP protection, litigation and management. Caroline was also instrumental in growing the Scottish branch of the Licensing Executives Society and was responsible for the development of the world's first Intellectual Assets Centre in 2002. She became the Scottish IA Centre's chief intellectual assets officer in 2003. Caroline started working for Metis Partners in 2007.

Darran Gardner (Associate)
A former business journalist with the Sunday Herald in Glasgow, Darran spent four years analysing and reporting on a wide variety of Scottish and UK businesses. At Metis he was involved in the development of a number of tools and methodologies focused on helping companies identify and assess their IA, and was instrumental in the creation of an innovative IA/ IP assessment and brokerage service for insolvency practitioners. He now specialises in the assessment of businesses from an intellectual assets and intellectual property perspective, as well as the delivery of commercial due diligence services. Darran has an MBA from the University of Strathclyde Graduate School of Business and is currently completing an LLM in IT and Telecommunications Law at the Glasgow Law School.

Paul Kallmes (Associate)
Based on the west coast of the USA, Paul brings a wide array of skills and experience to the IP management field. He has built and managed patent portfolios in a number of old-school manufacturing industries (including paper & textiles). Paul has also worked with a range of organisations including consulting firms (KPMG & IPValue), high-tech R&D labs (Rockwell Scientific) and IP marketplace start-ups (yet2.com). He previously managed the patent portfolio of Nasdaq-listed Color Kinetics and enjoyed considerable success in turning the company's licensing practice into a profitable and industry-friendly activity. Following his work at Color Kinetics, he became the IP Strategist at the Lighting Science Group. In recent years he has been an independent consultant to the LED industry, advising on the development of patent portfolios and products (including control chips, power supplies, light drivers and complete fixtures such as LED streetlights and therapeutic LED light fixtures). For Paul, effective IP asset management starts at the beginning of a company’s lifespan and should be applied continuously throughout in order to maximise its value at any given time.