The purpose of Verve’s Advisory Board is to allow the business to tap into the knowledge and skills of a talented pool of individuals to assist Verve build both thought and service leadership. Each member of the board has a specific area of focus to help the business develop.

Patrick (Paddy) Barwise is Emeritus Professor of Management and Marketing at London Business School. He has published on a wide range of topics including audience and consumer behaviour, new media, advertising and branding. His last book, “Simply Better”, won the American Marketing Association’s 2005 prize for the best recent book in marketing. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Marketing Society, a frequent conference speaker, a consultant, and an experienced expert witness. He was also a founding investor in, and advisor to, the online fieldwork company Research Now, co‐founded by Andrew Cooper, Partner and CEO of Verve.

Paddy will contribute to the Verve model of “How Online Brand Communities Work” which is being developed by Mike Hall, the founder of Hall & Partners and author of their model of how advertising works. Mike is a co‐founder and partner at Verve.

Gareth Firth was a senior partner at PA Consulting Group – the global Management and Technology Consultancy comprising some 3,000 staff. During his time with PA’s Business Transformation Group, he led many major assignments, focusing on helping high skill professional organisations improve their effectiveness. Two of his assignments received awards from The Management Consultancies Association. Prior to joining PA, Gareth spent 12 years as a Civil Engineer and he is a graduate of the University of Cambridge.

Gareth will help the Verve management team build an organisational structure suitable for international growth. He will also tutor on how Verve can take some of the best commercial advisory approaches from management consulting and effectively apply these to the marketing services industries.

David Packford was a Partner in, and founder member of, the Transactions Services Department at PricewaterhouseCoopers, a division which has grown to a market‐leading worldwide business with more than 3,000 dedicated specialists. David has significant experience in consulting on M&A transactions, finance and structures for International growth. David holds degrees from Liverpool University and London School of Economics. At Verve, David will assist the management team with work on strategic business development and specific growth opportunities.