Comes from Edinburgh (Scotland) where he studied languages at school, followed by a degree in law (LLB), subsequently qualifying as a Chartered Accountant (CA) in 1974. After a couple of years in London, he moved to Italy in 1976 to work for Deloitte & Touche as an auditor until 1983 and then for three years in Brussels as internal audit manager for GTE. He became a partner in Buroservice in 1986, developing its specialisation in financial translations.
He's responsible for quality control.