- Describe yourself in three words.
Enthusiastic, conscientious, ginger.
- What would you be if you weren't a brand manager?
I'd probably still be an accountant. There was something very comforting about the principle that for every debit there must be a corresponding credit.
- What advice would you give someone starting their marketing career today?
Seek out and work for brands you love. Marketing something you don't believe in can't be much fun.
- How did you get your first job?
I sent an unsolicited email to Innocent, asking for a job. Surprisingly, they said yes.
- What attracted you to your current job?
The challenge of building a brand from scratch. It's something few people get to do so I feel very lucky.
- What makes you angry?
People who don't care.
- What's your favourite holiday destination?
The South of France. I'm big into food and wine.
- What's your favourite pub?
Neary's in Dublin. Whenever I'm in town I'll sneak in for a pint of Guinness and a bit of 'me time'. I feel very at ease there.
- What hobbies do you have?
I'm organising a wedding and running a business, so these days my Scalextric doesn't get out of the box very often (that's not a euphemism, by the way).
- If you were a brand, what would you be and why?
I'd be Peppersmith. Mike (my co-founder) and I have tried to create a brand that we thought was absolutely true to our own nature.
- If you weren't you, who would you be?
Can I be a Labrador? I quite fancy that.
- What is your all-time favourite slogan?
I'm a heavy user of what I will always think of as the 'plop plop, fizz fizz'.
- What's your greatest ambition?
To be as good a parent to my kids as my parents were to me.
- If you could get tickets to any event, what would it be?
The Super Bowl.
- What was your finest hour?
Peppersmith topping Observer Food Monthly's 'foodie essentials for 2010' list - no mean feat for a chewing-gum brand.
- If you had three wishes, what would they be?
To create a business I can be proud of. To be able to tap dance. World peace. In that order.