Adaptive Venture Managers

Adaptive Venture Managers (Adaptive) is a specialist private trading group with three trading companies that are subsidiaries and three companies that are investments.

Adaptive was established in 1995 with the aim of assisting the development of a small number of medium to high technology businesses run by their own dedicated executive management. Adaptive is now focussed on developing and marketing innovative technology primarily in the recreation and medical device market places.

The Board

Richard Burns W.S. (Chairman)
Richard Burns was a partner of Baillie Gifford & Co, one of Scotland’s largest investment management firms, from 1977 until he retired in April 2006, spending the last seven years as joint senior partner and Chief Investment Officer.

He is a director of four investment trust companies and has been on the board of a number of start up companies over the last 30 years.

Charles Sweeney (Chief Executive)
Charles took a first class honours in Computing Science from Glasgow University in 1985. His initial career was spent in software development and consultancy with Burroughs Machines, The Turing Institute and Unisys.

In 1995, shortly after the company was founded, he joined Telecom Service Centres. He was appointed to the Board in 1998 and became Managing Director in 2000. He held this position until the sale of TSC in 2003. At the time of the sale the company had grown from the initial five staff to just over eighteen hundred.

Since leaving TSC Charles has carried out a number of consultancy roles focussing on business growth. He is currently Chairman of IRW Systems Limited.

Mike Rutterford (Non-executive)
Mike Rutterford is one of Scotland’s entrepreneurs and business angels. He has undertaken a series of multi million pound deals and is involved as a private investor, board member and adviser to a number of Scotland’s most promising technology companies.

He is a co-founder of Archangel Informal Investments, which has a list of 30 live investments in the field of technology, medical science, retail and manufacturing.