Graham Ridgway, Chief Executive Officer

Graham has been Chief Executive Officer of Touchpaper since 2001. During this time, he has transformed the company from a predominantly UK operation to a global organization with offices in the UK, Ireland, Germany, the United States and Singapore and a worldwide network of technology and channel partners.

In 1997, Graham was instrumental in launching Touchpaper's US Operation, working in Manhattan for 12 months. Following this, Graham took on the role of Marketing Director and then became Managing Director of Touchpaper's UK Operation in 1999.

Graham has over 20 years' experience working in the software industry. He has developed from a technical background as a software developer, through management consultancy, to a number of managing director and CEO level positions.

Graham has made a significant contribution to Touchpaper's service management products since their inception in 1990. Leading a team of people, Graham specified and produced the first versions of the company's HelpDesk portfolio gaining significant product take-up in the early 90s. Graham has managed all aspects of the software product lifecycle, including product management, software development, sales, marketing and operations.

Graham has an honours degree in mathematics from the University of Exeter and is a member of the Institute of Directors (IoD).

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Daryl Paton, Finance Director

Daryl Paton joined Touchpaper as Finance Director in July 2007 with responsibility for leading the company’s finance, IT and Human Resources functions on a worldwide basis.  Using his extensive commercial experience, he will also play an important part in driving forward Touchpaper’s future growth plans. 

Prior to Touchpaper, Daryl was Chief Financial and Operations Officer at Hemscott plc, a leading international provider of high quality business and financial data and investor relations services with offices in the UK and the USA.  During his two-year tenure at Hemscott, Daryl successfully managed the acquisition of two major businesses and executed a major offshoring programme that reaped significant savings for Hemscott and provided a solid platform for the company’s future development. 
 
With a wealth of financial and business experience gained from both privately held and publicly quoted organisations, Daryl has held a variety of high profile Chief Financial Officer positions at companies including Admiral plc, CMG UK Ltd, Eyretel plc and Telco Global Group.

Daryl is a Chartered Accountant and holds a BSc Honours Degree in Biochemistry from Leeds University. 

Married with two children, Daryl lives in Cobham, Surrey.  His hobbies include golf, football and squash.  A qualified FA coach, Daryl currently coaches his sons’ under 8’s Saturday league team in the Epsom and Ewell FA leagues.

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Simon Webster, Worldwide Sales Director

Simon Webster joined Touchpaper as Worldwide Sales Director in July 2006 with responsibility for leading the company's global sales strategies and execution.

Prior to Touchpaper, Simon was Vice President and General Manager, Northern Europe for Peregrine Systems.  In this role, Simon managed the overall business and was directly accountable for sales in the territory (spanning the UK, Nordics, Middle East and Africa).  During his two-year tenure at the company, Simon transformed the region into one of the fastest growing and most successful parts of Peregrine’s business.  He was also a key member of the executive management team instrumental in the turnaround of Peregrine Systems that led to their successful acquisition by HP in September 2005.

With more than 20 years’ experience in the IT industry, Simon has held a variety of global sales, sales management and general management roles at blue-chip organisations including ICL and HP.  He also spent five years at Siebel Systems, joining at a time when the CRM market was in its infancy, building the company’s financial services business and driving the development of the ERM team across Europe, Middle East and Africa. 

Simon has a degree in Business Studies from Nottingham Trent University.

Married with two children, Simon is a keen sports enthusiast, plays golf and regularly supports the sports curriculum of his local school.

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Marina Stedman, Director of Marketing

Marina joined Touchpaper as Director of Marketing in January 2005 with overall responsibility for the company's strategic marketing, product marketing, channel marketing, marketing communications and telemarketing activities globally.

Prior to Touchpaper, Marina was Enterprise Segment Marketing Manager at Microsoft UK where she provided strategic and tactical marketing support to drive Microsoft's corporate business. Most notably, she developed campaigns for the financial services industry team and managed co-marketing plans with Microsoft's global partners such as Accenture and Cap Gemini.

During her career, Marina has held a variety of senior marketing and business development roles in blue-chip organizations such as IBM and ICL where she gained particular expertise in vertical sector marketing covering retail, FMCG, telecommunications, healthcare, media and in office automation technologies.

Marina is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and a Chartered Marketer and has a degree in Business Administration from Bath University.

Marina is married with two children.  She is a keen runner and adventure racer and competes regularly. She represented Great Britain at the 1987 World Championships and England at the 1986 Commonwealth Games. 

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Paul Marchant, Technology & Services Director

Paul joined Touchpaper in 2002 as Director of Product Development taking on additional responsibility for Operations at the start of 2006. In this role, Paul is responsible for the provision of Touchpaper project management and implementation, customer services and support and for the strategic direction and research and development of Touchpaper's IT Business Management (ITBM) product portfolio globally.

Prior to Touchpaper, Paul was Group Development Manager for Cedar Group plc where he managed over 120 staff worldwide and introduced a series of new call centre and accounting solutions to the marketplace.

During his 20-year career in the computing and IT sector, Paul has been a software developer, designer and consultant. He has held a variety of senior management roles in leading technology organizations such as IBM plc and Data Sciences UK Ltd where he has advised board-level members about new technologies, technical vision and product development strategies.

Paul has a BTEC National Diploma in Computer Studies with distinction from the Brooklands Technical College in Surrey, United Kingdom.

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Susanne Schinz, Managing Director, Germany

Susanne joined Touchpaper in 1998 and, since 1999, has been responsible for the strategic direction of the company in the German market. Formerly, Susanne was Regional Sales Manager at royalblue and after the Touchpaper management buyout became Managing Director for Germany.

Susanne has successfully introduced Touchpaper to the German market, building up and expanding Touchpaper’s subsidiary in Frankfurt, Dreieich with a current customer base comprising 155 organisations.

Prior to Touchpaper, Susanne grew the market presence of Magic Solutions in Germany. As Sales Representative, she built up the customer reference programme and, after the acquisition by NAI, was responsible for new business development.

Susanne has a degree in economics and studied science at Justus Liebig University Giessen and at Queens University Belfast.

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