When Gavin's not wild swimming, Ray and Bertil are not at music gigs or Joe's not on his bike conquering a mountain, their passion is helping create a brighter future.
They help leaders and organisations grow, adapt and build resilience by bringing fresh thinking and practical experience across strategy, business development, communications, sustainability and social impact.
Between them, they have worked as founders, CEOs and revenue leaders, building businesses, creating markets, raising investment and leading through change across the private and public sectors. Bertil brings specialist depth as Think's Chief Sustainability Leader, with extensive expertise and qualifications in sustainable development, helping organisations translate sustainability into credible strategy and practical action.
Gavin Tweedie
- Founder & Managing Director
Gavin brings extensive international experience in building businesses, creating markets and helping organisations navigate major technological and economic change.
His career spans start-ups, scale-ups, mergers and acquisitions across North America, Europe and Australasia. He helped launch seven international and UK technology businesses, several later acquired by IBM, HP and Sun Microsystems, and has worked with global organisations to turn innovation into commercial adoption and growth.
Today, Gavin applies that experience to help leaders turn ambition into action, aligning strategy, people, partners and responsible business practices to create growth, resilience and long-term value.
In 2021, Gavin founded Think Partnership and began applying his experience in building businesses, creating markets and driving adoption to mission-led challenges helping organisations turn ambitious goals into practical action and impact.
Gavin's recent work includes co-founding the Scottish Net Zero Community and Net Zero Nation, mobilising hundreds of SMEs around the transition to a more sustainable economy. This is where Gavin and Ray first worked together, building communities, engaging businesses and helping organisations translate ambition into practical action.
Today, Gavin, Ray, Joe and Bertil bring together commercial leadership and specialist expertise to help organisations find new opportunities, build resilience and operate responsibly - from strategy through to implementation.
Ray Black
- Managing Partner
Ray has operated across sectors in sales and management at country level with international businesses for over three decades.
Alongside Think Partnership, he also provides latest thinking in sales training and business development with 1000-Steps, who are based in Singapore with a global client base. He has experience in the 3rd sector, bringing an invaluable breadth of knowledge and energy to every project.
The photo below is Ray presenting at one of our partners, Dumfries and Galloway College Net Zero Skills Centre.
Joe Arciero
- Industry Advisor
Joe Arciero joined us in January 2025. He has enjoyed a 35-year career spanning roles from Research Scientist in the Nuclear Industry to Director of Sourcing with Chivas Brothers (Pernod-Ricard), later becoming Global Procurement Category Director. Today he works as a business mentor and Procurement Specialist with Think Partnership drawing on his deep experience in driving procurement and supply chain efficiencies, sustainability and quality outcomes.
Joe spent 12 years at General Electric (GE). At GE, he gained exposure to diverse cultures and industries, benefiting greatly from the renowned GE Management Education program, which he describes as the most transformative learning experience of his life.
In 1999 he joined Chivas Brothers (Pernod-Ricard), where he served as Director of Sourcing, New Product Development, and Quality, later becoming Global Procurement Category Director. He also contributed to the industry through roles such as Chair of the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) Scientific Committee and Chair of the 2021 Worldwide Distilled Spirits Conference, while maintaining academic ties by lecturing on whisky production science.
Joe recently led a panel event on sustainability in the supply chains at Scotlands Trade Fair Spring at the SEC, Glasgow on 20th January. There he shared some of his own experiences as a senior procurement leader and the blog can be read here.
Joe’s proudest achievements include a reactor rebuild at GE’s Grangemouth site, securing jobs for a decade, launching iconic Chivas products, and watching his team members flourish in their careers. Now, his focus is on mentoring and supporting businesses committed to building sustainable ESG foundations, driven by a passion for sharing his extensive knowledge and experience.
Alex Tweedie
- Climate & Sustainability analyst
Alex provides data collection and analysis for businesses to support greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory reporting. This includes calculating scope 1,2, and 3 emissions, analysing trends and KPIs for sustainability performance. She also helps with sustainability strategy support and stakeholder engagement. She has a degree in Environmental Geoscience from the University of Edinburgh. She worked with the UK CEH on hydrogen research, which is published and presented her research at a University of Cambridge conference in 2025. You can read her cited published work here. Alex demonstrates her passion for sustainability in everything she does.
Below is Alex pictured with Sam Mackilligin. Leader of the Power to X Group at Hydrogen Scotland at the 2024 Hydrogen Scotland Christmas market in Edinburgh.
Her work in Hydrogen research has led to her attending the Atmospheric Chemistry Special Interest Group in-person meeting at the Møller Institute, Churchill College, Cambridge, dedicated to exploring hydrogen’s chemistry and its effects on atmospheric composition and climate. This event marks the conclusion of the UK Hydrogen Environmental Impacts Programme, funded by NERC and the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero. The second day, led by the programme, focused on additional aspects related to the environmental impacts of hydrogen energy, including global and UK scenarios of hydrogen use, fugitive hydrogen emissions and the uptake of atmospheric hydrogen by soils - a key factor regulating atmospheric hydrogen levels.
Bertil Abbing
- Chief Sustainability Leader
Most of Bertil’s professional life has been in purpose led businesses. After completing his BEng in Technology Management Bertil moved to Nova Scotia, Canada and started working as a Innovations Supervisor at Just Us! Coffee Roasters Co-op, Canada’s first Fair Trade Coffee Roaster. While always having been environmentally minded it was here that he developed a much deeper interest in Sustainable Development and purpose led business. After returning to the Netherlands Bertil decided to pursue an MSc. in Sustainable Development: Environmental Policy and Management with a focus on sustainable business practices. After completing his MSc. he worked as a Sustainability Consultant at Tecona before moving to Edinburgh, Scotland. There, he spent over a decade at Ecometrica, initially starting as a Sustainability Analyst, progressing to Senior Sustainability Analyst, and ultimately serving as the Head of Sustainable Development. In this role, Bertil managed a global team of 14 Sustainability Analysts, helping hundreds of businesses, from small startups to large corporations, navigate their sustainability reporting efforts.
Alongside Think Partnership Bertil is also working at Balance.Eco, where they have re-imagined and are challenging the Voluntary Carbon Market, through a three-pillars approach, having a positive impact, combining biodiversity, socio-economics and climate.