About us

Our mission

As long-term mentoring practitioners, our mission is to share our experience and expertise, helping organisations to build capacity, so that they can provide more mentoring and coaching opportunities to more people.

Along with industry-leading knowledge, we offer SUMAC® – our cloud-based platform, and can advise you from concept to implementation. We built SUMAC® to give us the tools to do the job. You too can use SUMAC® to manage programmes in a way that is efficient, seamless and professional, so that you can focus on developing your programmes and on supporting more mentoring and coaching.

Our team

Jos Finer - Founder & CEO

Jos is the founder and CEO of SUMAC Mentoring. He has worked in learning & development for 30 years and is a dedicated advocate of mentoring and coaching. An enthusiastic endorser of the benefits of a well-constructed mentoring scheme, he'd be delighted to talk to you about SUMAC® and how you could make best use of the platform to help you manage your mentoring and coaching programmes.

Keith Millican - Chairman

Keith was appointed Group Finance Director in April 2009. This role includes responsibility for all commercial aspects of the Group including financial management, treasury, IT and HR. Following a variety of roles in Audit and Corporate Finance with PWC and Lloyds Bank Plc, he moved into industry where he held senior global management positions within the international packaging sector with Borden Inc, Lawson Mardon and Alusuisse – Lonza Group. Other previous roles involved the reconstruction of two large private equity investments. Keith holds an M.A.(Hons) in Accounting, is a Fellow of the Institute of Directors and is a Chartered Accountant and a Chartered Director.

Gordon Thomson - CTO

Gordon is the CTO of SUMAC Mentoring. With over a decade of experience in different sectors, he joined the team working on SUMAC® in 2014 with the aim of updating, modernising and securing the system. Since then, the previous version has superceded by SUMAC® 2.0, with a huge leap in functionality, efficiency, and user experience. With a goal of scaling SUMAC® as the customer base grows and ensuring that it remains a key product within the mentoring space, Gordon brings his expertise to bear across both development and support. Gordon is a graduate of the University of Dundee.

Rab Rennie - Software Developer

Rab is a Software Developer at SUMAC Mentoring. Joining the team in early 2019 working on SUMAC®, Rab has brought his experience of developing software in public and private sectors to bear. Since joining he has implemented and upgraded functionality aiming to improve workflow for users. Rab is now working on the next-generation version of SUMAC® to provide a better user experience by further improving functionality, look and feel.

Derek Watson - Non-executive director

Derek is also the Quaestor and Factor of the University of St Andrews. He is responsible for providing strategic leadership in the overall development of the University’s non-academic services. This includes line management of a portfolio of University support functions. Derek joined the University in December 2002 as Financial Controller coming from NHS Scotland where he was Deputy Director of Finance & Property Development Manager of an NHS Trust. Prior to that Derek held a number of finance positions in industry. He was appointed Quaestor & Factor in 2003. He is the lead employer nominated Trustee of the St Andrews Superannuation & Life Assurance Scheme; the main Pension Scheme for the University’s non-academic staff. Derek is a Fellow Chartered and Certified Accountant.

Joe Richards - Financial controller

Joe joined the SOI Group team in September 2017 as Group Financial Controller and is responsible for the finance team. Joe brings with him extensive management and statutory accounting experience of working with growing companies. Before joining the group, Joe worked for RSM a leading provider of audit, tax and consulting services to middle market leaders. Joe is a qualified Chartered Accountant.

Our history

SUMAC® was born out of the frustration with using manual and spreadsheet-based processes. As our own schemes became larger and more complex, tasks like processing applications and matching partners became unmanageable. The creation of a simple online platform greatly aided the management and success of our schemes, and the platform quickly developed as interest grew from other organisations.

Since then SUMAC® has continued to grow and now hosts over 150 schemes and more than 14000 individual scheme members from organisations across the UK.

Do you need more information or have a question?

Mail to:

New Technology Center
North Haugh
St Andrews
KY16 9SR
Fife, Scotland, UK