The Gravity team is led by Stan Abbott, who besides being widely respected in the worlds of tourism promotion and the airline industry, is also a widely published writer of both non-fiction and fiction and a much respected writing and publishing coach.
A graduate of Leeds University in French and Management Studies and a professionally trained journalist, Stan worked for ten years as an award-winning writer and sub-editor on regional and national newspapers in the UK, before setting up his own publishing business. Leading Edge Press & Publishing was based in Wensleydale and boasted a list of 50 mostly non-fiction titles, ranging from outdoor activity guides to serious works on transport, politics and the environment.
From 1998, Stan was Head of Marketing at Newcastle-based regional airline Gill Airways, with specific additional responsibility for managing the airline’s relationship with its key partner, Air France, as well as for developing strategic relationships with other overseas airlines. He also received a CIPR award for crisis management for his work at the airline.
His acumen for the smooth management of often complex partnerships has served him well in campaigns for destinations including in Shetland, Luxembourg, Norway and the Faroe Islands.
He is fluent in French, has some spoken German and has wide experience of working across Europe and North America. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he’s a bit of whizz in exporting and is an accredited Virtual Export Manager with export team at the North East of England Chamber, having worked with several score SMEs on the development of their export communications and cultural strategies.
Stan began his writing coaching while a journalist with the Westminster Press group, subsequently running adult education classes in creative writing for North Yorkshire County Council.
He currently runs creative writing and other workshops both online and in “real-time”, as well as conducting individual tutoring to develop writing skills and help budding writers to better understand the publishing process.
Stan Abbott
Linda Tuttiett
Linda Tuttiett is Gravity’s tourism and heritage expert and has extensive knowledge about and experience in achieving a win-win relationship between culture and heritage and sympathetic economic development, including tourism. She boasts ten years’ experience of leading successful capital and project development worth in excess of £20 million, specific to the Hadrian’s Wall World Heritage Site corridor, as well as more than 20 years’ project management and development experience in domestic and international destination marketing, working for VisitBritain in several overseas markets to promote Britain’s leading cultural and historic attractions.
Prior to taking the reins at Hadrian’s Wall, Linda was Director, External Relations at Arts Council England North East. Most recently she was Head of Culture and Tourism for the Tees Valley Combined Authority, creating a bold strategic vision and delivery for the five boroughs on the banks of the River Tees.
Gravity is also able to draw upon the skills of several other specialist consultants in a variety of disciplines, including business development, the arts, tourism, design and print, social media and web development.