Meet the team
Stan Abbott
Stan Abbott is founder and Managing Consultant at Gravity Consulting, based at our head office in Durham City. A Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, he is dual-skilled as a writer and journalist, and public relations and marketing consultant.
He began his career in provincial newspapers in England, moving from reporting to sub-editing and design, alongside writing on a variety of subjects for national newspapers and magazines. Through the 1980s and early 90s, he ran a publishing and design house, specialising in the production of business-to-business and consumer magazines, and commissioning and publishing a range of books.
As Head of Marketing at Gill Airways, he learned how to stretch limited resources to ensure a relatively small regional airline could punch above its financial weight in competition with the mighty British Airways. His contacts throughout the North East England business and political community are second to none.
An accomplished crisis manager, with specialist knowledge of the particular needs of the airline industry, his efforts at Gill Airways earned him a IPR Cream Award for Crisis Management in 1991. In the course of a varied career he has picked up a number of awards for writing, editing and relaunching publications.
Dan Kirkby
Dan Kirkby has an enviable track record - working at senior level for numerous high profile organisations in broadcasting, entertainment and travel aswell as business and commerce.
Dan, a trained journalist, is one of Britain's most experienced publicists.
He first hit the headlines promoting the pioneering rock and pop programme The Tube before working on Live Aid for the BBC.
His broadcasting connections are impressive - having represented Channel 4, GMTV, ITV Network, BBC Radio 1 and numerous television productions.
His flair for news creation has been put to good use by organisations as diverse as Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group, Lloyds Bank, The Institute Of Asian Professionals, Eurostar, West Ham United Football Club and several major airlines.
Walt Disney World Resort, Orlando, awarded Kirkby a major contract to launch their newest theme park, Disney's Animal Kingdom.
Euro NCAP - the new car assessment programme selected Kirkby to launch their major pan European safety drive - with a major media conference and live telecast at the Bernabeu Stadium, Madrid.
The politics graduate continues to play a significant role in ultra contemporary issues, publicising The Asian Power 100 List and Asian Jewel Awards.
Astrid Alvarez, Account Director
Astrid is team leader at Gravity and gained her marketing experience in both the private and public sectors. She is a full member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and an Associate of the CIPR.
As an International Communications Adviser, she currently manages the business mentoring programme for One NorthEast’s Regional Language Network, visiting internationally trading, tourism and conference related businesses in North East England, to offer support and advice. This includes advising on marketing and communications planning, translation, language coaching, business cultural training and website localisation.
Before coming to Gravity, Astrid worked in the NHS, where her experience included driving the marketing communications for the Health for All project in Easington District, County Durham, organising and promoting community-based projects and events. Astrid previously worked on business-to-business marketing in the busy office of a Durham-based software house.
At Big Ideas, she is also our Director of Business Development, responsible for getting Big Ideas across to potential new clients.
Tom Boden - Account Manager
Tom joined Gravity in October 2006 and is involved in several of the company’s key accounts. His predominant involvement is with the Durham 2020 Vision project, and he is also heavily involved with the Atlantic Airways and Eastern Airways accounts.
A graduate in Ecology & Conservation, he nonetheless worked for five years in media sales in central London, in business-to-government publishing, conferences, exhibitions and research. In 2004 Tom decided on a life change and moved north to Durham to work for Northumberland Wildlife Trust in a fundraising and marketing role. During his time in the charity sector he honed his public relations skills and experience.
Margaret Valentine - Office Systems Manager
Margaret joined the team at the end of January 2007, bringing with her excellent IT skills and office management experience gained whilst working for a variety of organizations, including the Sunderland Teaching Primary Care Trust.
Besides being our Office Systems Manager, Margaret brings to the team a key resource, thanks to her tourism research experience which led directly to her MSc in cultural tourism development. Margaret has also managed systems for many tourism functions, whilst at One NorthEast’s Tourism Team.
Margaret plays a vital role in keeping the Team well organised and ahead of the game.
Barbara Allen
Barbara is our senior designer and has worked with Stan Abbott for almost 20 years, first at Leading Edge Press & Publishing and latterly for Gravity. She previously worked in the specialist trade media in London.
Barbara's expertise and experience extend from designing brochures and books, to annual reports, newspapers and magazines.
Her work has been recognised by the Association of Communicators in Business (for catch magazine, for the Environment Agency) and the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (for Eastern Airways' e-Magazine).