Meet the Team

Iain Jurgensen,
General Manager

Bridgeen Mullen,
Business Development Manager

 Iain came to Portavadie Marina in June 2009 to help out for a few days and has been here ever since. Classically trained as a chef, he rose to the position of Executive Chef at Fairmont in St Andrews before joining De Vere Resorts as Director of Operations. He oversees the running of Portavadie Marina and guides its strategic direction. ‘I enjoy the challenge of providing a first-rate guest experience in a remote location,’ he says. When he is not working, Iain loves to travel and experience hospitality from the other side. He also enjoys a stroll along the promenade in his hometown Helensburgh followed by a glass of Chablis in the local deli. Iain’s tip for visitors (looking to see a real slice of local life): go and see the shinty team, Kyles Athletic, play in Kames.

Bridgeen’s background is in five-star luxury hospitality. She has worked with the Gleneagles Hotel and One Devonshire Gardens and spent nine years with the Royal Yacht Britannia, heading up its events and hospitality programme. At Portavadie Marina she is responsible for sales, marketing, PR and, most importantly of all, spreading the word that Argyll’s Secret Coast now has its very own stunning marina. She is motivated by exceptional customer service, attention to detail and the drive for excellence.

Craig Cochran,

Marina and Facilities Operations Manager

Matt Orton,

Assistant Marina Manager

After nealy a decade in the British Virgin islands working as Bareboat/Operations Manager for a busy charter company, Craig joined Portavadie in March 2012 as Assistant Marina Manager and was promoted to Marina and Facilities Operations Manager in April 2013. Craig's job along with his team, is to build Portavadie Marina's reputation both as a sailing destination and a base for boat owners, whilst also driving new developments and attractions. Craig grew up sailing and racing on the Firth of Forth, with a yearly sabbatical to the west coast, normally to compete in West Highland Week. Even after a decade in the Caribbean, he thinks the sailing grounds around Portavadie are pretty unbeatable and explores them on his Achilles 7 Metre "Chiron" and the families C&C 39 "Storyteller".

Matt is a fully qualified engineer. He trained with Volvo before moving into the marine industry. As well as working for Mercury Marine and Yanmar, he ran his own marine engineering company Kyles Engineering. His skills include inboard and outboard servicing, engine repairs and rebuilds, stern-drive and sail-drive repairs, electrical repairs and trailer servicing. Matt is delighted to work in a place where everyone’s as passionate about boats as he is! He prides himself on providing a first-class service and looking after people’s boats as if they were his own. Matts says, ‘I hope more people will make the trip up Loch Fyne safe in the knowledge that if anything goes wrong with their boat they’ll have a qualified person on hand to help.’

Robert Kitchin,

Marina Business Development Manager

Neil Rawlings,
Executive Chef

Robert worked in the commercial vehicle industry before joining Portavadie Marina when it opened in 2007, at this time he headed up the Marina team as Manager with Craig as his assistant manager. Since then Robert has seen the Marina develop and grow, and has recently taken a new position as Marina Business Development Manager, which sees Robert taking on more an ambassadorial role where the main objective is to promote Portavadie Marina and its services to a wide range of boat users and boat related companies throughout the UK. Robert has been sailing these waters for years, his top tip for visitors: potter round the coast and look out for the wildlife. You might see otters, dolphins, porpoises, or, if you are really lucky, basking sharks and even a Minke whale.

Neil joined Portavadie from the five-star Hilton Glasgow where he was Head Chef. He cut his culinary teeth as an apprentice chef at the Hilton Glasgow before working for a number of establishments, including Michael Canes’ Abode in Glasgow. He has picked up a clutch of awards, including the ScotHot Gold First in Class for Shellfish. In 2007 he was nominated for a prestigious Acorn Award, which recognises the top 30 rising stars in the world of cooking every year. He is passionate about using locally sourced seasonal ingredients. He is also a seafood specialist and loves nothing more than creating delicious dishes using Loch Fyne’s world-famous seafood. In his spare time he likes to walk, run and do a spot of fishing.

Alun McCulloch,
Sous Chef

Petr Pavlat,

Pastry Chef

Alun has an excellent background from St Andrews Bay, the Hilton Dunkeld House Hotel and Cameron House where he worked his way up through the ranks from KP to Chef de Partie. Alun joined the kitchen team in 2010 as Chef de Partie where he developed The Lodge Kitchen and Bar, and has since been promoted to Sous Chef. His specialities are seafood based which is ideal at Portavadie. Alun’s top tip: 'Follow the Ascog trail up and round along the Glenan trail, I love doing this on my bike, its adventurous and can get quite muddy!'

Petr is originally from the Czech Republic and left 9 years ago to travel across Europe. He has worked at numerous hotels in the UK including  Michael Caines Gidleigh Park and Bovey Castle. Petr has joined the Portavadie kitchen team as our new Pastry Chef and his cakes and sweets are to die for. He showcased his talents at Easter creating a magical Alice in Wonderland- esque feast and is making all the staff at Portavadie a little more rotund than normal. “Without chocolate, there is no point.”

Chris Day,

Food and Beverage Manager

Jacqui Foggo,

Retail and Beauty Room Manager

Chris joined Portavadie early 2013 coming from a wealthy 10 year background in Food and Beverage and General management from Crerar Hotels where he donned many masks from stand in Chef to Wedding Co-ordinator. He has joined Portavadie to spread the word of the best facility he has ever worked in and to ensure the strong standards are maintained and excelled. Chris gathered a number of management training qualifications whilst working for Crerar including ‘I am a Whisky ambassador’ and achieving a level 2 WSET certificate. Chris’s fun fact: 'I love to travel, I met my wife in Singapore, we got married in Jakarta and she hopes to move to Portavadie soon.' 

 Jacqui originally studied business and followed this up with a legal degree leading her to work in the software industry, before taking time out to become a mum of 4. This led to a complete career change, which saw Jacqui move into sales, she now has over 10 years sales management  with experience within the cosmetics industry, but also having a keen interest in complementary health. Jacqui loves to shop and therefore combining the role of Beauty Room and Retail Manager suits Jacqui perfectly. What Jacqui loves about Portavadie is that, 'it’s impossible not to come here and relax, between the views and the fresh sea air you can feel the stress melting away. Failing which, retail therapy and a massage should do the trick!'

Layla Adams,

Front Office Manager

Jennifer Miller,

International Marketing Assistant

Layla started at Portavadie in 2009. She worked on reception before heading up the Front Office team. She is also a trained make-up artist and nail technician. Layla's top top for visitors; walk up to the hill at the far side of Polphail village to the standing stone. The views over the loch are stunning.

Jennifer joined the team in September 2012 as a Master's graduate in Marketing. She has been sailing since she was younger and her family have kept their boat in Portavadie Marina since the early days. She knows the sailing ground fairly well but is always keen to explore more. Jennifer spends her spare time not only exploring the waters but the woods and beaches of Argyll. Most recently she explored Glenan Woods with BurnIt bootcamp and it has become one of her favourite routes, up to the old cottage and round by the beach looking over Loch Fyne.

Robbie Baird,

Sales and Events Co-ordinator

Robbie started working at Portavadie in 2009 and on completion of University where he studied Drama, Music and Theatre he returned to Portavadie full time. He has been a key member of the team working in most departments and in 2013 was made Sales and Events coordinator. Robbie's top tip: take your time to explore your creative side, inspiration is plentyful on Argyll's Secret Coast. These are skills he brings with him to his role.