The Team

JAMES SANDWITH

has a rare combination of strategic, creative and technical skills. He has run the business since founding beBRAND in 2001, and leads client projects as a strategic or creative director. He develops the company strategy including the creation of additional brands and businesses within the portfolio. These have included beCONNECTED (which created accessories for Apple's iPod converging mobile communication and entertainment services), beLOUD (an interactive service introducing consumers to independent musicians and artists), beWARE (a street fashion brand).

James founded Spirit of Squash in 2009 with executives from the private equity and hedge fund sectors. The founders are all amateur sportsmen who see sport as central to life and want to ensure that as many children as possible have the opportunity to enjoy and learn from playing racket sports.

James has been Chairman of The Squash Committee at the Royal Automobile Club (2004 – present) which oversees the largest squash community in the UK; and has been a member of The House Committee at the Royal Automobile Club which runs the prestigious clubhouse in central London with its bars, restaurants, private dining and function rooms, bedrooms and sports facilities.

James was trained as a product designer and spent his early years working for The Reuters Usability Group and for Motorola developing an entirely new concept in Personal Telephones. He then led the product development group at Helium 3, fusing internet technology with industrial design to create cutting edge consumer electronic devices.

He co-founded internet technology company designSpirit in 1999. designSpirit developed the BBC's Beyond 2000 Millennium Project, their Digital Archive Project intranet site and a News 24 application; worked for the Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia consortium; and several interactive entertainment services. Within 10 months a major e-commerce company offered a multi-million pound deal to acquire designSpirit.