James Maynard

James comes from a luxury retail and hospitality background.

Previous badges include coffee roaster, events, stadia (Wembley Stadium), livery halls, luxury retail in Knightsbridge (Harrods), and luxury hospitality in Palm Beach America (The Breakers Beach Resort and Spa).

At The Royal Institution of Great Britain, James worked his magic in the busy world of Mayfair in London managing bespoke events and hospitality for the public. These included high profile, inspirational events for the Queen, Prince Charles, Tony Blair, Bill Clinton and Bill Gates.

James originally has roots in Leeds in Yorkshire, then moved to Surrey where school and The University Of Surrey beckoned with a degree in Retail and Hospitality Management.

James fell in Love with Scotland when looking for a wedding venue for his Scottish fiancée, Suzanne, and chose Winton House. The job as General Manager followed shortly afterwards. Winton had impressed him so much, he had to work here!

James is looking forward to wearing his kilt and discovering more about his new home at Winton House.

Morag Morrison

Morag is originally from Kingston Upon Thames on the outskirts of London and moved up to Edinburgh in 1997 to pursue a career in hospitality. She worked as a waitress and manager in a number of Edinburgh city centre restaurants before travelling in 2001.

Working around Australia and travelling South East Asia for 15 months gave her the opportunity to build on her experience of world cuisine, fine dining and event management, whilst seeing some of the more remote parts of the world.

On return to the UK Morag achieved a degree in events managements from Queen Margaret University in 2005. She has since worked at Winton moving from Events and Marketing Assistant to Operations Manager and General Manager. Following the birth of her first son Cameron, Morag has returned to Winton on a part time basis as Deputy Manager, supporting the team in all aspects of venue and event management.

Morag admits to being a bit of a foodie and combines this passion with travel and rugby (which occasionally can be combined all in one!) Being a city girl, working on a countryside estate has ignited a passion for the outdoors, in particular adrenaline-driven activities, and loves nothing more than inspiring a bit of competition with clients taking part in activity days.

Christopher Lamotte

Christopher is a marketing evangelist who has been known to get annoyed with people who think marketing is just about advertising, selling or PR. He is a chartered marketer, a chartered surveyor and has a real interest in the constantly moving frontiers of digital marketing.

After completing an MBA at the University of Warwick, he developed his career in marketing and management consultancy, which included launching new software and consumer telecoms products. From late 2001 Christopher built up his own strategic and interim marketing consultancy, Real Marketing Specialists, specialising in strategic marketing consultancy interim marketing and marketing management services to the tourism, property, technology and education sectors. Christopher has been enjoying working at Winton since 2005.

Christopher is into cycling, skiing, walking, tennis and gardening. He is a family man and lives in Haddington within cycling distance of Winton House with his wife, Bornie, and three demanding children.

You can contact Christopher at christopher@wintonhouse.co.uk

Julie Britee

Julie joined Winton in early 2010 and brings with her 25 years of experience in the Tourism & Hospitality Industry. She started off her working career training to be a school teacher, moved quickly into the Civil Service followed by the NHS and then took a quantum leap in to the unknown life of Hotels, spending many happy years at the exotically named Dragonara when that really was the place to be seen in Edinburgh.

Latterly Julie has been working with the Entertainment Company delivering 5 star and innovative events to discerning clients.

A cosmopolitan girl at heart (her Mastermind specialist subject would be shopping), she is growing to love estate life and has accepted that Hunter wellies are going to be more useful than Manolo Blahniks!

Rae McGonigle

Rae has been linked with Winton House for over 24 years, having grown up on the surrounding Estate where her family still lives.

She began work at Winton House back in 2002 with the catering team on some of the first events to take place at the venue. Over the years she has gained a wealth of knowledge and experience working in the House, while also studying for a diploma in Wedding Planning. This has set her in good stead for the position she now holds as Wedding Events Executive.

Rae is also an expert barista, coffee connoisseur and experienced supervisor after 4 years of working in a well known coffee house in her 'spare' time.

Rae is a country girl through and through and enjoys being outside in the sun, wind and occasional rain, or sitting by an open fire with a nice cup of tea watching one of her 800 DVDs. Another joy of Rae's is taking part in charity events, having completed a sky dive for charity, Maggie's Monster Bike and Hike 2009, Pedal for Scotland 2009 and Race for Life 3 times; she is always on the hunt for the next big challenge!

Janis Ward

Janis has been playing a key role in events at Winton House as a team leader for more than 5 years, spanning Winton's typical panoply of events, from gala dinners, over-nights, conferences and meetings, to Winton highland games and corporate team building days.

She enjoys running as a hobby and is always looking for new events to stretch her abilities.

Since having 3 children and spending her time running around after them for the last 8 years, she is ready for a new challenge!