Executive Team

Margrith Lütschg-Emmenegger

President:  Margrith Lutschg-Emmenegger

Margrith Lütschg-Emmenegger has worked in Trade Finance with a special focus on Forfaiting and Factoring for most of her professional life, first with Barclays Bank, and then with Midland Bank Aval in London before joining West Merchant Bank (now WestLB AG) where she had Global responsibility for Forfaiting/Factoring within WestLB AG, which was market leader in these products world-wide. Margrith joined Fimbank on 1st April 2003 as Executive Vice President, responsible for Business Development and was appointed to President on 1st September 2004.

Margrith was educated in Switzerland and was a member of the board of the Swiss Association of Forfaiters in 1983, and also founding Chairman of the Association of Forfaiters in the Americas in 1995.  More recently in 1999, Mrs. Lütschg-Emmenegger co-founded the International Forfaiting Association where she served as the Deputy Chairman until September 2003.

She has written numerous articles on Forfaiting including a book, published in 1998 by Euromoney, titled "A Guide to Forfaiting".  She has also been a regular speaker on the subject for many years travelling around the World teaching audiences the benefits of Forfaiting and Factoring.

Vice President: Andy Gatesy

Andy Gatesy

 After completing his primary schooling at Highgate Boys School in London, Andy attended Nottingham University where he graduated in Mechanical Engineering in 1985. He then went on to read for a Masters Degree in Business Administration, specialising in Export Management and International Business, at City University Business School in London.

 In 1987, he was appointed Director of Sales & Marketing of Toly Products. Toly is an injection moulder of luxury packaging for the cosmetics industry. In the late 1980’s Toly was a UK company with a satellite manufacturing plant on the Mediterranean island of Malta.

 Andy’s goal was to develop Toly as an international supplier and in line with this vision, he opened up new sales offices in New York (1987), Paris (1989) and Holland (1994) which were complemented by a network of agents in the smaller markets.

In 1988, he was appointed Deputy Chairman and spearheaded Toly’s growth.

Andy Gatesy took over at the helm of the company as Chairman and CEO in 1991. With his vast experience and knowledge of the cosmetic packaging business, under his direction, Toly Products has continually evolved into a world-leading supplier with manufacturing plants both in Europe and in Asia, and with a diversified product portfolio, including cosmetic, fragrance and skin care packaging.

Today, Andy is based in Malta at the heart of the Toly group and he is very active in the local scene where he was a Council Member of the Malta Federation of Industry for over ten years as well as a founding member of the Malta YPO chapter. Toly is currently engaged on a strong growth strategy, with a clear focus upon Asia. In 2005, Toly opened a manufacturing facility in China and this has been followed by further investments in India and South Korea. However, Toly is still committed to manufacturing in Malta and Andy continuously promotes the capabilities of the Maltese workforce.

On December 13th, 2007, at the Republic Day awards, Andy was honoured by the Government of Malta as an Honorary Member of the National order of Merit for distinguishing himself in his service to Malta.

Adrian Said

Chief Coordinator: Adrian Said

Adrian Said is a Management Consultant and currently is a Director of EMCS Ltd.  Adrian holds a first degree in Commerce, as well as an honours degree in Economics from the University of Malta.  He pursed post-graduate studies abroad at the Strathclyde Graduate School of Business - University of Strathclyde in Scotland by following a Master in Business Administration.

He is consulting experiance is mainly in strategic planning & international business development of organizations based in Europe and the Middle.

Adrian is regularly invited by the Chamber of Commerce of Barcelona to present case papers relating to business development and Franchising in the Mediterranean including the MEDA Franchise Forum an annual conference relating to franchising prospects in the Mediterranean. He is currently also working with the Chamber of Commerce of Barcelona and ASCAME (Association of Chambers of Commerce of the Mediterranean) on the development of a Mediterranean Franchise Forum.

Adrian is a visiting lecturer and examiner at the Department of Management of the University of Malta.

Simon Coombs

Programmes Coordinator: Simon Coombs

Simon Coombs was a British Conservative politician. He was MP for Swindon from 1983 until 1997 when the seat was divided by boundary changes. He stood in the new Swindon South seat, but lost to Labour.

Coombs' Parliamentary term coincided with Swindon being the centre of a technology boom. Sir Tim Berners Lee developed the idea of the World Wide Web while at the Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) in Swindon. Coombs served as Treasurer of PITCOM, the Parliamentary Information Technology Committee and as Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Rt. Hon Kenneth Baker, MP, who was Minister of Information Technology in the Department of Trade and Industry, and then Minister for the Environment. He later served as PPS to Rt. Hon Ian Lang , MP during his terms as Secretary of State for Scotland (1992-1995) and President of the Board of Trade (1995-1997). Coombs also served as Parliamentary adviser to the UK Cable Television Association, representing at the time the constituency with the highest cable penetration in the country. He was also Chairman of the Conservative Backbench Tourism Committee and a member of the British Recording Industry Association's All-Party Parliamentary Group. Since leaving Parliament, he has kept active in the music sphere as a trustee of the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society and organizer of the Vaughan Williams exhibition at the composer’s birthplace at Down Ampney.

Research Coordinator: Caroline Sciortino

Caroline Sciortino

Caroline Sciortino achieved a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce and a Master’s degree in Business Administration at the University of Malta. Presently she works at the Economic and Management Consultancy Services Ltd. (EMCS), a leading company which specializes in the provision of economic research and management consultancy to private enterprises, government and institutions in Malta and overseas.

 Her present position within EMCS is Business and Economics analyst. Before she worked within the Economic Planning Division at the Ministry of Finance as a senior economics officer, where she executed work in the field of trade, inflation and other economic issues.

At EMCS Ltd, she is involved in most research related work, particularly in the fields of economics and EU funds. She is currently also involved in a number of market research projects and is the Maltese evaluator for the EQUAL programme for Malta.

Bernard Mallia

Research Coordinator: Bernard Mallia

Bernard Mallia is currently a consultant at EMCS Ltd. 

Bernard holds a first degree in Commerce with a specialisation in Public Policy and Economics, as well as an honours degree in Public and Private Sector Management from the University of Malta.  He pursued post-graduate studies at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland by reading for an MSc in Economics, and also holds diplomas in Computerised Bookkeeping, Project Management, and Advertising and Public Relations. He is currently reading for an MSc in Information Systems at the European University. His areas of specialisation include regulation, IT and electronic communications, quantitative methods, data modelling and mining, and economic methodology with a focus on economic policy, environmental and resource economics, health economics and industrial economics. 

Bernard has previously worked for the Malta Tourism Authority, Playmobil Malta, the Central Bank of Malta, Vodafone Malta Ltd. and the Malta Communications Authority, and brings with him a wealth of experience from the private and the public sector alike.

He is currently engaged in the provision of consultancy services to public service entities and acts as an advisor to the Competitive Malta Forum, while also being involved in the preparation of the Economic Report and Business Review which is issued by EMCS on a quarterly basis.

Bernard is a member of the American Economic Association. 

Dr. John C. Grech

Founding President: Dr. John C. Grech

Dr. John C. Grech is the founder of EMCS Limited.  He is currently Chairman and Managing Director.  He has previously served as Deputy Chairman of the Malta Development Corporation (MDC), Chairman of the Malta University Services Limited (MUS), and Chairman of the Malta Export Trade Corporation, and Chairman of the Bank of Valletta Group of Companies.  He was also a Director on the Board of the Malta Freeport Corporation.  In 1999, Dr. Grech assumed the Chairmanship of the Malta Tourism Authority, a position he held till March 2004.  He currently also serves as a member of the Board of Middle Sea Insurance plc and Vice Chairman of Fimbank plc.

An economics graduate of the University of Malta, Dr. Grech lectured at that institution for a number of years.  He holds a Bachelors and a Masters Degree in Economics from Malta University and pursued postgraduate studies at the University of Amsterdam in European Economic Integration.  In 1978, John Grech secured his Ph.D. in International Economics from the Graduate Institute for International Studies of the University of Geneva.  He also holds a Visiting Chair in Banking and Finance at the University of Malta.  Member of the Board of the Mediterranean Academy for Diplomatic Studies and teaches a course in Economy Diplomacy in the academy.

He has served as a Director on the Board of a number of Maltese private sector companies and is professionally active as a Management Consultant both in Malta and overseas, acting in an advisory capacity to specialised United Nations bodies.  He specialises in EU, International Trade, Financial Services and Strategic Management Consultancy.

John Grech is a member of the Strategic Planning Society of the UK.  He also acts as Honorary Consul General for the Republic of Cyprus in Malta, and in 1995 was elected to the Fellowship of the Chartered Institute of Bankers.  He is a member of the British Institute of Management and a fellow of the Malta Institute of Management