About Us

In 2002 our first websites were launched - all designed to help students share academic and social knowledge and experiences. In the last 5 years they've grown to become huge academic and social resources attracting millions of students every month.

In 2006 the company founder was bought out by Chris Newson and a consortium of private investors.

Acumen PI is a trading name for Acumen Professional Intelligence Ltd. We're based in North Laine, Brighton and run by the following people:

Chris Newson

Chris is the Managing Director and majority shareholder of Acumen PI. Chris studied Marketing & Finance at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.

After starting his career in internet marketing, he progressed to become the Marketing and Operations Director of Jobsite - a major UK job website.

Jobsite grew rapidly and profitably and a 49% stake was sold to Manpower Inc in 2000. The Daily Mail & General Trust bought the whole company in 2004.

Chris then worked as an Internet Consultant predominantly for Manpower Inc - the $16 Billion multinational HR Services company - before buying Acumen PI in February 2006.

Chris lives in Brighton and is married with two young children. He'd like to spend more of his time kite-surfing, skiing and snowboarding, but work, family and reality TV shows keep conspiring against him.

Pete Taylor

Pete is Acumen PI's Operations Director. He is Acumen PI's longest standing employee, having been with the company since 2003. In his youth Pete used to DJ and is still a bit of a drum and bass afficionado.

Pete studied Geology at Plymouth University before working for Friends of the Earth. Pete likes rocks but only gets to sit on them with his children these days.

He is now (virtually) married with 3 children and a cat. Pete moved to Brighton from Bristol in Summer 2007..

As well as being responsible for Operations, Pete also has Board responsibility for Customer Support, Quality, Finance and Ethics.

Jamie O'Connell

Jamie studied Zoology at Bangor University and still has a penchant for small feathered animals. Jamie plays the guitar and generally is a bit of a music buff.

Jamie is the Director responsible for The Student Room.

Jamie was formerly Content Manager at Jobsite, then Website Manager for BGCI.org (an international botanical garden organisation based out of Kew Gardens), and then Science Web Manager at Cancer Research UK. Jamie has also run his own youth website www.Fazed.com for many years.

For more information on our network of student websites, advertising opportunities & formats, and the people behind Acumen PI, please use the navigation above.