Governance

Born in the village of St Monans in the East Neuk of Fife I have lived and worked all my life in the East Neuk, later moving few miles along the coast to Cornceres near Anstruther. We farm Cornceres with 200ha of combinable crops and my family also run Silverdyke Park, a diversification project, which has 120 static holiday homes and 31 tourer spaces.

I studied at the East of Scotland College of Agriculture leaving with an HND in Agriculture in 1979. I was a keen member of the young farmers movement working my way up through club and regional hierarchies to become national Chairman of SAYFC in 1989. More recently I rejoined the board of SAYFC becoming Hon President in 2018.

I have held positions in many different agricultural bodies, including board positions in NFUS and QMS. I served on the board of SAOS for 14 years becoming Chair in 2012 and am currently Chair of Tayforth Machinery Ring.

My family and I live in a vibrant tourism focussed area and I have enjoyed being involved in various bodies within the community. I have been chairing our local tourism association and am currently Chair of the local community council and a member of the East Neuk Emergency Planning Team.
I was appointed an Associate of the Fellowship of Royal Agricultural Societies in 2017.

I retired as Principal of Edinburgh College in late 2018 after a long and rewarding career in public service. Throughout my career I had the opportunity to support the learning and life chances of many thousands of young people, students, and colleagues.

Beginning my career as a Geography teacher in Dundee, I went on to work in a number of local authority and government roles, including Chief Executive of the Care Inspectorate, playing a key part in ensuring the quality of children’s education and services, before becoming Principal of Edinburgh College.

In 2001 I became one of Scotland’s Inspectors of Education. Four years later, I was appointed as a Chief Inspector at HM Inspectorate of Education, a role I held until 2009.

I then moved to Aberdeen City Council to become its director of education, culture and sport. In my three years there I oversaw an increase in educational attainment and the introduction of a new cultural strategy. I also chaired the East Lothian Poverty Commission as well as the board of the Scottish Poetry Library

I am an Honorary Ambassador of Edinburgh College and was awarded an OBE in 2019 for services to education.

Having been a partner in a major law firm (Morton Fraser) for 40 years, I've spent the last 10 years of that period giving high level strategic advice as well as legal advice to the boards and senior management of public and private sector bodies, the latter mostly in the finance industry.  I am a specialist in finance law, working both in the UK and internationally, and a member of the Institute of Directors. My legal work now, though, is very much on a part-time basis.

I hold the personal appointment as Solicitor to The Queen in Scotland. As such, I am a member of The Royal Household.  I was appointed as a CVO (Commander of the Royal Victorian Order) by Her Majesty in Her 90th birthday Honours list. 

I was chair of Morton Fraser for twelve years and of Interlaw, a leading international association of law firms with 70 member firms and 7,500 lawyers world-wide, for three years, having served on its board also for twelve years. Currently, in addition to my SRUC and SAC Commercial appointments, I also serve as chair of the Dementia Services Development Trust, as vice-chair in London of the Finance and Leasing Association's Business Code Group and as a director of Carrick Asset Finance Limited, a Scottish based UK finance company lending money mostly to SMEs.

Previously, I was on the staff, part-time, of the University of Edinburgh Law School, as a lecturer in land law and practice and served many terms also as external examiner. I have published in specialist finance areas. My university education was at that University and I then obtained a post-graduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley.
My outside interests include medieval history, golf and canal-boating.

I am a very experienced Non-Executive with over ten years’ experience in large and complex organisations, including Higher Education, Local Government, Social Enterprise and Charities. I was the Chair of the Board of Governors at Northumbria University for eight years and, for the last three years, chaired the UK wide Committee of University Chairs(CUC). I finished both of these roles in July this year.

I am currently a Non-Executive director of Advance HE. I was with BT Group plc for 26 years in various senior roles focusing on developing and managing highly complex IT business solutions but also in managing business transformation disciplines, including process re-engineering, culture change and organisational re-design.

I am a former student of SRUC. My core business is progressive mixed farming and contract farming, based in Fife. We supply beef, cereals and potatoes to well-known quality brands in the food and drink sector.

I sit on a Machinery Ring co-operative board covering the central belt, a sector board for AHDB covering the whole of the UK, and am Chair of the local NFU branch. In addition, I am a member of AHDB’s Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee.

I am committed to balancing livestock and crop husbandry with protection and enrichment of the local environment in order to ensure a long-term, sustainable future in agriculture and I have received awards for agricultural practices in my business.

I was Chief Executive of North Ayrshire Council from 2009 to 2018 and have a local government career of over 35 years.

I became a Board Member of SRUC in 2019 and I am Chair of the Remuneration and Appointments Committee. I was previously Deputy Chair and Interim Chair of the Accounts Commission for Scotland and am currently the Deputy Chair of Scotland’s Developing the Young Workforce Employer’s Forum. I am the Chair of Young Scot (Scotland’s youth information and citizenship charity) and a Commissioner for the APSE Local Government Commission 2030.

I am passionate about the vital role of public sector services to support local people and the most vulnerable in our communities. I have a specific focus on transformation, young people and children’s services, wellbeing and inclusive growth.

Over my career I have held several senior positions, including Chair of SOLACE (Scotland), Director of the Improvement Service and of Irvine Bay Urban Regeneration Company, Depute Director of Finance and Head of Service Reform at Glasgow City Council, Head of IT Services at North Ayrshire and at Strathclyde Police.

I was awarded an OBE for Services to Local Government, Education and the Economy in the Queen’s 2018 New Year’s Honours List.

I am a Chartered Forester and a graduate in Forestry from Aberdeen University. A past chair of Scottish Natural Heritage, I was also a Highland Councillor for 13 years and chaired the Council’s Planning, Environment and Development Strategic Committee. I was a senior lecturer at the Scottish School of Forestry, where I led on the development of its first degree in Forestry and continued to lecture at the University of the Highland and Islands on a part time basis until 2014.

I have been active on sustainability and community engagement issues within both the local authority and forestry sectors. I am a past chair of both the Forestry Commission Scotland’s Forestry for People’s Advisory Panel and the National Forest Land Scheme’s Evaluation Panel. I also chaired the North Highland Forest Trust for a number of years.

I am involved with the voluntary sector and chairs High Life Highland and am a Director of the Council for Voluntary Service in Sutherland.

I run a highly respected marketing and communications business based in Aberdeenshire which has a proven track record in supporting businesses and organisations in the agri-food and rural sectors with their marketing, communications and public affairs. The business focuses on strategic and creative planning, implementation, digital communications, media relations, and events organisation, counting various blue-chip organisations amongst its clients.

Active in agricultural leadership, I am a past participant of the Institute of Agricultural Management’s Leadership programme, the Scottish Enterprise Rural Leadership programme and Windsor Leadership. I serve on the Executive of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists, the British Guild of Agricultural Journalists’ Council, the OECD Expert Advisory Committee on Enhancing Rural Innovation, and I co-founded the Rural Youth Project. I am also a trustee of Lantra, Forage Aid and a board member of Ringlink Scotland.

I am from a family farming background in the Scottish Borders. The hill farm raises prime Cheviot sheep and quality cattle. The farming business diversified in the late 1990s and is now managed by my two sons, Callum and Duncan. I was educated at the predecessor to SRUC, gaining a Diploma in Agriculture, later gaining an MBA at the University of Edinburgh.

I have twice been Director of NFU Scotland, firstly as their Lothian and Borders’ President and then as their Environment and Land Use Chairman. I always believed in engaging with wider society and was a trustee with Borders Forest Trust, Chair of the Borders’ Foundation for Rural Sustainability, member of the Forestry Commission’s South Scotland Forum, Director of Scottish Enterprise Borders, Chair of Scottish Enterprise’s Land Based Advisory Group and Founding Director of the South of Scotland Loan Fund Scheme. This work included me organising day to day help for individuals during the Foot & Mouth crisis of 2001 and feeding into the Scottish Government’s post Foot & Mouth recovery plan.

In 2007 I was elected to the Scottish Parliament, where I served as an MSP for South Scotland for nine years. During that time I served on the Public Audit Committee, the European & External Relations Committee and five years on the Parliament’s Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee, holding the role as the European rapporteur. I also Co-convened the Cross Party Groups on Rural Policy, Palestine and Food and was one of four MSPs from 2011 to 2016 to be elected as a Member of the European Committee of Regions.

In late 2015 I succeeded in gaining support for my Scottish Parliamentary Member’s Bill, the Smoking Prohibition (Children in Motor Vehicles) (Scotland) Bill, which now protects by law the 60,000 children in Scotland that were being exposed to second-hand smoke in cars. I also gave evidence from my Members’ Bill to Westminster, who have brought in a similar law. My Member’s Bill received Royal Assent and was enacted in 2016.

Since 2016 I have created and convene the National Rural Mental Health Forum, a group of organisations from all sectors tackling mental health and wellbeing in rural UK. I am the Director of Public Affairs and Communications at Support in Mind Scotland. I am also an Associate of the Royal Agricultural Societies and a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Farmers, chairing their Health and Wellbeing Forum.

Biography coming soon

I was elected to the Board in 2019 and chair the Finance & Estates Committee. I am a Chartered Accountant, Chartered Tax Adviser and a graduate of the University of Glasgow. I have a family farming background in Central Scotland.

I was a partner in Ernst & Young for over 25 years, during which I advised many educational and charitable institutions. I held various management and leadership roles, including graduate recruitment and the establishment of EY’s Smart Futures programme in Central Scotland. Smart Futures offers paid work experience, skills development and mentoring to eligible young people from lower income households, attending state schools.

I am now an independent consultant providing business, accounting and tax advisory services to owner managed businesses. I am a Governor of The Glasgow Academy, Chair of Trustees of the University of Glasgow Trust and a member of the Audit and Risk Committee of the University of Stirling.

I joined the board in 2019 as the EIS Union representative.

I joined SRUC in 2013 as a lecturer in Animal Science at the Ayr campus after a brief partnership with SAC during my PhD. Originally, I studied Zoology, but agriculture was my true passion and, whilst finishing my PhD examining the energetic budgets of broiler chickens at Aberdeen University and Auchincruive, I decided that the post of lecturer was too good to pass by.

I am proud to be a ‘Jack of all trades’ when it comes to my job; to date I have taught over 20 different modules (from 1st year Chemistry to Msc Statistics). I am/was module leader for 14, and teach every degree program that comes through SRUC (no one can escape statistics!).

In 2019 I assisted in the writing and validation of the ‘Sustainable Food Production and Land Use degree’ and hope to see this flourish.

I have had a career in Higher Education as a research scientist, serving as a panel member for two rounds of the Research Assessment Exercise, and as Deputy and Pro Vice-Chancellor for research and enterprise. I have also held senior executive roles as a Registered Clinical Scientist in the NHS.

I have been committed to the role that the Higher Education and tertiary sectors can play in economic and social transformation and has established many partnerships with the commercial sector. I have formed many spin-out companies and advises internationally on the commercialisation of innovations.

I have wide experience as a Chair, Non-Exec Director, Governor, and Trustee of very large organisations, as well as emerging SMEs and micro companies. My experience and analytical skills have enabled me to work effectively in a number of sectors, including bioscience, nanotechnology, engineering, manufacturing, digital, informatics, and the arts sector. I live in Wigtown in Dumfries and Galloway.

I retired as Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Dundee after ten years in the role at the end of 2018. I currently serve in a range of non-executive roles as President and Chair of the Council of Trustees, the Biochemical Society; Chair of the Board of Trustees at Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh; Chair of the Board of Directors, Platinum Informatics Ltd. and as a member of the Board of Scotland’s Rural College.

Under my leadership the University of Dundee was consistently rated best in Scotland for student experience by Times Higher Education and achieved record levels of research funding. I led the development of the University’s Transformation agenda, with the goal of becoming Scotland’s leading University, helping transform lives locally, nationally and globally and delivering economic, social and cultural impact.

I was Convener of Universities Scotland from August 2012 to July 2016, having previously served as Convener of its Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee. I have been a leading voice in championing the strengths an autonomous and diverse university sector can offer Scotland, and particularly the role universities can play in driving innovation and economic growth. I was a founding member of the Board of Design Dundee Ltd. which delivered the V&A Museum of Design to Dundee.

I am one of the UK’s leading biochemists. I spent eleven years in the pharmaceutical industry before joining the University in 1989. Before his appointment as Principal I served as Vice-Principal and Head of the College of Life Sciences. I played a key role in establishing Dundee as a global leader in life sciences, making a significant impact on both the Scottish economy and our understanding and treatment of major diseases including diabetes and cancer.

I was a co-founder of the Division of Signal Transduction Therapy (DSTT) at Dundee, a partnership between the University and several of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies. The DSTT was founded in 1998 and has attracted over £60 million of inward investment to the city. It is widely regarded as a model for how universities and industry can interact productively and was awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher Education in 2005.

I was awarded the Colworth Medal of the British Biochemical Society in 1987 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1991 and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2009. I was honoured by The Queen with an OBE in 2004 and a Knighthood in 2015.

I am from Irvine, an urban town in the West Coast of Scotland. After school, like many others, I moved into retail work. After a while, I wanted to go further and get an understanding of what makes a good business work. I came to study Rural Business Management at SRUC after completing an HND in Business at Ayrshire college, hoping to apply my talents for business to my passion for nature and the countryside.

I am pleased now that I can continue learning about good management as a member of the SRUC Board, whilst bringing my specific experiences of studying and living in Rural Scotland. I am now the Co-President of SRUC Students’ Association for the South and West Faculty. I will have my delayed graduation from SRUC this year with a BA in Rural Business Management.

As Co-President I am working on a range of projects and campaigns to enhance the student experience at SRUC and I volunteer for the Scottish Wildlife Trust.

I joined the SRUC board in December 2021 as a non-academic staff member. My current role is an Agricultural Consultant and Area Manager for SAC Consulting, where I am based in Forfar, Angus.

I studied Agriculture at SRUC’s Edinburgh campus where, upon graduation with a BSc (Hons), I initially started working for SAC Consulting as a trainee consultant. I have completed a MSc in Soils and Sustainability, whilst working with a range of farming businesses in Angus. My experience stems from SRUC’s unique business model. Studying here I have worked with research and commercial activities and therefore have a thorough understanding of SRUC. My main interests are sustainable crop production and agriculture’s road to becoming net zero.

I am Managing Director of Hardgrove Farm (Dumfries) Ltd. I graduated with Honours in Agriculture from Aberdeen University in 1987 and completed the Advanced Farm Business Management course at Wye College University of London in 1999. I won the Most Improved Agricultural Business award from Scottish Executive Planning to Succeed in 2005.

A past President of my local Farmers' Union and of my local Young Farmers' Club, I am currently Chairman and Trustee of the Royal Highland Education Trust RHET. I am a Board member and Vice Chairman of SAC Consulting Board and was formerly Chairman of Barony College Board and Vice Chairman of the SRUC Board. I have recently overseen a large expansion in my own dairy farming business with stock numbers and turnover significantly increased.

Having been a partner in a major law firm (Morton Fraser) for 40 years, I've spent the last 10 years of that period giving high level strategic advice as well as legal advice to the boards and senior management of public and private sector bodies, the latter mostly in the finance industry.  I am a specialist in finance law, working both in the UK and internationally, and a member of the Institute of Directors. My legal work now, though, is very much on a part-time basis.

I hold the personal appointment as Solicitor to The Queen in Scotland. As such, I am a member of The Royal Household.  I was appointed as a CVO (Commander of the Royal Victorian Order) by Her Majesty in Her 90th birthday Honours list. 

I was chair of Morton Fraser for twelve years and of Interlaw, a leading international association of law firms with 70 member firms and 7,500 lawyers world-wide, for three years, having served on its board also for twelve years. Currently, in addition to my SRUC and SAC Commercial appointments, I also serve as chair of the Dementia Services Development Trust, as vice-chair in London of the Finance and Leasing Association's Business Code Group and as a director of Carrick Asset Finance Limited, a Scottish based UK finance company lending money mostly to SMEs.

Previously, I was on the staff, part-time, of the University of Edinburgh Law School, as a lecturer in land law and practice and served many terms also as external examiner. I have published in specialist finance areas. My university education was at that University and I then obtained a post-graduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley.
My outside interests include medieval history, golf and canal-boating.
 

A graduate of Agricultural Economics at Aberdeen University, I have followed an entrepreneurial career path, establishing and growing several food and farming businesses. I co-founded the Ross-shire-based sustainable seafood business Aquascot in 1987 and currently chair the Trust, which owns the business on behalf of its 190 employee owners. I brought the world’s first organic salmon to market in 1999. I joined the Board of the Soil Association in 2006 and was UK Chair from 2014 to 2017.

In Rwanda, I chair Ikirezi, an organic farming and processing business that sells essential plant oils to global buyers in the fragrance, flavouring and pharma sectors.

Since 2015, I have been chairing New Wave Foods, a business start-up that is farming, gathering, primary processing and retailing a widening range of Scottish seaweed products, under the Shøre brand.

As Chair of Ardtornish, a land-based business in North Argyll, I have overseen the building of seven renewable hydro and biomass energy schemes since 2010. I also have board leadership of the farming operation within the business.

A passionate believer in the power of collaboration along the value chain, I was a founding Board member of Scotland Food and Drink in 2007 and have chaired the organisation since 2018. I was elected a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Society by peers in 2012.

I am a fifth-generation farmer, running a mixed arable and livestock farm in north west Norfolk.
My business has a broad arable base producing sugar beet, high quality malting barley, wheat, beans and potatoes. I also have a breeding flock of New Zealand Romneys and a small suckler herd of South Devon Cattle.

I am the Chairman of Meat and Livestock Commercial Services Limited, and was appointed by Defra to Chair the Bovine Tuberculosis Eradication Advisory Group for England (2012 to present).

I have considerable experience in the agricultural sector, having also previously been Chairman of the English Beef and Lamb Sector body (EBLEX), a Commissioner of the Meat and Livestock Commission, a member of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board and it’s Audit Committee, and having been on the NFU Council.

Graduating from the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, I spent 15 years as a farm animal vet in Scotland’s northeast, a partner in a 15-vet practice. My next role as a livestock veterinary advisor for Schering Plough Animal Health diversified my career and I provided advice and support to vets and farmers across the length and breadth of the UK.

After Foot & Mouth in 2001 I joined Defra as a veterinary advisor for on-farm welfare and a year later promoted to manage the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee which assessed risk on matters surrounding BSE (mad cow disease) and vCJD in humans.

Appointed as a Senior Civil Servant, I was Principal Private Secretary to three Secretaries of State for Scotland, my remit spanning a diverse portfolio, before being seconded to the Cabinet Office.

In 2019, I was awarded an MA (Distinction) in Creative & Life Writing at Goldsmiths, University of London, and short listed for the Pat Kavanagh Award.
In 2020 I topped the polls in the Council elections for the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), the profession’s regulator. In July 2021, I was inaugurated as President. I am the RCVS’s tenth female President since 1844 and, for the first time in the history of the RCVS, I lead an all female presidential team.

Biography coming soon

• Register of Interests of Board members
• Schedule of Matters Reserved to the Board
• Scheme of Delegation
• Statement of Primary Responsibilities
• SRUC Governance Effectiveness Review
• Scottish Statutory Instrument (Standing Order), allowing transfer of Barony, Elmwood and Oatridge to SAC who are granted a name change to SRUC

• Articles of Association 2020
• SAC Commercial Ltd Articles of Association

The open minutes from the SRUC Board meetings can be found via the links below:

• 2019 SRUC Board minutes
• 2018 SRUC Board minutes
• 2017 SRUC Board minutes