Leadership; integrity; excellent interpersonal and influencing skills; extensive experience in an a-political capacity in political environments and in strategic planning; financial, scrutiny analysis and management; elections planning and delivery as Returning Officer in three Scottish Councils; corporate and project turnaround; reviews of governance and organisational effectiveness; policy and analytical skills; extensive experience in senior executive and non executive roles in complex and diverse organisations; performance scrutiny and improvement, audit and risk management; major projects management and delivery; capable team and individual player; extensive public speaking and committee presentations; mentoring.
SSE PLC - Non Executive Director Main Board; Audit Committee; Safety Health and Advisory Committee; Nominations Committee.
Aurum Resolution - Partner Mediation, Negotiation, Contract Solutions 2015 - present
Bruce Consultancy Service Ltd - Director
RSNO - Chair
Scottish Council for Development & Industry (SCDI) Non Executive Director and Vice Chair
Young Scot Ltd - Non Executive Director and Chair
The Company of Merchants of the City of Edinburgh - Trustee of the Merchant Company Schools Trust
The University of Strathclyde International Institute of Public Policy Visiting Professor
Chief Executive The City of Edinburgh Council 01/11 to 31/09/15
Head of paid service, responsible and accountable for overall strategic and managerial leadership of the Council, working closely with all elected members, corporate management team and key strategic partners in ensuring good governance, stability and sustainability of the council and its services. Returning Officer for Edinburgh Council elections and Parliamentary constituencies and Vice Chair of the Electoral Management Board for Scotland, Depute Counting Officer for Scotland for European Elections and for the Scottish Constitutional Referendum. CEO to FETA Board (Forth Estuary Transport Authority (Forth Road Bridge)); CEO to Lothian Joint Valuation Board; and until recently CEO to the Boards of Lothian and Borders Police and Lothian Fire and Rescue - both now overtaken by national reform programmes. Key achievements include being the recovery owner of the Edinburgh Tram Project in a challenging political environment - leading the mediation and turnaround of the Project which is now being delivered within revised timescale and budget, successfully leading executive level negotiations with German and Spanish contractors; review of governance of the authority; rooting out management failure and corruption (property repairs and conservation services) and overall improvement of services. Key role in supporting the development of the Edinburgh economy, including support to secure major inward investments, including FDI and initiated the establishment of Edinburgh Guarantee a youth employment initiative; Joint leadership with Heriot Watt University to develop the National Performance Centre for Sport which was awarded by the Scottish Government in 2013.
Chief Executive Aberdeen City Council 12/08 to 12/10
Head of paid service, core responsibilities similar to those in Edinburgh. Returning Officer. The main objective in the Aberdeen role was to effect a sustainable turnaround from a difficult position of financial, managerial and performance failure. Key achievements included a thorough review of the governance arrangements and financial performance of the Council which had suffered systemic failure and had been the subject of a Public Inquiry prior to my appointment. Leadership and delivery of an overarching review of the council securing overall improvements in service delivery and financial planning and management. This was signed off by Audit Scotland and The Accounts Commission leading to removal of all special measures being removed in July 2009. The year end accounts for 09/10 showed an operating surplus, from a starting point of a deficit position equal to 20% in 2008 of overall revenue expenditure.
Chief Executive East Dunbartonshire Council 08/04 to 11/08
Head of paid service, with core responsibilities similar to those in Aberdeen and Edinburgh, albeit in a much smaller suburban council. Returning Officer. Key achievements: review of the governance and structure of the council to secure continuous improvement and greater efficiency; raised profile of the council; improved external relations and customer service; the development of community planning arrangements - delivering greater capacity with key strategic partners.
Director East Dunbartonshire Council 08/00 to 08/04
Strategic Director - Community - Education, Social Work, Housing and Cultural Services. Key achievements: services re-structuring and a major performance improvement strategy, the key outcomes of which were the remediation of education services and governance arising from a highly critical HMIe review to a complete and successful sign off within 24 months and, a review of social work governance arising from financial and service deficit to a well running and sustainable model.
Depute Director of Education East Ayrshire Council 10/95 to 07/00
Responsible in this post for Education management, fleet, finance, capital assets, service planning. Key achievements included being part of the leadership team responsible for establishing and delivering the education service in the new unitary council during local government reform, at which time the current model of Scottish Unitary local authorities was established.
The McCormac Review (2011) - Reviewing Teacher Terms and Conditions
The Wood Commission (2013/14) - Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce
The Mather review (2014) - Progressive Workplace Policies in Scotland
Scottish Business Insider Public Sector Leader of the Year 2010
HRH Prince Charles’ Business Ambassador 2010
HRH Prince Charles’ Business Ambassador 2011
HR Networks Chief Executive of the Year 2013
MIPIM UK City Leader of the Year 2014
UK Light Rail Awards - Recognition for projectTurnaround (Edinburgh Tram) 2014
University of Strathclyde - Alumna of the Year 2015
Dame Commander of the Order of The British Empire - Her Majesty The Queen’s New Year
D.Univ - Honoris Causa, Heriot-Watt University
M.Phil - Politics/Government, The University of Strathclyde
L.L.B - Scots Law, The University of Strathclyde
Cert. - Strategic Public Sector Negotiation, JFK School of Government, Harvard University
Dip - Youth & Community, Jordanhill College of Education
Cert. of Accreditation in Mediation, Core Solutions
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19 July 2016